BY ROWENA VERGARA
On Monday, I could've gone to the Capitol or visited the war memorials. I could have walked the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or strolled the National Mall, which I actually haven't done yet since arriving in D.C.
Like I said earlier, I didn't really have a plan for D.C., and I've done some things that were probably very unlike the usual trip to Washington.
But on Martin Luther King Day, I couldn't have spent my afternoon at a better place than on U Street, a historic black community in northwest Washington.
It started out with an innocent bite to eat at Washington landmark Ben's Chili Bowl. But what resulted was a three-hour ordeal for my sisters and I -- in line down an alley -- with hundreds of others who wanted a taste of the famous chili, chilidogs or "half-smokes."
Yes, it's true that Barack Obama ate here last week and R&B singer Usher dined in last night.
But that's not what has made this establishment famous. It's a piece of living history.
Ben's Chili Bowl is one of the few establishments to survive the 1968 riots after Martin Luther King's assassination. Apparently, it was also one of the only businesses allowed to stay open past curfew. It also became a safe haven for both police and activists who needed food and shelter.
But before all that, the gray benches and red stools inside Ben's were once seated by King himself. Musicians like Duke Ellington, who grew up in that neighborhood, and Miles Davis, frequented the diner before and after shows. So more than 50 years after the establishment of Ben's, it is still running strong and its stories are very much alive in others.
As the line continued to swell, so did the crowd around Ben's. TV cameras showed up every half hour. Police were called for crowd control. Media from all over the nation were trying to figure out, "What's the big deal about this place?"
One Colorado newspaper photographer interviewed the girls behind us and asked what was so good about Ben's.
"Is it the ribs or barbeque?," the photographer asked, a giant yellow Ben's Chili Bowl sign hung above her.
I think a dozen of us shouted back and said, "It's the chili!"
When we finally got inside the diner, I could understand why this place is so popular. I felt like I had walked into someone' home. Funk music was blaring. Servers were flipping burgers while dancing, and ad-libbing songs with chants of "Barack! Obama!"
Teens tried to figure out where Obama would've sat and took pictures accordingly.
The place was alive.
All around us, strangers united. The diner was filled with dark and light faces, and all kinds of ethnicities.
Two girls we met from South Carolina, Chakita Spears, 23 and Denver Murray, 24, said all they had planned for the day was lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl. By the time we all got in, it became dinner, for all of us.
So we talked some more over bowls of piping hot, delicious, spicy chili, as well as chili cheese fries, and their famed half-smoke chilidog. (It was a long line, so give me a break for the large order).
Everyone had been courteous and no one complained. Even when I discouraged a passerby from waiting in line for nearly three hours like I did, she opted to head to the back of the line anyway and get her chili when she gets it.
Many of you probably wouldn't justify standing in a line for three hours. I normally wouldn't either, but for some reason, this felt different. I had just spent three hours meeting people from all over the country and learning about why they've all come to Washington.
We chatted about politics, what this election means to the younger generation and how history is important for us to keep close and cherish. I thought about Dr. King, and what times were like back then.
I thought about his dreams for us all, and saw some of that on U Street. I thought about how different things could be, and hopefully will be, for generations to come.
Locals say they've never seen Ben's as crazy as it was on Monday. But who knows. It may stay this way for good, making history yet again.
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