Busboys and Chili Bowls

    The moment you step out of the train and stat walking towards the exit of the U street metro station you can sense that this is not an ordinary place but one with a thrilling history. The murals on both sides of the tunnel portrait people of different ethnicities, all doing different things – playing instruments, talking, dancing. This almost instantly leads you to the conclusion that U street has something important to tell you if you are simply willing to listen.

    Our first stop – Busboys&Poets. When I walked into this bookstore/café I felt inspired – to read, to create, to learn more about the world around me. And so I went directly into the bookstore section, eager to buy any books I found interesting. You can never spend enough or too much time on books, just money. Before my eyes there were hundreds of them, waiting to tell their stories and share their wisdom with anyone. Shelves after shelves, I wish I had enough time to look at every one of them. Their covers all colourful and diverse, each drawing my attention and overwhelming me. With the promise that we would come back in just a few minutes we went to the café area. The walls were covered with various types of art, each of which just like the books telling its own story. My eyes were looking at faces and quotes of people of different times - people who had changed the world in all kinds of good ways and who keep inspiring others to do the same. This place is a living story, sharing itself with everyone who walks through its doors.

     Our second stop was probably one the most well known restaurants in the area – Ben’s Chili Bowl. The smell of delicious food when you walk by it simply summons you to go inside and indulge your taste buds. And you do it. It is inevitable. But it is definitely worth it. Not just because you get to taste the best fast food you could ever wish for but because you also get to “taste” the history of this place. It has been around for decades and has become symbolic for DC. When you walk you immediately start looking at all the pictures on the walls of famous people who have visited Ben’s Chili Bowl. A man who grew up on the same street presented us a detailed story of the restaurant, its founders and his own life. It was just like a story you hear about on films or read about somewhere. 

     U street is a dynamic place full of history and I feel like if you want to want to know all of it the only way to do is by asking all the people who have grown up here in the past few decades about their stories and write them down. Because they will be long and thrilling.

  

Ana-Maria Molnar