Barracks Row Archives - Ghosts of DC

Erol’s Video Club: The DC Empire Before Blockbuster

June 11, 2026June 11, 2026 by ghostsofdc

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 before selling to Blockbuster for $40 million in 1990.

The 1857 Election Day Riot, When Marines Fired on a DC Mob

May 29, 2026 by ghostsofdc

US Marines in a firing line before the Northern Liberty Market in Washington as a crowd scatters, 1857 wood engraving.

In 1857 the commandant of the Marine Corps faced down a rioters’ cannon at a DC polling place, armed only with a cotton umbrella.

Ted’s Bulletin History: From 1928 Brick Store to Capitol Hill’s Culinary Staple

April 21, 2026July 13, 2012 by ghostsofdc

The one-story brick at 505 8th Street SE on Barracks Row was built in July 1928 for a real-estate man named Joseph Shapiro. Nearly a century later, the same shop is Ted’s Bulletin.