SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — You’ve probably walked past a piece of black history in San Diego, right underneath your feet. A plaque at the corner of Market St. and Second Ave. is all that’s left of the Douglas Hotel.
When racial discrimination barred black artists and crowds from most other venues, the Douglas Hotel became known as the “Harlem of the West.”
The sights and sounds of the Harlem Renaissance in New York reached San Diego, reverberating through the walls of the hotel.
“Harlem of the West is a concept, is a movement. It started in New York, in Harlem. But Wherever black people go, they bring their music and their culture with them,” said Genealogist Yvette Porter. “These establishments were there because African-Americans didn’t have their own places to go, because San Diego was very segregated.”
Black entrepreneur George Ramsey opened the Douglas Hotel in 1924.
Before long, it was hosting crowds of black Americans from around the country, and some of the biggest artists in the world.
“Duke Ellington was one of them, Billy Holiday, Count Bassey. A lot of different artists would come through,” said Porter. “The hotel provided a location so that they could rest and where they could feel comfortable. Sometimes they would come perform without announcement. Because this was their space, their place.”
Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t have a long stay in San Diego.
The city tore it down in 1985 to redevelop downtown and make way for shops and apartments, despite repeated calls from some black San Diegans to keep the building in place.
Reports by city officials at the time said in part, “the Douglas Hotel has not been identified as a unique ethnic cultural resource.”
“It just seems that a lot of the African-American buildings were torn down,” said Porter. “It’s just really sad.”
That recognition came years later, when the city installed the plaque honoring the Douglas Hotel in 2005.
Nowadays, the three-story building is a residential hotel to low income renters. While the original structure may be gone, the legacy of the Douglas Hotel has survived through the decades.
So when you want to see a piece of black history in San Diego, all you have to do is look down.
“It makes us know, it helps us realize that we can have this in our community. And we can do this,” said Porter. “It’s important to know our history.”
