Posted on 09/03/2007 1:28:07 AM PDT by T-Bird45
Much has changed since Ben's Chili Bowl opened nearly 50 years ago on a bustling D.C. strip known as America's Black Broadway for its thriving black-owned shops and theaters.
Back then, the red-and-white diner was a popular hangout for black bankers, doctors and blue-collar workers who lived and worked along U Street in Northwest. Even jazz greats Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald could be found devouring chili half-smokes and milkshakes after performing at nearby clubs.
Now, on some days, the crowd at the D.C. landmark is mostly white, reflecting a neighborhood metamorphosis that has brought in high-end condominiums and businesses such as Starbucks.
"Sometimes you look around and wonder, 'Where are all the black people?' " said Virginia Ali, who opened the diner with her husband, Ben, in 1958.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Have always wanted to stop there, but there’s never any parking in that area.
Ahhh for the good ole days when the neighborhood was dominated by muggers, whores and addicts. I went to HS about two blocks from Ben’s.
As an aside:I wonder if she wondered this with resapect to blacks going into business when the rise of the welfare state put the kibosh on black entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship in the 70's was well below the level of same in the 50's (the decade she opened her diner).
“Have always wanted to stop there,”
Me to, but I didn’t have my pistol with me.
“unsupervised youths targeting them”
“graffiti that reads: “Go Home Rich White People.””
Sounds like hate crimes to me. Oh, I forgot, it’s never a hate crime when blacks target whites because of their color.
This seems to be the trend in many cities. It can probably be attributed to more blacks entering the middle class and more college graduates waiting longer to start families. Lower downtown areas are popular for young college graduates without children in part to the low rents and close proximity to the hip nightspots and cultural centers. Live downtown for a few years while you build up a disposable income and have fun. Then when you want to settle down and start a family, buy a starter home out in the suburbs.
There is a huge movement of whites back into Atlanta, too. It’s scaring the heck out of the black power structure there who is basically stating that any move to put white representatives in government is “racist”.
And you lived to tell about it? Well done! My brother says the Apartment across the street from the high school were a big drug den.
You make a good point. I live in a small Southern city that had a large and bustling black business district prior to the 1960s. That was partly was because segregation forced blacks to patronize black businesses, so there was somewhat of a captive customer base, but partly it was because there was a more entreprenuerial spirit and people were really proud of running a business. When you look back in the old records of the time, you will see lots of pictures of meetings of black business organizations, black fraternal groups sponsored by businessmen, etc. And this was under the very harsh and restrictive conditions of life in the South.
After the end of segregation, the businesses continued for awhile and some of them succeeded in attracting white customers, too, but most of them just folded up when it came time to pass to the next generation and few new ones opened. The bizarre thing is that many of the grandchildren of those successful businesspeople are now - let’s just say, not doing well and living at the expense of the state. Thank you, welfare state and the victim industry.
Maybe this is part of the reason that DC is no longer the murder capitol of the USA.
There still isn’t! And there really hasn’t been for 20 years or so. I remember seeing the Berlin Wall come down while in Stetson’s (16+U). Just seeing it without sound and out of context and then it hits you with what’s happening. No parking then either.
Downtown DC isn’t “low rent”. Condos are $500k where there used to be transvestite hookers (see the scene in “Being There”, Peter Sellers”, where he leaves the house and goes by the guys at the barrel fires. That was reall. And there.)
Buying cheap and renovating is much more expensive than first-timers imagine. I’ve see enough divorces and bankruptcies from amateurs. (I survived stupidity.) But it is nice to learn how to fix your own plumbing, drywall, electric and brick.
The articles are finally starting to appear on what’s been happening for a long time.
“My brother says the Apartment across the street from the high school were a big drug den.”
Actually, most of the drug traffic and prostitutes were on Swan street. The “house” across the street from the HS proudly displayed the sign -
“Room to let, by the hour”
The first house they renovated, next to Saint Peter’s in Dorchester Massachusetts, remains in a blighted location.
10 years ago or so there was an Guest Oped peice in the WP Opinion section saying that blacks should not sell to whites since it was destroying neighborhoods. The fallout from it was mixed, with a sizeable fraction of people supporting that position.
That DC may not be a dark chocolate city in the long term matters only to the race pimps
But in both cases, they will still be liberal whites and the politics of the area will not change for the better for the folks living in the metropolitan areas of DC and Atlanta. Still, the crime rates are still going up so there is hope for more and more welfare, govt. giveouts and shaking of the heads blaming whitey, the GOP and of course, old Bushie.
The opposite is happening in Albany, GA, once a lovely city. The blacks have taken over and crime is rampant. The whites are moving to Lee County or to the very expensive suburbs.
Yep, I was shot once in that neighborhood biking (you read that correctly, I was young and fearless) through when I attended American University in the mid-1970s. Of course, the neighborhood was more diverse in those days.
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