Cinco de Mayo, 20 Years Ago - the Riots of Mt Pleasant/Adams Morgan

It started in Mount Pleasant .  The anger inside of the Latino community exploded against the police.  

2010 Wintry Weather of Historical Proportions

Who could forget this snow storm and the one immediately following it?  The one two punch gave the kids a week's vacation from school.  We had more snow than the famous Knickerbocker Theater snowstorm of 1921.

1974 Same graffiti -- 2 years earlier.

Same graffiti.

1976 Unity Park Behind the Bushes

Back in 1976, Unity Park was full of bushes.  They lined the park on the west side and east side.   Very often, Latino musicians played percussion, sang and danced inside the park.

1976 The People Who Lived Here

18th Street from Florida Avenue all the way up to Columbia Road was an African American residential neighborhood.  The storefronts on 18th Street which now house restaurants and bars were once occupied by regular Washingtonians, like these porch sitters.  They were here for many years before gentrification started to move in.

1978 The First Adams Morgan Day

The first Adams Morgan Day was the second Sunday in September, two days before the DC primary.  

The timing was guaranteed to make it a political event from the very beginning.  Here we see Arrington Dixon passing out "Arrington is the one" stickers.  He was running for the Chairman of City Council.  He won.  

1976 Before It Was Christ House . . .

. . . it was The Condor.  1717 Columbia Road, NW is located right next to the alley, which is next to El Nuevo Migueleno, next door to Chief Ike's.    It was a rental building of longtime Adams Morgan residents.