A first-time visitor to a large grassy space between industrial buildings, just off Four Mile Run in South Arlington, Virginia, would never know that punk rock history was made on that spot.
“We’re standing here at the site of 2701 South Oakland Street, where Inner Ear Studios was for about 30 or so years,” said Cynthia Connolly, who has documented D.C.’s punk scene from its earliest days, in her book “Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes from the DC Underground (79-85).
In 2021, after 32 years recording bands from Fugazi to Foo Fighters, studio owner Don Zientara closed that studio, as Arlington County announced plans to build an arts district in the neighborhood where Inner Ear Studios stood.
“This is a very industrial area. There was a very nondescript, almost scary steel door, and a buzzer. You rang the doorbell, and then friendly Don Zientara would answer the door,” laughed Connolly.
“It was a warehouse that he converted into a recording studio,” said Connolly. “Then the magic happened past that door.”
During a visit on Tuesday, what used to be Inner Ear Studios and another building, with a street address of 2700 S. Nelson Street, all that remains is a few dozen white cinder blocks.
“That’s the wall, where the drum riser was, to mark as a memorial Inner Ear, and how important this was in our community,” said Connolly.
Josh Stoltzfus, deputy director of cultural affairs for the county, said music will return to this site.
“There’ll be a a small stage that will commemorate what happened here at Inner Ear,” said Stoltzfus. “We’ll be able to have small-scale performances in this space as well.”
As part of what’s referred to as the 2700 South Nelson Project, the county is working toward its vision of an arts and industry district.
“We have a mural that’s going to go in on this building here, which is the headquarters for Arlington Food Assistance Center, so we’re working with our partners there, and the artist is MasPaz,” said Stoltzfus of the Columbian-born artist who is based in D.C.
In the grassy area, the project envisions a regular art market. “There’s certainly many farmers’ markets, but there is not one dedicated exclusively for art,” said Stoltzfus.
Connolly said the project has issued an Open Call, inviting people to contribute classic D.C. show flyers, Inner Ear photos, and other ephemera as part of an upcoming public outdoor installation.
The installation will capture the patchwork of artwork to give the impression of flyers wheat pasted to the wall.
“Bands forever made flyers,” said Connolly. “Before there was social media and the internet, the way you communicated everything is flyers, you go to shows, and hand them to your friends.”
And there was a longer-lasting, though not always legal, way to advertise a show.
“You might also wheat paste them on vacant buildings, boarded up buildings, which there were a lot of, especially in the 70s and 80s,” said Connolly.
