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By Milan Moshay

On any given weekend night, under the glow of streetlights and neon signs, U Street is a scene. The historic neighborhood around the corner from Howard University is popular with college students and young adults. The streets are vibrant and filled with late-night eateries, smoke shops, bars and clubs. 

However, beyond the bodyguards and bottle girls, reside a few street vendors selling jewelry, clothes, and psychic readings. There鈥檚 also silence 鈥� the missing hum of now-shuttered businesses.

Washington, D.C. has seen a nearly 20% decrease in its African American population over the last 20 years 鈥� part of the evolution of what鈥檚 proudly known as the Chocolate City. U Street remains a beacon of African American culture. But even that longstanding cultural epicenter has faced a changing landscape of new high-rise developments, an influx of new residents and changing regulations.

D.C. had the biggest rent increase out of 50 metro areas from September 2023 to September 2024, according to a by real estate company Redfin, which found D.C. rents went up 12% year over year to $2,088. Rents went down in the intervening months, but up again February, . According to , the average rent for a 1-bedroom apartment on U Street is $2,862, down 5% from last year but still above the city-wide average of $2,468. 

Last summer, the D.C. Zoning Commission approved a change that would allow for taller buildings on U Street and hundreds of housing units on a city-owned property, despite pushback from residents, according to the .

Additionally, the neighborhood has added a sidewalk ordinance requiring business to maintain the streets and sidewalks in front of their property or pay a fine.

The effects have changed the look of the neighborhood, though not community members鈥� commitment to maintaining its cultural roots. 

Black-owned businesses carry on tradition

U Street is not just a location but a living history.

The neighborhood is full of personality, and of colorful murals paying homage to the businesses that line the streets 鈥� past and present 鈥� and to influential figures who have impacted the city.

Once known as Black Broadway, the neighborhood was home to over 200 Black-owned businesses, a testament to the community’s resilience and creativity during the Jim Crow era. It was a center for art and jazz to notable artists, including Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. The loss of this cultural richness is deeply felt in the changing landscape of U Street, now home to only a fraction of the Black-owned businesses from the boom time of the first half of the 20th century.

While the neighborhood has seen many ups and downs, a few long-standing establishments and landmarks remain. Most notably, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Lee’s Flower Shop, The Howard Theater and Lincoln Theater.

Some minority-owned businesses and vendors are still thriving, if you know where to look.

Located on 12th and U street, nestled between a bar and a pizza place in a two-level building, Crushed Skate Shop is a unique addition to the neighborhood. Brian Aguilar, a familiar face in the community, owns the shop. Upon entering, you’ll often find him seated at the front, clad in a black shirt and khaki pants, warmly welcoming customers and engaging in lively conversations.

Aguilar, a DMV native, grew up skating around the area. As a teen, he worked in skate shops, fueled by his love of skating and the community it fostered.

Despite the city鈥檚 strong skateboarding community, Crushed Skate Shop is currently the only skate shop in D.C. The four-year-old business is housed in the same location as two former skate shops where Aguilar also worked. Following the closure of the last one, Aguilar decided to start his own in the space, and in 2020. It was right before the onset of the pandemic, which proved challenging for a new business. It also coincided with the birth of his first child.

The shop survived, though last summer, Aguilar started a to help offset the increasing price of boards and other goods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Among the local businesses that make U Street unique is Lady Clippers Barber Shop, a black-owned shop with an all-female team of barbers owned by Lesley “Lady Clipper” Bryant.

Bryant opened her shop in 2017 after realizing she could make more money owning a barbershop than working solely as a barber.

Lady Clippers has “naturally attracted a lot of women and caused some confusion among men as they thought that it was a women’s barbershop,” Bryant said. Bryant said her crew can cut all textures and hair types, and as the , it鈥檚 become a safe space for nonbinary and queer people. 

Though not originally a part of the plan, Bryant decided to lean into the name Lady Clipper by hiring a team of women barbers. Expanding on the theme of Lady Clipper, she decided it was important that the team also be women of color and black women, especially given that the shop鈥檚 location on U Street.

Street vendors are struggling

Outside the small businesses, bars, and restaurants that occupy the neighborhood, one presence is noticeably missing from the area: street vendors. Once a more notable force, they are now hard to find.

In 2023, following years of advocacy, D.C. passed the removing criminal penalties for street vendors operating without a license. The act was originally intended to ease the burden on street vendors and make it easier for them to conduct business without facing criminal charges, fines or background checks, as well as lower fees. However, it included a home kitchen element, which requires street vendors to prepare their food in a certified home kitchen, a condition that .

