A “Bohemian” club located just steps away from Thomas Circle in the teens and 1920s must have been an unusual sight to behold for those lucky enough to know about its whereabouts and to locate its entrance during the era. It was located at what was then No. 3 Green Court, across from what is today’s Green Lantern gay bar, located in an old stable building in the alley just southeast of Thomas Circle. It was coined the Krazy Kat.

The club’s entrance was alongside of what is today’s Green Lantern building leading out to Massachusetts Avenue, with a small sign that read “Syne of ye Krazy Kat” seen in the images here, taken on July 15, 1921, along with a warning at the top of the door that read, “All soap abandon ye who enter here.” Inside, patrons found a tree house reached by a precarious ladder, pebble floor, and al fresco dining. It was the site of frequent artist exhibitions and painting classes.

The establishment was described by the Washington Post in 1919 as “something like a Greenwich Village coffee house” that had “gaudy pictures created by futurists and impressionists.” Its name came from a popular comic strip at the time titled “Krazy Kat,” whose main character was copied for use on both the front door and on shirts worn by the waiters. The strip was the genius of artist George Herriman, who created a stir at the time because he stated that Krazy Kat was androgynous — sometimes Krazy was a male, and sometimes a female, willing to be both. The cartoon strip ran in major newspapers throughout the country, and featured two protagonists, Krazy Kat and Ignatz, a mouse.

The androgynous namesake of the club seems to have been a green light for early gay people in Washington to rendezvous with like-minded persons without exposure. The Krazy Kat club was mentioned in the published diary of Jeb Alexander titled, Jeb & Dash, written by a gay man living in 1920’s DC. He wrote that the club was a “Bohemian joint in an old stable up near Thomas Circle . . . [where] artists, musicians, atheists, professors [gathered].”

Despite prohibition, the club offered liquor to its patrons, and was raided several times during its existence from about 1918 to about 1925. The Sheppard Act introduced prohibition of intoxicating liquors in Washington, DC effective on November 1, 1917, a full two years before a national prohibition. Both were repealed in 1933.

One raid in February of 1919 was initiated when a police officer heard a gunshot coming from the club at 1:00 a.m. The raid resulted in “25 prisoners, including three women — self-styled artists, poets and actors, and some who worked for the government by day and masqueraded as Bohemians by night,” according to report in the Washington Post of February 22, 1919. Most of those arrested faced charges of drinking in public.

The club was run by Cleon “Throck” Throckmorton, seen at the easel on the terrace of the club, and outside the entrance. He had been born in Atlantic City in 1897, and studied engineering at Carnegie Tech and at George Washington University before embarking on a career as a landscape and figure painter. His parents, Ernest U. and Roberta Cowing Throckmorton moved to Washington and resided at 1536 Kingman Place, NW, just off of Logan Circle.

After a few years he turned to the theater, assisted on the designs for Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (1920), and later created the sets for many of O’Neill’s plays, including All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1924), S.S. Glencairn (1924), In Abraham’s Bosom (1926), Burlesque (1927), Porgy (1927), Another Language (1932), Alien Corn (1933), and others.

By his retirement in the early 1950s he had designed sets for over 300 plays. Throckmorton also drew up architectural plans for such summer theater as the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts, and the Westport (Connecticut) Country Playhouse. He also served as the first art director for CBS in the early days of television. He died in 1965. His widow, Juliet Brenon, was a stage and screen actress in the 1920s. She was later a contributor to Yankee magazine, writing, among other subjects, about Eugene O’Neill, E.E. Cummings and other well-known people who had frequented her husband’s Greenwich Village studio.

While the building that houses the Krazy Kat is no longer there, replaced by a one occupied by a gym today, several artifacts from the club do remain. Throckmorton’s lusty dancing girl sketches are displayed at Volare, located in New York’s Greenwich Village, at 147 West 4th Street. The owner reports that the pictures conveyed with the establishment about 1984; previously, it has been called Mother Bertolotti’s, which had been established in 1939, and before that, a restaurant called Polly Holliday’s.

For an offbeat experience, go a little off the beaten track to Andrene’s Caribbean/Soul Food way over on Kennedy and 3rd Streets. The place makes no bones about being a carryout, despite the two or three seats inside. These are meant for waiting for your order, not really for eating in. Although management offers a take-out menu, daily fare is printed out on an overhead board — but check first that what you want is available. The kitchen person behind the plastic window shield scoffed at the order of the chocolate cake. “Why, we haven’t sold that in ages,” she noted. Small comfort, if when all that really appeals is gooey chocolate.

