If you know anything about this neighborhood, it's probably because it houses an auditorium of the same name, where the Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead helped shape American music in the 1960s. This documentary, produced in 1999 as part of KQED's series on San Francisco neighborhoods, goes even deeper to tell a dramatic story: the rise and fall -- and rise again -- of San Francisco's premiere Black community.
The program features a remarkable group of on-air participants and storytellers, from mayors and musicians to journalists and community activists, who experienced the Fillmore as both the best and worst of 20th century life. The documentary draws on a rich archive of photographs, film, and music of the neighborhood, helped in part by home movies and photographs from KQED viewers.