Even Historic Businesses Have to Change

I run an almost 60-year-old restaurant in the U.S. capital. But I've learned that even if your business has a historic legacy, no one can escape evolving with the times.

-  MARY QUILLIAN

My dad won a restaurant in a poker game. That was in 1971, the year I was born. I grew up in that restaurant, and now I own it.

Our restaurant is called Mr. Henry's, and it's an institution in the heart of Washington, D.C.—just six blocks away from the U.S. Capitol. A lot of people think I can run this place with my back turned. It’s old and established, they figure, so what’s there really to do? But that’s not the case.

The restaurant business is never an easy one—especially not today, with the economy the way it is. So I have to keep evolving. But when I look back at the history of Mr. Henry’s, I can see that’s nothing new. If a business can last long enough to be historic, that’s entirely because of its ability to change. My restaurant, Mr. Henry’s, began life in 1966, when Henry Yaffe took over a place called 601 Club. It had big windows, and back then, it was still taboo for people to be seen drinking in bars. So Henry replaced them with stained-glass windows from a church being razed nearby. He also salvaged some pews, which still serve as booths in the restaurant today. After renovating around the customers, one day, he changed the name to Mr. Henry’s.

A historic beginning

Henry was gay, and this was the 1960s. You had to be careful. But he opened Mr. Henry’s with the intention of being both gayand Black-friendly. That was important. He was very egalitarian. We have this iconic photograph from the 1968 riots where all the windows of Mr. Henry’s are boarded up. “Soul Brothers and Sisters Work Here” was spray-painted on the pieces of plywood. Mr. Henry's survived the riots. Henry was a hustler in the best sense of that word, in that he was always looking for ways to make the business work. That included live entertainment.