Speaking of 8th and H Streets NE

Peter Sefton scored this image of the interior of the Louis Kavakos Confectionery at 8th and H Streets NE. Obviously, this pre-dated the Kavakos Grill and Club Kavakos from the 1930s and 1940s. For more information on Club Kavakos, check out this webpage.

The buildings that were once extant at 721-727 H Street NE were about the oldest buildings on the corridor, dating from as early as 1872. The buildings were demolished by the H Street Community Development Corporation (HSCDC) in 1999.

The building that replaced them is visible in one of the photos in the preceding entry; the Footlocker store is in the new building that replaced the historic buildings. The "old" buildings were two- and three- story buildings that needed a lot of rehabilitation but even so, likely could have been rehabilitated for half the cost of the new building--plus the "old" buildings had upper stories, unlike the new building which has a fake second floor. The HSCDC refused assistance from the city to add a second floor.

This is another favorite of mine, the exterior of the old People's Drug store at 802 H Street NE, next to the now PNC bank branch on the north side of the 800 block of H Street NE. (Photo from the Library of Congress.)

This was the fifth store in the chain. At its peak before being acquired by CVS, People's Drug Stores had more than 800 stores.

Index Keywords: retail; historic-preservation