Pitts Motor Hotel 15TH and BELMONT STREETS NW
The Pitts Mo t o r Ho tel, f ormerly located at 1 4 15 Belmont Street, lingers in memory for two reasons. In the 1 96 0 s it was a gathering place for Civil Rights movement leaders. Later it became a “welfare hotel.” In March 1 968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., reserved 3 0 rooms at the Pitts Hotel to house leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign he planned to lead that May. He chose the facility because it was both comfortable and black owned. Despite Dr. King’s April 1 968 assassination, the Poor People’s Campaign went ahead, demanding jobs and income as a civil right. In late May and June thousands camped in “Resurrection City” on the National Mall where, due to excessive rain, conditions deteriorated quickly. Resentful campers marched on the Pitts where the leaders were housed, demanding (unsuccessfully) that the leaders exchange their comforts for the muddy Mall. In its heyday, the Pitts Hotel housed the Red Carpet Lounge. “Everyone would be there,” remembered activist Bob Moore. But its popularity masked an unstable financial situation. Owner Cornelius Pitts and other African American entrepreneurs (and would-be homeowners) at the time often were refused bank loans or offered unfavorable terms. In the 1 98 0 s, when Reagan administration cuts to social programs led to widespread home- lessness, Pitts took the opportunity to turn around his fortunes, converting his hotel into a shelter. The city rented all 50 rooms, but the prices were so inflated that a congressional investigation resulted. In 200 4 a condominium building replaced the hotel.
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