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H is for Happening
June 25, 2008
The Washington Post's Food section explores the Atlas District's emerging food scene.
Step Afrika! on WUSA 9 with Andrea Roane
June 10, 2008
WUSA Channel's Andrea Roane chats with some dancers from Step Afrika!
The Atlas was built in 1938 as a movie theatre with adjoining shops
along the 1300 block of H Street Northeast, a stone's throw from the
Capitol and a mile east of Union Station. The property was originally
part of the DC based K-B Chain of movie houses. The art moderne complex
supplanted the stores of cabinet maker Frank Spampinato and
confectioner M. Farris and Sons. 
The
Atlas owners, Max Burka and Fred Kogod, opened the 1,100 seat theatre
in 1938 with the movie Love Finds Any Hardy and celebrated the opening
with Leon Busiloff's Swing Band. They introduced popular innovations
including air conditioning and a nursery, and built shops as part of
the development. At various times over the remaining decades, E.
Edwards Haberdasher, People's Drug, Safeway, a karate studio and a wig
factory occupied the storefronts.
Like many urban neighborhoods nationwide, H Street was affected by the migration of the middle class to the suburbs in the 1950's and '60's. The commercial slide of H Street NE accelerated during the 1960's and the corridor's fortunes plummeted after 1968 in the wake of the riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Over ninety shops were razed; others moved away. Lenders shied away from the area and all of the theatres closed their doors. The Atlas closed in 1976.
The landmark complex was purchased by a non-profit organization, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, in 2002 with the intention of renovating the spaces as a community-based performing arts center. The $20 million renovation began in 2004 and was completed in November 2006. The grand opening was a multiple evening celebration with many musical and dance performances the centerpiece of which was Coming Home, a musical based upon the history of H Street and the variety of ethnic groups that called the area home during the 20th century.
Today the Atlas anchors the exciting redevelopment of the eastern edge of H Street which is now called "The Atlas District," Washington's newest nightlife area.
