RSS FeedHistory on Foot: 7th Street Shopping
I was driving down 7th Street the other day and noticed for the first time a series of old and modern signs for furniture stores. Curious to know more, I did some research to find out the significance of this apparent cluster.
According to various sources, 7th Street was the commercial hub of the city in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Here are just a few examples of the furniture stores and major department stores along 7th Street at that time:
- 1015 7th Street – Alperstein’s Furniture, 1904 – present
- 932 7th Street – John Rudden’s New Furniture, 1880s
- National Furniture
- 921 7th Street – House & Herrmann, 1886
- Marlo Furniture, 1963
- 915 7th Street – Jackson Brothers, 1903
- 819 7th Street – Samuel W. Augenstein, pre-1891
- Peter Grogan’s Furniture Company, 1891- 1933
- Peerless Furniture Company, 1935 – 1968
- Home Furniture and Appliance Company, May 1969-1972
- 801 7th Street – John Rudden’s New Furniture, 1899
- 718 7th Street – Anton Eberly & Sons, 1868
- Mayer Dodek, Dodek’s Furniture & Clothing,1898
- 515 Seventh Street – The Hecht Co. Department Store, 1896; re-opened as “Terrell Place” 1925
- 7th and D – The Hub Furniture Store, 1855
- 7th and Pennsylvania – A. Saks & Co., built in 1885
I found the extensive information about our neighborhood’s history available on Streets of Washington, DC’s Goethe Institut, Shorpys and Jewish Washington very interesting and helpful.
DC Link Roundup: Heard In The ‘Hood
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Here’s what we were reading recently about neighborhood news in DC. Have something to add? Leave it in the comments!
Penn Quarter – The Record Fair comes back to DC. In fact, it will be in our very own neighborhood at The Riot Act on Sunday, February 12 between 11 am and 5 pm. Six different DJs will spin throughout the event. We haven’t been to a record fair since college so we *will* be checking this out. [The Vinyl District]
Downtown – Tom Sietsema includes Plume in the Jefferson Hotel in his Valentine’s Day restaurant list. [WaPo]
Penn Quarter – We do like the paninis dished up by Amorini Panini at 906 F St NW. They’re spreading their panini love to DC by opening up a food truck. [Food Truck Fiesta] & [Washington Business Journal]
Chinatown – Dangerously Delicious Pies signed a lease at 901 7th Street in the same location where the TD Bank is located. [Downtown DC BID]
Shaw – The Shaw Art Walk takes place Wednesday, February 8 from 6:30 pm to 9 pm. Six art galleries in the area surrounding the Convention Center will be open until 9 pm for art walkers. [Renew Shaw]
Penn Quarter – Freshii, an assemble your lunch by picking fresh healthy items from a list outlet, opens today in the former Gifford’s Ice Cream Store next to Qdoba on E Street (between 10th and 11th). [Freshii tweet] & [Freshii website]
Penn Quarter – How much does it cost to rent a 2BR/2.5BA pad in the heart of Penn Quarter? $3500 per month is the answer for this unit on D Street NW. At a potential sales price of $550K, that works out to gross cap rate of 7.64%. The condo fee and taxes brings the net rate to the low 5% range. Not bad…that’s better than any savings account! [Prince of Petworth]
Downtown – The International Wine and Food Festival is on Saturday, Feb 11 and Sunday, February 12 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center. [IWFF website]
There Are Many Like It But This One Is Mine
We’ve been car-share members for a long time. First with FlexCar, and then later ZipCar when the two companies merged. For years and years we loved trying out fun cars (“let’s get a Mini convertible today!”), or the newest space-age fuel efficient cars (“let’s try one of those hybrids today!”), or a fast, luxurious car (“let’s get the BMW today!”).
But something has happened in the last few years, we’ve only been reserving one car. Not one type of car, not one make and model of car. One exact car. Our car.
If our car isn’t available for the time we need it, we often don’t rent a car at all. When we get in our car we’re always disappointed, sometimes angry, to find out someone has adjusted the seats and mirrors or changed our preset stations.
We know this is crazy, it’s a car share system and the beauty of it should be that you can get a car near you at almost any time. If one car isn’t available, there are usually dozens of others to choose from. But human nature is a funny thing (at least we hope it’s human nature and not just us) and after a while you just don’t want to share. You want that nice car to stay nice because you take care of it, even if other people don’t (alright, most people do take care of the cars… but not as good as we do!).
That’s not to say we’re giving up ZipCar, we’re still members and we use the service all the time. But only when our car is available.
Just for Laughs
This Friday and Saturday at Riot Act Comedy Club (801 E Street NW) you can beat the winter doldrums with some belly laughs. Shows will feature films from previous DC Shorts Film Festivals and live, local comedy acts highlighting themes like Work Sucks, Family Dysfunction, Superheroes Sexual Adventures, Payback Is Hell and A Very DC Moment.
Click here for more information and tickets.