On the other hand, Andrene’s sells a pretty decent cheesecake, the good kind with a dense, cheesey filling and a thick crust — alas, not made on the premises — which is a fitting conclusion to the over-the-top curried goat served with your choice of rice and peas, greens, fried plantains, and much more. Available small ($8.25) or large ($10), this makes one mean meal, and the small is enough for one and probably for two hungry eaters.

Barbecued ribs may be tempting (that must be the Soul Food part of the menu), but after such a long drive across town, why not stick to Caribbean fare, part of the restaurant’s name and mission. Jerk chicken, coco bread, croaker, escoveitched snapper (poached and covered with a spicy marinade), steamed snapper, and a stewed chicken entrée with rice and veggies pack a mighty sunny punch. Tack on greens, cornbread, mac and cheese, fries, and/or cabbage, and you’ve gotten up a whole head of steam.

Kick off your mornings, if you have a mind to it, by dropping by for breakfast, a very typical offering of eggs, home fries, grits, corned beef hash, and/or pancakes, guaranteed to get you to work on time. This is no-frills eating at its best.

Have you forgotten Heller’s Bakery? That’s possible with all the newbies opening up. But over Mt. Pleasant way, this old-timer still serves some of the best pastries, cakes (especially wedding cakes), sandwiches, cookies, doughnuts, and empanadas anywhere in town. With their glass display cases crammed with goodies, and your very own big appetite, temptation to overbuy and overeat is compelling.

Start with their breakfasts — the usual eggs, pancakes, omelets — served until mid-afternoon. Or dig into a lunch meal of hot or cold sandwiches. The chicken empanadas are wonderful, chock-full of flavor and texture, but you may want to trim calories and just select one of the salads. That will leave you with plenty of wiggle room for the reasonably prices pastries or cookies. Or like one of the local moms who dropped by, pick up a whole cake (tres leches — a three-milk spongecake — would do the trick) or a scrumptious frosting-coated cupcake. If you are craving a yummy pie, you’ll find the regulars of French apple, Dutch apple, and plain apple pies, plus cherry and blueberry pies. For a special order of any other favorite, such as lemon meringue or Key lime pie, call a day ahead to order, and plan your feasting accordingly.

A real Washington landmark, baking for Washingtonians since 1928 and also famous for its wonderful freshly baked breads, Heller’s may offer minimal seating, but it does offer maximal fun and, besides, its smile cookies really rock.

Andrene’s Caribbean-Soul Food Carry Out / 308 Kennedy St., NW; (202) 291-7997. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 8am-9:30pm; Sat. 11:30am-10:30pm.

Heller’s Bakery / 3221 Mt. Pleasant St., NW; (202) 265-1169. Hours: Tue.-Sat., 7am-8 p.m; Sun. & Mon., to 3pm.

Readers may recall we stated our opposition in this space to this tax in our February editorial. We have not changed our view. However, we have no wish to beat a dead horse into mush and we do recognize that, thanks to the measure having been unanimously passed on its first reading on June 2nd, it is most unlikely that it will fail when voted on during second reading at the next Council session.

Yet, the point of subjecting legislation to a second reading procedure prior to final passage is for the purpose of at least allowing for new facts or considerations of policy to provide an opportunity to refine a measure — to make the final, enacted legislation better than what it might have been had there not been this “second bite of the apple.”

So, it is in this spirit that we urge the Council to consider removing paper bags from the force of this soon-to-be enacted law.

In reading all the discussions leading up to the introduction of the legislation and the stated rationale for its necessity, what is most apparent is that the legislative purpose is to clean up the polluted Anacostia River — polluted in a significant manner by the multitude of plastic grocery and other food sales bags that seemingly make their way through the city’s storm sewers into the Anacostia and then on to the Potomac and then eventually to the Chesapeake Bay and finally the Atlantic.

(Not acknowledged by many of the commentators, unfortunately, was the question of why DC residents must shoulder the entire responsibility. It seems as if our council members are unaware that the state of Maryland occupies a significant portion of the Anacostia’s eastern bank. Is there something in the Maryland air that causes plastic bags to evaporate?)

If there is any doubt that the legislative purpose of the bag tax is for pollution control, one simply needs to consider the bill’s title — “Anacostia River Cleanup and Protection Act.”

As Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans so eloquently stated during debate, “The fact is our country is becoming inundated with plastic bags and plastic bottles. . . . This is the first step to try to address this issue.”

Notice the emphasis: plastic — not paper. So why are paper bags also included in the new tax scheme? Since the bill also requires that paper bags used by grocery stores and sellers of food be biodegradable we fail to see why paper is lumped in with plastic. The plastic is a genuine problem; it will last forever, but the paper will disappear like any other botanically-based thing and will not harm the environment unless the paper products are infused with nasty chemicals; but the Council has addressed that issue with its biodegradable requirement.

We think there will be far less resistance to the new tax if it applies only to plastic and not paper also. People understand the problem with the plastic; a measure to limit paper, as we have noted, just doesn’t seem to pass muster. And, when people start to realize that this measure might well be the beginning of more to come they will be even more unhappy. Already, as the Evans quote implies, plastic bottles and containers could be next — and with respect to those, we consumers really have no control whatsoever.

We also urge that the Council add a provision that would allow for penalties against retailers who try to scam shoppers by charging a nickel per bag claiming it is the law even when the new law specifically exempts a whole list of plastic and paper bags and wrappers. Included are bags used for laundry and dry cleaning, garbage and yard waste; pet poop; bags provided by pharmacies and drug stores; bags for wrapping frozen foods and vegetables, candies, nuts, etc. purchased in bulk and bags used to carry unwrapped prepared foods or baked goods.

With all these exceptions that the average shopper will not understand there is much possibility of being charged when not required and the merchant simply keeping the modest bonanzas which will add up to a tidy sum in only a short time.

So, these are our two proposals for improving the bill before final passage on second reading day.

By Anthony L. Harvey

[Note: Photographs accompanying this news story in the print edition can be viewed in the full PDF copy in the Current & Back Issues Archive.]

At its well-attended June monthly meeting, harsh and lively questioning by the Adams Morgan Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) greeted guest speakers Charles Broadsky, a board member of the District’s Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board, and Fred Moosally, Acting Director of the Board’s regulatory arm known by its acronym ABRA. The focus of those questions revolved around the Board and ABRA’s stepped up enforcement of the food sales requirements for Adams Morgan restaurants with liquor licenses - “CR”s rather than those with “CT”s which are held by tavern licensees who are under no food sales requirements other than those they may have agreed to in so-called voluntary agreements with ANCs, civic associations, or nearby neighbors. Broadsky and Moosally were more than equal to the occasion, delivering an unusually informative evening session of the community’s well-known activist ANC.

Six of Adams Morgan’s 18th Street establishments are in ABRA’s and the ABC’s regulatory crosshairs. Two of these — Bobby Lew’s Saloon and Bossa Bistro and Lounge — have already had their licenses revoked for failing to be in substantial compliance with either the requirement that 45 percent of total annual sales be food or, in the alternative, that food sales of $2,000 per seat be realized each year. Both have appealed these license revocations.

A second pair of restaurants — Ventnor Sports Café and Grand Central — were allowed to keep their licenses but were fined $2,000 each and ordered to submit quarterly reports through the remainder of 2009. The Board further ordered that “the respondent[s] must also file self-certified figures by January 30, 2010.” The final pair of food sales failing establishments, which have not been publicly named, remain in investigative limbo.

Ventnor and Grand Central were found to be in “substantial compliance” with the 45 percent of gross sales rule, a range between 25 and 45 percent, and to be approaching the alternative $2,000 annual food sales per seat. “Substantial compliance” is an ABC Board articulated concept, one that has been devised to establish a monetary sales figure to serve as a threshold for restaurants which, in the Board’s judgment, are realistically striving to meet their statutory food sales requirements. The Board did not find the same demonstrated action or plan on the part of Bobby Lew’s and Bossa Bistro.

The ABC Board’s May 27, 2009 orders on Ventnor and Grand Central reflected a sharply divided Board. Both were four-to-two decisions, with Chairman Peter Feather being joined by member Herman Jones in opposition to the four-member majority. In the case of Grand Central, Feather and Jones argued that “the Respondent knew full well in advance of the submission of the [food sales] returns to ABRA’s auditors that they would not meet the numbers, but instead of proactively seeking to change their certificate of occupancy [C of O] with the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs [DCRA], the Respondent seems to be attempting to surround the Board in the confusion over the ‘occupancy’ numbers and the ‘seat numbers.’”

