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Roads to Diversity
Adams Morgan Heritage Trail
8 Serving the Neighborhood
Furs by Gartenhaus and truffles by Avignon Freres. Hand-crafted ice cream from Budd's. Beginning in the 1910s, such neighborhood favorites occupied the commercial buildings to your right developed by Sanner and Barr. These fashionable shops catered to the 18th and Columbia neighborhood and drew Washingtonians from all over. Even Senator Harry S. Truman and General Dwight D. Eisenhower enjoyed French pastries in Agivnon Freres's first garden tea room, 2429 18th Street. In 1940, when Isidore Gartenhaus opened a fur shop at 1789 Columbia Road, this area was still "a little Park Avenue," recalled his son Stanley. The thriving business eventually moved to the former Riggs Bank at 1801 Adams Mill Road.
After World War II (1941-1945), businesses began changing as people of means moved to more suburban locations. Residential buildings had aged, leading to lower rents that attracted a diverse population seeking affordable housing. Yet Furs by Gartenhaus remained until after the riots that followed the 1968 assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then the furrier moved to Bethesda, Maryland. Avignon Freres remained in the Orcino family until 1986. By the mid-1970s, new Latino enterprises catered to immigrants, while a few hip shops drew cosmopolitan shoppers.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, to your left, opened in 1912, 30 years after church founder Mary Baker Eddy first lectured in Washington. The church donated the land for Unity Park to the community. It also served as an aid station for the victims of the tragic Knickerbocker Theater roof collapse in 1922. More recently its youth camps serve the neighborhood. |