Weekend Shoutouts

The forecast looks sunny and warm, so get outside this weekend!

1. Keep Shaw Beautiful Day Saturday – The kickoff to the cleanup and greenup event is at 9am at Shaw Junior High School, 925 Rhode Island Avenue, where you can pick up your tools and supplies and move to locations throughout central Shaw to weed, plant, and mulch treeboxes, pick up trash, and remove and paint over graffiti. Afterwards, food and refreshments will be provided at Shaw Junior High. If you are in MVSQ , meet at 4th & M at 8am!

2. Enjoy an Iced Coffee Outside – Both Azi’s (1336 9th St NW) and Breakwell’s (900 M St NW) have outdoor patios that provide for some great people watching.

3. Gallery Hop – We’ve got some great galleries in and around Shaw (notably Parker’s Gallery/Michelson’s Framing, Warehouse Arts Complex, The Long View Gallery, Ninth Street Gallery, and Project 4); beautiful weather is a great excuse to stroll into them.

4. Shaw Walking Tours on Sunday - On Sunday, April 22, Shaw Main Streets will present two free walking tours of Shaw, led by SMS Executive Director Alexander M. Padro. These free tours focus primarily on historical events, buildings, and personalities, but also include the character of the area and more recent developments. The two Shaw tours to be presented are as follows:

+ Shaw: Where DC Comes Together, Part I (10:00am - 12:00pm)
Starts at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and Mount Vernon Place, NW.
Since its earliest days, Shaw has always been a commercial, intellectual, and cultural crossroads. Today, the southern half of central Shaw's historic commercial district is best known for the new Washington Convention Center. But at one time, it consisted of woods, a few farms, and orchards. Originally a streetcar suburb, many notable historic figures have lived, worked, and worshipped in lower central Shaw, including explorer John Wesley Powell, African American US Senator Blanche K. Bruce, and historian Carter G. Woodson. Participants learned about these leaders and visited dramatic new spaces inside restored Victorian exteriors.

+ Shaw: Where DC Comes Together, Part II (12:30pm- 2:30pm)
Starts at the west corner of Seventh and R streets and Rhode Island Avenue, NW.
Entertainment in all its forms has long been the focus of the northern half of Shaw's central commercial district - from the Howard Theater, where every star in the Black entertainment pantheon performed to the pool hall where Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington decided to become a musician. This tour of places associated with entertainment legends included a newly renovated movie theater building and the city's first African American YWCA. Led by Shaw Main Streets Executive Director Alexander M. Padro and presented by Shaw Main Streets.

5. There's Always This Fun Stuff Going on in Shaw - Check out the Liberation Dance Party at DC9, the shows at 9:30 Club, Black Cat, Arena Stage, and Studio Theater, the cultural offerings of the Warehouse Arts Complex, Project 4 Gallery, the Ninth Street Gallery, and the Long View Gallery, and the chance to get your freak on and knock back some drinks at places like Avenue, Be Bar, and Old Dominion Brewhouse.

I'm definitely leaving a lot off--let others know what I'm missing in the comments.



Have a Weekend Shoutout suggestion? Email me at slumhistorique@yahoo.com!