CULTURE | FEB. 19, 2024
Fish in the Neighborhood: One of Georgia Avenue’s Last Black-Owned Businesses
Image via Tamryn Sainten
by Tamryn Sainten
William “Bill” White, owner of Fish in the Neighborhood, is a D.C. native and entrepreneur fighting to make Georgia Avenue Black again. Formerly known as Bill’s Seafood, the restaurant was first established by White in 1997, when “D.C. was known as ‘Chocolate City” White expressed. “It has become a chocolate chip, to light chocolate now.”
Talking over a plate of piping hot golden fried shrimp and whiting, White shared he wasn’t familiar with what gentrification meant when he was interviewed by Channel 4 News a few years ago. But once Black barber shops, corner stores, and boutiques that once lined the popular D.C. street began to disappear, he was able to put his experience into words.
Before White was the owner of Fish in the Hood, he experienced what he describes as “undercover homelessness”, a situation he didn’t want anyone to know he was going through.
“One of the things I learned is how to cry again. And I just let it all out,” White recalls about his night sleeping by the train tracks. “I remember that morning I woke up…didn’t feel like crying no more.”
He remembers going into Safeway, with $3 in his pocket and buying a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter and jelly. More than anything for White, food meant survival.
Once he was able to get on his feet through his pest control business, White began to sell his food at a gas station on Bladensburg Road using his cooking expertise which was passed down from his mother. It was there that he first experienced the community's love for seafood and strived to open his own restaurant. When he saw a vacant space on Georgia Avenue, he knew it had to be his despite all the necessary renovation work.
“I put the windows in, I made the canopies outside,” White said. “I didn’t have the money to pay a company to do it. As a Black business, I had to learn to be creative.”
Image via Tamryn Sainten
When White first opened up shop, both his customers and the area were predominantly Black. Howard's students made up a good portion of his clientele and even coined the name “Fish in the Hood”. Today, Georgia Avenue tells a different story. “Now I understand gentrification plays a big role in survival,” White added.
Initially, his rent was $1100, but today it’s almost 6 times that. He emphasizes the importance of good credit in getting loans to own property. However, Black communities have historically faced lending discrimination which prevents them from doing so.
For White to purchase the building, he would have to pay the difference of almost $400,000 to building owners, something most cannot afford. “This is called gentrification, it’s how you get squeezed out,” White said.
But White is here to stay despite the alternative methods he believes the building managers are utilizing to get him to leave the property. When Fish in the Neighborhood, unfortunately caught fire in 2021, White says that contractors did not do anything to repair the damage that was confined to the kitchen.
Image via Tamryn Sainten
He believes building managers were trying to get him to break his lease by extending the amount of time it would take to open back up but White wasn’t walking.
Instead, he plans to utilize his creativity to expand his business by buying a Metro Bus and converting it into a food truck for special events.
In terms of jumpstarting more Black entrepreneurship, White also has been in talks with professors about partnering with Howard Architecture students to buy land and build properties around Pennsylvania Avenue.
White hopes that with the student’s help, he can develop a building plan so he can get a permit and raise money.
White’s biggest advice for Black business owners:
“Don’t just think about the money, but think about the love of what you’re doing. We call that spiritual richness,”
White also stresses the importance of loving what you do through slow periods because he knows what it’s like to lose everything. “Many of us don’t have the cushion to rebound once we fall off that cliff,” he explained. “The numbers are against you, so you don’t have room for failure. You have to succeed.”
