Evening star., 1961-12-28

Probably no group in the
area took quite so hard a blow
with the razing Of Washing
tons slum-ridden Southwest
than the restaurants.
To a large degree. they're
still hanging on the ropes.
Restaurants by the dozens
both good and bad-got the AK
when the Southwest razing
job got underway. Some have
managed to locate elsewhere,
hoping someday to return to
banks of the Potomac either
on or near Maine avenue.
Others haven't even tried.
They've abandoned hope and
simply gone out of business,
never to return. I
The two big exceptions, of
course, are Hogates, at Ninth
and Maine, and the Flagship,
at 95l Maine, both highly
regarded eateries. There are one
or two small ones, too, which
have not been ouSted, but it's
only a matter Of time. All will
go eventually, making way for
redevelopment. Some-like Ho-
gates and the Flagship-will
find new locations in a specif-
ically designated restaurants
area on the river, not a stones
throw from where they are now
It's toward the others, there
fore, to which our sympathy
is directed.
Some were fine seafood
houses which Washingtonians-
as well as thousands of tourists
had come to enjoy immensely
They also were quaint and col
orful, to say nothing Of what
their departure has done to
the fishermen and oystermen
who supplied the Maine avenue
restaurants with their daily
fare-some of the best seafood
in the Nation.
What we're getting down to
is this: To our knowledge, only
one well-k n own displaced
Southwest restaurant has man.
aged to come back to the
Southwest area high its
custer.
It's Halls-on- the Potomac
located until recently at Seventh
about 1885 it had been knowr
as Halls Restaurant and Gar.
den. the place where. according
to the present owner, Julie Hall
the late AL Jolson got his star
in show business by singing
from the saloon balcony.
There was a clumsy and in
credibly massive bar which
could only have been though
beautiful before the turn o
the century. There also wert
swinging doors, a huge Adam
and Eve painting Gin the nude)
a tiled floor which cried 70,
sawdust, old lamp lighting
player-piano music and all thu
other things which one asso
ciates with Nineteenth Centur.
bistroS - spitoons, checkereC
table cloths and the rest.
1t was a place with char
acter.
Today it is gone.
But Mrs. Hall, an Italiar
girl from Baltimore who mar
ried an Irishman named Franl
Hall. wouldn't give up.
A couple of months ago con
struction was completed on he
new place, an outwardly sleek
one-story affair at the end o
First street, on what's some
times called Buzzard's Point.
It's neighbor is the Corinthial
Yacht Club.
Fort McNair also is nearby
Both the restaurant and tn
yacht club, right on the water
edge, look across the river to
ward Anacostia Naval Air Sta
ton. At night the scene from
the restaurant, seen through
modern plateglasS windows
sparkleS with the riples of tn,
water and the lights from land
ing airplanes.
isn't it too bad?" Mrs. Hal
commented recently. Every
thing looks so new"
Actually, Mrs. Hall is onl!
homeSick.
She remembers the stories he.
late husband, and all the Hail.
before him, used to tell he
about the old place.
"The young girls in tn,
neighborhood were told by theil
| ,~o,o,.k. - u,aIl- ~, fIa okha,