Serving the Neighborhood columbia road and champlain street nw
furs by gartenhaus and truffles by Avignon Freres.Hand-cranked ice cream from Budd’s. Beginning in the 1910 s,such neighborhood favorites occupied the commercial buildings along Columbia Road developed by Sanner and Barr.These fash- ionable shops catered to the 18 th and Columbia neighborhood and drew Washingtonians from all over.Even Presidents Harry S Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower enjoyed French pastries in Avignon Freres’s first garden tea room, 2429 18 th Street.In 1940 ,when Isidore Gartenhaus opened a fur shop at 1789 Columbia Road, 18 th Street 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 sub- urban locations.Residential buildings had aged, leading to lower rents and more diversity.Yet Gartenhaus Furs remained until after the riots that followed the 1968 assassination of Rev.Martin Luther King,Jr.Then the furrier moved to Bethes- da,Maryland.Avignon Freres remained in the Orcino family until 1986 .By the mid- 1970 s, new Latino enterprises catered to immigrants while a few hip shops drew cosmopolitan shoppers. First Church of Christ,Scientist 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 .
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