STREAMING PROGRAM INFORMATION
- This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.
- Platform: Zoom
- Online registration is required.
- For multiple registrations, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses.
The combination of jazz and bootleg booze was an irresistible force in Prohibition-era Washington, and nowhere in town was the music hotter or the drinks more plentiful than in Shaw. The clubs and theaters on U Street, N.W., dubbed the city’s “Black Broadway,” drew audiences to hear headliners like Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, and D.C.-born Duke Ellington.
Join author and local historian Garrett Peck on a virtual walking tour that focuses on Shaw during this colorful era. Using prerecorded footage and live commentary, the tour begins at the legendary Howard Theatre, the cultural centerpiece of neighborhood, then heads to the sites of several 1920s clubs along U Street, including the Club Caverns, Club Bali, Murray’s Palace Casino, and the Minnehaha Theatre (later the location of another landmark, Ben’s Chili Bowl).
Along the way, learn about the city’s race riot of 1919, the unusual tale of a policeman-turned-bootlegger, and the African American artists, performers, and poets who turned this neighborhood into a vaunted nightlife scene rivaled only by Harlem.
Any excursion through a 1920s entertainment mecca wouldn’t be complete without a beverage, so pull up a chair and your favorite drink for a Friday-night experience. Peck takes questions at stops along the way.
Peck is the author of Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren’t and the recent Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C.
Limited to 60 participants.
Patron Information
- Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
- Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
- View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.
