Photos of yesterday, featuring regular people and regular places.
Need Your Help. Identify This Street
Any GoDCers out there recognize this block? I’m guessing that most of these buildings are gone, but maybe that church is still around? Source: Smithsonian Institution Archives
Old Man Fishing With Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in the Background
Great photo. Speaks for itself. Sadly, no larger version. Thanks Smithsonian.
A View of Old Washington Down Pennsylvania Avenue
Here is another excellent photo of Pennsylvania Ave., also from the 1920s. We did a little Googling for this one too and came across it here.
Winter Driving on Pennsylvania Avenue
This is a cool old photo that we dug up via Google. We found it here. It appears to be some time in the 1920s, looking down Pennsylvania Ave. towards the Capitol.
I Hate Traffic … in 1940
Here’s an interesting shot of traffic heading up Route 1 towards Maryland. To be honest, this traffic doesn’t look bad at all.
Help Us Identify This: Riot Damaged Store
I see 1806 as the address for the American Rescue Workers Thrift Store. Is this 14th St.? 7th St.? Can anyone identify the location of this image and whether the buildings are there today? UPDATE: Thanks...
Pie Eating Bathing Beauties
Oh, it’s been too long since we posted some bathing beauties. Well, today we post pie-eating bathing beauties.
Cameramen at the State, War, and Navy Building (1920)
This photo was taken on March 15th, 1920 at the State, War, and Navy Building. It shows a group of press cameramen, posing in front of the building.
1919 Cab Stand at McPherson Square
This was a time when cabs were pulled by horses. And this photo shows a cab stand at McPherson Square around 1918. We dug this up at a new site that we stumbled across, Documentarist.
Penn Oil Company on Q Street in Georgetown
This photo was taken in 1920 or 1921. It shows the old Penn Oil Company, located on Q Street in Georgetown. Ads of the day had a gas station at 27th and Q St.
Civil War Photo of Georgetown Ferry Boat
Wow. What amazing detail in this photograph. Click on it to view the larger version (and you’ll probably spend about 15 minutes staring at it).
Great Old Photos of Central High School
GoDCer Gail wrote in the other day about Cardozo High School (i.e., old Central High School) and wanted to know if we had some more photos of the school. We did dig up a few more,...
Incredible Early 20th Century Photo of Georgetown University
This is an amazing old photograph with incredible detail. This was dug up in the Library of Congress archives.
1790s Views of Washington
These are some great prints of Washington as it looked in the mid-1790s. They were done by George Isham Parkyns and they show a slightly different and more pastoral landscape. Here is the print of the Potomac...
Capital City of the World’s Greatest Nation as It Looks From an Airplane
That’s a really long title, but this is an awesome old photograph of Washington, from the air, taken on August 29th, 1924.
Tarzan Paints the Senate Flagpole
This is an interesting photo of a man precariously perched on a flag pole near the Capitol Building. It was taken on July 11th, 1939 as the man (Jack Tarzan) was painting the flagpole. The safety...
Incredible 1860s View of East Capitol Street
This is a terrific old photograph of East Capitol St., before a street was even there. This was from the Library of Congress, and apparently was mislabeled as Baltimore’s Druid Hill Park. This too was taken...
Photos of the Chevy Chase Club in the 1920s
These are a couple great photos of Chevy Chase Country Club in the 1920s, thanks to the Library of Congress.