U Street Corridor

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G. Byron Peck's Duke Ellington mural on the True Reformer Building, as seen from across the street at Ben Ali Way — named for the owner of Ben's Chili Bowl.

A former silent movie house on U Street has been the home of Ben's Chili Bowl since its establishment in 1958.

The U Street Corridor, the center of Washington's African-American nightlife for much of the 20th century and the birthplace of Duke Ellington, is a vibrant collection of shops, restaurants, nightclubs and galleries. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. the area around 14th Street and U Street was the epicenter of a violent and destructive riot by African-American residents — a scene tragically replicated in major urban areas across the United States. Following the riots, and the subsequent white flight of residents and businesses from the area, the U Street corridor became a blighted area. Gentrification began in the mid-1980s, prompted by spillover development from then-trendy Adams Morgan and later from Logan Circle. In 1986 the city helped hasten the renewal of the corridor by locating a major municipal building, the Reeves Center, at 14th and U Street. The transformation that began soon after continues to gather speed with boarded-up commercial buildings being renovated and reopened and more than 2,000 upscale residential condominiums and apartments being constructed between 1997 and 2007. Nightlife seekers have migrated from Georgetown and Adams Morgan for a slightly older, less raucous scene where the patrons have a bit more money to spend. The corridor extends along U Street, N.W., and is bounded approximately by 9th Street on the east and by 18th Street and Florida Avenue on the west. This corridor became commercially significant when a streetcar line operated there in the early 20th century.

A part of the larger Shaw neighborhood, it has long been a center of Washington's music scene with the Lincoln Theatre, Howard Theater, Bohemian Caverns, and other clubs and historic jazz venues. In its cultural heyday it was known as "Black Broadway." Duke Ellington's childhood home was nearby on the 1200 block of T Street. Lincoln Theater opened in 1921, and Howard Theater in 1926.^[1]

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^ Kaiser, Robert G.. "A City of Splendid Spaces, Great Events; 4 Landmarks Offer Washingtonians Gateways to a Capital Adventure", The Washington Post, April 22, 2004.