Paying Attention

Paying Attention. A Fitting Tribute. , By the 1970s, nearby Dupont Circle's counterculture and gay businesses extended into Logan Circle, making Logan an attractive place to live for members of DC's gay and lesbian communities. Political collectives and individuals acquired neglected but stately 19th-century rowhouses, removing their partitions to restore them as community centers, workplaces, and private homes., In the early 1980s, a mysterious disease , soon known as AIDS , began taking lives including at least eight on Corcoran Street's 1300 block alone. Whitman-Walker Clinic, founded in 1973 as the Gay Men's VD Clinic in Georgetown, became the local leader in providing health care and supportive services before and after AIDS treatments became available. Jim Graham headed the clinic from 1981 until his 1998 election as Ward One's representative to the DC City Council., Whitman-Walker, which moved to 14th and S in 1987, offered anonymous HIV tests and provided housing and food assistance, satellite clinics in Anacostia and nearby suburbs, and a needle-exchange program. In 1993 the clinic opened this facility, named for actress Elizabeth Taylor to honor her advocacy for AIDS research and her role in persuading a reluctant President Ronald Reagan to address the AIDS crisis. Taylor attended the clinic's opening and presented a check for $50,000., On your way to Sign 5, you will pass 1333 R Street, the onetime home of renowned artist James Lesesne Wells. At 1327 R is the former Mu-So-Lit Clubhouse. This elite African American men's group, established in 1905 promoted intellectual growth through lectures on music, society, and literature. One of its members, the eminent writer and philosopher Alain Locke, lived across the street at 1326 R., Discover More… , 15th Street Presbyterian Church , The Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, founded in 1841 as the First Colored Presbyterian Church, is one block west at 15th and R Streets. The church sponsored the nation's first high school for African Americans, the prestigious Preparatory High School for Colored Youth (later M Street and then Dunbar High School).