Feb 14, 2020
Call Carl by StreetsofWashington Via Flickr: In 1917, as World War I raged abroad, 26-year-old auto mechanic Edmund Otto Carl (1891-1970), a native Washingtonian, borrowed $900 from his dad to break out on his own. He set up an auto repair shop in an alley off of H Street NW in Chinatown and grossed $7,000 in his first year. He never looked back. After opening a large garage on H Street across from the alley in the 1920s, he added branches all over the city. Call Carl eventually had over 350 employees and 13 garages. After Carl died, his wife Rae continued the business through the 1970s. Family members sold off the company's assets in the early 1980s, ending its long and successful run.