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Erol’s Video Club: The DC Empire Before Blockbuster
Before Blockbuster, the DC area had Erol’s Video Club. Turkish immigrant Erol Onaran arrived in 1960 with $16, opened a Georgetown TV shop in 1963, started renting tapes in 1980, and built the largest privately owned video chain in America…
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The Two Times Someone Landed a Stolen Aircraft on the White House Lawn
Twice in twenty years, someone climbed into a stolen aircraft and put it down on the White House South Lawn. In 1974 it was a 20-year-old Army private in a stolen Huey. In 1994 it was a depressed truck driver in a stolen Cessna. Both times, the president was away. Both times, the Secret Service had to rewrite the rules.
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The Time Baseball Almost Landed in Arlington (Not Washington)
For most of the 1990s, Arlington was the favorite to land the Montreal Expos. There was an HKS rendering on the Potomac, a governor in support, and three candidate sites in Pentagon City. Then in eighteen months it all collapsed, and the rejected block eventually became Amazon HQ2.
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Tune Inn Capitol Hill: 79 Years of a DC Dive Bar
Three blocks from the Capitol dome sits a 1947 dive bar with deer butts on the wall and a Nardelli behind the counter.
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Hechinger Started as a Demolition Company in 1911
The Hechinger hardware empire began in 1911 as a Southwest DC wrecking crew. The story of Sidney Hechinger, the navy-blue H, and the bankruptcy that ended it in 1999.
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Rhino Bar: 63 Years of Drinking at 3295 M Street in Georgetown
Three bars in 63 years at one Georgetown address: Shamrock 1952, Winston's 1972, Rhino Bar 1998. The full arc of 3295 M Street NW before retail took it.
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Before Heaven and Hell: 2327 18th St NW Was the First DC Black Panther Party HQ
Heaven and Hell is the name people remember at 2327 18th Street NW. But the building's first life as a political address began in December 1969 with the Black Panther Party.
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Refreshed from the Archive
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The History of Franklin Square: From Natural Spring Water to Civil War Barracks
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Three Former US Secretaries of War and the Washington Houses Where They Lived
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The 1925 Five-Alarm Fire at Mueller’s Candy Plant on Pennsylvania Avenue
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Sally Halterman: The First Woman to Receive a Motorcycle License in D.C.
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