The Potter's House
A bookstore and café, The Potter's house is deeply rooted in creating a space that cultivates discourse through open conversation and literature. The Potter's House opened its doors in 1960, and remains an important cultural institution. As a non-profit, the Potter's house places its true focus on creative expression and importat dialogue of authors and community members alike. They frequently host authors to share their work and engage in conversations with the public about their work. They have also frequently lifted up marginalized voices, hostiing Spanish language nights as well as publishing books about Latinx crafts. The Potter's house is a forum for the spatial imaginary of all its participants to come to life. Whether you write or read, The Potter's house creates space for every individual to proclaim their version of the world.
Un/fold: A Style Anthology Of D.C.
Un/Fold is a project aimed at bringing "together art, photography, storytelling and fashion in powerful ways to look at the clothed body in the city as a site for production of meaning, narrative, performance and communication." This project takes many forms, but the phsysical manifestation of it lays on the corner of Ontario Rd and Columbia Rd in Adams Morgan. This Mural pictures people of many walks of life wearing many different types of clothing, aimed at understanding the cultural and social significance of fashion in the capital. This is a fascinating lens through which to understanf race, class, and culture, as we can often forget what we wear is often a projection of ourselves to the world. Fashion can serve as our canvas, showing the world the life, space and culture we envision, our our very own spacial imaginary. Check out the full project: https://thisistribute.xyz/pages/un-fold-a-style-anthology-of-washington-dc#:~:text=Fashion%20matters%20deeply%2C%20from,is%20fantasy%2C%20desire%20and%20memory.
Safeway Mural
What better site for this mural than on the side of a Safeway. Much like this safeway, the streets, shops and bars of Adams Morgan are visited by an eclectic and diverse croud routinely. This mural does a wonderful job or depicting the menagerie of people who step foot in and contribute to the neighborhood. The three caricatures, all of distinct racial groups, all have a hand in creating and building the stars and stripes of D.C. The city and neighborhood can give thanks to all its people for creating the culture that now exists. This mural pays testament to this culture, and is a manifestation of how multiple spatial imaginaries exist, play off of each other, and compromise to create one vibrant neighborhood.
Adams Morgan Day
For 45 years, the residents of Adams Morgan have celebrated "Adams Morgan Day" each year. Entirely planned by volunteers, Adams Morgan is D.C.'s longest running neighborhood festival. A celibration of all things Adams Morgan, businesses, citizens, and newcomers alike are all invited to partake in the festivities. True culture on display, Adams Morgan day celebrates all that is great about the bustling neighborhood. Learn More about Adams Morgan Day: https://www.admoday.com/
Lost City Books
Veteran owned and visionary operated, Lost City Books is the perfect home for lovers of literature. Lost City aims to be "a chance to visit diverse places, ideas, time periods and experiences. To be curious --emotionally, intellectually, psychologically -- about the world." A sort of desire to expand horizons, to look beyond face value, and to hear the stories of the world is what sits on the shelves of this literary dream house. A spatial imaginary cultivated for lovers of the story, by a veteran with an earnest desire to share books with the world. A dissemination of not only paper bound books, but Ideas about what culture, life, and the neighborhood should be. Learn More about Lost City: https://lostcitybookstore.com/
Madams Organ
Opened in 1992, Madams Organ is a bar that invites the entire Adams Morgan community into its doors in order to watch local live bands and "let loose" in their own words. On their website you' learn they are "a family-run business that has witnessed the continuous gentrification of the community, we aim to be a welcoming neighbor instead of everything being about the dollar." Madams organ is a community institution that aims to invite all and even gives back through their youth outreach programs. They aim to teach neighborhood kids to take pride in their neighborhood so they may maintain it when they get older. Madam's organ has been around for 30 years and is a wonderful example of where all spatial imaginaries come to mix and interact. Each night, you can catch a wide array of people whose connection is a shared appreciation of the art and culture that make adams morgan what it is.
DC Arts Center
Offering both a place to display art, as well as foster a love and desire to create art, the DC arts center is comitted to representing artists from underrepresented communities. Their Sparkplug Artists’ Collective "is a one-year program that serves as a much-needed resource for artists seeking to establish, reignite, or sustain a professional art career." They seek to empower, sustain, and encourage all disciplines of art. The DC arts center is Directed by Tony-award nominated Sean Elias, and empowers local artists each and every day. The artistic vision and spatial imaginary of Adams Morgan residents comes to life on the walls of the center.
Smash! Records
Specializing in punk and alternative rock CDs and vinyls, Smash! Records is the place to go for what was once a bustling underground music scene in Washington. The Hardcore/Punk/Alternative rock scene in D.C. was at its peak in the 90s, and cultivated a significant countercultural movement. Although many of its creators were white and middle class, this kind of rock in D.C. represented a push against the mainstream where commercial success was almost frowned upon. Smash! is a living manifestation of these ideas, ideas pushing back against mainstream consumerist music culture, ideas that live on today. These ideas represent a unique spatial imaginary, a sort of attempt to popularize the idea of being unpopular.
Every Day I see Something New Mural
Created by DC native Cita Sadeli CHELOVE, this mural is a projection of not only the artist's culture and story, but the culture and story of Adam's Morgan. Cita is passionate about presenting stories and images of marginalized communities, but also about the different neighborhoods of D.C. Cita summarizes the eclectic culture of Adams Morgan in this grand mural, picturing the multitude of people and things anyone might see on a daily basis. CHELOVE's Indonesian heritage and D.C. upbringing create a unique lens through which she understands the neighborhood, making this mural a unique projection of her spatial Imaginary onto a physical canvas.
Marie H. Reed Community Center
Originally an elementary school, the Marie H Reed community center seeks to provide resources to the Adams Morgan neighborhood as a whole, but is geared towards childrens programs through recreation and a connection with a The Marie H Reed elementary school. Both the school and the recreation center are aimed at supporting youth and providing them with programs so that they may develop and understand their world, culture, as well as simply be kids. The Marie H Reed school offers a bilingual program as well. This center is a site through which kids may grow and develop their own unique perceptions of their neighborhood and its culture, imagining the spatial imaginary of the future.
