The Jazz Age in Chinatown

With the largest Chinatown and busy wartime activities, San Francisco was a leading rest and recreation center for the men of the armed forces, navy and merchant marine. A talented group of entertainers emerged to satisfy the demand for light entertainment to say farewell to or welcome men returning home. A dozen Chinatown nightclubs staged floor shows. "People spent money like there was no tomorrow," recalls one entertainer. The Forbidden City, the Skyroom, the Chinese Bowl and other nightspots engaged all the Chinese performers they could get.

By the mid-1950s, the nightclubs closed down one by one. The Jazz Age fever had died.