The Washingtonian Syndrome!

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      The Washingtonian Syndrome!2

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    I am a die hard Washingtonian and loved it in a way I never thought I would ever forget. That is the city of Washington DC. the nations capitol. I grew up there having memories of good times with friends and family and plenty of both. I learned early the value of the art of making friends. Back then the famous book "The Art of Making Friends and Influencing People" was considered one of the very best guides for setting your intellectual platform straight and setting up goals that would both allow you to embrace the world around you and be successful in it, and for this it was greatly lauded. For me just the thought was enough and I loved to make new friends and did so at every opportunity. But for the record I didn't even read the book till I was 14, then it was a book report. I had been influenced by the very words, which I got when the movie was a big hit in the fifties. 4

   With my friends I must have explored every corner of the city. Early on I learned how to catch the trolley cars that seemed to go almost everywhere to get where I wanted. I knew my way around so well that at ten I was already trusted to go myself and not get lost; but was usually stuck with my older brother who sort of put a damper on the whole adventure. He was my only sibling and he'd demand that I hold his hand and suddenly the adventure was over. 5

    I am Negro and I don't mind saying it. This return to Africa thing and use of the term 'Afro-American' ticks me off to no end. I owe nothing to Africa and I don't like referring to it in my identity. At the time fourteenth street was the center of town for blacks, of course this was only for business. The whole street was filled it seemed with business after business selling everything. And if you left the main street there was a "DGS" which was the local Jewish store no farther than three blocks away where ever you were. And if you couldn't get it there you still had the local drugstore which was also Jewish. The supermarket was a thing of the future, you see. 6

    If you road the trolley further downtown you were soon lost in the very size of things. There were no skyscrapers but there were buildings so tall I could not even see the tops eventually that's because they were so close to the curb, or maybe I was so little? If I could only imagine remembering all of them and I made a point of doing just that using postcards then only one cent or even five for a penny. The buildings along familiar routes became easy to spot and I knew when and where to get on or off accordingly. Since my mother was lucky enough to have a car she drove us to any destination off the trolley lines. So the most trips were to the museums, parks and of course the best of all the zoo . A nice warm day at the zoo with friends and money was the best thing to do in the city. You then had nothing to do but walk around and enjoy the animals and buy popcorn, peanuts, ice cream and candy or hot-dogs&soft drinks from the vendors. There you'd stay for the whole day or until we were picked up for the trip home. My very favorite memory is having picnics on the huge green lawn in front of the main visitors center just a little inside the main gate. There it seemed like you could buy almost anything. And I wanted everything but that was up to her boyfriend. Yes I said boyfriend! You see my parents divorced early in my life about when I was three. Boyfriends are very good, they buy you all sorts of things. They were out to impress her of course but I learned very early they would too spend and seemed to like it. Very few things could conflict with that for a good day. 7

    At the end of the line was my favorite the swimming pool at Haynes Point. The pool was at one end of a huge peninsula of one and a half miles of magnificent drive which ran adjacent to the Potomac River where boat races were held in the summer at the far end. One side closes the harbor of Washington ending the looming domination of huge government buildings for the sprawling harbor opposite the peninsula the pool and adjacent country clubs that ran the golf courses running the whole length of the peninsula right up to where you bought tickets for the boat races. The whole peninsula was all green grass, wind swept having trees only encircling the outer edges and there adequately dense to supply shade for would be fishermen and a sparse few there and about. I said wind-swept so you can imagine it having been designed for the cool breeze which was incomparable at the right time like in the cool of the evening on a hot summer day. With family a picnic basket maybe a watermelon and a ice chest of drinks and who needs the far away beach.8

    And there were swimming pools everywhere, and that is where I spent my summer days. Cheap and all you needed other than the $1.50 to get in was lunch money, but I lived only a block away so I could go home to eat. 9

   There were other places to go as well as the great museums that lined the mall on both sides and always popular, like Pst.beach! A fantastic and eclectic little park just two blocks from Dupont Circle the biggest circle in town where the cars from three or is it five avenues just seem to circle endlessly at the center of the Art or Arty culture of downtown not yet Georgetown to the west the place to be when and where the 'Hip' and 'Beat' were known to swing and let there hair down. There were many 'Jazz' clubs doing fairly well in spite of the advent of 'Rock & Roll' and the challenging coffee houses just getting started. 10

