Dear PoP – WTF, No J Street in DC?
07 April 2009 11:18 PM | By Prince Of Petworth in Dear PoP 
J, originally uploaded by free sample.
“Dear PoP,
Perhaps you or one of your readers has already posed this question, but I’m wondering if anyone out there can enlighten me as to why there isn’t a J st anywhere in DC? And for that matter, there is no 2-syllable street that begins with the letter J – at least not in NW on either side of the park. NE has Jackson St, but NW has no J streets until it gets up to the 3-syllable names (Jennifer, Jocelyn, Jefferson). WTF?”
The Washington Post has tackled this question a number of times. They explain that it was a myth that Pierre L’Enfant hated Chief Justice John Jay. The real reason is:
“Back in Colonial times, the letters I and J were written alike. (The Latin alphabet doesn’t even have a J.) There’s no J Street because the District’s designers didn’t want people to confuse it with I Street.”
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07 April 2009 11:37 PM | Anonymous Said:
there’s a J street at Gdub!
07 April 2009 11:38 PM | saf Said:
And Jay Street is in Deanwood.
07 April 2009 11:56 PM | ouij Said:
The Washington Post used to run a feature entitled “J Street” in its Sunday Magazine back in the early ’90s. The feature covered quirky stories from around the city.
08 April 2009 1:11 AM | ElevenIrving Said:
The explanation I heard was that in old time font “J” looked too similar to “I”. They flipped coins and J lost.
08 April 2009 2:18 AM | Tom Said:
http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jstreet.asp
08 April 2009 8:02 AM | Morgan Said:
uh, sorry but I’m sticking to the Justice John Jay story. way more interesting when family visit the city. I read an interesting book about L’Enfant recently. He really got screwed by Thomas Jefferson et friends. It was the first Time I had ever ready anything about Jefferson that made me not like him as much.
08 April 2009 8:40 AM | LJG Said:
Morgan – what book are you referring to? Sounds interesting.
08 April 2009 8:46 AM | mjbrox Said:
why do they make I street so confusing?
When you write out an adress it is Eye St.
08 April 2009 9:00 AM | Alicia Said:
they do the same thing in (almost all) orchestral music for the same reason.
08 April 2009 9:31 AM | Pennywise Said:
Blatant antisemitism.
08 April 2009 9:44 AM | zoom268 Said:
There is a J street as an anonymous poster pointed out. DC council mandated that the GWU Clyde C. Heck Marvin Center be known as “J Street.”
There is your useless factoid of the day.
08 April 2009 9:50 AM | CP Said:
‘Grand Avenues’ is the L’Enfant book, I believe. Terrific read.
08 April 2009 9:59 AM | brookiedc Said:
Very interesting indeed. But I still don’t see an explanation why there isn’t a 2-syllable J st. in NW. Can we have a competition to name the alleys that run between Irving and Kenyon with an appropriate J-name? Anyone like the name Jesus Alley? Or is Jesus St. better?
08 April 2009 10:06 AM | Lau Said:
But didn’t L’Enfant also hate John Jay? That was the explanation I got as to why there was no dedicated Supreme Court building for over 100 years.
08 April 2009 10:58 AM | Rukasu Said:
There really isn’t a B St. either, unless you count the tiny ones across the river in Greenway, but maybe Constitution Ave and Independence Ave. were formally called B St.!?
08 April 2009 11:41 AM | UStreet Said:
There’s no X, Y or Z either. Is there an A?
08 April 2009 11:52 AM | Pennywise Said:
I admit I am also confused by I Street versus Eye Street. Which are we to use?
08 April 2009 11:56 AM | Not telling Said:
You use “EYE” street instead of “I” when writing so as not to confuse it with 1st street.
You use Que Street instead of “Q” when writing so as not to confuse it with O Street.
And J is different then A & B and X, Y, and Z. These letters are missing because of the geography of the city. (A & B are essentially independence and constitution; L’Enfant stopped lettering streets when he got to the base of the hill which is why the letters stop at W).
J, on the other hand, was just skipped. And it is quite obvious that it has to do with the way the letter is shaped. Even today, the way some people write, it would be easy to confuse a J for an I or an L.
08 April 2009 12:09 PM | Not telling Said:
And regarding the fountain & pavers:
Pavers would be an odd choice to create a fountain out of. Bricks or blocks would be more logical. The pavers must be intended for something else. I certainly hope they aren’t intending to repave the plaza. What a waste of money.
And as someone else said, they need to get a move on with them. Either use them or remove them. Just sitting out there, they might as well have left a box of guns sitting there for all the criminals in town to take.
08 April 2009 12:11 PM | JohnnyReb Said:
“Eye” is used so as not to confuse it with L street, not 1st, but that’s a minor point.
There was a B street downtown at some point – many street names (especially in Georgetown) have been changed.
Many street names were changed in Prince George’s County in the 1940s to align with the District Streets as well.
08 April 2009 1:00 PM | Neener Said:
Pavers would be an odd choice to create a fountain out of. Bricks or blocks would be more logical.
———-
I believe Frank Lloyd Wright used similar material in Fallingwater
08 April 2009 1:01 PM | Neener Said:
Pavers would be an odd choice to create a fountain out of. Bricks or blocks would be more logical.
———-
I believe Frank Lloyd Wright used similar material in Fallingwater:
http://www.fallingwater.org/explore?to=1
08 April 2009 3:30 PM | Rukasu Said:
There are A Streets on Capital Hill and across teh river
08 April 2009 3:47 PM | P Said:
I heard that L’enfant (who designed the city) hated Thomas Jefferson. and this is the reason for no J
08 April 2009 5:34 PM | djdc Said:
There were A and B Streets. They were renamed.
08 April 2009 5:40 PM | djdc Said:
The B Streets became Constitution and Independence. Aren’t there still A Streets east of the Capitol?