Busboys and Poets
Encyclopedia
Busboys and Poets is a restaurant, bookstore, lounge, and theater in Washington, D.C.
, founded in 2005 by Andy Shallal
. A second location opened in Shirlington
in 2007; a third location opened in Washington, D.C., in 2008; and a fourth in Hyattsville, Maryland
opened in July 2011. It has been described as a haven for writers, thinkers and performers from America's progressive social and political movements.
, which runs the bookstore area, until it turned a profit.
The name refers to American poet Langston Hughes
, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930s, prior to gaining recognition as a poet. Rejected ideas for the restaurant's name include Writers Block Cafe, Broken Bread Cafe and White Rabbit Cafe, the latter inspired by The Matrix
.
Shallal painted the giant civil rights movement
-themed mural covering one wall of the restauarant, titled Peace in Struggle Wall. He refuses to sign the mural, saying this would be a "final gesture" that would preclude him from making revisions later. The collage depicts civil rights icons including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and Nelson Mandela
. It features the words of Langston Hughes, "Let America be America again / Let it be the dream it used to be."
Busboys also occupies the same building as the Langston Lofts, built by PN Hoffmann in 2005, and the theater hall is called Langston Room. Plays performed at Busboys include "Fear Up, about Guantanamo Bay, "Operation: Dreamland" about the occupation of Fallujah from the perspective of an American soldier. It has also hosted a screening of the Guerilla Film Festival.
Busboys is a microcosm of the U Street renaissance, drawing together black, white, gay, straight, young and old alike. The name is a tribute to Langston Hughes, who was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930s when he slipped three of his poems to a patron. The guest was the famous wordsmith Vachel Lindsay, who proclaimed in the papers the next day his discovery of a “Negro busboy poet.”
, NBC News
and ABC's "Good Morning America
" all filmed segments inside the restaurant within the restaurant's first few months. Kevin Zeese
, manager of Ralph Nader
's 2000 presidential campaign and director of Democracy Rising
, related to The Hill
, "Boom! It just became an incredibly important landmark for the community. It definitely has a progressive feel to it; it's in the 'hood, not disjointed from the community like the National Press Club
and Capitol Hill are." Shallal said of the restaurant's popularity, "I've opened many restaurants, [but] this is the first time that people came in and got it right away."
The Busboys clientele has included Nader, Cindy Sheehan
, Tom Hayden
, Harry Belafonte
, Amiri Baraka
, Rep. Maxine Waters
, Rep. Lynn Woolsey
, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Anthony Shadid
and Dave Meggyesy
, a former St. Louis Cardinals
linebacker who quit the NFL in protest of the Vietnam War
. Additionally, onetime Washington Wizards
center Etan Thomas
has performed his poetry at Busboys. Minnesota Senator, Al Franken
spoke in Busboys and Poets' Langston Room, Howard Zinn
, Alice Walker
, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
and her daughter, actor Matt Dillon
, modern hip hop artist Keri Hilson
and other celebs have either ate or hosted an event.
Shallal initially hired a chef, but changed his mind a week before opening, believing the food called too much attention to itself. He brought the chef over from Mimi's to train the kitchen staff, and Shallal contributed his own recipes.
. According to a recent article by Justin Fair featured on The Pink Line Project, the Hyattsville restaurant "is a benefit to the community and a welcoming guide for other businesses and folks to come into the Gateway Arts District."
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, founded in 2005 by Andy Shallal
Andy Shallal
Anas "Andy" Shallal is an Iraqi-American artist, activist and restaurateur. He is best known for his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and as proprietor of the Busboys and Poets restaurant chain in the Washington, DC area.-Early life:Shallal moved to the United States with his family in 1966...
. A second location opened in Shirlington
Shirlington, Virginia
Shirlington is an unincorporated urban area, officially called an "urban village", in the southern part of Arlington County, Virginia, United States, adjacent to the Fairlington area...
in 2007; a third location opened in Washington, D.C., in 2008; and a fourth in Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
opened in July 2011. It has been described as a haven for writers, thinkers and performers from America's progressive social and political movements.
Establishment
Busboys and Poets lies two blocks from U Street, a commercial corridor in Northwest Washington, known as "Black Broadway" in its heyday. Concerned that his creation of a trendy artistic space would clash with U Street's traditional identity, Shallal reached out for support from community leaders, neighborhood groups, church organizations, schools and radio stations prior to opening the location. Shallal obtained a loan from black-owned Industrial Bank, located at 11th and U streets. Shallal also decided not to charge rent to Teaching for ChangeTeaching for Change
Teaching for Change is a 5013 non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. that has the goal of encouraging social justice through classrooms, by building alliances between parents, community members and teachers interested in promoting social justice, and also through through publications,...
, which runs the bookstore area, until it turned a profit.
The name refers to American poet Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, who worked as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930s, prior to gaining recognition as a poet. Rejected ideas for the restaurant's name include Writers Block Cafe, Broken Bread Cafe and White Rabbit Cafe, the latter inspired by The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
.
Shallal painted the giant civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
-themed mural covering one wall of the restauarant, titled Peace in Struggle Wall. He refuses to sign the mural, saying this would be a "final gesture" that would preclude him from making revisions later. The collage depicts civil rights icons including the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
and Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
. It features the words of Langston Hughes, "Let America be America again / Let it be the dream it used to be."
