To Leah Daniels, the question wasn’t “where,” it was “what.” She’d always wanted to have her own store serving the public – what a great way to spend your days: meeting, greeting and serving your neighbors!

That the neighbors would be Capitol Hill residents was a given. She was born and raised on the Hill, and upon returning home after college, she came to realize just how special the feeling of community here can be.

After over five years as manager of Riverby Books on East Capitol Street, she knew the pleasure of managing a retail establishment that drew its clientele from precisely that community. She felt it was time to fulfill her dream and open a store of her own. Ah, but what kind of store? “I didn’t want to compete with Riverby – the Cymrots, who own the place, were my mentors! So a bookstore was out,” she says.

As she contemplated the choices, she looked for a line of merchandise that Hill residents needed. A cooking equipment specialty store was the option that appealed to her most. And what sealed the deal was her father’s suggestion for a name. “It just felt right when my dad said ‘How about calling it Hill’s Kitchen?’” She points out that the name is a play on the slang term for the notorious New York City neighborhood, “Hell’s Kitchen,” and not a reference to the Fox Television program of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.

This month, Daniels will open Hill’s Kitchen at 713 D St. SE (just across from the Eastern Market Metro Station). The ground floor of the renovated 1884 town house will feature everything from whisks, tea balls, spatulas and cutlery to woks, skillets, pots and bowls. Upstairs, a fully equipped kitchen will eventually accommodate cooking classes and events.

The conversion of the building from its previous lives as a private home and an office building has been a challenge. “I think we’ve managed to honor the building and the neighborhood,” she says, citing the exposed portions of the original brick walls, original molding and the Victorian touches at the window corners. The place feels very much like a Capitol Hill building, but opened up to provide a great space, not only for browsing through merchandise, but for classes, gatherings and even a celebration or two. Daniels is pleased and proud of the result, saying, “I can’t wait to open the doors to our neighbors.”

Neighbors – and the entire concept of neighborhood – has been a big thing for Daniels all of her life. And that is a life that has been lived here on the hill with the exception of the four years she spent studying Civil War and Progressive Era history at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. (Northfield is best known as the site of the last bank Jesse James ever robbed, but the college was there long before that crime. It was founded in 1866 – 18 years before the Hill’s Kitchen’s building on D Street was built.)

Daniels is the daughter of Stephen and Maygene Daniels who moved to the Hill in 1972 and who, in 1978, bought the home at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Ninth Street NE where both she and her brother Eddie were raised. Leah attended Capitol Hill Day School and then Georgetown Day’s High School. When she came home from college, she got a call from Steve Cymrot at Riverby Books. He said he needed a “filler” while one of his staff members took some vacation time. She took the temporary job, but it soon became permanent.

“That’s where I really learned how to be a part of a community,” she says. “Being involved and being excited about the things that excite your neighbors, being an ambassador for the neighborhood. Helping visitors find their way around and being a smiling face on the street – these are things that make Hill life so special.”

She spent some of her energy during the Riverby years getting a real estate license. “I learned a great deal working with Phyllis Jane Young – real estate is a fabulous way to learn all about a neighborhood,” she says. But a storefront was her real love, and now Hill’s Kitchen it is!

Brad Hathaway is a freelance writer living on Capitol Hill. He can be reached by e-mail at Brad@PotomacStages.com.