The Rainbow Sign


The Rainbow Sign, a Berkeley Black cultural center active between 1971 and 1977, was capacious in every sense of the word. On a typical visit, one might take in the latest sculptures by radical expatriate artist Elizabeth Catlett, run into Maya Angelou reading on the sofa with a glass of wine, and see a group of folks—from, say, a Jewish organization or Oakland’s Black Muslim Bakery—streaming into a meeting in the club’s rentable conference room. Over it all would waft the aroma of soul food, served seven days a week from the on-site restaurant. Amid the clink of dishes in the program hall, there would be the clamor of concert preparations—tables and chairs being moved to make way for microphone stands and drum sets. And bustling throughout would be a dynamic woman in a bold-patterned dress—the charismatic Mary Ann Pollar—smiling, smoking, and orchestrating her vision.

“A Black Table at Which Everyone Is Welcome to Eat”

In values and practice, Rainbow Sign was somewhere between a Black Nationalist headquarters and middle class social club, allowing it to make comrades of a wide spectrum of individuals, including members of the Black Panther Party and Warren Widener, Berkeley’s first Black mayor. It wasn’t simply a stylish lounge and it expressly was not a juke joint.
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KPIX coverage of an Elizabeth Catlett art opening at Rainbow Sign in 1972 (transcript here)

A playlist of music performed at Rainbow Sign