Busboys also occupies the same building as the Langston Lofts, built by PN Hoffmann in 2005, and the theater hall is called Langston Room. Plays performed at Busboys include "Fear Up, about Guantanamo Bay, "Operation: Dreamland" about the occupation of Fallujah from the perspective of an American soldier. It has also hosted a screening of the Guerilla Film Festival.
Busboys is a microcosm of the U Street renaissance, drawing together black, white, gay, straight, young and old alike. The name is a tribute to Langston Hughes, who was working as a busboy at the Wardman Park Hotel in the 1930s when he slipped three of his poems to a patron. The guest was the famous wordsmith Vachel Lindsay, who proclaimed in the papers the next day his discovery of a “Negro busboy poet.”
Reception
Shallal had said he would keep Busboys running even if just broke even, but it proved a success from the beginning, even without committing an advertising budget. C-SPANC-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
and ABC's "Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
" all filmed segments inside the restaurant within the restaurant's first few months. Kevin Zeese
Kevin Zeese
Kevin Zeese is an American political activist who has been a leader in the drug policy reform and peace movements and in efforts to ensure a voter verified paper audit trail. He was on the ballot as the nominee of the Maryland Green Party for a U.S. Senate seat during the 2006 election, receiving...
, manager of Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
's 2000 presidential campaign and director of Democracy Rising
Democracy Rising
Democracy Rising was an organization founded in 2001 to oppose military actions of the United States against Iraq and, after the Iraq War, to promote an exit strategy to end the occupation of Iraq. It was a member of United for Peace and Justice. Its web site contained Ralph Nader's interactive...
, related to The Hill
The Hill (newspaper)
The Hill, a subsidiary of News Communications Inc., is a newspaper published in Washington, D.C. since 1994.Its first editor was Martin Tolchin, a veteran correspondent in the Washington bureau of The New York Times....
, "Boom! It just became an incredibly important landmark for the community. It definitely has a progressive feel to it; it's in the 'hood, not disjointed from the community like the National Press Club
National Press Club
The National Press Club is a professional organization and private social club for journalists. It is located in Washington, D.C. Its membership consists of journalists, former journalists, government information officers, and those considered to be regular news sources. It is well-known for its...
and Capitol Hill are." Shallal said of the restaurant's popularity, "I've opened many restaurants, [but] this is the first time that people came in and got it right away."
The Busboys clientele has included Nader, Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...
, Tom Hayden
Tom Hayden
Thomas Emmet "Tom" Hayden is an American social and political activist and politician, known for his involvement in the animal rights, and the anti-war and civil rights movements of the 1960s. He is the former husband of actress Jane Fonda and the father of actor Troy Garity.-Life and...
, Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
, Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, Rep. Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 29th district, serving since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
, Rep. Lynn Woolsey
Lynn Woolsey
Lynn C. Woolsey is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes all of Marin County and most of Sonoma County. She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and its co-chair...
, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Anthony Shadid
Anthony Shadid
Anthony Shadid is a foreign correspondent for The New York Times based in Baghdad and Beirut. He has won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting twice, in 2004 and 2010.-Career:...
and Dave Meggyesy
Dave Meggyesy
David Michael Meggyesy is a former American football player, author, and union organizer. He played college football at Syracuse University, and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 17th round of the 1963 NFL Draft, where he was a linebacker for seven seasons...
, a former St. Louis Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
linebacker who quit the NFL in protest of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Additionally, onetime Washington Wizards
Washington Wizards
The Washington Wizards are a professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C., previously known as Washington Bullets. They play in the National Basketball Association .-Early years:...
center Etan Thomas
Etan Thomas
Dedreck Etan Thomas, commonly referred to as Etan Thomas , is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association.-College:...
has performed his poetry at Busboys. Minnesota Senator, Al Franken
Al Franken
Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He is a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, which affiliates with the national Democratic Party....
spoke in Busboys and Poets' Langston Room, Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
, Alice Walker
Alice Walker
Alice Malsenior Walker is an American author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender...
, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
and her daughter, actor Matt Dillon
Matt Dillon
Matthew Raymond "Matt" Dillon is an American actor and film director. He began acting in the late 1970s, gaining fame as a teenage idol during the 1980s.- Early life :...
, modern hip hop artist Keri Hilson
Keri Hilson
Keri Lynn Hilson is an American R&B singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Hilson began her music career as a songwriter, penning tracks for several artists in the mid-2000s as part of the five-person production and songwriting team, The Clutch...
and other celebs have either ate or hosted an event.
Menu
The menu offers both American and international dishes. Among the American foods are burgers and pizza, including an Oceanic pizza featuring mussels, shrimp and leeks. Ethnic offerings include falafel, panini, meatloaf, lasagna and falafel wrap. The menu offers numerous options for vegetarians and vegans.Shallal initially hired a chef, but changed his mind a week before opening, believing the food called too much attention to itself. He brought the chef over from Mimi's to train the kitchen staff, and Shallal contributed his own recipes.
Expansion
Additional Busboys and Poets locations have opened in the CityVista complex in Northwest D.C.; in the Shirlington neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia; and in Hyattsville, MarylandHyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
. According to a recent article by Justin Fair featured on The Pink Line Project, the Hyattsville restaurant "is a benefit to the community and a welcoming guide for other businesses and folks to come into the Gateway Arts District."
External links
- Busboys and Poets official website
- Eatonville Restaurant official website
- Review of the bookstore on THEthe Poetry Blog
- The Pink Line Project official website