The DC Department of Health states that under the micro-enterprise home kitchen permit, vendors must obtain an occupancy permit calibrated scale, a certified food protection manager certificate, and apply for a microenterprise home permit. Each of these steps for qualification of the home of the micro-enterprise home permit requires additional steps in payment before obtaining the final permit.

According to the , some street vendors were issued a cease-and-desist for all food service vending last year. This was partly due to the lack of emergency regulations from the DC Health Department and the transfer of handling of these businesses from the police to the DC Department of Licensing.      

As of 2024, the only approved street vending zones are in Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant; however, the mayor can add additional vending zones at her discretion.

The designation of approved street vending zones essentially removed all street vendors from U Street.

Columbia Heights is a couple of blocks down the road from U Street, yet is its own entity. Like U Street, the neighborhood is full of culture and vibrant life. The sounds of Latin music can be heard nearly any time of day.  The neighborhood has restaurants, stores, and salons catering to the Latin community, as well as a strip of chain businesses and a miniature shopping mall.

Walking down the sidewalk with the little space between street vendors and the storefronts can be a bit of a maze as people try to walk back and forth from their homes into the stores while visiting the vendors. Along this strip, you can find fresh fruit, tamales, tacos, and elite Aqua Fresca. Horchata. Jamaican food, soul food, hot dogs, burgers, trinkets, soccer jerseys, knockoff bags, body oils, and many more items being sold.

In the U Street area, behind the long lines and crowded streets, off in the corners and against the walls hidden from view, are the street vendors whose usual spots for optimal commercial flow are overtaken by the crowds waiting to enter the venues. The words 鈥渨aist beads鈥� and 鈥渏ewelry鈥� can be seen from a block away, the signs strategically placed around different corners leading up to two tables, one selling jewelry and the other Ghanian waist beads. It is their first night setting up at the U Street location, but they hope to turn a profit given the young adult draw to the neighborhood and its location and proximity to college campuses.

Resiliency of the neighborhood

Despite the challenges, local businesses like Crushed Skate Shop demonstrate resilience and continue to thrive in the unique environment of U Street. 

Having worked on U Street for over a decade, Aguilar has observed many changes in the neighborhood. He noted a significant increase in the number of dispensaries (some of which, he noted, ). 

Aguilar also highlighted the significant impact of 鈥� inflation is up, and consumers are cautious. Aguilar said he鈥檚 seen decreased foot traffic and a decline in sales, making it increasingly difficult for businesses to stay afloat.

Bryant echoed the same sentiment. Since opening her shop almost eight years ago, she said several neighboring businesses have opened and closed shortly after for various reasons, but primarily because rent prices in the neighborhood are on the rise.

Yet, the community’s is unwavering. Many owners of established businesses love the neighborhood. Bryant said the primary reason she wanted to set up shop on U Street was due to the cultural variety and the numerous women-owned and small businesses that bring in a wide array of people. Bryant said it was important for her to be in the middle of the hustle and bustle of U street, as it provides a lot of foot traffic and brings in business from the various clientele the other businesses. 

The businesses, restaurants, clubs, and bars all make up the neighborhood and community, respectively, and face their challenges, whether old or new. However, the people are the most essential part of the neighborhood that gives it character. 

Further down U Street, around 9^th Street, in front of Capo Italian Deli and Los Cinco Tacos, a lifelong DC resident and community favorite, Ms. Katie, can be seen hanging around during the evenings with other residents of the neighborhood. Ms. Katie said she has lived in the U Street neighborhood for the past fifteen years.

鈥淭he neighborhood doesn’t look the same as it did when I first got here,鈥� she said.

It used to be more of a community, Ms. Kate lamented, and people used to want to help each other. However, she said, “recently, they’ve been coming around here and changing things up, trying to get us out. They don’t want us here anymore, but they can’t get rid of me. This is my home.”

While her shop strives to contribute to the fabric of the U Street neighborhood and continue its cultural legacy, Bryant says that she 鈥渉opes to continue to see more businesses open up and hopefully stay for the long run.鈥� She also hopes to continue to see the culture of the neighborhood thrive. 鈥淯ltimately, we don鈥檛 ever want to become a boring block. So much of U street is its culture and the people and we don鈥檛 want to lose that.鈥