Park and Shop! 6226 georgia avenue nw
back in the 1920s, most people walked or rode a streetcar to go shopping. Then cars became affordable, and people drove everywhere. Soon the shopping center, with free parking, was born. In 1937 Brightwood’s “Park and Shop” opened on Georgia Avenue. Brightwood’s center included the 1,000-seat Sheridan Theater. The Classical Moderne style hall, by nationally known architect John Eberson, matched local architect Morton Levy’s retail shops. Six local businesses shared the space with national chains Kresge’s and A&P. By the 1950s Georgia Avenue enterprises reflected Brightwood’s ethnic mix, with many operated by Greek, Italian, and Jewish merchants. To your right was the Waffle Shop/John’s Lunch, owned by John and Evthokia Deoudes. Their son Logan recalled that they served American food “done with Greek hands.” The Deoudes fam- ily is immortalized in George Pelecanos’s novel, Hard Revolution. Real estate broker and Greek language radio show host Penelope Apostolides rented the Sheridan Theater to show Greek films. The Caludis family ran Arrow Cleaners at 6233 Georgia Avenue. While the rioting that followed the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968 spared this area, it spurred dozens of middle-class families to move to the suburbs. Businesses soon suffered, and vacant storefronts became common. In the 1970s the Sheridan became a live theater, briefly housing the Black American Theater. Later it became a church. By the end of the 1990s, though, new investment and community activism brought the promise of revitalization.
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