How many times have you been down to Gravelly Point? It’s definitely one of the best spots to relax on weekends and watch the planes land or takeoff from National Airport. Here’s a shot of four women watching, what looks like, an Eastern Airlines jet take off from National, heading north. Source: Flickr user usnationalarchives Read More »
This. Is. Awesome. Thanks to GoDCer Harrison for sharing this. We first came across it on InTheCapital. Is this the best 70s video or what? Read More »
Check out this cool shot of D.C. back in 1973. You can see the White House, Lafayette Park, the Washington Monument, and the Potomac. Source: Flickr user usnationalarchives Read More »
What a different city D.C. was back then. Check out this photo from DDOT. Source: Flickr user ddotphotos Read More »
I had the pleasure of speaking to a great class at AU last week. One of the students asked if we had ever done a piece about Mad Hatter on Connecticut Ave. We haven’t yet, so this one is for you, Blaire. (By the way, Blaire told me her parents named her after the Blair House … and added an ... Read More »
The hospital still exists, but it’s no longer in the original location. Providence Hospital once stood between 2nd and 3rd St. and D and E St. Southeast. The block is now Providence Park, which is an awesome place to spend a sunny Saturday afternoon. The former hospital used to occupy square 735 and was subdivided into 14 lots (see map ... Read More »
Oh, to have grown up as a teenager in the 1970s, with bands like Zeppelin touring the country. If you were one of those lucky teenagers on Monday, February 10th, 1975, you were probably at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland to witness Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones with 18,000 other crazed fans. The Post ... Read More »
We don’t post a lot of photos like this, but this one was really interesting. This is Gerald Ford and a young Dick Cheney, sitting on Air Force One back in September 1976. Read More »
Two hundred years after the Declaration of Independence, Washington, D.C. was getting ready to inaugurate its own underground public transit system, the new Washington Metro. It may shock you to hear this, but on Metro’s opening day, Saturday, March 27th, 1976, all rides were free from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. Don’t expect to see that again. Below is the ... Read More »
James Brown performed ”Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud“ at Richard Nixon’s 1969 inauguration. Wait. What? Believe it. The Godfather of Soul chose that particular song to celebrate the Republican president’s transition to power. Confusingly, James Brown actually backed Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey during the 1968 campaign. But when the victorious Nixon team called and offered him the inauguration gig, ... Read More »
Maybe a GoDCer recognizes the women in this photo. This is a random shot we found at the Library of Congress. These women are shopping at Hecht’s in Tysons Corner (maybe one of them works there), three years after it opened as the largest enclosed mall in the world. The woman in the middle is probably the mother of the ... Read More »
This is a great tale to share with your friends, especially if you work on the Hill. I credit GoDCer and frequent suggester of excellent stories, Marty, with this one. Here’s an article from the Washington Post on September 11th, 1972. A car driven by House Speaker Carl Albert struck two vehicles at Wisconsin and Macomb Street NW Saturday night, causing minor ... Read More »
You know you’re intensely fascinated by the Mormon Temple in Kensington, Maryland. The six spire temple, rising on the edge of Rock Creek Park, is easily visible on the Capital Beltway (read some Beltway history) between the Georgia Ave. and Connecticut Ave. exits. The massive structure, the first Mormon temple east of the Mississippi river since the original Nauvoo Temple, was ... Read More »
Here’s a weird image from the early archives of WMATA. It depicts “Halloween In Washington” but clearly stretches the bounds of reality — and Metro’s rules. Let’s face it… there’s no way a guy riding a giraffe could ever board a Metro train. We really don’t know much about this image. It was included among dozens of unlabeled pages of ... Read More »
Wow. Anybody remember this store or this commercial? Sweet psychedelic lights in the stereo. Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington