This week for Not So Long Ago, GM stops by Wisconsin Ave. just above M St. where the Vinyard Vines and Bebe shops now sit.
In 1993, the Vinyard Vines store housed Britches Great Outdoors, a branch of the Georgetown-based Britches chain. GM was a big fan of Britches back in the day when a Britches Great Outdoors was at his local Connecticut mall. The chain went bankrupt in 2002.
The clothing store Wet Seal opened here sometime around 2003. It stayed open until a few years ago when Vinyard Vines opened up.
It’s impossible to discuss 1225 Wisconsin without mentioning that it was the location of Mr. Henry’s from 1967 to 1986. This bar (known primarily as a gay bar) was famous for being the place where Roberta Flack launched her career.
Next door in 1993 there was a branch of Roberto Donna’s Il Radiccho brand restaurant. Upstairs was a deli/market called Il Pane (that’s Italian for bread). The restaurants stayed open until sometime around 2000. By 2002 Bebe had moved in.
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Topher, I hate to contradict you but there never was a Mr. Henry’s at 1225 Wisconsin Ave. There was one at Tenly Circle and the famous Mr. Henry’s of Roberta Flack fame is at 601 Pennsylvania Ave SE on Capitol Hill. The site you are referring to was The American Cafe in the 80’s and may have been an Annies Steakhouse before. They have a gay following and the original is near Dupont Circle
Before Il Pane, there was a very tasty Italian sandwich shop up on the second floor called Luciano’s Cafe. Luciano was quite a character, but he didn’t seem to have the business sense to make it there long-term, especially with the added challenge of not being on the street.
I think the infamous “Maximilian Rochambeau” had a club in that building back in the early Nineties. He later moved over to M Street.
http://www.angelfire.com/art2/delacroix_berthier/meet_de_la_croix.%20part%203.htm
Brad, you might be right, but what I read is that Flack started at the Georgetown Mr. Henry’s and then the club owner, Henry Yaffe, recognized her talent and then built a room for her at his Capitol Hill location.
This site seems to confirm that there was a Mr. Henry’s at 1225 Wisconsin Ave.:
Click to access clubs.pdf
Here’s from a bio I found:
Meanwhile, music remained a central part of Flack’s life outside of the workplace. She directed church choirs and began taking voice lessons, concentrating primarily on opera, with Frederick “Wilkie” Wilkerson. She also began taking on voice students of her own. Eventually, Wilkerson convinced Flack to give pop music a try. At first she considered the suggestion an insult, but over time she began making appearances at local clubs, both as a pop singer and as a piano accompanist for others. By 1967 Flack had gained a healthy local following, and was singing five nights a week at a nightclub on K Street in Washington. She was discovered there by Henry Yaffe, who brought her to his trendy new Georgetown club Mr. Henry’s. By 1968 she was drawing such a crowd to the club that Yaffe opened a special room at his other location near Capitol Hill to showcase her talent. She also found time for a social life during this period, culminating in her 1966 marriage to Stephen Novosel, a jazz bassist.
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/roberta-flack#ixzz1cew9n6YQ
I guess it would be fairer to say she was “discovered” at the K St. club (the Bayou maybe?).
I remember a Mr. Henry’s in Georgetown at the same time as the American Cafe but that Mr. Henry’s closed around 1980-81 (it started getting mostly straight customers when they hired a teenaged Tori Amos to play piano)and the American Cafe followed suit a few years later. But 1225 Wisconsin definitely housed the American Cafe during the 1970’s and early 1980’s.
Wasn’t there a regular Britches a little further up Wisconsin, like around where Polo is now?
The space next door was Britches Great Outdoors, Britches of Georgetown–which sold mens suits–was where Ralph Lauren currently is.
Use to work for Britches Great Outdoors. That building is supposedly haunted.
They used to sell canned Clyde’s chili. Would eat some nearly every lunch. Had no regard for my coworkers.
Mr. Henry’s was rollicking, but it was Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill, Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., where Roberta Flack performed and from which she became a hit.
I think the gay steakhouse was called Paramount? Does that sound right? American Cafe was great, a landmark endeavor … for Georgetown and the food industry. The owner sold it to a corporation and then it began to slide. And remember when there was Boogey’s or Boogie’s, where now we have the Apple Store?
The steakhouse was called Dino’s Paramount steakhouse and served the best sizzling steaks in the city. And there was nothing gay about Dino’s. Everybody went there. And before there was an American Cafe next door there was Brit’s 24 hour diner where all the jazz artists from Blues Alley would go at 4 in the morning and artists from the Cellar Door would hang there, as well as most of the waiters of Georgetown after their respective restaurants closed. I personally took comedians Redd Foxx and Richard Pryor to Brits. Roberta Flack performed more at Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill than in Georgetown.
A note to Jacques: Before Luciano’s on the second floor was Blimpie’s, the original foot long sandwich shop (there’s still one up in New Jersey).
