Besides being the nation’s capital, what impact has Washington DC had on American culture? I can’t really think of food from DC or a musical group, for example. There are some TV shows that take place in DC so I could see that maybe, but if you were to list “cultural powerhouses of the US”, I have a hard time placing DC anywhere on that list.
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Culture? Ehhh…maybe Go-Go but that’s not that widespread.
The DC punk/post-punk scene in the 80s was huge and influential. Particularly Minor Threat, the Bad Brains and Fugazi. Well, influential among punk fans and listeners to college radio anyway.
The DC gift shop sweatshirts and FBI hats can be found around the country
8th grade weekend trips to DC
Future federal bureaucrats and/or Lockheed Martin employees moving to DC to get their college degree from a feeder school
Haven’t lived in the city long but there was a melt-down on DC Twitter when McDonalds started selling mumbo sauce
Mumbo sauce?
Five Guys was a local DC chain.
Also tbh, for a long time, DC was pretty much a sleepy Southern town, less prominent than Baltimore. It’s only been a few decades that it could compete with the heavy hitter cities like New York, LA, Chicago in anything much less cultural impact.
Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye were both from Washington DC.
Dave Grohl.
The football huddle was invented at Gallaudet University in D.C.
Henry God damned Rollins either came from or lived in DC.
Capitals in the US are quite different from how capitals are in Europe, this is true for states and it is true for DC as well.
While in Europe (and other countries too) the capital is in general the cultural or economic center of the country, or at least one of them, in the US capitals are cities that handle bureaucracy for the most part, and are located in strategic centers, easily reachable for everyone (this is true for most states, not for DC).
Your question could be asked regarding other cities too. Why isn’t Olympia the cultural center of Washington, but Seattle is? Because Olympia serves as capital, not as cultural center. Same thing for DC.
politics
American political culture was developed in DC.
Almost all of America’s symbols come from DC.
There have been multiple marches and movements in DC that changed American culture
Superhero movies seem to all have a DC scene
I think the prevalence of museums throughout the country has a lot to do with the Smithsonians in DC
Forest Gump is probably the best introduction to US culture that I can think of and he goes to DC like 3 separate times
DC is the political capital with the movers and shakers at a global and domestic levels of politics.
New York is the News / Fashion capital
LA: Is the entertainment capital.
Some of the richest counties in the country are around DC. Take from that what you will.
DC also contains really major museum collections, which I think qualifies it for a place in the “cultural influence” derby. The fact that so many people (including foreign visitors and tons of American schoolchildren) visit DC gives it a sort of cultural influence beyond its mere position as the seat of government. When I went to DC for the first time with my husband who grew up in California, he was walking around the whole time with stars in his eyes gawking at the sights and talking about the history. I’d call that cultural impact even if its anecdotal.
Laws and lawlessness put DC on the map
Tim Gunn on fashion and reality TV; Petey Greene, innovator in talk shows and Black people in media, Bill Nye (The Science Guy) innovator in educational TV; Austin Kiplinger, Founder of and innovator of Financial media; Duke Ellington, Innovator in Jazz, Marvin gaye musician and leader in message based music, John Phillips Sousa Composer, inventor of the Sousaphone. Dr Charles Drew, Scientist; Walt Whitman, Frederick Douglass Writers; Albert Fish Serial killer and cannibal.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the busiest performing arts facility in the nation.
The historic Ford’s Theatre was one of the top entertainment venues in Washington, D.C., during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln visited the theater at least ten times before being assassinated.
Washington Ballet remains as one of the foremost training schools in the United States that attracts students from across the country and abroad
Washington was home to several Negro league baseball teams, including the Washington Homestead Grays, Washington Black Senators, Washington Elite Giants, Washington Pilots, and Washington Potomacs.