Since the range of numbers cited in this case went from ABRA’s own investigators’ counts of 74, including 16 outdoor seats that are typically not counted, to 214 on the C of O inherited by Grand Central from the building’s previous owner/occupant, Fasika’s, the confusion is understandable and is one of the “fact” situations leading ABRA, according to Moosally, to its current exploration with DCRA of the possibility of including two numbers on an establishment’s C of O — one that would correspond with capacity and the other with restaurant food serving seats, with the $2,000 per seat being calculated using the smaller, second number.

In the case of Ventnor’s, the same two dissenters were unimpressed by the proprietor’s efforts to come into full compliance using the $2,000 per seat food sales requirement. “While commendable,” wrote Feather and Jones, “it is, in our opinion, irrelevant that the Respondent demonstrated increased sales in the last quarters preceding the Show Cause Hearing and projects to be in compliance at some point — such information is mitigation and not an appropriate defense.”

Board Member Broadsky, who voted with the four-member majority that allowed Ventnor and Grand Central to keep their licenses, nonetheless faced the brunt of the ANC and community’s ire over the two prior license revocations and the $2,000 fines imposed on Ventnor and Grand Central. Following ANC Commissioner Nancy Shia’s admittedly inflammatory question, “Why are you picking on these two businesses,” Commissioner Bryan Weaver got to the heart of the ANC’s concerns by asking several probing, assertion-style questions. Weaver compared what he characterized as slaps on the wrists for proprietors whose establishments had prior violations of violence and illegal liquor serving operations — including fatal stabbings inside establishments and bouncer beatings of patrons at curb side — together with after-hours of operations and repeated servings of minors with the license revocations and heavy fines of licensees whose proprietors’ infractions were simply regulatory food sales percentage (or per seat) violations.

Broadsky bluntly responded that the community had demanded that the ABC Board do something about the late night and early morning “night life chaos” in Adams Morgan, especially on the weekends, and a moratorium on conversion of restaurant (CR) licenses with their food serving requirements to tavern (CT) licensees had been requested and granted. Lift the CR to CT conversion moratorium and these establishments would no longer have those particular regulatory problems, observed Broadsky.

Maureen Gallagher, President of the Reed-Cooke Neighborhood Association, quickly responded with an articulation of the community’s strenuous objection to any more CR to CT conversions. Commissioner Bryan Weaver noted that Adams Morgan had seen a recent rise in the number of CR to CT conversions resulting in the number of taverns growing from three to 15 prior to the establishment of the current conversion prohibition. Several residents in attendance offered further objections to these license revocations, however, asserting that closing the “good bars and restaurants” in question for regulatory food sales violations meant the loss of many jobs to Adams Morgan and adjacent neighborhood residents.

During a follow-up conversation with Pat Patrick, President of the Adams Morgan Business and Professional Association, he told The InTowner of his recommendation that the ABC Board further explore how the two revoked CR licensees — or others experiencing the same “food sales” problems — might meet a per seat standard based on restaurant seats rather than capacity or occupancy seats. “The loss of any licensed establishments is a substantial loss of many jobs directly affecting the economic vitality of Adams Morgan,” Patrick observed. Attempts to reach Denis James, President of the Kalorama Citizens Association and a major player in liquor license issues, for his comments were unsuccessful.

By Hunter Gorinson*

[Note: Photographs accompanying this news story in the print edition can be viewed in the full PDF copy in the Current & Back Issues Archive.]

The Kalorama/Adams Morgan neighborhood will soon have one less dilapidated tinderbox for neighbors to revile. Located at 2110 19th Street, NW, the three-story apartment building at the site has gone from bad to worse over the past half decade. Luckily for area preservationist aficionados, however, renovation (if you can call throwing out everything except the façade a renovation) is currently underway and, once completed, this real estate ugly duckling will emerge a swan — courtesy of DC apartment developer and management company Keener-Squire Properties and the architects of Eric Colbert and Associates.

Originally known as The Hilltop, residents of the then 15-unit tenement — described by the Washington Post at the time as a “badly deteriorated building” — were bought out of their leases in 2005. Another District development company, Nicol Development, then tried its hand at culling 22 condominiums out of the building shortly thereafter and summarily failed, leaving nothing but a condemned husk of a building in what was (ironically enough) one of the District’s more desirable neighborhoods. But then 2007 happened, and Nicol lost control of four local projects, this one to the lender. The property had been informally floated above $5 million by Nicol, then more formally listed at $3.8 million but still no takers. Cut to the summer of 2008, when Keener-Squire was able to pick it up at the “fixer-upper” special rate of $2.1 million.

