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Shaw: Then and Now with Alexander Padro
June 30, 2021 @ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
Washington, DC’s historic Shaw neighborhood has seen dramatic changes in the past two decades. Many residents and visitors only know today’s Shaw. But what did the neighborhood look like in decades past? What did buildings that now are home to popular bars and restaurants look like back in the day? What stood where new housing and contemporary landmarks like the Walter E. Washington Convention Center are today? And what familiar places still look just like ‘Duke’ Ellington knew them?
Come take a virtual stroll through the past with Shaw historian and Shaw Main Streets Executive Director Alexander M. Padro on Wednesday, June 30th at 12pm EDT and discover Shaw’s past through historic and contemporary photographs and hear how historic preservation helped transform a riot-scarred neighborhood into one of DC’s most popular places to live, work, shop, play, pray and learn. [Photo Credit: DC History Center (right); Alexander Padro (left)]
About Shaw Main Streets
Shaw Main Streets is made up of a network of dedicated Board Members, volunteers, college and university interns, and its executive director (the organization’s only employee) who have been working to revitalize Shaw’s commercial corridors since 2003. It is a designated DC Main Streets program and is funded in part by the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development.
Speaker
Alexander M. Padro is the executive director of Shaw Main Streets, Inc. in Washington, DC, the 2016 Great American Main Street Award-winner. Mr. Padro is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Shaw neighborhood’s commercial revitalization and historic preservation efforts. The organization has helped to attract over $3.5 billlion in public and private investment to this commercial district, as well as over 400 new businesses. Mr. Padro helped found Shaw Main Streets and served as chair of the organization’s Board of Directors before being asked to assume the role of executive director. in 2004. Mr. Padro is a graduate of New York University and has been a corporate executive in the publishing industry, as well as a small business owner. A Shaw resident since 1997, he served 20 years as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and chairman of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C/6E in Shaw, is a board member for several non-profits, and advocates for preservation, affordable housing and the DC Public Library system. [Headshot photographed by Andrew Lightman.]
