U Street

I live on U St here in NW DC. It’s often called “The Historic U Street Corridor” as it was one of the original big entertainment areas back in the day, especially for African Americans — it was once dubbed “Black Broadway“. It’s a great place to live, as it’s still a fun area with lots to do, and it remembers its past. Ex: The giant mural of the Postman playing a sax in this pic, which honors both the Postal Service, one of the original places to employ large number of black folks, and the musical DNA of the area.

But being a bar area also brings some downsides with it, especially violence. This has been an especially bad summer here, with at least one person getting killed pretty much every weekend. That McDonald’s on the lower right corner of the intersection in the pic is a notoriously sketchy area, with dozens of people hanging out there all day & night (as you can see), some offering or enjoying a different kind of happy meal. And this weekend a 16 year old girl was stabbed to death in front of it. Not the type historic event that you want in your neighborhood.