in the 1940s, Pearl Bailey made her debut at the Howard Theatre. The Howard Theatre turned into a house for rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues during the 1950s and 1960s, when many important acts from both genres played there. Among the acts to grace the stage were Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Lena Horne, Lionel Hampton, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells The 1968 riots, which followed the April 4 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., caused the venue a great deal of harm. The riots, coupled with desegregation, contributed to the theater's difficulty in attracting patrons, and the theater closed in 1970. Three years later, in 1973, the Howard Theatre Foundation was organized to reopen the venue. It was this organization which succeeded, in 1974, in gaining the building historic landmark status. In April 1975, the New Howard Theatre Corporation presented an evening of entertainment to salute the reopening of the theater. Redd Foxx and Melba Moore were among the acts featured at the theater's reopening. Later in the decade, go-go bands played the venue, and Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers also performed at the Howard Theatre in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980, the theater closed again. At the time it was the oldest venue in the country that featured Black artists. Under Mayor Marion Barry the theatre was purchased by the District government for $100,000. In 2002, the DC Preservation League listed the Howard Theatre as one of its Most Endangered Places in the District. Reopening In 2006, the Howard Theatre was returned to private ownership when Ellis Development was selected to renovate and restore the theatre. The District set aside $20 million in public funding for the renovation. Ellis Development, led by Chip Ellis and his son, Malik Ellis, formed Howard Theatre Development Group LLC. Through Howard Theatre Development Group, Ellis Development received nearly $12 million in District funds to redevelop and reopen the theatre. To oversee management of the facility, Ellis Development created the nonprofit Howard Theatre Restoration Inc. In September 2010, groundbreaking for extensive renovations of the theater was held. The project's goals were to restore the Howard Theatre to 600 seats, complementing developments at the adjacent Progression Place. Martinez + Johnson Architecture and Marshall Moya Design were responsible for the restoration, architecture, and design of