District of Columbia: Greater U street visitor center grand opening friday
Cultural Tourism DC invited DC residents and visitors to rediscover the historic U Street corridor with the grand opening of the Greater U Street Neighborhood Visitor Center last Friday at 1211 U Street NW. The visitor center will serve as a front door to the U Street area, a historic African-American neighborhood, with an audio tour, “City Within a City: Greater U Street Heritage Trail.”
The Visitor Center features maps, shopping and dining information, and other helpful information about the area. On the walls are historic photographs, quotations, and a timeline that highlights the major developments in the neighborhood and in the city.
The audio tour features Korva Coleman of National Public Radio as the narrator/guide along with community leaders and others who live and work in the neighborhood including Kamal Ben Ali, co-owner, Ben’s Chili Bowl; Warren Brown, founder and owner, CakeLove and Love Café; Father Patrick Smith, pastor, Saint Augustine Church; and Frank Smith of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum.
For the first half of the 20th century, the neighborhood surrounding U Street, NW was the center of the rich social, civic, and cultural life of Washington’s African- American community. In addition to shaping the lives of thousands of Black Washingtonians-from Duke Ellington to civil rights theorist Charles Hamilton Houston-the neighborhood also played a major role in the intellectual and cultural life of African Americans throughout the nation.
On the Net: www.Cultural-TourismDC.org
