Ambassador Theater (Washington, DC)
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The Ambassador Theater was a theater located at 2454 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW, Washington, DC. It was most notable for a six-month period in the 1960s when it was a psychedelic concert and dance hall.
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[edit] History
The Ambassador was located at 2454 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW and was on the site where the Knickerbocker Theater once stood. The Knickerbocker Theatre was designed by Reginald Geare and built in 1915 for Harry Crandall, who owned a small chain of theaters in Washington. It had a curved, three-story facade of limestone on red brick in a Georgian Revival style and seated 1,700. On 1922-01-22, 98 people were killed and 136 injured, when the roof of the Knickerbocker collapsed under the weight of thirty inches of snow in what was then the worst disaster in Washington. In 1923, Thomas Lamb built a new theater in the shell of the Knickerbocker, retaining the facade, which would be called the Ambassador. By the 50s, the Ambassador was struggling to compete with television and was suffering from low attendance.
In the 1960s, three men in their early 20s, Joel Mednick, Anthony Finestra and Court Rodgers were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses across the country when they decided to go see what was happening in San Francisco. Inspired by the psychedelic scene and dance halls, they came back to DC and decided to open their own dance hall. The first site the three tried to get was a car barn at K Street and Wisconsin Ave, NW, which they named The Psychedelic Power and Light Company. However, the district police would not issue a license for the use of the building. After being turned down they went after the Ambassador Theater. The captain of that ward mailed out letters to all the area merchants that stated that, "The Psychedelic Power and Light Company was moving into the neighborhood with drugs, long hair and loud music."
It frightened the residents in the area and some of the merchants wrote letters to the police department asking them to deny a permit to the owners. The Ambassador group had to cancel the Grateful Dead, who were booked for June 15, 1967, after posters were already made and equipment was already trucked in. On June 29, 1967, the Washington Star printed "the hippies and the not so hip tangled over whether a total involvement teenage night spot should open or not in Washington". By the time of the meeting, Finestra, Rodgers and Mednick decided not to change the name, instead just leaving it as The Ambassador Theater.
One person wanted to know just exactly what will go on in the Ambassador. Finestra said, "It would be a new art form but one that is hard to describe. It will combine music, flashing lights, films and slides. There will also be a nonalcoholic snack bar with cokes and hot dogs."[cite this quote] An 86 year old man said, "The people who would come to the dance hall would be the same type of people who gather at Dupont Circle and disgrace that place."[cite this quote] The trio for the Ambassador was backed by some of the local ministers and a decision was promised by July 12th. On July 13, 1967 the owners got their permits. During that time, the trio had lost thousands of dollars. They had already booked and lost The Grateful Dead as well as The Doors, plus paid the rent on the Ambassador. The Washington Star wrote, "It will be the city's first way out dance hall".
The Ambassador had the people who came to the show broken down into three groups:
1) Petal Children under 15
2) Flower Children 15-30
3) Old Flowers over 30
The theater had three large screens with 11 projectors to run short films. Three separate slide projectors to be used for color water that moves around in trays that were projected on the screens. There were also strobe light and fans to give the dancers a slow motion effect. If you really had the hippie spirit, there was a stand with beads, water pipes, psychedelic posters and underground newspapers. There were a few church pews for seating and also flowers painted on the floor.
The grand opening was on July 27, 1967 with the Peanut Butter Conspiracy and the Mandrake Memorial. The Daily News wrote about the Ambassador on opening night, "Our towns answer to New Yorks Electric Circus opens tonight." There was more than 1000 hippies there on opening night. An elderly woman from the neighborhood said, "I wouldn't give two cents to see somebody called The Peanut Butter Conspiracy". Tickets were $2.50 each and it was opened from 8:30PM to 1AM. Sandi Robinson of the Peanut Butter Conspiracy said, "As far as what the Ambassador is trying to follow is groovy." She also added that, "[the] Ambassador has a good light show."
On January 10 the equipment was moved out and the Ambassador officially shut down. It closed because of insufficient funds, but before closing it tried soul music without success. Former employees said It closed because of the uptight people of DC. According to one of the local newspapers[specify] on January 11, 1968, "The psychedelic night spot drops out." On September 29, 1969, the Ambassador Theater fell to the wrecking ball. Many residents in the area felt it had been standing too long then. They said, "it was an eye sore and bums hang out there. Whatever happens can only be an improvement."[cite this quote] In July 1974, the land where the Ambassador Theater stood was sold to a land investor in the Adams Morgan area. The investor said, "I hope to put a bank there."[cite this quote] A bank was constructed on the site in 1978.
On Saturday, November 3, 2007, a 40th anniversary reunion and panel discussion took place in Washington, DC as part of the DC Historical Studies Conference. Almost one hundred persons attended, including founders Joel Mednick and Court Rodgers (Tony Finestra passed away in 1991), as well as Jerry Marmelstein, Michael Paper, Michael Schreibman, Richard Harrington and Anne Groer (both from Washington Post). Moderated by filmmaker Jeff Krulik. A transcript of the panel will be made available in 2008.[citation needed]
[edit] Schedule of events
| July 1967 | ||
| 28, 29 ? | The Peanut Butter Conspiracy/Mandrake Memorial/Natty Bumppo | |
| August | ||
| 2-6 | The Free Spirits/The Ragamuffins | |
| 9-13 | Jimi Hendrix Experience/Natty Bumppo | |
| 16-20 ? | Wild Flower/US Male | |
| 23-26 ? | Vanilla Fudge/Lothar and the Hand People/The Fallen Angels | |
| September | ||
| 1 | The Paupers/US Male | |
| 8-10 | Keith/Wild Kingdom | |
| 15-17 ? | The Critters/US Male | |
| 21 | Lady Bird Johnson Counter Inaugural Ball | |
| 22-24 | Junior Wells/US Male | |
| 29-30 | Canned Heat | |
| October | ||
| 1 | Canned Heat | |
| 6-8 | The Youngbloods | |
| 13-15 | Paul Butterfield Blues Band | |
| 20-22 | The Fugs/Robert Lowell/Norman Mailer | |
| 27-29 | John Lee Hooker/Mosaic Virus | |
| November | ||
| 3-4 | John Lee Hooker | |
| 10-13 | Stawberry Alarm Clock/Mosaic Virus | |
| 17-19 | The Cousin Duffy Show | |
| 24-26 | Thanksgiving | |
| 29 | Benefit Concert for The Concerned Citizens for Peace with Tom Lehrer, The New Lost City Ramblers and Lion's Den | |
| December | ||
| 1-2 | Moby Grape/Crystal Mesh | |
| 3 | Closed due to the Jefferson Airplane concert at the Sheraton Park | |
| 8-9 | Mother Frog presents Children of Paradise | |
| 10 | The Hollies/Crystal Mesh | |
| 15-17 | Circus Maixum | |
| 23-January 1, 1968 | Open Every Night | |
| January 10, 1968 | Ambassador closes its doors. |
[edit] References
This entry uses text that originally appeared in DC Monuments fanzine by Bob Embry 1997.
