We recently spoke about how good the trolley park renovations were looking at 11th and Monroe St, NW but I just noticed this fantastic old photo at the park. And now we know why it’s called Trolley Park:

From MPD:

Date of Death: February 5, 1997
Rank: Officer
Age: 28
Years of Service: Seven
Marital Status: Married
Children: Two
Location of Death: Georgia and Missouri Avenue, NW

On Feb. 5, 1997, at 3 am, Officer Brian T. Gibson, 27 was ambushed and shot to death while in full uniform sitting in his marked patrol car at a traffic light outside the IBEX Nightclub at Georgia and Missouri Avenues, NW. Within three minutes after the shots were fired, members of the Fourth District apprehended Marthell Nathaniel Dean, who had been escorted from the IBEX club by an off-duty officer just prior to the shooting. Dean was found guilty of First Degree Murder and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

And from the 4D Listserv:

We have spoken to the family of Master Patrol Officer Brian T. Gibson. They would love to have as many of you as possible join Sunday morning’s Candlelight Vigil to remember the life of their loved one and our law enforcement brother, former Fourth District officer, MPO Brian Gibson, who was tragically killed in the line of duty 15 years ago, just blocks from the station.

You are also welcomed to visit the station over the next few days to send uplifting messages to his family by signing the memorial book.

Here are the details:
Memorial: 15th Anniversary Candlelight Vigil (In Memory of MPO Gibson)
Time: 3am (gathering 20 mins early)
Date: (Sunday Morning- Feb 5th)

Location: Family, friends & colleagues will meet at 2:40am at the Fourth District Station and will walk a couple of blocks to the spot to share memories. Light reception to follow at the station, sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Police.

Those who are able, please set your clocks for 2am, Sunday morning for this special event.

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

From an email:

On Saturday, February 18, the Humanities Council, in partnership with the DC Public Library, the DC Historic Preservation Office, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, will host a House History Day during which DC residents will learn how to research the past lives of their homes. House history research is powerful because it provides that personal connection to the past that few other types of historical research can; it allows anyone to forge a strong sense of connection with their neighborhood and their community whether they have called DC home for years, or just moved in last month.

Next month’s workshop will feature hands on instruction from expert archivists and historians; researchers will have time to practice their new skills as well, and are encouraged to bring along as much information about their house’s history as they can.

Sessions include: DC Maps, Historic Building Permit Database, Photo Archives, Microfilm, and DC Digital Museum/Neighborhood Context. The day will consist of two identical workshops in which participants will rotate to each of the sessions. The morning workshop lasts from 10am-12pm and the afternoon workshop from 1pm-3pm. Lunch will be served between the morning and afternoon workshops.

To register please visit here..

Please register for only one of the two workshops. House History Day is free, but we ask that you only register if you are sure you will be able to attend. The workshops are very popular and space is extremely limited. For more information please email info[at]wdchumanities[dot]org.

Streets of Washington is the brilliant blog covering some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history written by John DeFerrari. John is also the author of the equally brilliant Lost Washington DC. ‘Streets of Washington Presents…’ will feature some fascinating buildings and history from around PoPville.

The art of making a really good pipe seems to have died out, and many would say that’s a good thing. But if we set aside the health and social issues for a moment, we discover a business that once relied on skilled artisans to make its very finest products. In Washington, D.C., the very best pipes were made by Bertram’s on 14th Street, opposite Franklin Park, and it seems like almost every famous world leader from the early 20th century who smoked had his pipe made there.

Benjamin Bertram Goldmann was born in Leipzig, Germany, some time in the late 1870s, the son of a master pipe maker who passed the exacting craft on to his son. Bertram emigrated to the United States and had a pipe shop first in Baltimore but then moved to D.C., where he settled on 14th Street early in the 1900s. A Washington Post reporter visited the old man in his shop in 1933 and found him muttering about all the bad things that pipe owners and other pipe makers do to their pipes. Beyond not scrupulously caring for a good pipe, anyone who would paint or varnish the outside of a pipe was essentially committing a crime against humanity, according to Bertram. His pipes were handcrafted from carefully selected pieces of briar root imported from Algeria. Only the pieces with the grain just-so were acceptable. Beyond the briar pipe bowls, Bertram used amber, Bakelite, and bands of silver and gold. The pipe bowls were a light, blond color when new and would darken to a rich shade of mahogany as time went by. These pipes were veritable works of art.

Bertram passed the business on to his son, Sydney Bertram Goldman (c. 1904-1960), who ran the store during its peak years. The shop sold President Franklin Delano Roosevelt his famous goose-quill cigarette holders. It also sold only the best pipe tobacco and cigars. When Winston Churchill was in town he bought his fine Romeo y Julieta cigars, made in Havana, from Bertram’s. They sold for a dollar apiece at the time. According to the Post, Bertram’s also supplied Joseph Stalin with its best Capitol Blend pipe tobacco via the Soviet Embassy. General Douglas MacArthur’s iconic corncob pipes came from Bertram’s. Entertainers such as Edward G. Robinson and Red Skelton were also customers.

The location of the former Bertram’s store (Photo by the author).