“My client bought it at auction,” said architect Eric Colbert. “Someone had tried to develop it a while back, but they didn’t know what they were doing and wound up abandoning the project. . . . It must have been at least five or six years [since people lived there.]”

That’s about to change. Keener-Squire is currently projecting a 12-month timetable for a complete renovation of the once roughshod apartment complex. The building’s original 25,000 square-foot shell will receive an extra 5,000 feet during the course of the build-out, allowing for a total of 35 new residential units and two new floors. Keener-Squire’s in-house general contractor, Wayne Construction, is overseeing work at the site. Sources say the building is being designed as rental apartments, but, as always, market forces will ultimately dictate the final outcome.

*This article was first published on April 17, 2009 by The Urban Real Estate Digest of Washington, DC in its blog (dcmud.blogspot.com), and made available for reprint here through the courtesy of its editor and CEO of DCRealestate.com, Ken Johnson.

Copyright (c) 2009 InTowner Publishing Corp. & dcmud.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

By Brandy Lee*

[Note: Photographs accompanying this news story in the print edition can be viewed in the full PDF copy in the Current & Back Issues Archive.]

Adams Morgan was the site of the Bravo channel’s “Top Chef” cooking demonstration on Saturday, May 9th. Brought to DC by AdamsMorgan MainStreet to highlight the neighborhood as a culinary destination, four seatings of 60 each were held. “I was so thrilled to get a seat and taste the food,” said Sylvain Corneveaux, “this made a great pre-wedding surprise for my fiancé, who is a big fan!”

“Top Chef” Season Five’s Carla Hall (a DC chef and catering company owner) and Season Four’s Spike Mendelsohn (chef/owner of Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill) “hammed it up” for Adams Morgan participants and gave cooking tips and tastings to the audience. Two of the favorites were the lamb and soft shell crab. “It was fabulous to be able to ask them questions and see they are just as great unrehearsed and in person as they were on the television series,” enthused Ralph Lee, whose dream is to be a restaurant entrepreneur.

The Top Chef traveling stage set up at the Marie Reed School included a state-of-the-art kitchen. The truck expanded outwards revealing the kitchen, stage, demonstration area and 60 seats, all under an enclosed canopy, which was needed due to the pleasant, but warm weather.

“We’re so pleased to bring this national event right here on 18th Street which helps highlight Adams Morgan as a restaurant destination,” said AdamsMorgan MainStreet President Lisa Duperier. “The ‘green’ portion was a nice touch, with stationary bikes that used ‘person power’ to run the blender to make a ‘smoothie’ of choice,” she said.

AdamsMorgan MainStreet auctioned front row seats at Duplex Diner and at the Grill from Ipanema. Alcy M. de Souza, Jr. owner of the family-owned Brazilian restaurant named for the famous Rio beach, said he was happy to be a small part of this positive event for the image of Adams Morgan, and was pleased to welcome dining patrons who brought along their autographed pictures from the star chefs.

Said local chef, Ari Gedjenson, who aspires to open his own restaurant, “This was so encouraging, and I’m so glad for Adams Morgan “which is such a great place to walk around and eat, with many good restaurants of all types, not to mention cool gift items for friends.”

The free public event also included trivia games, giveaways and merchandise sales from Bravo Channel, Quaker Oats, and TOP CHEF. Additional guests viewed the demos by standing outside of the seating area or from a small plasma television in the activity area. Comcast was a local sponsor, and according to Bravo Channel, all the free on-line tickets were gone within the first 15 minutes of availability. Any “no show” seats were then given away, first come-first serve, to anybody in line. (For more information, visit www.bravotv.com/thetour.

*Brandy Lee, a third generation DC native, spends time in Adams Morgan, and owns B-2 Movement for Change, a dance and yoga holistic wellness company.

Copyright (c) 2009 InTowner Publishing Corp. & Adams Morgan MainStreets. All rights reserved.

Indeed, Cork has garnered more ink probably than almost any other restaurant in town. Checking out their press citations on www.corkdc.com, you’ll see that at last count it received 22 mentions, from the New York Times to DC’s Don Rockwell, and loads in between.

So what’s the draw? Why the buzz? Clearly, ambiance and wine rule. Its diminutive size demands that people huddle close, and even the upstairs seating in what looks like it once was a townhouse attic keeps you tuned into neighbors’ conversations. In short, you’ll know everyone’s business by the time you head home.

