Dark red bricks and steeply pitched gables define a historic home in Baltimore’s Old Goucher neighborhood that now houses more than 15 Black-owned businesses. From a perfumery and hairstylist to an esthetician and vintage clothing shop, the James E. Hooper House has become a hub for Black entrepreneurship and culture.
Hooper House, as it is known, is named after James E. Hooper, a man known for operating cotton mills in the area. The building is located at 100 East 23rd St. in Baltimore.
This week, AFRO News spoke with Oyindasola “Sola” Ekunseitan, the community director at Hooper House and owner of two businesses in the space, AYE Gallery/Altar Studio and OUTER SPACE Greenhouse, which is set to fully open in October. She hopes to continue encouraging artists like Murjoni Merriweather and Megan Lewis to develop a more courageous relationship with their work through experimentation.
Ekunseitan collaborates with Hooper House’s anchor business, Mama Koko’s, as well as the building’s 17 tenants and business owners, 16 of whom are Black-owned. She said the collective space reflects shared beauty and serves as a form of reclamation at 23rd and St. Paul…