Understand
The U Street Corridor is a vibrant collection of shops, restaurants, nightclubs and galleries stretching from 9th Street in the east to 18th Street in the west. It has been the center of Washington's African-American nightlife for much of the 20th century, as well as the birthplace of jazz great Duke Ellington. This corridor became commercially significant when a streetcar line operated there in the early 20th century. During this time, it was known as the Black Broadway and served as a significant cultural and economic center for the city's African-American population America's largest until overtaken by Harlem in 1920. Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, the area around 14th & U was the epicenter of a violent and destructive riotâa scene tragically replicated in major urban areas across the United States. Following the riots, and the subsequent flight of residents and businesses from the area, the U Street Corridor succumbed to urban blight.
Since the early 1990s Shaw has been hit by a wave of gentrification, 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. 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 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, and the jazz clubs in particular are second to none. Shaw 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. Duke Ellington's childhood home was nearby on the 1200 block of T St. The Lincoln Theater opened in 1921, and Howard Theater in 1926.
