Dale & Alonzo Davis were brothers who began the Brockman Gallery in 1967 at 4334 Degnan Blvd. They grew up in LA and when graduating from college with degrees in art, were warned that they better get a teaching credential because they would have nowhere to show their art. Having no luck with the established art galleries they decided to begin their own – a gallery dedicated to exhibiting minority artists. They eventually controlled a whole row of storefronts on Degnan and provided artists spaces to live and work as well as to hang their work.

The Brockman Gallery nurtured the early careers of respected artists like David Hammons and John Outterbridge, and many more established black artists also exhibited there – Elizabeth Catlett, Charles White, John Biggers, Noah Purifoy and Romare Bearden, among numerous others.

They began a nonprofit arm of the gallery using grants, etc. from the federal government that sponsored concerts, art exhibits and community events. Horace Tapscott and the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, among others, played at these all day events – free to the public. The Brockman Gallery closed in 1989, but the cultural renaissance it fostered during the 70’s and early 80’s continues.