On this self-guided walking tour of Columbia Heights, historical markers lead you to: • The place where Marriott got its start • The city’s “Latino Intelligence Center” • The blocks that once were home to a “Who’s Who” of African American leaders • The address where Washington’s “Al Capone” ran a nightclub • The site of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign headquarters • The building that housed DC’s longest-operating gay bar • The site of one of Washington’s earliest racetracks
2 COLUMBIA HEIGHTS HERITAGE TRAIL Cultural Convergence
Amusement Palace o rhood was called Mount Pleasant and storekeeper George Emery made his living on the northwest corner to your le˜ . Emery’s emporium, the ÿrst on upp Street, marked the end of the line for the horse-drawn omnibus (coach) that carried residents to the Treasury and other points downtown. “Its stock ranged all the way from mowing machines to dry goods,” wrote Emery’s son Fred. he Washington and Georgetown Railroad Company began running electric stree treet to Park Road, and built a Romanesque “car barn” just acr treet to your le˜ . A˜ er the line , investors, including gramophone inventor and neighbor Emile Berliner, transformed the car barn into the Arcade, a combination market and amusement park. Best known for its street-level vendor stalls, the Arcade over time boasted a movie theater, sports arena, bowling alleys, skating rink, and dance hall upstairs, not to mention carnival fun in the Japanese Maze and the House of Trouble. “˛ e big Arcade building was crowded from end to end with one of the happiest throngs imaginable,” wrote the Washington Post about opening night. In Nov rganized American Basketball Association inducted DC’s Palace Five. ˛ e Five (also called the “Laundrymen” for their ÿrst sponsor, Palace Laundry) played their ÿrst home court Big League game at the Arcade. Som tched them beat the Brookl treet and Park Road has been the center of community life since a
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