The Lincoln Theater

The Lincoln Theatre, in the heart of the Washington’s U Street/Cardoza corridor, is renovated, refurbished and ready for you.

Restored to its original 1920s splendor through collaborative efforts of public and private organizations and individuals, it is currently cared for and maintained by the U Street Theatre Foundation, a 501 (c) 3 organization. And it’s available for your community, musical, cultural, civic or other event – at reasonable rates.

Accessible by Metro, with parking available, the Lincoln Theatre features 1,250 seats with a 33 by 38-foot stage framed by an ornate proscenium arch. Its sound, lighting, rigging, screening and projection systems have been refurbished to provide state of the art lighting, sound and safety for your event, whatever its nature. Its backstage facilities are ample for almost any kind of event. And its lobby is ready for small receptions, with the parking lot adaptable for larger ones.

Choose the Lincoln Theatre when you’re thinking of where to hold your next special event. Its history can become part of your memories.

From early in the last century until the late 1950s, if you didn’t travel the U Street cultural circuit, you didn’t experience the zenith of world-class entertainers. Native Washingtonians Duke Ellington and Pearl Bailey performed in the Lincoln Theatre. So did Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Lionel Hampton, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, Billy Eckstine, Billie Holliday and Sarah Vaughn. Truly, the Lincoln Theatre, and its companion dance hall, the Lincoln Colonnade, were crown jewels of what was known as “Black Broadway.” Then, the neighborhood was the center of Washington’s Black commercial and entertainment community. Theatres, dance halls, cabarets, restaurants and “after-hours joints” created excitement and attracted high-caliber performers – and audiences from Washington and hundreds of miles around it.

First opened in 1922, the Theatre was described in a 1924 article in the Washington Afro-American as “perhaps the largest and finest for colored people exclusively anywhere in the United States.” The Lincoln Theatre and the Colonnade prospered from the ‘20s to the ‘50s, hosting coming-out balls, Big Band dances and live acts, including Bessie Smith, Moms Mabley, Louise Beavers, Hattie McDaniel, Freddie Washington and W.C. Handy. First-run movies – unavailable to people of color in downtown theatres – found ready audiences at the Lincoln.

The 1954 Supreme Court decision on de-segregation ended those glory days. Residents and businesses moved. A wider variety of stories and restaurants were available to Black patrons. The resulting economic weakness left the area vulnerable to the civil disorders that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. The Colonnade was demolished in the 1960s, and the Lincoln closed in 1979.

With the economic resurgence of the early 1980s, interest in the area re-bloomed. The District of Columbia government assumed ownership of the Theatre, and invested $7 million in restoring it to its original appearance. It re-opened in 1994.

Today, we are proud to offer this glorious facility, steeped in Black history, to new generations. We take pride in offering our venue for community education programs, benefit performances and galas, conventions, awards and graduation ceremonies and special events. And we are committed to maintaining it, in all its grandeur, for the future.

Please contact us about your special event. And please know that we are committed to making your event as special as the many that have taken place here before.