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Village in the City
Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail
16 The First Bodega
The 1960s saw this neighborhood develop a Latino presence, and this became its Main Street. The storefront at 3161 Mt. Pleasant Street once housed Casa Diloné, the first bodega (grocery) here. From 1962 until 1998, Casa Diloné sold products familiar to immigrants and embassy staffers from Latin America and the Caribbean who lived in the area. It was a social center for Washington's Spanish-speakers and attracted other Latino-oriented businesses.
Francisca Marrero Diloné and Félix Diloné lived above the store with their six children, who also worked there. Customers eventually moved on, but many returned for holiday lechón asado (roast suckling pig) and Puerto Rican pasteles (ground root vegetables steamed in banana leaves), hand-made by Francisca and daughter Carmen.
Washington's Latino community was still small in the 1940s when Francisca immigrated from Puerto Rico and Félix from the Dominican Republic. The late 1950s brought Cubans, followed by Central and South Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of the recent arrivals fled war, economic disruptions, or other political turmoil, By the 1980s, Mount Pleasant was known for its Salvadoran community. In fact, campaigning for Salvadoran elections became a regular event here.
In 1990 Salvadoran émigrés Haydee and Mario Alas operated Trolley's Restaurant where, 20 years earlier, customers had lined up out the door for the Loop Restaurant.
In 1974 the activist, ecumenical Community of Christ church moved to 3166 Mt. Pleasant Street from Dupont Circle. Many congregants, dedicated to a simpler and more communal existence, moved here as well. The group's La Casa provided space for community activities and the Life Skills Center, founded by a church member. |