Its wine list, while not encyclopedic, does include a healthy selection of domestic and international vintages and even a proud selection of dessert wines, labeled in one part of the menu as “desserts to drink,” and even including a pricey Armagnac, the Darroze, Domaine de Dupont, 1977 at $23 a pop. Note: teetotalers can always drink espresso or hot chocolate with their sweets.

Despite all the hype and über glamour, however, Cork’s kitchen does not keep pace with the bar’s other frenzy. Besides offering paper menus stained with a thousand greasy smudges, Cork doesn’t go in for full entrées, but instead offers its version of a tapas-like experience with assorted dishes to share. Tough luck if you are craving your very own rack of lamb with seasonal veggies.

Of course, patrons can piece together a full meal with such dishes as the roasted Brussels sprouts (sadly, overcooked) with brown butter, pancetta, and thyme; sautéed kale with Pecorino cheese and garlic cloves, large and gleamingly intact; grilled Angus flat-iron steak, cooked to order but its accompaniments didn’t compare well with the kale; and French fries, noteworthy for their hot-from-the-oil crispiness and side of homemade ketchup, one of the best flavors of the evening.

Perhaps the most unique offering is the pan-crisped brioche sandwich layered with prosciutto and fontina cheese and topped, whimsically, with a Path Valley fried egg-the last confirms that “farm fresh” tastes best; the egg should remind you of how Granny’s used to taste. An A-plus to DC’s tastiest grilled cheese sandwich, a classic comfort food taken to the next level.

As for desserts, you might zero in on the goat cheese cheesecake, but don’t expect the traditional wedge serving: here, the cheesecake means three large scoops decoratively presented and topped with several perfect raspberries and cookie crumbles. It’s the kind of dessert that cries out for having a big slice, and calories don’t count!

Cork may or may not win at the RAMMY’s awards ceremony this year, but it clearly has won a place in the hearts and minds of DC’s twentysomethings, and maybe a few thirstysomethings. If you are looking for the “in” crowd, make this your primo stop of the night.

Cork Restaurant & Wine Bar / 1720 14th St., NW; (202) 265-2675. Hours: Sun.,. Tue., & Wed., 5pm-12mid.; Thu.-Sat., to 1am; closed Mon. Entrée price range: $5 for veggies and fries to $24 for a charcuterie selection. Note: Reservations taken for pre-theater dining prior to 6:30 pm only; other times call 30 minutes prior to arrival to be placed on the wait list.

Addison Scurlock had been born on July 19, 1883 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the son of George Clay Scurlock, Sr., one-time Fayetteville Postmaster who, having failed in his bid for a seat in the North Carolina State Senate on the Republican ticket, moved his family to Washington in 1900. His father passed the bar, and established a law practice in the thriving U Street corridor, home to many well established black family businesses. Addison apprenticed with photographer Moses P. Rice and Sons at 1225 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Beginning in 1904, Scurlock photographed people in a studio he set up in his parents home at 447 S Street NW. In 1907, having married Mamie Estelle Fearing, he opened his first photographic studio in their new home at 1202 T Street, NW, where his business continued to grow. In 1911, he opened his permanent studio at 900 U Street, NW, where he would remain until his death in 1964.

From 1907 through the early 1990s, Scurlock Studios photographed every President, Vice-President, Dean, Trustee, and most faculty members at Howard University.

Their son Robert graduated from Howard University in 1937 with a degree in Economics and son George graduated from Howard in 1940 with a degree in Business Administration.

Before World War II, Robert Scurlock expanded the studio’s involvement in photojournalism and stock photography, contributing press photos to much of the African-American press, including the Washington Afro-American, Washington Tribune, Norfolk Journal and Guide, Pittsburgh Courier, Cleveland Call and Post, and the (New York) Amsterdam News, as well as magazines like Flash and Our World. After the war, the two brothers opened the Capitol School of Photography.

In 1963, Addison retired from the business and sold Scurlock Studios to his sons, who re-incorporated under the name Custom Craft Studios; Addison died in 1964.

George Scurlock worked out of the original studio at 900 U Street, and Robert worked out of the Custom Craft Studios at 1813 18th Street NW. By 1976, the studio portion of the business on 900 U Street was forced to move by the construction of the Metro subway Green Line under U Street. In 1977, after 66 years of business, the building was razed — even though the Green line would not begin service to the U Street corridor until 18 years later. It remained a vacant lot until a restaurant was built on the site in 1999.