Then and Now: Ben's Chili Bowl

Historic

by Allicia • December 7, 2009 3:30 pm

Ben Ali, founder of Ben's Chili Bowl, passed away two months ago. Lines stretched out the door of the Ali family's business as the DC community and the media gathered to honor Ben's legacy on October 7, 2009.

For many of us in DC, Ben's Chili Bowl goes far beyond the half-smokes, shakes and chili served in the historical U Street corridor. Having survived gentrification and culture clashes, the Ali family's business became a cultural institution since the 1950s.

The Alis opened their business in DC's "Black Broadway" in 1958 and attracted many prominent figures in history, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Duke Ellington, Bill Cosby and Nat King Cole. They operated a business during the days of segregated Washington when most establishments were white-only. Decades later, the business would go on to operate as a late night hot spot by becoming a cross-way of blacks, whites, punk rockers in the '80s, gay couples, government workers, DC visitors, residents from Virginia and Maryland suburbs.

In 2009, Ben's Chili Bowl became a destination for DC tourism after Mayor Fenty and President Obama had lunch in January. It's hard to imagine that 41 years ago, this area ignited into fire and riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968.

Many businesses became vacant after the riots but a little hope remained in U Street as Ben's Chili Bowl operated to serve the homeless, firefighters and activists who worked to restore the damage. Having survived the riot of '68, Ben's Chili Bowl was the only operating business in U Street.

Mary Battiata of the Washington Post wrote,

And what a world. Top hats and satin slip-dresses and silver screens and jazz. Look! There's Cab Calloway. Look! It's Pearl Bailey. Streetcars and speakeasies. Langston Hughes wrote poetry here. Duke Ellington grew up and played. It was the place to be in black Washington from 1920 until the '60s. Handsome buildings built with black capital, designed by black architects and made by black hands. Nobel Peace Prize winners rubbing shoulders with milliners rubbing shoulders with professors and dishwashers and shoeshine men and schoolteachers and government clerks.

The Ali family would go on to become a model for black-owned business in DC in the '60s.

Photo by FrenchTwistDC.

Although developers of residential living and retail businesses are on a quest to transform the old 14th Street, Ben's original half-smokes and chili have always remained the same to serve the hungry for more than half a century. Ben's Chili Bowl is recognized for being an important staple of DC's culture and history, a place that is only found in DC and unique to us. It goes beyond the half-smokes to us in the nation's capital. They have clearly survived the test of time and will continue to inspire us.

Cross-posted at ReadySetDC.

20 comments — Share	— tags: DC, historic comparison, retail, U Street

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Comments

I love how white yuppies move into U Street and then complain about all the white people moving in.

There are seriously some people who wish that the corridor stayed a slum, for no other reason than it was more 'authentic'.

by MPC on Dec 7, 2009 3:51 pm

Don't forget that Lee's flowershop also survived the 1968 riots. Ben's is wonderful, but we are doing a disservice to history if we forget the full story of the 1968 riots.

by vphcfu on Dec 7, 2009 4:42 pm

"Although developers of residential living and retail businesses are on a quest to transform the old 14th Street"

On a quest? Didn't the District spend decades trying to attract new investment and revitilazation to the areas that were flattened by the riots? Hasn't the neighborhood become more livable and vibrant now that it's filled with amenities? Isn't it better that there's a new mix of people, including young people who want to live there? Isn't is better that the area now yields positive tax revenues rather than being a tax drain?

Isn't it better that the area is once again an attraction and somewhere to celebrate rather than a black eye and somewhere to avoid?

Get over the developer-bashing. It's so 1980's and suburban. In order to stay attractive and vibrant, human settlements need to evolve and change. Otherwise, they get stagnant like Washington was between 1968 and about 2002 or so. You aren't wishing for a return to the bad old days, are you?

I agree that a community should set rules and economic incentives for the right kind of human-scale development. It should limit things like parking lots that decrease vibrance. However, it is just naive and pretentious to claim that "developers are trying to change old 14th st" as if all change is bad.

by Cavan on Dec 7, 2009 4:54 pm

Back on topic, I have yet to make it to Ben's Chili Bowl. Something I should probably change before too long...

by Froggie on Dec 7, 2009 5:08 pm

I'm not sure Ben's was a model for Black businesses in the 60s. DC and many other cities with large, established African-American populations had Blcak-owned businesses in the 60s and before. Black-owned, as well as White-owned businesses were lost in the riots.

As for developers, they came late to U Street. The area was pioneered by people who were willing to gamble on it. Redevelopment has driven out some useful businesses like the garage that stood on the site of Union Flats. Developers play a small and very late role in Adams-Morgan. They played little role in Dupont, Georgetown and Capital Hill which all gentrified over fairly long periods of time. The P Street strip near Logan Circle (along with redevelopment of the S side of the Circle) is probably the one successful example of developer interest made truly far-reaching changes in a DC neighborhood and that's because enough change had happened that it needed some amenities to take things over the top. Even with new retail and apartments, Columbia Heights has many problems, in part because it remains a place with huge income disparities, because of the large concentration of subsidized housing.

The suburban success stories are at best, mixed. Silver Spring has dead zones and is an unattractive place to be at night. Bethesda is dead along Wisconsin Ave throughout most of the day. Clarendon/Court House's small businesses are overshadowed by the big boxes.

by Rich on Dec 7, 2009 6:17 pm

Turkey Burger with chili cheese and onions with chili/cheese fries. And a coke.

