By Elayne Savage, PhD
I am deeply saddened and affected personally by the senseless loss of life and injuries at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard. My heart goes out to all the families and friends and residents of the community.
I spent much of my early growing up years in the shadow of the Navy Yard. My part-time home was my grandmother's corner market at 7th and L Streets.
As you might guess the many repeated scenes of the surrounding neighborhood have brought back vivid memories. There was even footage of an ambulance passing the market that used to be my grandmother's.
I want to share with you something I have never published before – about the market, my grandmother, and memories of the many hours my brother Lee, my cousins and I spent on the corner of 7th and L Streets, SE, in DC.
The Trading Post Lady of 7th and L
I think of my grandma as the Trading Post Lady of 7th and L Streets – a couple of blocks from the Navy Yard in DC.
I think of myself as growing up in two neighborhoods. On weekdays I was a white kid in a brick row house in NE. Yep, it was mostly white and Jewish. On weekends, I was a white kid in a mostly black neighborhood in SE
I remember my NE neighborhood being abuzz when actress/singer Pearl Bailey bought a house a few blocks away from my row house. Walking to school I'd peer in the windows to try to catch a glimpse of her. Never did though, so maybe it was only a rumor.
My Other Neighborhood
I spent Fridays and Saturdays in my other neighborhood. My grandmother lived above her corner grocery store at 7th and L Streets, SE. Directly across from the back of the Navy Yard Streetcar Barn. Built in the late 1800's, the building was about a full city block. The street cars entered on M street, were serviced or repaired and exited on L Street. They were a daily part of our experience at the market.
Raskin's grocery market, 7th and L Streets SE, DC
My dad and uncle worked in the store with Grandma so my cousins and my brother Lee and I spent lots of time there. Mostly hanging around the candy counter.
A few officers from the DC Metro Police would stop in the store for an ice cold five-cent Coke and a kosher dill from the pickle barrel. Sometimes they would drive Lee around the block in a 'paddy wagon' with the siren on. Lee loved it.
Whenever I see the Marine Band on TV, my memory does a back flip to 1950. Our dad would take us to watch the band practice in front of the Marine Barracks, just a few blocks from the store.
When I wasn't eating up the candy profits, I was playing hopscotch on chalked off squares and skipping rope with kids on the block. In both of my neighborhoods, black and white, the games we played and friendships we made were pretty much the same.
Playing up the street from Raskin's Market
Friday Night Dinners – Eating in Two Shifts
Every Friday afternoon we'd travel across town to Grandma's house for Shabbat dinner. We entered her first floor kitchen to the delicious smells of matzoh ball soup, brisket, roast chicken and just-baked kugel. If we all showed up, we totaled 15. Too many for one table, so we ate in two shifts.
About the time the second shift was finishing up, there'd usually be loud pounding on Grandma’s front door. "Miz Raskin, Miz Raskin, call the police. There's been a stabbing."
For years I would wonder, "Why do they always seek out my grandma?" Finally I figured it out. She had the only telephone in the neighborhood!
And where was my grandfather? He died long before I was born. Everyone told some pretty weird stories about him though. My favorite is about him bootlegging whiskey to some Congress folk during prohibition. It ended when someone tipped off the revenuers. When they arrived they found him hiding under the coal pile in the yard. But maybe it was just a story.
So, with the help of two of her sons, Mike and Henry, Grandma continued to live upstairs and run the grocery business. She was one tough and determined lady even though she only stood 4'9''.
Trading Post and Listening Post
I think of my grandma as 'The Trading Post Lady' of 7th and L.
The market was also a 'Listening Post.' Neighbors could catch up on the happenings and gossip. But if there was trouble on the street, someone would send a runner to the store. Day or night.
I felt pretty safe on the sidewalks at 7th and L. Grandma's neighbors looked after us kids because she and her sons took care of them – making sure no one went hungry during the depression. And they extended credit if someone fell on hard times.
Russian immigrant Sarah Raskin and her 7th and L Market were woven into the fabric of the neighborhood. There was mutual respect and regard.
Sure, there was the occasional shoplifting of a can of pork and beans. But get this: no one ever tried to rob the store. Not ever.
I moved away from DC when I was nine. Over the years I guess I assumed the store had been torn down as the neighborhood grew older. Imagine my surprise to learn that while ninety percent of the neighborhood had been completely rebuilt, the original two story building is still standing on the corner of 7th and L, surrounded by the renaissance of SE Washington, including the Nationals' ball park.
The old Streetcar Barn, is now bright blue and called the ‘Blue Castle.’ Plans are underway for a condo development.
Lee and I visited the market a few years ago. It looks pretty much the same. I was amazed at how tiny it seems now! And there's a bullet-proof check cashing booth off the doorway, sort of where I remember the candy counter used to be. I guess times have changed.
Recent photo by Lenny Raskin and Rick Raskin
These days the market is owned by a recently immigrated Korean family. But they don't live upstairs. At first, they didn’t believe us when we told about how much time we used to spend in the store. Luckily Lee thought to bring along some photos from the old days.
I wouldn’t trade those memories of growing up for anything. I’m grateful for the life-long lessons we learned on those streets: consideration, acceptance, and respect.
On 7th and L we were all just kids growing up together – peacefully in the shadow of the D.C. Navy Yard.
© Elayne Savage, PhD
Elayne Savage is the author of ground-breaking relationship books published in 9 languages.
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