Landmark Designation Report: Marcus Books / Jimbo’s Bop City, 1712-1716 Fillmore Street (Draft)

This Landmark Designation Report was prepared for the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission, a seven‐member body that makes recommendations to the Board of Supervisors regarding the designation of landmark buildings and districts. From overview: "1712-1716 Fillmore Street is significant for its association with Marcus Books, the nation’s oldest continuously operating, independent Black-owned and Black-themed bookstore.1 Marcus Books is located at the street level of a two-story-over--raised-basement Stick-Eastlake building, constructed c. 1893. The bookstore was founded by Julian and Raye Richardson in 1960, as an outgrowth of the family’s printing business, the Success Printing Co., which they established in 1947, shortly after settling in San Francisco. The property is also significant for its association with the lifework of Julian and Raye Richardson. As recent graduates from the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee Alabama, the Richardsons perceived a need in the City—which was experiencing an unprecedented surge in Black population at the time—for a center for Black intellectualism and idea exchange. Marcus Books became that space, and has continued to serve this purpose for the city’s Black population, weathering changing urban conditions and demographics with creativity and perseverance. The business was originally located on the 1800 block of Fillmore Street and was forced to move several times in avoidance of both rising rents and the demolition brought on by San Francisco Redevelopment Agency (SFRA) projects in the Western Addition. The bookstore moved into its current home at 1712 Fillmore Street in 1980. At that time, the building had recently been rescued from demolition by the combined efforts of neighborhood historians, activists, and people working within the SFRA and relocated to a small commercial redevelopment project known as Victorian Square. Marcus Books continues to be owned and operated by members of the Richardson family. The building which houses Marcus Books was originally located three blocks away at 1686-1690 Post Street. Prior to its physical relocation, the building was the site of one of the San Francisco’s most famous jazz venues, Jimbo’s Bop City. The building is also significant as the former home of Jimbo’s Bop City. Beginning in 1950, in what had been a Japanese-owned drug store prior to Japanese internment in 1942, James “Jimbo” Edwards rented the commercial portion of the building from Charles Sullivan, a well-known Black businessman and real estate owner. Edwards sold waffles out of his storefront and hosted all-night jazz performances in the large back room. The club quickly developed a reputation as a space for the new “bop” sound in San Francisco and attracted famous performers, including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. Bop City was a unique early space where race and gender were regarded as second to one’s ability to play, and the club welcomed anyone to the stage who could contribute to the pioneering new direction jazz was taking at the time." Funding was provided in part by a 2010 Preserve America grant to the City of San Francisco (grant number 06-10-AP-5034) for the Market and Octavia Historic Resource Preservation Project. The grant was administered by the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Preserve America is a federal initiative that encourages and supports community efforts to preserve and enjoy our priceless cultural and natural heritage. The goals of the program include a greater shared knowledge about the nation's past, strengthened regional identities and local pride, increased local participation in preserving the country's cultural and natural heritage assets, and support for the economic vitality of our communities.

Landmark Designation Report: Marcus Books / Jimbo’s Bop City, 1712-1716 Fillmore Street (Draft)

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