$29million restoration saved the Historic Howard Theater from a wrecking ball.
For the grand [ re ] opening of the historic Howard Theater, Wale, backed by his Dj and members of the legendary UCB band put on an amazing show. The energy level in that place was turned up to 10,000. Having the band was certainly an added plus.
Wale’s mini-speech about not listening to peoples negativity and following your dreams got the crowd pretty excited – oh, and not to mention when Wale jumped off the stage to perform “Ambition” in the crowd with the fans surrounding him. “They gon’ love me for my ambition…easy to dream a dream, though it’s harder to live it.”
The original Howard Theater opened in 1910 and was known as the “Theater of the People.” Last night, the renovated theatre stood up to it’s name as hometown rapper Wale performed, opening the theater to an entirely new generation of music lovers.
After a $29 million renovation, Howard Theatre hopes to bring “Black Hollywood” back to Washington, when the District boasted legendary acts including Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. After last night’s performance, the theater’s line-up includes The Roots, comedian Wanda Sykes, Alice Smith (one of my favs!), Chuck Brown, Meshell Ndegeocello, Bilal, Chaka Khan, Amel Larrieux, Ziggy Marley and Boys II Men.
Howard, which preceded New York’s famed Apollo Theater by more than 20 years, showcased top black performers, including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, James Brown, Miles Davis and Washington native Marvin Gaye.
The Supremes made their first stage appearance there in 1962 and Ella Fitzgerald won an amateur night contest. Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records, got his musical start by listening to jazz at the Howard.
James Walker, a 71-year-old retired federal worker, said he had seen many shows during the theatre’s heyday, including James Brown, the Four Tops and the Supremes.
“This was it, this was the place to go,” he said. The reopening “is fabulous. It’s part of an upward drive to redo the community.”
The Howard was designated a national landmark in 1974, but it was already deteriorating. The neighbourhood was devastated by riots in 1968 and many residents fled the rising crime. By 1981 the Washington Post was calling its nearby intersection “D.C.’s meanest corner.”
The Howard shut down 30 years ago and slid toward ruin despite several attempts to revive it.
Rainwater pouring through the roof heavily damaged the interior, but the underlying structure was “built like a rock,” said Chip Ellis, president and chief executive of Ellis Development Group, which oversaw the rebuilding.
“This building was built to last forever,” he told the crowd. The overhaul of the theater began in 2010.
The makeover, financed through a public-private partnership, restored the building to how it looked in 1910, in part by uncovering windows that had been bricked over.
Let’s continue to make sure our legacy and historical artifacts are in tact for those to come.