    Drugs were the thing you heard about as too expensive to begin with and 'that first one is free but you'll regret it for the rest of your life attitude ruled' and was enough, at least it was enough for me. The people who did drugs were the rich or a pusher and the occasional foreigner but if you wanted it there was anything for the right price and the price was heavy. That was long before the lessons of 'Madison Ave.' translated into volume equals big money. The 'Hippies' were a movement that sought to out all of the drug culture as basic base, brutal, degenerative and criminal as well a miss use of medicine. But then came the 'Eighties' and "Boom" everything seemed to collapse and suddenly drugs were cheap and everywhere. Then ten or fiffteen years later at the very worst time possible came the invention of 'Crack', cheap, three times as addictive and no cooking, it has the power to destroy a man and all of society and seems to be here to stay. ‘God’ help us all.11

    In the spring there was baseball at Griffith Stadium where the setting may have been segregated but this was baseball were talking about, the all American game. You know a guys got to go to the ball game! Around the same time the 'Barnum and Baily Circus' regularly came to town with the greatest show on earth. Now that was good entertainment. I always got a pet chameleon and it always died later. Then later on in late summer or early fall out on Benning Rd. there was inevitably the 'Carnival', big enough for everybody and seemingly endless rides and with no shows only side-shows. Oh!......And the food, it was irresistible. But is stayed for only two or three weeks. But who cared that is if you made it of course. 12

    I still remember my big adventure. It was after winter had finally been officially said to be over so my brother and best friends decided we'd try out our new bicycles and go all the way out to Maryland and check out this new thing called 'a mall'. The place was a full five and half miles away and we figured if something was going to breakdown it would happen on such a trip. Everybody agreed it would be the ultimate shake-down cruise and the farthest we had ever gone. In preparation we made a check list including food water five dollars spending money and of course a tire patch kit for the bikes. And so it was we went to "Prince George's Plaza" the very first 'mall' in the world. That's right the mall was invented right here. Well near here, but it was the first mall anywhere. It looked like all one big parking lot which is exactly what it was. But in the center were the buildings. And it was all out of doors except for a roof but you could walk in from anywhere and enough parking for a thousand. And it was packed. And one hundred eight stores in one place was unthinkable at the time. When I got home we all agreed it was worth it. 13

    For simple entertainment there was always the movies and for Negro's that meant 'U st' there we had three big theaters in a row. First was 'the Lincoln' and in the next block 'the Republic' and then once again in the next block 'the Booker T'. these were the biggest and best theaters in the Negro community. But none of them could hold a shine to one. When it came around to Friday night, the one at the end of 'U st' where 'Florida Ave.'and 'U st' seem to stop dead and turn into seventh st., the corner of Georgia Ave. and seventh street was where ‘The Howard’ had not only movies but a stage show. 14

    And some of the greats of the theater had played and if you were Negro and played Washington DC. you played the 'Howard'. Needless to say the shows were always great and on Friday nights the place was packed and no one was left wanting, never! James Brown, and his Band of Renoun , Diana Ross and the Supremes ; Perl Baily ; Gladys Night and the Pips ; Moms Mably ; Red Fox ; help me I just don't want to go on; the list is endless. 15

    The street was often blocked by the photographers and fans since that was the only opportunity to take that all important and badly needed photo-op. And was the bane of the place. As celebrities began to get more and more powerful they just couldn't supply adequate security at such an intersection, it was just too busy, so the place had to close. They fought till the bitter end but after re-opening two or three times they closed it for good. It was ten or fifteen years before the placed was demolished. 16

    What was not on a trolley line or close enough was available by Bus. The buses in the District of Columbia were excellent. You could find one that would take you just about anywhere at all. Strange neighborhoods and people enticed me to ride just for fun and the pleasure of knowing what was at the end of the line. Eventually I found that I was so aware of the availability of the local bus that I found myself without need of a car which worked for me since I eventually took sick and later found that would never be able to drive a car. But then you cannot miss something you have never had! And so it goes. 17

     I may live in Maryland now but Washington DC. will be the place I'll never forget and always call home!18