Oral History with Nicolas Shi (LCCA)

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Nicolas Shi immigrated to the United States from El Salvador for college and moved to Washington, DC for work in 1986. He and his husband bought a house in Logan Circle in 1988 and continue to live there. Nicolas, an acclaimed artist, works out of his studio in the lower level of their house, and he was selected as an artist for Let’s Paint the Streets. (See his work on the utility box at the southwest corner of 15th and P Streets.) He was instrumental in forming MidCity Artists with several other Logan Circle artists who organized open studios. There were a lot of artists around 14th Street: five artists created studios in the basement of a building next to the Crew Club; another studio was in a house next to the Garden District; and an artist had a framing shop on the second floor of Bar Pilar. Nicolas describes social life in Logan Circle. He and his partner would host parties for Asians and Friends and at some point, their party would move to gay bars such as Lost & Found. Afraid of crime, some friends wouldn’t come to parties in Logan Circle. Nicolas notes that people didn’t want to go east of 15th Street, and he refers to “walking blocks,” those that felt safe, and “running blocks,” blocks to move through quickly.

Lynne Brown

Not yet transcribed

1:14:50