Inside and Upstairs in the Surratt Boarding House... (Kinda)

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(08-03-2015 08:19 PM)BettyO Wrote:  What a wonderful photo, Jim!!! It's an absolute Gem of "Our Jim!" Thanks so very much for sharing!!

Years ago, I knew Bert Shelton - a retired DC Cop. Bert was also quite a historian and managed to go upstairs into the boarding house via a friendship with the owner, Harold Wang. Bert for years owned two of those wonderful old white "egg" porcelain door knobs from the boarding house. About four years ago, they were sold on eBay for $1,000 apiece!

Betty O

Betty - Just to clarify, Harold Wang was never the owner of the H Street building. He was another person (like Bert) who was given permission to go upstairs there. The owner for many years was a Dr. Lee.

Harold "stumbled" into getting permission to enter due to his last name. Dr. Lee was Chinese and assumed that Harold was also (having never met him). Harold's last name (Wang) is of Scandinavian origins. After his visit, Harold supplied a very nice article to the Surratt Courier describing the layout and also things he thought were still original.

P.S. Back in the 1970s and early-80s, Betty and I and several other assassination nuts would stand on the sidewalk outside of what was then Suey Sang Lung's Chinese Grocery at 604 H Street and contemplate making a mad dash into the private door that led upstairs. One thing that stopped us was the thought of a possible opium den that we might find.

Chinatown had not become quite so gentrified at that time. The construction of Verizon Center has greatly improved the neighborhood visually, but there has been a recent spike in crime there aimed at visitors exiting night activities at the Center.