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H Street NE spawns new nightlife area
(Published online July 17, 2006)

By ALIZA KRICHEVSKY
Special to The Common Denominator

H Street NE – famous as one of the city's major commercial corridors ravaged by the 1968 riots – is coming back to life as a new entertainment district.

The influx of bars on H Street has been due, in large part, to theme-bar entrepreneur Joe Englert, who owns the Argonaut and Palace of Wonders on the eastern end of the corridor and plans to open several other bars along H Street in the near future.

The two latest bars to open along the strip are Palace of Wonders and The Red and The Black, situated next to one another in the 1200 block and close to other bars in the area, including the Argonaut and the H Street Martini Lounge.

Englert has been joined along the strip by the owners of DC9, Bryan Deily and Bill Speiler; the owner of the H Street Martini Lounge, Clifton Humphries; and his co-owner at Palace of Wonders, Getinet Bantayehu.

"I chose H Street because there were dozens of abandoned buildings, a ready market with people who want to go out and have fun, and real estate was still reasonable when I started acquiring places," Englert said.

Bantayehu, co-owner of Palace of Wonders and the general contractor and designer of The Red and The Black, said he liked the Bohemian atmosphere of the neighborhood, which he sees as a destination location.

"The idea is to have as much pull as you can, having a destination. The way to create a destination is to have a choice and variety and a lot of different personalities," he said.

Jill Fisher, who designed the interiors of Palace of Wonders and The Red and The Black and manages Palace of Wonders, said that momentum for creating the nightlife area was spurred because "the city was giving out money, gearing for a rebuild on H Street."

"Things are coming along fine – the whole neighborhood has turned out recently," she said.

Palace of Wonders, located at 1210 H St. NE, opened June 9 and held its grand opening party on July 8. The theme of the Englert-owned bar is that of a carnival freak show. There are prominent displays of abnormal skulls, a unicorn, the head of a deer whose antlers formed around its snout and other oddities.

"My favorite is the oojiboo," customer Steve Ball said of an animal above the entrance. "It's a good guard for the door -- kind of the protector of the palace."

The bar has a small stage at the back of the first floor designed for vaudeville, burlesque and side shows. A balcony above the stage allows patrons on the second floor to watch the shows.

The grand opening featured Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey, an award-winning burlesque act. Charon Henning, a sword-swallower who works at the bar, also performs.

Customers said they are eagerly awaiting the live shows.

"I will absolutely be here for the live shows. Let alone being in a bar, where else can you see that?" Doug Kennedy said.

On Sundays, the bar turns into a museum. A small deck off the second floor has carved, painted animals that look like old-fashioned rocking horses but serve as seats. The deck is also home to two cats.

"We're a museum from noon to five on Sundays," Fisher said. "It's good for parties -- there's no booze. There are no taps on the bar for that reason. We drop the liquor down and give tours. It's great for kids who want to see it, but don't want to feel like they're in a bar."

The Red and The Black, located at 1212 H St. NE, opened June 12 but had its official opening on June 20, when it received its liquor license.

Owned by Deily and Speiler, the Black and the Red -- like its sibling, DC9 at 1940 Ninth St. NW -- is designed as a small, live-music venue.

Although The Red and The Black did not have a liquor license for its participation in a music festival three days earlier, the bar teamed with Palace of Wonders by sending patrons next door to drink alcoholic beverages.

Bantayehu said he believes the bars need to work together.

"We all want each other's businesses to succeed, because their success is our success," he said. "The hardest part is getting people down here."

The eastern end of the H Street corridor is served by Metrobus, but the nearest Metrorail station is at Union Station, about 10 blocks west of the new nightlife area. City officials recently began planning a streetcar line for the corridor, but its funding remains incomplete.

For now, the bars recommend their patrons take cabs from Union Station, but Bantayehu acknowledged that hail a cab along H Street to get back to the Metro is sometimes difficult. A weekend courtesy shuttle, in the form of a mini-van, is being tried to transport customers back to Union Station.

Copyright 2006 The Common Denominator