Featured Exhibit
Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle
Ended February 7, 2010
A couple dance the jitterbug at a Seattle jazz club in the late 40s. (Photograph by Al Smith, Sr.)
Imagine a time when Seattle nightlife surged long past midnight, with people ducking in and
out of 34 nightclubs along Jackson Street. A time when limousines pulled up to the 908 Club,
and celebrities, jazz, and bootleg liquor flowed as fast as a Soldier's pay. Folks danced to
jazz music in underground bars from dusk to dawn. This era comes alive in Jackson Street After
Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle.
This historic photograph exhibit documents the rich after-hours scene that flourished along
Jackson Street from 1937-1951. Segregation forced African Americans to play midnight to dawn
in speakeasies, and a rich jazz community flourished. This era nourished the early careers of
Quincy Jones, Ray Charles and Ernestine Anderson.
Freda Shaw band. (Paul de Barros)
The Original Creole Orchestra, 1912. (Paul de Barros)
Palmer Johnson Quartet. (Paul de Barros)