30 Years Later, d.c. space Celebrates Reunion

WASHINGTON -- The bathrooms stunk. The neighborhood at the corner of 7th and E Streets in Northwest was nearly deserted. Plaster would likely fall as you walked up rickety stairs to the second floor -- a floor that bounced like a trampoline as aging floor joists fought collapse from the weight of young people dancing to punk rock.

d.c. space opened its doors in 1977. Thirty years later, and 16 years since the final guitar power chord faded, the spirit of the eclectic club that was part-restaurant, part-art gallery, part-movie theater will be celebrated. This Sunday there's a reunion at the 9:30 Club.

"The original name was 'district creative space,' but that didn't work. So we shortened it to 'd.c. space,' and later it just became known as 'the space,' says co-founder Bill Warrell.

Standing in front of what is now a Starbucks, Warrell remembers the cultural explosion that began soon after he opened the club with his mother in the pre-Civil War building that used to house a brewpub, a five-and-dime, and a dental lab where false teeth were produced.

"When we took over the lease for the building the subway had been under construction for a number of years. Seventh Street was completely torn up. Everything was boarded-up and closed."

Shortly after opening, with the help of a friends from art school, Warrell says, "It became a home for a whole lot of different musics -- avant garde jazz, including Sun Ra, punk rock, new wave -- all the stuff that was starting to happen, this became home base."

The climate in the nation's capital in 1977 was ripe for innovative performers, says Warrell.

"The Reagan Administration was just starting," Warrell says. "The city was a little on the conservative side, so the art went crazy."

It became known as a place where local bands could get a gig, if they were willing to pay for their own soundman and get paid solely on money collected at the door.

"Anybody who had an idea, and could convince us, we'd put 'em on the calendar," Warrell remembers.

The club closed in 1991, as development enveloped the neighborhood near the Gallery Place Metro station.

Sunday's reunion at the 9:30 Club will include performance by bands that played at d.c. space, including 9353. Proceeds of the show will benefit Tom Terrell, the first house deejay at d.c. space. Terrell is fighting cancer.

Warrell says he's looking forward to reconnecting with names and faces, many of whom he probably hasn't seen in more than two decades.

"At the time it felt new, it felt fresh, it felt like a beginning," marvels Warrell. "I didn't realize it was going to be one of the most creative periods in American culture."

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)