D.C. is the birthplace of the half-smoke,[28] which is a half-pork, half-beef sausage, typically placed in a hotdog-style bun and topped with chili, onions, and mustard. Half-smokes are sold at numerous locations throughout the D.C. region, but are most notably sold at the city’s landmark restaurant, Ben’s Chili Bowl. Mumbo sauce is a D.C.-area condiment that is a mix of sweet barbeque and ketchup sauce, often placed on meat or french fries. Washington is also the birthplace of jumbo slice pizza, which is an enlarged New York-style pizza. Jumbo slice is particularly popular in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.[29]
Very little. Washington doesn’t have much unique culture away from politics. I can’t think of any American cultural icon that originated in Washington.
After two decades here, I hope when I move away the entry conversation starter isn’t “where do you work?”
One of my favorite bands Thievery Corporation is from DC. They are not that big on the scene but if you know you know.
None. Sorry DMV dudes
It’s not really known for much outside of a high crime rate, politicians, field trips, history, and the monuments.
I would hardly call it irrelevant, but if it wasn’t the capital, it would be.
Lots of things have happened in DC that have had pretty sizeable influences on popular culture
MLK’s “I have a dream” speech
The 1968 riots in the wake of MLK’s assassination
The Washington Post publishing the Pentagon Papers
Watergate
Pandas at the National Zoo
Marion Barry’s arrest
9/11
DC has had an active an influential theater scene for decades. James Earl Jones starred in the debut of *The Great White Hope* in 1967, which was one of the first regional plays to move to Broadway and it won a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize.
In terms of music:
The Cellar Door in Georgetown was one of the most influential music venues in the US in the 60s and 70s. It’s where John Denver first played “Take Me Home, Country Roads”.
[Chuck Brown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwHi10qX8u8) and go-go music was quite influential, though not directly known much outside of DC.
The DC punk and hardcore scene
General list of bands: Thievery Corporation. Minor Threat. Fugazi. Bad Brains. Vertical Horizon. Dismemberment Plan. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. OK Go. Washington Bach Consort. The Pietasters. The Clovers.
General list of musicians: Duke Ellington. Chuck Brown. Ginuwine. Henry Rollins. Wale. Dave Grohl. John Philip Sousa.
The various monuments are iconic. Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Lincoln Memorial. Washington Monument. The Mall as a whole. They’re featured in movies constantly.
Georgetown University has had a long history in college basketball.
[List of people born in DC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Washington,_D.C.). Not all of them are necessarily associated with DC, but some, like Dave Chappelle are.
Langston Hughes. Christopher Hitchens. Frederick Douglass.
Music:
DC’s punk and hardcore scene is hugely influential for a lot of underground rock today. Any band that has done DIY tours/merch/whatever owes a debt to DC bands. Listen to any sort of punk or indie rock and you can trace a part of their sound back to DC one way or another.
Indie rock also is very popular in DC with bands like the Dismemberment Plan and Q and Not U.
Go Go is a popular genre in the black community and while it’s stayed regional it still is very popular and Chuck Brown was famous. Including his song Bustin Loose being sampled in Hot in Here by Nelly.
But regular hip hop out the DMV has some notable artists like Wale, Goldlink, Brent Faiyaz. Logic is from Maryland suburbs.
DC also has a notable bluegrass scene. The band the Seldom Scene is from here and was notable through the 70s.
DC doesn’t have the massive media markets of NYC or LA but the musical traditions that are here are pretty vibrant.
Not music but Dave Chappelle went to high school here and has a lot of connections to the city and is performing here often.
Also there’s a lot of basketball talent (Kevin Durant notably) that has come out of the DC prep school scene that is well known within the basketball world.
Duke Ellington – He was a huge figure in Jazz and Big Band:
https://www.pbs.org/ellingtonsdc/noteMusicians.htm
Fredrick Douglas also made DC his home
https://www.nps.gov/frdo/index.htm
The MLK and the March on Washington
https://www.nps.gov/articles/march-on-washington.htm
Stephen Colbert