Black Business Directory 1970 Summer Edition Los Angeles and Vicinity [cover title]

Los Angeles: Black Business Directory, Inc, 1970. ii,66pp. Square quarto. Original illustrated peach wrappers printed in black, stapled. Minor edge wear and rubbing, uneven toning to wrappers. Text toned but clean. Very good. A rare business directory intended for use by the African-American community of Los Angeles at the outset of the 1970s. The cover touts the directory's series motto: "Most Complete & First of Its Kind." The directory itself contains listings for a wide variety of businesses, presented alphabetically by business type, ranging from "Accountants" to "Youth Organizations & Centers." As with most other directories, the listings are interspersed with advertisements for a plethora of local Black-owned or managed businesses, including First City Savings, Clarke's Furniture, Vermont Volkswagen, Friendly Chrysler-Plymouth, Lewis Bakery and Soul Deli, Triple AAA Building Maintenance Service, Foreman Driving School, Magnificent Bros. Hair Styling Salon, Kelsey's Termite and Pest Control, Leo's Plastic Slip Covers, Willie Greene's Travel Service, Medallion Printers & Lithographers, and numerous others. The advertisements are often illustrated with portraits of the managers or proprietors of the businesses. The penultimate page of the directory is reserved for a listing of "Supporting White Business." There is also a full-page ad for the publication itself, which touts its advantages and purpose: "Black Business Directory -- Contains over 5,000 competitive Black Businesses in over 250 categories. Purpose -- to stimulate minority employment by exposing minority businesses, services, and products."

All four of the directories that we know of in this series are rare. OCLC reports just three copies of the first volume published for the summer of 1969, at the New York Public Library, the Bancroft Library, and the University of Southern California; and just two copies of the second volume, published in the Winter of 1969-70, at NYPL and the Bancroft. The present work is only the second copy of the Summer 1970 edition that we have ever seen or of which we are aware, with no institutional copies reported in OCLC. No copies of the Winter 1970-71 or Summer 1971 editions exist, as far as we know, though they were likely produced, as the Winter of 1971 edition is reported at three institutions -- the University of Southern California, the Bancroft, and Yale.