U Street Named One of America’s ‘Great Places’
The American Planning Association has named U Street in D.C. as one of its 2011 Great Places in America. The corridor was the “epicenter of African American businesses, entertainment, and civic and religious life” during segregation and earned the moniker “Black Broadway.” The 1968 riots left the street, like much of the District, in an economic decline. But the recent revival of U Street resulted in many longtime black residents moving or being displaced.
In 2009 when president-elect Barack Obama ordered a chili half-smoke at the famous Ben’s Chili Bowl along U Street N.W., crowds flocked to the legendary eatery and the street it has anchored since 1958. U Street has gone through difficult times, particularly the lingering aftermath of devastating riots following the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today the street is pulsing again with the music, businesses and life that, in the early 1900s, distinguished it as the main street of Washington’s “city within a city.”
— www.planning.org
