The DC Office of Motion Picture and Television Development is pleased to recognize H Street in Northeast Washington as the February 2013 One City Location of the Month. The H Street corridor, historically known as a commercial district, has been revitalized to feature a diverse array of businesses from unique bars and restaurants housed in historic buildings to a burgeoning arts and entertainment district featuring some of the city’s best live performances.
The H Street corridor lies in the Near Northeast neighborhood of the District bounded by North Capitol Street to the west, Florida Avenue to the north, F Street to the south, and 15th Street to the east. The main entertainment and retail corridor falls on H Street between 7th and 15th streets.
Prior to the decline seen as a result of World War II and the 1968 riots, the H Street neighborhood was one of Washington's earliest and busiest commercial districts. It was the location of the first Sears Roebuck store in Washington and housed four of the city’s movie theaters, including the Atlas Theatre, which is now the Atlas Performing Arts Center (June 2011 Location of the Month). The renovated Art Deco movie house reopened in 2005 as a multiple venue performance and arts center, sparking the economic revitalization of the neighborhood, now known to some as the Atlas District.
H Street is now home to a number of live music venues, performance spaces, exotic restaurants, cozy bars and novelty retail establishments. The venues—ranging from The Palace of Wonders, which offers burlesque and sword swallowing performances, to the H Street Country Club, touting zombie presidents—represent the diversity in the cultures and interests in the nation’s capital that makes this corridor such a neat place to film.
In 2011, the DC Film Office launched its One City Location of the Month to bring attention to the wide range of varied, cinematically compelling locations that are available to film and television productions. Former One City Location of the Month recipients include the Bellevue neighborhood in Southwest, the National Arboretum in Northeast, the Georgetown neighborhood in Northwest, and the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail.
To learn more about the H Street corridor and to view photos please visit the One City Location of the Month. If you are interested in using the H Street corridor for a future filming location, please contact us at [email protected].