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| Performers Mary Ong, Fei Ying and Mae Dong in a dressing room at Forbidden City nightclub. April 13, 1942. Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection, San Francisco Public Library. |
Main Library, Sixth Floor
In the display cases outside the San Francisco History Center.
From the late 1930s to the early 1960s, Chinese nightclubs flourished in San Francisco’s Chinatown. They were the first, and in those days, the only venues for talented Asians who sang and danced professionally. Dubbed “The Chinese Frank Sinatra,” or “the Chinese Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers,” Asian performers entertained the GIs during WWII and drew Hollywood stars to local clubs to see their acts. In her new book and the accompanying exhibit, Forbidden City: the Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs, author Trina Robbins has gathered the stories of men and women who performed in this segregated world. The exhibit includes vintage photographs, costumes, menus and other mementos from the clubs and performers. Forbidden City celebrates an age of glamour, as well as a long-neglected slice of Asian American history.
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