U Street DC Guide: Historic Jazz Strip, Nightlife & Soul Food Heritage

U Street is Washington DC's most historically charged neighbourhood corridor — the former 'Black Broadway' of the early 20th century that nurtured Duke Ellington, Pearl Bailey, and the African-American cultural flowering of the 1920s–1960s before being devastated by the 1968 riots following Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. The neighbourhood has undergone remarkable revitalisation since the 1990s, and today hosts one of DC's most vibrant dining and nightlife scenes while maintaining its African-American cultural heritage at its core.

The African American Civil War Memorial and Museum at Vermont Avenue and U Street is the neighbourhood's anchor of historical memory — the bronze Spirit of Freedom sculpture honours the 209,145 Black soldiers who served in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, and the museum's database allows visitors to search for individual soldiers and their units. Duke Ellington's birthplace is marked at 1212 I Street NW, a few blocks south, and the Lincoln Theatre on U Street (restored to its 1920s grandeur) still presents concerts and events.

The contemporary U Street food and nightlife scene begins at 9th Street and runs to 15th Street — Ben's Chili Bowl is the mandatory stop (the half-smoke chili dog has been a DC institution since 1958, and the wall of celebrity visitors who've eaten here includes Barack Obama), alongside more recent arrivals that reflect the neighbourhood's gentrification: excellent Ethiopian restaurants on nearby 9th Street, natural wine bars, craft cocktail spots, and live music venues that have reclaimed something of the neighbourhood's jazz-era identity.