The Beatles First US Concert Was In DC

The Beatles to the US by storm in 1964. For a country still mourning the tragic death of its young president, the arrival of the Fab Four was a joyous occasion. Two days after they first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show they took a train from New York to Washington.  And performed their first concert in a REI store.

Well, it wasn’t a REI store then. It started out as the Uline Arena, named after it’s builder Michael Uline, the son of Dutch immigrants whose family was in the ice business. Constructed in 1940 its first show was the Ice Capades.

The arena was home to the short-lived Washington Capitals basketball team and Earl Lloyd, the first African American to play in the NBA, first played at Uline Arena on October 31, 1950.

Uline was also home to the even shorter-lived Washington Lions hockey team. One of President Dwight Eisenhower’s  two inaugural balls was held at here in 1953. In 1959 Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam gave a speech in the arena.

In 1960 the arena’s new owner renamed the building Washington Colosseum. And that’s where the Beatles come to perform their first US concert on February 11, 1964

But after that the arena went into rapid decline. In 1971 it was a make-shift detention center for students arrested protesting the Vietnam war. Plans to make it a church fell through. For a time, it was a trash transfer station and then a parking lot.

Today the structure has been renovated and renamed the Uline Building. And it’s one of a number of changes that is rapidly gentrifying its neighborhood. And the space where the Beatles played that first US concert is now a REI store.

Duration
2 hours
Group Size
2 to 8

Above It All - Washington National Cathedral

Washington National Cathedral is a Gothic masterpiece. Perched on a hill overlooking the city it is the second largest cathedral in the country and the 6th largest in the world. It is a living work of art filled with stained-glass, hand-carved wood, and wrought iron. While a modern structure (finished in 1990) it is constructed in the old-world way and has no structural steel.

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★★★★★
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55 USD
Duration
2 hours 30 minutes
Group Size
1 to 8

Hidden on Capitol Hill

Few people think beyond the Capitol when they think of the Hill. This tour takes you to the heart of a neighborhood with a fascinating history that still speaks to us today. Learn about these famous locations from a former Capitol Hill resident.

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250 USD
Duration
2 hours 30 minutes
Group Size
1 to 8

Embassy Row: Divinity & Diplomats

Most Embassy Row tours don’t venture far beyond Dupont Circle. But ours does. We see it all from top to bottom. This stretch of Massachusetts Avenue used to be called Millionaires Row where Gilded Age robber-barons built grand mansions. Today those mansions house most of Washington’s embassies, along with private clubs and statues of world heroes such as Mandela, Gandhi, and Churchill – and we will be right in the heart of it.

★★★★★
★★★★★
from
250 USD