Golden Strip Era and the Columbia Ave Riots From the 1940s through the 1960s, the area was popular amongst jazz fans. There was a large concentration of jazz clubs and dance halls along Cecil B Moore Avenue, then known as Columbia Avenue, leading the street to be known colloquially as "the Golden Strip". In August of 1964 police officers got into an argument with a black woman upon asking her to move her car from 23rd Street and Columbia Avenue. The argument escalated into the officers physically removing the woman from her car, drawing attention from the surrounding residents. Rumors soon spread about the altercation, with many people believing that a pregnant black woman had been killed by police, and this culminated in the
1964 Philadelphia Race Riot.
Renaming of Columbia Avenue to Cecil B Moore In 1987, Columbia Avenue was renamed in honor of
Cecil Bassett Moore (April 2, 1915 – February 13, 1979). Moore was a
Philadelphia lawyer, civil rights activist and president of the local
NAACP, and is best remembered for leading a picket against
Girard College which led to the
desegregation of that school. He was also a champion of a wide range of causes central to the Civil Rights Movement, including integration of
trade unions, and increased political and economic representation for poor African-Americans. One major reason for renaming this street in particular after him is because of his leadership and calls for peace during the
Columbia Avenue riot. ==Local institutions==