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Taking note . . .

Observations about public affairs in the nation’s capital
by the editor of The Common Denominator

REMEMBERING A GREAT LADY: Washington is full of hard-working local business owners whose daily contributions to their city are overshadowed by the politics and celebrity that often steal center stage in the nation's capital. One of those people, Cecelia Penny Scott, died on April 23. And many of the celebrities who passed through Washington's "Black Broadway" got to know her as the owner and operator of Cecelia's Restaurant at Wiltberger and T, across the street from the Howard Theatre.

Ward 4 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Sandra Butler-Truesdale says she got to know Cecelia when she was a student at the Poro Beauty School on T Street NW, near Cecelia's Restaurant. "Many young women looked up to her because of her business ability," recalls Butler-Truesdale.

"She was one of the great entrepreneurs in D.C. who hired black Americans and provided housing to entertainers when segregation was rampant and black Americans could not stay in hotels downtown or those hotels whose clientele was white.

"In the days that I remember, from the '50s on, Cecelia's was the place to be," says Butler-Truesdale. "All of the entertainers that appeared at the Howard Theatre frequented her establishment. It was the 'in' thing to stop in Cecelia's before or after the show to hang out with those in the know and the stars and musicians.

"Shows were planned, business deals were cut, politicians were made right there in Cecelia's. Stars like Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Nat King Cole, Red Fox, Gladys Knight & Pips, the Manhattans, The Spaniels, Lou Rawls, Ahmad Jamal, Dick Gregory and such greats could be seen at the bar or in the dinning room. Cecelia's was to Seventh and T as The Palms Cafe was to Eighth Avenue and 125th Street. Cecelia's was to the Howard as the Palms Cafe was to the Apollo."

Butler-Truesdale says Cecelia "could have been anything that she wanted to be." In the days of segregation, Butler-Truesdale notes, "she could even have passed for white and left the race, but she didn't. She even could have been a social butterfly, but she was found working in her business establishment almost 24-7. Cecelia stayed and contributed to the Washington, D.C., society. She nurtured young women who worked in her establishment and encouraged them to do better."

Cecelia Penny Scott was buried April 30 at Lincoln Memorial Cemetery in Suitland, Md., following services at St. Dominic's Catholic Church in Southwest Washington. Her family suggests contributions to School Shoes II Inc. in memory of her work to provide shoes and sweaters to children in Shaw.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator