H Street Playhouse

History of the H Street Playhouse:

The building was built in 1928 by William Oshinsky and in 1929 and 1930, it was occupied by Mott Motors, Inc. as a Hupmobile automobile showroom. In 1931-1933 the building was occupied by RJ Nash Motor Co. and in 1934 it was occupied by Kingston-Otey Motors. It continued its life as an automobile showroom through 1942.

By 1943 the property began a period of volatility and adaptive reuses. This period lasted from 1943 until the Oshinskys sold the building in 1959. At various times in this period, the building was vacant:

The Plymouth Theatre: Motion picture theater, created as a neighborhood theater for blacks with its grand opening in 1943. Morris Hallett was the architect for this adaptive reuse that took the former Plymouth car salesroom and converted it into a 400 seat (300 seat by some accounts) movie theater. The remodeling cost $3,500. In 1945, Ike Weiner took it over until it closed in 1952 . The property was listed by the City Directory as vacant in 1954 and was likely vacant from the time the theater closed in 1952 until 1955.

King Furniture: King Furniture Company was located at 8203 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, MD. In 1955 they expanded to include 1365 H Street as one of their furniture stores. This lasted until 1957, when both King Furniture and the Jet Arena were listed in the telephone directory of that year.

Roller Rink: Jet Arena was listed in the telephone directory in one edition of the 1957 telephone directory under skating rinks.

Clements Printing: According to Congressional Title, in 1959 the building was sold by the Oshinskys to Clements Printing. Clements was a long standing business in the 1300 block of H Street and occupied this building from 1959 until 1984.

French's Restaurant: John French, former Vice President with McDonalds Corporation purchased the property from Clements Printing in 1984 and completed a renovation to open a southern, soul food restaurant. Many celebrities and noteworthy individuals from around the country visited the restaurant. This restaurant operated until the end of 2001 when Mr. French retired and sold the building.

Adele and Bruce Robey, founders and former publishers of a local newspaper, Voice of the Hill and proprietors of Phoenix Graphics, Inc., purchased the building with the sole purpose of converting the building to a live theater venue.