Staying attuned to the history of the places we live and work can only help us enjoy where we are now all the more.
Take a look back at the history of near H Street with this clip from friend of DC Style Is Real, H Street aficionado, Chris Mills, on his blog, Selling DC Life.
DC Style Is Real 
It is truly AMAZING for me to see H Street today!! Really amazing. That’s where I grew up!
My family lived at 408 H Street from 1940 to the mid 1950’s – my parents, 4 sisters and 2 brothers and me (the baby). We lived upstairs from Universal Auto Parts -they made pistons and piston rings – and next door to a grocery store. On the block was Weber’s Bar and Grill; a funeral home; an Indian motorcycle shop; a shoe repair man; and Cook’s Cleaners on the corner of 5th and H. (Across the street, the first building on the 500 block, same side of the street, was a dentist, Dr. Vitale, whom we all hated.) On the other side of the street, between 4th and 5th, was Kelly’s Liquors and a corner grocery store. There was a streetcar line that ran all along H Street. There was the Princess Theater and farther up (probably around 14th?) was the Atlas.
Since we lived there during WWII, DC was full of sailors, soldiers and Marines…my brothers both went into the service (one in the Navy and one in the “Army Air Corps”), my sisters were all teenagers and as they got older they spent time going to dances at the USO and would bring home numerous lonely boys for my mother to feed. I remember waking up and seeing soldiers and sailors sleeping on couches and the floor all over the living room…I remember walking around peeking at them.
I went to elementary school and then to Stuart Jr. High – is it still there? The other kids were all grown and had moved away by then; my parents and I moved to Anacostia when I started high school.
I got a job at the US Senate after graduation, and worked for a Senator for 4 years before I got married and moved to California.
But we all had major memories of living on H Street, that we will never forget.
I have pictures, if anyone cares to see them.
Thanks for the video, can’t tell you how trippy it is for me.
Hi Ali! What great descriptions of our beloved H Street! If you’d like to send pictures, I would LOVE to publish them. Perhaps even compare a “then and now” series.
Thanks for reading the blog and for your comments!