San Francisco's largest and most vibrant Jewish neighborhood was dense with synagogues, schools, mutual aid societies, kosher butchers and restaurants, cultural centers, and much more from the earthquake to the mid-1960s and especially during the interwar period. It included the Orthodox, of course, but also Yiddishists, Zionists, socialists, and communists. But the diverse Fillmore was also the entertainment mecca for the whole city, boasting movie theaters, vaudeville houses, ice skating rinks, dance halls, and jazz clubs. Fred Rosenbaum, author of Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area (UC Press, 2009) brings to light this vivid chapter of local Jewish history.

The Jewish Community Library is hosting the photographic exhibition Jews of the Fillmore, curated by Fred Rosenbaum and the Magnes Museum, from September 2010 to January 2011.

Read an article about the exhibit, and watch a slideshow here.