Welcome to the Neighborhood: U Street Corridor

As a musician, one of the first questions I had upon moving to DC was where Washingtonians went for live music.  I was given two answers to this question, the first of which was "U Street."  The U Street Corridor isn't actually it's own neighborhood, it's a segment of the Shaw neighborhood, but for all intents and purposes, it's a distinct entity.  The U Street Corridor exists in the Northwest quadrant of the city and extends from 9th and U to 18th and Florida.  It is bordered by Logan Circle to the south, northern Dupont Circle to the west and to the north, Meridian Hill (a hybrid neighborhood that's too far east to be Adams Morgan and too far south to be Columbia Heights).






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My good friend, Wikipedia, gave me all sorts of insights about this part of town that I will happily share with you now.  The U Street Corridor is a historically African American neighborhood.  Until the 1920s, it boasted the nation's largest urban African American community (until it was taken over by Harlem in New York).  Duke Ellington is one of DC's native sons, having grown up on 13th Street between T and S.  A period of neighborhood decline began after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; the intersection of 14th and U  became the epicenter of violence in the DC riots that followed the assassination.  Consequently, the area's more affluent residents fled and the corridor fell into a period of sharp decline; by the mid-1970s, 14th and U had become a hub for drug trafficking.  It wasn't until the mid-90s that the area began gentrifying.  Development in the adjacent neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Logan Circle ultimately spread into the U Street Corridor.  As luxury condominium and apartment complexes moved in, rents and property values increased and U Street started to be considered an "up and coming" DC neighborhood.  By 2012, I think it would be a fair assessment to say that it's "come."

U Street is where I go to dance.  Every Friday, DC9 (9th and U) hosts Liberation Dance Party.  Third Saturdays at Liv (11th and U) feature Fatback, the funk/soul "come as you are" dance party I mentioned in this previous post.  The Black Cat hosts lots of interesting dance parties both on its mainstage and backstage.  Cafe St. Ex (14th and T) can be a bit of a meat market in the basement after dark, but hey, some people are into that sort of thing.


I still haven't made it to U Street Music Hall (11th and U) though and I hear that's a fun spot to dance as well.  Patty Boom Boom (14th and U) is supposed to be the spot for reggae in this city.  As with any of my Welcome to the Neighborhood posts, I'll never be able to highlight all of the many destinations of interests, but can at least share a bit about the spots I've come to know and love since moving here.  In addition, being my primary dance destination, U Street also has great dive bars (e.g., Dodge City, 9th and U), some of which also serve as great live music venues (e.g., Velvet Lounge, 9th and U).

The king of all live music venues in Washington is, of course, the 9:30 Club (9th and V), and I'm sure at some point I will devote an entire blog post to just this one place.  I've seen many a show here, my all time favorite of which was Death Cab for Cutie.  The Black Cat (14th and T) has the next largest stage in the area and also features some pretty great acts.  My first DC show was actually at the Cat; I saw The Get Up Kids and it was a killer show.  Velvet Lounge and DC9 are smaller, but more intimate, and typically host more local talent.  My band, J Street (so named for the lack of one in the city, see previous blog post here), for instance has played at the Velvet Lounge twice and has our first DC9 show coming up on January 21st! #gratuitousselfpromotion

I take a lot of videos from live shows I attend, but here are a couple of highlights from my first and from my favorite (so far) DC shows, respectively, and a snapshot from my band's first show at Velvet Lounge:



  My first DC show: TGUK at the Black Cat on March 1, 2011



  My favorite DC show (to date): DCFC at 9:30 Club on June 3, 2011  

My band, J Street's, first show at Velvet Lounge on November 18, 2011

I cannot in good conscience conclude this blog post without mentioning a true U Street institution, an establishment that will eventually get it's own post, the famous Ben's Chili Bowl (12th and U). After a night of consuming live music or dancing up a storm, you will no doubt be hungering for something of a less than healthful nature. This is where Ben's comes in. Starting around midnight, a line starts to snake around the building filled with hoards of drunk and hungry young people demanding half smokes and chili cheese fries (and yes, they have vegetarian chili!)  It is the perfect end to a raucous night out in the District of Columbia.