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Roads to Diversity
Adams Morgan Heritage Trail
9 Tragedy at 18th and Columbia
Before there was "Adams Morgan," this crossroads lent the neighborhood its name: "18th and Columbia." Here you could catch a streetcar to just about anywhere and buy nearly anything.
But back in 1922, 18th and Columbia witnessed a tragedy. On January 28 -- diagonally across the street from this sign -- the roof of Harry Crandall's Knickerbocker Theater collapsed under the weight of a 28-inch snowfall, killing 98 and injuring hundreds more. Soon after, the city passed stricter building codes.
Crandall then built the Ambassador Theater on the same spot. Once that theater lost audiences to television it was sold for redevelopment. It briefly hosted rock concerts, and the night before the October 19667 March on the Pentagon, it hosted an anti-war rally with poet Robert Lowell, novelist Norman Mailer, and others.
The Ambassador was razed in 1970, setting off a battle over its lot. Drawing on a 20-year of tradition of community organizing, residents defeated plans for a gas station. In 1978 Perpetual Savings and Loan won the spot, agreeing to hire a bilingual staff, offer special loans to area residents, and create a plaza for a farmer's market.
The business district that began developing in the 1910s included an early Peoples Drug Store where McDonald's is in 2005. In 1948 Charles Lazarus opened what would become Toys 'R' Us in his father's bike shop at 2455 18th Street. Herbert Haft founded Dart Drug at 1801 Columbia Road in 1954. Lazarus and Haft, pioneers of high-volume discounting, oversaw phenomenal business expansion through the 1990s. |