Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington

Real estate ads are one of our favorite things to post. Here is a great one from Saturday, December 13th, 1919. Pull together $7,300 and you can have a nice home near Lincoln Park. Read More »

What an odd announcement in the newspaper. You gotta love these. This was printed on December 14th, 1860 in The National Republican. Oh, by the way, for some historical context, on December 20th, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union … and for Anglophiles, George Hamilton-Gordon, the former Prime Minister died at the age of 76. Read More »

Some of your D.C. old-timers will remember this commercial. So Awesome. An interesting bit of trivia that you probably don’t know. The dude that penned this jingle, Nils Lofgren, was also a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and was also part of Neil Young’s band. Clearly this jingle is his best work.   Read More »

Wow. Anybody remember this store or this commercial? Sweet psychedelic  lights in the stereo. Read More »

Old real estate advertisements are the best. This one is from the Evening Star on Saturday, May 28th, 1904. For some interesting trivia, soccer fans will be thrilled to know that exactly one week earlier, May 21st, the International Association of Federation Football (FIFA) was created. Also, Washington Heights is now known as Adams Morgan. Read More »

What a great old advertisement for Dorchester House, the giant apartment building at 16th and Kalorama. The building openeing in 1941 and one of its early residents was our 35th President, John F. Kennedy, then a 24-year-old, living with his sister Kathleen. Gotta love this quote: “… a magnificent residential colony or superior quality.” This is such an iconic building ... Read More »

A number of GoDCers have been asking for more east of the river stuff (including our GoDCer friend Ayanna) … so here’s another cool advertisement from Hillcrest Heights that we found in the Washington Post. This one is from July 25th, 1959. I suspect some of you will recognize the style of this home, much like most home built in ... Read More »

Beautiful and quiet Falls Hill was developing in the 1950s. It was a wonderful and peaceful place to raise your family. Take a look at this advertisement featuring this home at 408 Venice St. I might be wrong, but it appears the street numbers changed over the years. There no longer is a 408 Venice St. The house that is ... Read More »

We haven’t done anything for McLean lately, so we’d like to shine a little light on the namesake of John Roll McLean, the former owner of the Washington Post. Here’s a great real estate advertisement from 1957, featuring newly developed Devon Park and its fairly modern looking architecture … kind of looks like the Brady House. Read More »

Here’s a cool advertisement for our favorite Hillcrest GoDCer, Ayanna. This is a Washington Post real estate advertisement circa 1952. According to Zillow, this home is now valued at $319,800. And this is really cool … check out the Google Street View of the home today. Read More »

Would you put your baby in this? What a bizarre baby carriage. And what is a sanitary couch? Read More »

Real estate advertisements from the 1950s are excellent. Here’s a great one from Sleepy Hollow in Falls Church. We wanted to find the home in the advertisement above, and the the best of our sleuthing ability, we believe it’s 3017 Beechwood Lane. We may be mistaken of course, so if you recognize this home, tell us. Also, if you know ... Read More »

Here is another great real estate advertisement from east of the river … and east of the District line. This is a real estate advertisement for homes in Marlow Heights and Hillcrest Heights back in 1955, the Eisenhower years. Read More »

This is a cool one from Virginia, right out of the Wonder Years era. That’s right, Kevin Arnold … well, actually, Kevin was born on March 18th, 1956 (thanks Wikipedia!). Nevertheless, this is the kind of home the Arnold’s would have purchased, if they lived in our area. Either this, or something in Falls Church. Here’s the Google Map of ... Read More »

Take a look at this real estate investment ad from 1919. Only $6,300 for a home in Petworth! $30,000 for a home at 14th and Euclid? That’s a lot of money back then … I’m sure it was a pretty sweet house. Read More »