The Washington Hilton is a Hilton

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

It is located at 1919 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., roughly at the boundaries of the Kalorama,

Dupont Circle Dupont Circle is a historic roundabout park and Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood of Washington, D.C., located in Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest D.C. The Dupont Circle neighborhood is bounded approximately by 16th St ...

, and

Adams Morgan Adams Morgan (abbreviated as AdMo) is a Neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., neighborhood in Washington, D.C., located in the city’s Northwest (Washington, D.C.), Northwest quadrant. Adams Morgan is noted as a historic hub for Counterculture of ...

neighborhoods.

History

The Washington Hilton, located on the former site of the Oak Lawn estate, was designed by architect William B. Tabler and developed by Uris Buildings Corporation. A groundbreaking ceremony was held on June 25, 1962 and the hotel officially opened three years later, on March 25, 1965. The hotel structure features a distinctive double-arched design. It long sported the largest pillar-less hotel ballroom in the city. Numerous large events have been regularly hosted at the Hilton Washington, including the annual dinners of the White House Correspondents Association and the Radio and Television Correspondents Association, as well as the National Prayer Breakfast. During the 1960s and 1970s, the hotel hosted a number of big musical acts for concerts in their large ballroom, including

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

. In 1972 it was home to the first International Conference on Computer Communications which demonstrated new

ARPANET The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first computer networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the tec ...

technology. The hotel was the site of the assassination attempt on

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981. The attempt occurred at the hotel's T Street NW exit. As a result, the hotel is sometimes colloquially referred to by locals as the Hinckley Hilton. The hotel was renamed the Hilton Washington in 1998. It was purchased in June 2007 by an investment firm jointly owned by former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

star

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. Often regarded as the greatest point guard of all time, Johnson List of NBA players who have spent their entire career w ...

. From 2009–2010 it underwent a $150 million renovation. When that was completed, the hotel returned to its original name.

References

External links

Official site

Ladies and Gentlement, From Los Angeles, California ... The Doors!
– 1967 Doors concert at Washington Hilton
Hendrix Plays the Washington Hilton (1968)
– 1968 Jimi Hendrix concert at the Washington Hilton and review from the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

{{Hotels in Washington D.C. Hotel buildings completed in 1965 Brutalist architecture in Washington, D.C. Washington Skyscraper hotels in Washington, D.C. Hotels established in 1965 Dupont Circle Adams Morgan Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan 1965 establishments in Washington, D.C.