DC Allen / The Crew Club

2018 DC Black Pride Small Business Award

DC Allen is the owner of The Crew Club, a gay-oriented gym and spa located in the vibrant Logan Circle area of Washington. D.C. launched the Crew Club in 1995, and the business has gone on to play an important role in the re-birth of the 14th Street corridor as a thriving neighborhood and business community.

Allen has also committed The Crew Club to working for a safer and healthier LGBT community, including providing support for the formation of the award-winning Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) of the Metropolitan Police Department and providing on-site testing for HIV, syphilis and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), for more than 20 years. In 2013, Allen and the Crew Club donated $25,000 to the DC Center — the Washington area’s LGBT community center — to help build the new offices in the Reeve’s Center. He funded a $40,000 advertising campaign in local LGBT media promoting awareness of a resurgence of syphilis, a campaign credited with reducing the rate of syphilis infections among gay men in the metropolitan area, and supported The DC Center in promoting the Tool Kit safer-sex campaign. In addition, he has participated in panel discussions at the several annual conferences of the National Alliance of State and Territorial Aids Directors.

In the past, Allen has been presented the Distinguished Service Award by the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, an Outstanding Volunteer Service Award by Brother, Help Thyself, the Distinguished Service Award by the DC Center, Certificates of Appreciation from the Metropolitan Police Department and the Atlantic States Gay Rodeo Association and the Board of Directors’ Appreciation Award from the Imperial Court of Washington, D.C. He has also lent his support to Casa Ruby, Us Helping Us, Team D.C., the D.C Sentinels Basketball Team, the Federal Triangles Soccer Club, the We Are Everywhere Bowling League, the D.C. Gay Flag Football League, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Reel Affirmations, the Centaur Motorcycle Club, the Federation for All D.C. Families, the Imperial Court of Washington, D.C., and the Whitman-Walker Clinic, and numerous national, statewide and local LGBT organizations in South Florida.

In 2012, D.C. was the recipient of the Capital Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leadership Award. D.C. and the Crew Club were honored by the Washington Blade’s “Best Of…” program; Best Business Person in 2014 and Best Place to Meet Men Other Than Grinder in 2015. In 2018, the Al LaMorges Distinguished Community Service Award was presented to D.C. Allen and his husband, Ken Flick, by the Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida. This award is presented to Community Leaders that best embody the spirit of selfless service and support of LGBT Arts Organizations. —May 2018

The DC Black Pride Small Business Award, first awarded 2003, acknowledges the contributions of small business entrepreneurs the DC Black LGBTQ community. More information about all DC Black Pride Awards.