A Neighborhood Beacon for the Arts
To an outsider, the center looks like it’s turned into a local hotspot for Washingtonians to sell pirated movies and fake luxuries. But for locals, the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street has a bittersweet story behind the florescent bulbs that send trails down the streets.
“Yea, I’m familiar with Atlas,” said Barbara Campbell, a beloved old-timer who has lived on 44th Street- northeast from H Street- for 70 years. “I was there to see the riots!”
Campbell is referring to the local riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, riots that sent Atlas spiraling into years of neglect.
When Atlas first opened in 1938, it was one of four movie theaters to premiere on H Street in the Northeast section of Washington D.C. Locals then certainly would not have seen a theater that had bulbs with fancy alternating patterns, as the theater does now. Atlas then had more modest roots, but it soon turned into a hotspot where black people didn’t feel oppressed because of the color of their skins. That was their corner, their movie theater; it was an escape to not feel afraid of the fear instilled by those who opposed African-American culture. It was also, in a way, a local playground; neighbors socialized and children played Cee-lo, a dice game where you have to roll a six.
After King’s assassination, the Atlas fell into disrepair. Local streets were rioted and the theater was looted. It sat silent and dark; a gloomy reminder of the death of both a civil-rights activist and a doctrine.
Campbell remembers the riots well. “My knees had been practically touching my forehead as I was tucked underneath the table,” she said. “My mother wasn’t home and I was scared.”
In 2001, Atlas’ fortunes took a turn for the better when Jane Lang, a philanthropist and lawyer, decided to find a way to use the space at the theater in the best possible way. Her interest helped form a local group that decided to make the theater and several storefronts a facility for the performing arts. The group’s plan went into action in 2003 after the Washington D.C. government decided to fund a community-based performing art center as part of an effort to bring new life to the H Street corridor.
Now the Atlas is a community icon. While many tourists flock to the northern part of Washington to see museums and landmarks like the U.S. Capitol, like any city, the core of Washington is in its inner city, where the Atlas has turned into a neighborhood anchor. The arts center now covers some 59,000 square feet, with space for art and dance studios, and also performance space. It’s a reminder of the long and sweet history of its first life.