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In the latest Pelecanos “The Way It Was” Derek Strange has Roberta Flack starting out at Clyde’s. This is news to me. Comments?
The Bayou was strictly a rock and blues venue, and it was UNDER K st. on Water St. down by the river. Go down the hill on Wisconsin, pass the Church, turn left and there it was. Closed down long ago.
There was a Mr. henry’s on Wisconsin Ave. in the late 1960’s. I worked there
And nobody mentions Mr. Smith’s on M Street in the 60s-70s.
Yep, My one year in DC, 1983-84, Mr. Henry’s in Georgetown was a favorite gay hangout. I especially remember it being packed on Half-Price Hamburger night (I think this was on Tuesdays).
There was definitely a Mr. Henry’s at 1225. Mr. Henry’s Georgetown was owned by Avery Morrison and Larry Samuel. I bartended, waitered and managed the place from 1975-1980. The American Café was next door down the street. Mr. Henry’s Georgetown catered to a gay crowd but never declared itself as such because of it’s dependence on the tourist crowd in Georgetown. Some of the best years of my early life were spent within those walls.
I seem to remember a Mr Henry’s on Columbia Road in Adams Morgan as well as all the ones mentioned here. In my now 60 years on earth I never felt more connected to my fellow brothers then during the Sunday afternoon/evening Broadway show tune sing-a-longs with the piano player at the Mr Henry’s at 1225 Wisconsin Ave from say 1977 to 1980. And yes, it was Dino’s Paramount Steak House and yes it was very straight, not gay. The gay on was the hole in the wall on 17th street.
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There definitely was a Mr Henry’s on Wisconsin avenue in the 80’s. I worked on M Street and I ate many meals and drank a few too many drinks there.
Yes, definitely Mr. Henry’s (Georgetown) was just above M street on Wisconsin Avenue, I think it was #1225. My friends Craig and Ardith and I would go there several times a week for happy hour, for years approx 1974 to 1977-ish. It was buy 2 cocktails and the 3rd was free (so we just had to) and we would order onion rings,salads,burgers,and mainly light meals,then catch a cab for nights out dancing at “The Pier 9.” We always sat in the front room and played Barry White,(and “Pier” songs,) on the jukebox which was located up front at the north window. There was another room in back down a hallway,which had a bar and piano.
Just a couple doors north was E.F. Sly Clothing,where we used to buy our “club wear clothes,” including “Nik-Nik” shirts.As we were all 17 at the time,(!) we found that we could get into clubs if we “dressed up!” I worked in a candy/gift store (Sharon’s Mom and Dad owned it) right across the street from Mr. Henry’s,and I also worked just down M Street at “Clothes Circuit,” so “Henry’s” was a very convenient destination.
I do remember when “Blimpies Subs” opened just south of Mr’ Henry’s, maybe a couple doors down or next door- It was perfect food for late nights,after the clubs. I think that may have been replaced by “American Cafe,” which was very popular.
I wonder if “Rocky Horror Picture Show” is still playing at that little theater across from Henry’s? lol…Anyone remember “Cafe de Paris” and “Sundowner Club?” oh, but they were just south on M~ Cheers to those Great Times 🙂
Mr. Henry’s was absolutely 1225 Wisc. I had many meals and drinks there. I once met John Waters and Divine there. I ran an escort service called the Stables and many of my “models” would meet there clients there. It was a safe spot to meet.
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For the record: Dino’s Paramont Steakhouse, with a parking lot to the left, and Mr. Henry’s to the right, and American Cafe to the right of that.
Dave – Was Paramount not one of the early Washington gay “enlightened” restaurants? Not exclusively gay but ahead of its time? Then I am mistaken. I thought Georgetown was a pioneering neighborhood in that regard. I also thought it was called Annie’s Paramount Steak House. There was also the gay-friendly Georgetown Grill (I may have the name wrong; it was long ago, in the 70s). It then became a French bistro and then Five Guys and now &Pizza. There was a terrific creperie nearby. Loved American Cafe. Best chocolate chip cookies. I loved the Bayou (great bands, great dancing), and the club behind the Biography theater (a psychedelic scene)… now a CVS. The East India Trading Company ( I think), another bar, in the basement of what was most recently Maxime. And then Bistro Francais on M, where everyone would show up at 3am and stay till dawn. Back in the day Georgetown was the groove, and way out in front, too. I remember waking by the side steps of The Cellar Door and John Denver was just sitting there, strumming his guitar, enjoying some sun. We talked for a bit and then I went on my way. As for Mr. Henry’s, there may have been one in Georgetown, but I’d go to Mr. Henry’s on Capitol Hill, upstairs, to see Roberta Flack. Happy memories.
Donal Leace, who sadly passed away yesterday in Texas from COVID19, use to play Sunday afternoon shows at Mr. Henry’s on Wisconsin. I use to go every weekend for a while. There was a bar and a backroom for small venues. Donal was a protege of Roberta Flack’s. Great music! He taught at Duke Ellington also. He influenced many and left a mark on the soul with his performances.