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Roads to Diversity
Adams Morgan Heritage Trail
18 The Artistic Life
The lively scene around you began with an arts movement in the 1950s. Musicians, dancers, and artists found centrally located 18th Street attractive as declining rents made it affordable.
Early on, jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd brought fame to the Show Boat Lounge at 2477 18th Street. Byrd, Keter Betts, and Stan Getz introduced Americans to Brazilian jazz with their best-selling album Jazz Samba (1962). The album was recorded at nearby All Souls Unitarian Church. Byrd headlined at the Show Boat until it closed in 1967.
The arts got a boost from Colin "Topper" Carew, a young architect who created the New Thing Art and Architecture Center. The New Thing (1966-1972) was innovative and free-form, offering arts programs for all ages. one of its five buildings was 2127 18th Street. Carew later became a film maker, contributing to the 1983 film D.C. Cab.
As the New Thing was doing its thing, the Ambassador Theater produced rock concerts with psychedelic sound and light shows. Among the performers in 1967 was an obscure new group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
GALA Hispanic Theatre opened in 1976 at 2319 18th Street, the home of founders Hugo and Rebecca Medrano. Dance Place began at 2424 18th Street in 1890, and the city named the alley behind you in its honor.
Also in this area was the Whitman-Walker Clinic, the health service for the gay and lesbian community. It operated its second facility at 2335 18th Street from 1980 until 1987. Here it developed its pioneering responses to the AIDS crisis. |