The Atlas

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The Atlas

Image by stgermh

While I was taking pictures of the recently reopened Atlas Theatre, a middle-aged black man walked up and asked if I was a professional photographer or journalist. I told him I was just a hobbyist who liked to take pictures of buildings and stuff. We both agreed that The Atlas was a great photographic subject and that the renovation was wonderful. He went on to tell me that he grew up in the neighborhood and had attended many movies at The Atlas when he was a child.

"Yep, they wouldn't charge us according to our age but rather our height. If you were taller than the bottom of the ticket window, it was 50 cents to get in. But if you were shorter, it was 25 cents. So we'd kinda crouch when we walked up to the window to get our tickets so we'd look shorter..."

We talked for the next few minutes about the theatre and the neighborhood in general. He discussed the effects of the 1968 riots and how H Street had gone from one of the major shopping/entertainment/social centers in DC (along with U Street) to a long row of condemned buildings and boarded-up storefronts. I'd read about this before, but it was really interesting to hear from someone who had actually experienced it. He had a positive view of the newcomers and was excited to see all the new businesses opening. He was hopeful that H Street would become as vibrant as it was when he was young.

Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St NE

Atlas Shrugged




Image by pursuethepassion

The Pursue the Passion Book was inspired by a statistic- Half of the American workforce is unhappy with their job. This is a photo of Atlas Shrugged statue in New York City that appears in the Pursue the Passion book.

During the summer of 2007, four recent college grads were corporately sponsored to travel across America in an RV. Their mission? To find out what makes people passionate about their work. 16,000 miles, 38 states, 300 interviews and 10,000 photographs later, Pursue the Passion profiles the interviews and stories collected from the cross country journey.

Published by People Department Publishing, 2010. ISBN number is 9780615283609 and is available on Amazon.