Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington

This is an aerial view of Temple Heights and Oak Lawn, the current site of the Washington Hilton, north of Dupont Circle. Read More »

You recognize this building. Yep, the one with CVS and Krispy Kreme. This is a view of it from the air in the 1930s. Read More »

Terrific old photograph of Dupont Circle in 1904. Read More »

This photograph appears to be taken from Blaine Mansion sometime during the 1920s, looking east over Dupont Circle. You can see the Cairo Building in the background. Read More »

What an amazing photograph of Blaine Mansion in 1900. This is the only old Dupont Circle “castle” still standing. It’s also a great place to get some pizza and delicious craft beer today. Read More »

What a beautiful building. Sadly, this building no longer exists. Take a look at the same intersection today on Google Street View. Read More »

This is an excellent page from the Washington Times, published on December 21st, 1902. We wanted to share the entire page with you, so make sure to click on the image for a detailed version of it. Read More »

This is D.C.’s original statue of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Dupont, installed in 1884. Here you see it – clearly sitting at the center of Dupont Circle. We see the namesake admiral but we don’t see the well-known Dupont Circle fountain. Why did Washingtonians remove Dupont from his circle?  The answer is a simple one. People Hated This Statue Here’s ... Read More »

I was going to go with a title about Canadians coming in peace this time, but I did not want to re-start the old “who burned down the White House?” argument all over again. Indeed, Canada has a massive embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue. [And they used to party it up on July 1 and give out free Kokanee!] But it ... Read More »

Who tossed Washington’s first pizza pie?  Was it “jumbo”?  Deep-dish?  Square?  Turns out, these are tough questions to answer.  Several attempts at D.C. historical pizza research have been made (some incorrectly) in recent years.  Here we’ll introduce the District’s pizza pioneers and tell you about their claims to be the first — rightly and wrongly. The Post tackled these questions in ... Read More »

Here’s a great shot of Dupont Circle. You can clearly make out the Patterson House (now the Washington Club) in the background. What an amazing shot frozen in time. Check it out below. It’s Google Street View from approximately the same spot. Related articles Apartment Building Collapses in Dupont Circle (ghostsofdc.org) Hawaiian ex-Queen Liliʻuokalani Comes to Washington (ghostsofdc.org) Car Flattened Near ... Read More »

I took a tour of the Dupont Underground yesterday, and I have to say, it’s amazing. It’s like to step back into 1955. If you haven’t done it, you really should. You may or may not know this, but the road that goes under Dupont Circle (i.e., Connecticut Avenue) wasn’t initially built only for cars. It was proposed and built ... Read More »

You may recognize this building, because it is still there. After reading an article in the Washington Post from 1908, I have a far different perspective on the building. I was doing a little digging for stories about existing Dupont Circle buildings and I came across a piece in the Washington Times from April 12th, 1908. The building at 2000 ... 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 »

This is a worthy story for a “From the Crazy Vault” post … check it out. I came across the tale in the Washington Times from October 7th, 1894. Falling down an elevator shaft from the eleventh story of a building is not an everyday event. Ordinarily, when it happens to a man, the subsequent proceedings interest him no more. ... Read More »