H Street Theaters Back in the Day

My entry on theaters yesterday didn't discuss H Street. H Street has a great history of theater buildings (as does the greater neighborhood). For those that are curious, Robert Headley's book, Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C.: An Illustrated History of Parlors, Palaces and Multiplexes in the Metropolitan Area, 1894-1997, available at the Washingoniana Division at the MLK Branch of the Library, is a great place to learn about it. It's also discussed in the History Statement of the Capitol Hill North/Near Northeast Cultural and Social History Study, which is available online at the Voice of the Hill website.

We all know that the one remaining theater building specifically designed for movies is the Atlas Theater, which is being rehabilitated into the Atlas Performing Arts Center. And the H Street Playhouse, which has been the place of a variety of establishments, from car dealerships to printing shops, was for a time, the location of the Plymouth Theater, named after the car dealership that had been located there (which closed for World War II), which served as a theater for African-Americans during the time of segregation.

If you go to the Library of Congress, the Washington Post backfile is available and you can comb through the agate listings and find various movies that played at the Atlas. I haven't yet combed through the microfilm to see if that is the case for the Plymouth Theater, which wasn't listed in the agate listings in the Post.