Anyway, development is neither good nor evil when you don't consider the type of development. A lot of the development around 14th I would say has been good. Gentrification is also a loaded word but as long as its something that happens naturally and isn't some sort of forced move out.

by Canaan on Dec 7, 2009 6:37 pm

One small correction above the fold:

"the Ali family's business ~~became~~ has been a cultural institution since the 1950s."

by wmata on Dec 7, 2009 6:59 pm

It's hard to imagine that 41 years ago, this area ignited into fire and riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968.

maybe if you're not from the dc area. the fire and riots are burned into the collective memory of locals.

by AJ on Dec 7, 2009 7:49 pm

Amen Cavan. I sometimes get the feeling that those criticising the developers have a tinge of jealousy in their arguments against the developers ... or anyone successfully making a profit from doing good.

On another note, I LUV Ben's Chili Bowl, and always thought of it as a great 'Afrrican American restaurant ... like the Florida Grill. And after reading how it survived the riots and was a beacon in the African American community in a neighborhood that was otherwise falling to a state beyond repair, I was very shocked to learn recently that Ben wasN'T African American. The Post article appearing after his death said he was Jamaican ... and of Arabic heritage ... i.e., an immigrant to our country and city. I have to wonder why this wasn't well known before his death. Isn't it okay for Arab immigrants in this city to be successful?

by Lance on Dec 7, 2009 11:00 pm

Delicious going in, quick to come out. Plus, cool architecture.

"I was very shocked to learn recently that Ben wasn't African American."

Don't be shocked, back's in the day if you had dark skin and didn't get uncomfortable standing next to black people, white people would give you an hohorary membership.

"Isn't it okay for Arab immigrants in this city to be successful?" WTF? Anyway, he's not arab, he's Caribean
(Indian/Trinidadian?)

by Thayer-D on Dec 8, 2009 5:46 am

Yeah, there are a lot of people with South Asian ancestry in the Caribbean, and in South America, much more so than the term "Hispanic" gives away.

Once you've had Chinese-Cuban food, talked politics with Portuguese-speaking Ukrainian-Italian, and sat on a bus with a Grenadian who is half Indian and a quarter Swedish... you start to grasp the diversity in a way you don't learn in school.

by Neil Flanagan on Dec 8, 2009 6:35 am

Wilson's also survived the riots intact.

$8 for a halfsmoke. The times they are 'a changin.

by monkeyrotica on Dec 8, 2009 8:15 am

There's much more diversity in the suburbs.

by MPC on Dec 8, 2009 9:51 am

This is one of those places that is famous for being famous. The food is mediocre at best.

by finehoe on Dec 8, 2009 12:47 pm

Ben's has been supported by the DC government and the politically correct mob, while some of the much more, historically important and REAL NATIVE WASHINGTONIAN restaurant establishments have been allowed to close or to fall to the wayside. Ben's has received many favors from the city- including a very generous property tax abatement, while other restaurants have not been allowed access to this largess.

Market Inn, Sholls, Sherrills, Reeves, and many other very colorful and historic establishemnts have fallen to the wayside in recent years- w/o and help or concern from the city. Sholl's was never segregated, and was famous for feeding the homeless population for free. How is that for politically correct kudos? I do not think that Ben's has near the credentials of that place- and we didnt see any kind of effort at all to support them in their times of misfortune.Same goes for Reeves, which dated back to the 1870's. They were a mainstay of downtown DC. There are a number of "other" restaurants in DC that predate Ben's- by many decades - and for Bens and the media elite [ who are mostly not from DC ] advertise Ben's as "historic" is plain ludicrious and disingenuous.

by w on Dec 8, 2009 12:47 pm

There's much more diversity in the suburbs.

True dat.

by Marian Berry on Dec 8, 2009 3:35 pm

My understanding was that the Market Inn had a sweetheart 50 year lease with the owner of the property and there was no possible way that such a lease could be extended on those terms when it expired last year, and there was also no possible way the Market Inn could ever afford anything close to market rate rent.

In the end, the Market Inn was probably making more off of renting out parking spaces in its lot to commuters (unless the property owner controlled that?) then on meals or drinks. The place was essentially ignored by the professional white-collar workers under the age of 40 who occupy most of the new office buildings on that block (Treasury, NASA, Public Health Service, etc). I would go there once in a blue moon, purely for the kitch value, as would others (its a bad sign when people come in take a few pictures and leave wihtout ordering a drink), but that isn't enough to remain viable. Of course, it was packed every day during its last week, but where were those people before?

I'm not really sure what the city could or should have done. People stopped going there. All the tax abatements in the world weren't going to change that.

by swester on Dec 8, 2009 6:12 pm

AJ said: "maybe if you're not from the dc area. the fire and riots are burned into the collective memory of locals."

I wasn't here when this occured, but I've heard your sentiment expressed again and again. We owe those of you who lived through this chaos a lot. Unfortunately this city got used as a political football by all those involved.

by Lance on Dec 8, 2009 11:10 pm

Add Waffle Shop and Hodges Roast Beef to that list of small, locally owned businesses that the DC Government would rather turn into office cube cash cows. The DC Government doesn't give a fat rat's fart about small business. Just ask the guys trying to open Capitol City Diner in NE.

by monkeyrotica on Dec 9, 2009 8:46 am

The Market Inn really went downhill towards the end. I took my parents there for the jazz brunch, after I hadn't been there for about a year, and the food was mediocre at best...and a little embarrassing after I talked the place up.

Ben's -- overrated. Let's not forget the Reeves Center, which was the city's bid to revitalize U St.

by Paul on Dec 9, 2009 12:58 pm