The Ambassador was located at 2454 18th Street and Columbia Road, NW and was on the site where the Knickerbocker Theater once stood.

The Knickerbocker Theatre was designed by Reginald Geare and built in 1915 for Harry Crandall, who owned a small chain of theaters in Washington.

On January 22, 1922, 98 people were killed and 136 injured, when the roof of the Knickerbocker collapsed under the weight of thirty inches of snow in what was then the worst disaster in Washington.

In 1923, Thomas Lamb built a new theater in the shell of the Knickerbocker, retaining the facade, which would be called the Ambassador.

[1] In the 1960s, three men in their early 20s, Joel Mednick, Anthony Finestra and Court Rodgers were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses across the country when they decided to go see what was happening in San Francisco.

The first site the three tried to get was a streetcar barn at K Street and Wisconsin Ave, NW, which they named The Psychedelic Power and Light Company.

The captain of that ward mailed out letters to all the area merchants that stated that, "The Psychedelic Power and Light Company was moving into the neighborhood with drugs, long hair and loud music.

"[2] It frightened the residents in the area and some of the merchants wrote letters to the police department asking them to deny a permit to the owners.

The Ambassador group had to cancel the Grateful Dead, who were booked for June 15, 1967, after posters were already made and equipment was already trucked in.

By the time of the meeting, Finestra, Rodgers and Mednick decided not to change the name, instead just leaving it as The Ambassador Theater.

[1] On Saturday, November 3, 2007, a 40th anniversary reunion and panel discussion took place in Washington, D.C., as part of the DC Historical Studies Conference.