Honoring a DC sports and civil rights pioneer: If UDC has anything to say about it, more people will know E.B. Henderson’s name. And we should. Well over a century ago, Henderson, a graduate of a UDC predecessor, introduced the game of basketball to Black youth in segregated DC, and made history through his efforts to advance Black athletes and civil rights causes. The Washington Post goes into more detail on the “Grandfather of Black Basketball’s” accomplishments and legacy. UDC is unveiling a statue in his honor on Saturday, June 24th at 1 p.m. RSVP here to attend.
Bowling in Van Ness: At one point in the early 1940s, the Post also reports, DC-area bowlers had more than more than 30 bowling alleys to choose from. The Chevy Chase Ice Palace where Park Van Ness stands today had 57 lanes. And that was a decade before automation. So, who set up the pins for the players? People. Mostly young, Black and male, except during the labor shortages World War Two, when the Ice Palace hired female “pinettes.”
Polar bears in Van Ness: “Beck’s Frozen Custard locations were notable for the two concrete polar bears that flanked the doors,” writes the Post. “The exteriors of the stores were adorned with white, icicle-like stalagmites of plaster, the walls inset with bits of shattered mirror. Truly a custardy fever dream.” And one of these was on the 4400 block of Connecticut.
An unlikely bird sanctuary: Twice a year, the maintenance yard near the Rock Creek Nature Center becomes a hotspot… for migratory birds. And that draws the birders. We’ve reported on this phenomenon – in early spring and late summer – before. WAMU/DCist has taken note as well, in an article about where to join the legions of birdwatchers.
An unlikely water park: A DCist article about places around the District that would be large enough for a proposed resort and water park lists the former Intelsat/Whittle School campus as an “outlier.” What makes it an unlikely candidate, states the article, are the building’s historically protected status and “well-resourced” neighborhood opponents. But really, the most formidable gatekeeper is probably the owner of the land itself: the U.S. Department of State.
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