Yoshi's a Boost for African-American CommunityHarrison Chastangbyline‚ Nov. 28‚ 2007EDITOR'S NOTE: Randy Shaw's article about the new Yoshi's in the Fillmore elicited many responses. Harrison Chastang, who often writes for BeyondChron, provided his take: Much has been written and spoken in the local media about the opening of Yoshi's on Fillmore and the 1300 Fillmore restaurant next door. But few of these stories have been from an African-American perspective, partly because there are hardly any blacks left among the Bay Area's press corps. The best way to describe the feeling of African Americans in The City toward Yoshi's and the rest of the restaurants and clubs on Fillmore can be illustrated by a story many San Francisco Black residents tell about the city's nightlife scene before 2000. A scene from the 1982 movie 48 Hours shows Eddie Murphy on the phone at a packed African American nightclub talking to Nick Nolte who's looking for Murphy. When Nolte asks where Murphy's at, Eddie replies "you wouldn't know about this club, it's in the Fillmore." |