Enterprising Families 1200 BLOCK H STREET NE
THE SMALL SCALE LOW RENTS of H Street’s oldest buildings have lured waves of immigrant entrepreneurs since the buildings were new in the 1880s. By 1930, alongside Greek, Italian, Irish, and other immigrant-owned shops, at least 75 Jewish- owned businesses operated on H Street. Abe and Anna Shulman ran a dry goods store and lived at 1227 H, with a kitchen in back and living quarters upstairs. Two of th eir ve children remained on H Street as adults: Israel, a dentist, and Fred, who sold baby furniture and toys. Known as the “Queen of H Street,” Anna founded the Hebrew Sheltering Society to house recent immigrants, and led the Sisterhood, a women’s aid society, for Ezras Israel Synagogue at Eighth and I Stre ets. e Shulmans and most of their Jewish neighbors had emigrated from Russia around 1900. In the 1950s former boxer Eddie Leonard brought his sandwich shop to H Street. In the 1960s Chuck Brown, the future “Godfather of Go-Go,” purchased hi s fir st guitar at Chuck and Marge Levin’s music store at 1227 H S treet. In 1968, a er looters destroyed their store, the Levins relocated their busi- ness to Wheaton, Maryland. At 1238 H is the former o ffice o f Granville Moore, M.D., a native Washingtonian, World War II vet- eran (B uffa lo Soldier), Howard University faculty member, and civil rights activist who practiced here for more than 50 years. Dr. Moore (1916-2003) is also remembered for making house calls and for treating patients free of charge two days a week.
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