1300 Block of U Street NW, November 7

7th and U Street, NW.  April 13th.  © 2012 Matt Dunn

1200 Block U Street, NW.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

On April 8, 1994, D.C. officials shuttered the cafeteria at Garnet-Patterson Middle School, declaring the dining hall "unfit for human habitation."
Complaints over the school's physical condition had begun a month earlier, when Darren Jones, then president of the Pleasant Plains Civic Association, had filed complaints about the building's upkeep after he toured the facility the [...]

On April 5, 1968, civil disorder that had started the night before after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in Memphis turned into a full-scale riot in the District, prompting a federal response to protect the government and restore order on the streets.
The night before, local African American organizers—including activist Stokley Carmichael—had begun ordering stores [...]

900 Block U Street, NW. © 2011 Matt Dunn

1100 Block U Street, NW. © 2010 Matt Dunn

The flyer on the front door at DC9 still reads “Roof Deck Open Tonight,” but in light of the death of 27-year-old Ali Ahmed Muhammed early Friday morning outside of the club, that hardly seems likely. And while the truth of what happened is still unclear, the incident is having an effect on the surrounding [...]

This afternoon, the Metropolitan Police Department provided their first written narrative of events concerning yesterday's drive-by shooting along U Street that left 21-year-old Jamal Coates dead. Last night, police arrested Brandon Miller for Coates' murder. Miller was arraigned in D.C. Superior Court this afternoon. The police narrative was filed with the court post- at the [...]

1300 Block of U Street NW, July 10

Good morning, Washington! As far as heat waves go, D.C. has been putting in a pretty impressive performance this week. Yesterday temperatures peaked at a sweltering 102 degrees, a record for the day. While today will be a bit cooler—the balmy mid-90s!—a heat advisory will still be in effect from noon until 9 p.m.
The rising [...]

Troy Johnson has mixed feelings about his balcony. His 10th-floor perch affords him scenic views of his Northwest D.C. neighborhood. But maybe too scenic. “Look up and down U Street,” he says, “It’s a gold mine up there.”
Johnson, 75, a retired Service Employees International Union organizer, lives in the Campbell Heights [...]

I was born in 1973. According to last night's hour-long WETA documentary, Washington in the '70s, I missed a golden time that included the birth of home rule and go-go, Petey Greene, and Marion Barry before he sold out. Even more remarkable, the documentary showed that there was a time when the District's own residents [...]