Perry King Interview, September 12, 2021

All right, so, my name is Katy Shenk. Can you tell us your name?

My name is Perry King.

Could you tell us, what is your relationship to Adams Morgan?

Well, I first came to DC in 1977. I'm from North Carolina originally and I came here back and I went back to finish school in North Carolina and I came here in '78 to go to Howard School of Social Work, ended up staying in DC all that time. So I've had a lot of experience in DC. I've been a street vendor while I was working my way through grad school and I actually, Worked on the corner of 18th and Columbia where I learned Spanish. Now, what was special. Then I'll tell you what was special. The gingko trees, the ginkgo trees used to line Adams Morgan big-time. These gingko trees, by the way, are the owned, the living plants left over from the era of the dinosaurs, aren't a lot of people know that. They, don't have a, they don't have a spine in the middle. They have a fan-shaped leave, they're more primitive than the leaves, with the, with the, with the spine, in the middle, you will so they've survived. There's also the only living thing that survived the Hiroshima bomb, bomb blast was a gingko tree, but they did not survive Adams Morgan because some fool had the idea to cut the trees down so we could widen the parking areas. Okay? Or whatever they did and I was, I didn't even know about it. If I hadn't known about it. I woulda organize a tree sitting and I would have climbed up. There's one tree. I used to sit under when I was a street vendor as a young man, and I had a relationship with that treat, and to just to see it gone with the, I didn't even hear about a public hearing or anything. They were going to cut down the trees. One day. They were gone almost, you know, I said "what", you know, so, you know, I'm pissed. I'm still pissed about it. Every time I think about it, I get really pissed about it. So that's the one memory that special to me and then to top that off to add insult to injury. They want to put a condo on the plaza where I've been coming to Farmers Market for almost 40 years. Mike Tabor, and Esther Siegel have been running the farmers market. There's four The 70s and they want to put a condo there, isn't that great. There's no planning. There's no quality of life thinking in this, it's just pure, "Oh, there's a piece of land. Let's put a condo up". This area needs public space. We need public space, and they're putting condos on our public space. Same things happening in other parts of DC, Bruce Monroe Park. Those people are having to fight to keep condo development out of their public's park. Over in Brooklyn then. Midland Reservoir project. They want to put condos there. If we let them we'll have no public space. They'll put a condo here in Kalorama park. Why not? It's an empty space. So anyway, there's a lot I'm really pissed about but old Adams Morgan was special. You had economic diversity, you had ethnic diversity. When I first came here as a southern boy from North Carolina. I got educated. I met Ethiopians. I meant Ganans. I met Latinos of all persuasions. South Americans, Europeans, Asians, and I lived and worked with them and it's really, it's a special place. Adams Morgan with its economic diversity and its ethnic diversity. What it was was a special place. Now, I think it's becoming a little bit. Like maybe, I don't know. San Fran tourist or something, you know, it's just kind of really kind of glitch — different now. What can I say? Oh, I have to tell you this, Johnny Winter. We saw rock and roll legend, Johnny Winter play at the Ontario theater that was used to be like live music right here on. I mean, big-time live music. We still have really good live music. But this was like, big names. I understand, several big names and played at the old Ontario theater. I saw the Color Purple there. I went to see The Color Purple at the Ontario theater, that was around quite experienced, because the crowd was really into it, and everybody is responding emotionally to it in something. So it's quite amazing experience. I got gas enough ago, and I talked about the Balloon Man, too, I'm trying to find some people. How long you been in DC miss? You ever remembered a balloon man? Ha! ha! Well, do you remember the guy? Okay, stood at the 18th and Columbia all day long with a really loud voice. He would say, "make the lovely ladies happy, make the children happy. They're big. They're beautiful balloon. And when the children are happy, everyone is happy!" He said that over and over and over all day long. It's like part of the atmosphere was the balloon, man. You remember that? Yeah, wasn't that great.

I had some balloons from the balloon man.

I think everybody could tell that story. He was the balloon man. He was like, Adams Morgan, this feature and I would about the Rhythm man. Do you remember the Rhythm man? He was a dancer who used to hustle people dancing on the street. He used to, you know, kind get money. Tap dancing..

