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 »
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 »
Prohibition lasted at Griffith Stadium well past the official repeal. You may not know this, but unfortunately for Senators fans, owner Clark Griffith was a teetotaling prohibitionist. He was adamantly opposed to permitting the sale of beer in his stadium. Ugh, that sucks. Maybe that’s why the old Senators were so terrible? Well, the one good thing that came with ... Read More »
Hopefully we are earning a GoDCer for life in Ayanna by posting all of these Hillcrest-related advertisements. If you know the person that lives here, send this to them. I’m sure they’d love to see their home back in 1955. And for all you GoDCers out there, compare the advertisement above to the Google Street View of the home today. ... 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 »
About 5,500 weekends ago, Washingtonians woke up and lazily flipped through their newspapers. It was Sunday, November, 11, 1906 and something bold and new was described for the first time in The Post: New Portmanteau Words. Have you received any invitations to “brunch”? [...] “Brunch” is the latest Park Lane for a midday refection that includes breakfast and lunch. And ... Read More »
I checked my email the other day to find this email from a GoDCer. Emails like this are exactly why I started this blog. Not only is it fascinating, but it’s really important to remember the regular people who lived in our city generations ago. The story below, emailed by Chris, was so compelling that I had to share it ... Read More »
You know how bad it sucks to accidentally lock yourself out of your house. How about when you’re locked in and your home is the White House? Well, that actually happened to President Eisenhower. Here is an amusing article from the Baltimore Sun on August 2nd, 1958. Washington, Aug. 1 (AP)–A 19-year-old blonde from Texas padlocked the White House gate ... Read More »
This article in the Afro-American caught my eye: “$41,000 Nixon Home Covered by Racial Covenant.” This was published on October 4th, 1952 and was referring to his recently purchased home at 4801 Tilden St. NW (4 bedroom home built in 1951 and $1 million according to Zillow). Already chin deep in hot water because of his secret acceptance of an ... Read More »
Here’s a great old advertisement that reminds me of Kevin Arnold and the Wonder Years. I found this in the Washington Post from 1957. Urban centers were in the middle of emptying out as people headed to the suburbs for a home with a white picket fence. Related articles From a GoDCer: A Family Connection to a Tragic Suicide (ghostsofdc.org) ... Read More »
The slow demise of Brickskeller was sad to witness. The place was full of so many fond memories. I’m sure many of you remember back when you could smoke in bars … that place was pretty nasty, but it had true character. You would spend hours sitting around the table playing a game of order the most obscure beer (and ... Read More »
Check this out. This is an interesting find. It’s a simplified driving map of the city for tourists trying to get around the popular sites and attractions. Click on the map for greater detail. You’ll notice that Roosevelt Bridge (read a little about the bridge in our Marty McFly post) isn’t there, because that wasn’t opened until 1964. Can you ... Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington