Through the Blues: Michelle Vignes and the Enduring Black History of West Oakland
As Black History Month quickly approaches, so too does the final full month of Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain. With the exhibition moving into its last weeks, we are spotlighting Michelle Vignes’ evocative photography of West Oakland’s legendary blues scene. With a documentarian’s eye and an artist’s sensitivity, Vignes (born 1926, Paris, France; died 2012, San Rafael, CA) captured a community bound by music, movement, and a shared sense of belonging.
During the 1980s, Vignes immersed herself in the vibrant nightlife of West Oakland, a neighborhood long celebrated as the “Harlem of the West.” From the crowded dance floors of Eli’s Mile High Club to late-night sets at local bars and performance spaces, she witnessed a world where joy and resilience played in harmony. Ahead of her 1989 photographic publication, Oakland Blues, her camera followed musicians, dancers, and regulars woven into the fabric of these beloved gathering places where Black creativity flourished, even in the face of economic and social inequities.
Kenny Playing Sax at the De Luxe Inn in Oakland, 1983.
The Deluxe Inn Cafe, once located at 2641 Union Street, was one such space: a neighborhood hub where the blues carried stories of everyday life. Vignes photographed saxophonists mid-riff, patrons lost in the music, and the atmosphere thick with improvisation and connection.
Having a Good Time at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, 1983.
At Eli’s Mile High Club—an iconic venue on MLK Jr. Way and proudly known as the “Home of the West Coast Blues”—Vignes’ lens captured evenings filled with laughter, conversation, and the unmistakable rhythm of the blues. While the club has welcomed legends like Buddy Ace and Maxine Howard over the years, these images reflect more than nightlife; they depict community, history, and a shared cultural heartbeat.
Saturday Night Dancing the Blues at Eli’s Mile High Club, 1982.
In works like Saturday Night Dancing the Blues, Vignes celebrates the intergenerational joy that defined these gatherings. Her photographs honor the people who kept the blues alive in West Oakland—musicians, dancers, and neighborhood regulars who transformed these venues into sanctuaries of expression and celebration.
Vignes’ work is not simply documentation; it is testimony. By centering everyday moments of connection, her images preserve cultural spaces that were often overlooked or underrecognized. They echo a larger story within Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain: the ongoing fight to honor, protect, and remember the communities that shape Oakland’s identity.
French-born and internationally accomplished, Vignes made the Bay Area her home for more than five decades—and it is her intimate portraits of Oakland that stand among her most powerful images and serve as tributes to a community she approached with deep respect and affection.Come experience Michelle Vignes’ work in Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, on view through the end of Black History Month 2026, and spend time with images that celebrate the enduring spirit of West Oakland’s blues community.