There were a couple of those in town.

Yeah, yeah.

Some of them [INAUDIBLE] And we got all of them to come there and teach the kids to do performance.

Anyway, I understand. He used to, he taught Janae who used to tap dance on the bar at lautrec Cafe. He was famous act they did, he did. He did a little act on weekends. He did a tap dance, on the bar. New Orleans style fashion, tap dancing on the bar.

Right, right. The picture is still there of the Toulouse-lautrec, the picture is that, yeah the other murals still there. Yeah, but that used to be the originally was Cafe lautrec and it was a great spot. You know, it was great, little live spot. Yeah, a lot of memories. What can I say?

That was good. But what I would like for you to share with Katy is that people don't know that the Ontario movie theater was like an elite special place like the Kennedy Center when movies came out. It wasn't like a neighborhood movie theater it was a very special theater. If you were somebody you went to the Ontario Theater.

Okay, and it declined in the 80s, of course, in the 80s, the area became pretty seedy really and then in the 90s to was big. Well, Columbia Heights. Especially, actually lived in Columbia Heights. During the crack era. I was at 14th and Irving, but the crack wars in the 90s really changed the neighborhood. I think went down and became known as you know "murder capital" and all that stuff. So it was pretty rough here at that time. It wasn't as nice as the 1880s. 80s was nice. Cool. Disco Dan, remember that? Don't you? Oh, boy. I've been, I went to all the places like that. Mr. Henry. I played music, a lot of these places. I'm a musician myself.

Can you talk about that?

Well, I'm mostly a street musician, but I've had played in clubs, but I have a hobby. I have a job. I'm a social worker by career and still work full-time. But I've always loved to go out on the street, playing music with my amplifier and once in a while. I'd get a little gig in restaurant or something, nothing big time. But I've done that a lot around here too. All kind of music. Mostly. Georgetown though, it's where I had a little gig in Cafe and stuff. Yeah, so, but don't see many street musicians anymore. Like we used to used to. Street used to be full of street, musicians, and that created a nice atmosphere, especially in Georgetown. And sometimes in Adams Morgan too, there were a lot more people out, you know, just, you know, kind of lends, a kind of relaxed, feels like New Orleans, you know what I mean? When people out playing music creates a vibe. Yeah, but I think the vibe has changed a lot. I got to embrace it like it is because it's still in, it's still evolving and we could, the people who are here make it what it is. I am worried about the economic diversity. What happens when a neighborhood, I will credit Jubilee Housing whom I've known long time and done some volunteer work with, they've kept some extent, that's a nonprofit that is that is along with All Souls church and their housing Ministries have kept some low income housing in Adams Morgan but there's not much low-income housing left. And I think that's a problem because that used to be that fetch. What makes a neighborhood. Really, the economic diversity makes a neighborhood really thrive, you know, when it once it gets high scale, you just get all these glitzy, corporate things and with no soul. You know what I mean? That's what you get and you get gated communities. But when you have economic diverse, you have a real vibrant neighborhood, you know. But that's why we need the plaza. I've been going to the farmers market, I've been buying flowers there, been buying bread there for like since 1978 and and they want to put a condo there. God bless them.

Is there anything we can do to —

well, I was just telling Tara who said its in appeals now and so if we can mobilize a big up, I don't know how how to advocate for the courts. I'll leave that out if we have a demonstration I'll come to it, you know, I don't know but it's about it. I heard it was on appeal now, so they're still trying to appeal the plaza and they have something up there right now, which I'm going to ride my bike by to protest the plaza.

[inaduible]

So, anyway, I'll end up by saying one day, a long time ago. I remember walking down Park Road. And I remember how many different people it was. Those days. There was a Vietnamese community that lived on Park Road, and I was thinking about how many different of the world's people that I saw on Park Road? I was just walking home one day on Park Road and I had experience of Joy, just feeling glad that I had moved in this neighborhood and had been lived my life in DC. So I'll leave with that.

Thank you so much for sharing all that with us.