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The H Street Corridor is a commercial and residential district in the heart of the Near Northeast neighborhood (also known as Old City, Capitol Hill North, and Cap Valley) in northeast Washington, D.C.

History

The H Street neighborhood was one of Washington's earliest and busiest commercial districts, and was the location of the first Sears Roebuck store in Washington,^{[citation needed]} but it went into decline after World War II. Businesses in the corridor were severely damaged during the 1968 riots and did not start to recover until the 21st century.^[1]

In 2002, the District of Columbia Office of Planning initiated a community-based planning effort to help revitalize the corridor. Because it is nearly 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, the resulting H Street NE Strategic Strategic Development Plan divided H Street into 3 districts: the Urban Living district (between 2nd and 7th Streets NE), the Central Retail District (between 7th and 12th Streets NE), and the Arts and Entertainment District (between 12th and 15th Streets NE).

Geography

The area is in the Northeast Quadrant of Washington, east of Union Station. Its approximate boundaries are 2nd Street to the west, 15th Street to the east, G Street to the south, and K Street to the north.^[1]

H Street NW

In Northwest Washington, H Street is the main street in Chinatown and one of the major east-west streets downtown. When Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was closed to vehicular traffic in the 1990s, crosstown traffic that had formerly used Pennsylvania Avenue was rerouted to H and I streets. The street also passes Lafayette Park and through the George Washington University campus and the Foggy Bottom neighborhood before terminating at Rock Creek.

H Streets SW and SE

The city plan on which D.C. was laid out provides for a parallel H Street in the southwest and southeast quadrants of the city. Subsequent government actions, most notably the construction of I-395/I-295, disconnected the southern H Street in several places. In its current form, it does not run consecutively for more than two blocks at any point except for its easternmost extremity, near Fort Dupont Park.

Economy

Real estate

The median sales price of houses July–September 2009 was $417,000.^[1]

Education

Schools include:^[1]

• J. O. Wilson Elementary
• Stuart-Hobson Middle School
• Eastern Senior High School

Culture

In the mid-2000s, the Arts and Entertainment District began to revitalize as a nightlife district. The Atlas Theater – a Moderne-style 1930s movie theater that had languished since the 1968 riots – was refurbished as a dance studio and performance space, and is now the anchor of what is now being called the Atlas District. H Street NE became home to the H Street Playhouse, a black-box theater where Theater Alliance and Forum Theatre are in residence; live music venues, such as the Red and the Black and the Rock & Roll Hotel; and restaurants and bars such as the Argonaut, Showbar Presents the Palace of Wonders, the Pug, and H Street Martini Lounge.

Media

In December 2007, the area was profiled in The New York Times.^[2]

Infrastructure

H Street has been selected as one of the initial locations for the new DC Streetcars; tracks are currently being installed and service is expected by 2011.

Notable residents

Notable residents include:

• Anthony A. Williams, D.C. mayor from 1999-2007^[1]

References

External links

• Meet Me On H Street: A Guide to Nightlife in the Atlas District", Washingtonian, September 26, 2007.
• http://www.bakerprojects.com/hstreetne/pdf/1_H_St_2ContextHistory_lr.pdf
• H Street NE Strategic Development Plan
• H Street at the Great Streets website
• Frozen Tropics: A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill
• "DDOT: Reconstruction of H Street NE"
• "Winds of Change Blow Uneasily on H Street", April 4, 2006, The Washington Post
• "Whose H Street Is It, Anyway?", April 4, 2006, The Washington Post
• "Turning Northeast's H Street into Main Street", February 9, 2006, The Washington Post
• "H Street NE, the Next Hot Spot" June 11, 2004, The Washington Post
• "Road to a Retail Makeover" June 25, 2007, The Washington Post
• "H Street Festival" September 15, 2007, Festivalonh.org - Raphael Marshall and Kwasi Frye
• [1] - January 2009

Coordinates: 38°54′0.7″N 77°0′32.4″W / 38.900194°N 77.009°W / 38.900194; -77.009