The store moved a few doors up to 920 14th Street NW in 1947. The new building was festooned with a rather eccentric carved glass frieze of a hunting scene on its facade. When the new place opened, Sydney Goldman, who had served in the Marines during the war, made a point of hiring 49 disabled veterans to work in the pipe-making shop.

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I’m super psyched to be able to share some old photos from Tony T. Most folks know Tony T as owner of The Pug located at 1234 H St, NE. Turns out Tony’s dad took lots of photos around DC back in the day. Tony was kind enough to share some of them with me, so I’m gonna post the best ones this week. These are two of my favorites. President John F. Kennedy from (Tony thinks) 1962. I believe the bottom one is after JFK threw out the first pitch at a Senators baseball game. Awesome.

I feel like the McCoy Sisters Beauty Salon from North Capitol Street (NW side) could be from a movie set. What do you think – 50s in this photo:

And 70s in this photo:

Streets of Washington is the brilliant blog covering some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history written by John DeFerrari. John is also the author of the equally brilliant Lost Washington DC. Following is a new occasional series called ‘Streets of Washington Presents…’ featuring some fascinating buildings around town. The Evening Star Building has always been one of my favorites. I was blown away to learn about the history. As a result it is a long post, not all contributions will be this extensive. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

It was a sad day in Washington in August 1981 when The Washington Star ceased publication after more than 128 years of service. The Star’s tenure had stretched back before the Civil War, an amazing run that witnessed the historic sweep of the city’s development from small town to sophisticated metropolis. “The Rock of Gibraltar in Washington journalism is The Washington Star, one of the world’s really great newspapers,” historian Fred A. Emery wrote in 1935. The rise and fall of this bygone institution has its own grand sweep, with its greatest achievements occurring when it was quartered in the majestic marble building at 11th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, that still bears its name today.

The Star began inauspiciously enough in December 1852, one of dozens of newspapers that sprang up for limited runs in 19th century Washington City. In fact, two other D.C. newspapers had already used the Star name, the Columbian Star from 1822 to 1827, and the first Washington Star in 1841. The third Star, the one that would matter, began as a four-page broadsheet with a run of 250 copies, printed on a hand press in a small office at 8th and D Streets, NW. The paper’s first owner, Captain Joseph Borrows Tate, sought to distinguish the Star from all the other rags published throughout the city by striking a tone of impartiality: “The Star is to be free from party trammels or sectarian influences…devoted in an especial manner to the local interests of the beautiful city which bears the honored name of Washington.” The paper’s neutral stance and focus on local news became its trademark and, in time, gave it broad appeal and commercial success. It also led at times to overly innocuous reportage, as in this oft-quoted remark by reporter William Tucker that appeared in the paper’s first edition: “Our courts are sitting, but the business with which they are engaged is not of a very interesting character.”

Tate sold the paper within a year to William Wallach (1812-1871), an aggressive Texan who worked hard to build up the business, moving its office to the southwest corner of 11th and Pennsylvania in 1854. Wallach hired a promising young reporter, Crosby S. Noyes (1825-1908), in 1853, and Noyes quickly became the Star‘s star. One of his many assignments was to report on the hanging of John Brown at Harper’s Ferry, WV, in 1859, which he did in flowery, dramatic prose. The Star maintained an anti-slavery stance in those days and, once the Civil War began, was decidedly pro-Union, despite the strong Southern sentiments then common in Washington.

Crosby S. Noyes (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The paper grew in prestige during the war years, aided by its exclusive connections with an early incarnation of the Associated Press. Through the AP, the Star‘s vivid coverage of the war’s impact on Washington was relayed across the country. The New York Times often reprinted war reports from the pages of the Star, and the paper’s prestige increased. Supposedly, as soon as Abraham Lincoln finished delivering his second inaugural address, he handed the text to Crosby Noyes so that it could be printed in the Star.

In 1867, Wallach retired and the paper was bought by Noyes and four other investors: Samuel H. Kauffmann (1829-1906), Alexander “Boss” Shepherd (1835-1902), Clarence D. Baker, and George W. Adams. Shepherd, who would become governor of D.C. in 1873, sold his share of the enterprise within a few years, as did Baker, and Adams remained a behind-the-scenes investor. That left Noyes and Kauffmann to establish a family dynasty that would preside over the Star for another 100 years. Noyes exercised editorial control, while Kauffmann served as publisher and handled the business side.

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Last Friday we spoke about the strange Burger King in Van Ness and other quirky buildings around town. I have to say that the Barrel House Liquor Store located in Logan Circle at 14th and Rhode Island Ave, NW has to be one of the best in town. It’s got it all, in addition to the great door which we’ve noted before, it’s got one of the few awesome neon signs in DC:

And it’s old. A reader sent the following awesome ad from 1948:

Whoa. Without question my new favorite. Anyone know what year?

Photo via Lincoln’s Cottage

From a press release:

President Lincoln’s Cottage opened Seat of War: A Panoramic View of Civil War Washington Through Historic Prints early this month in the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center. This exhibit illuminates President Lincoln’s Civil War Washington through historic prints from our collection. It will run through the new year and close on January 15, 2012.

More info on Lincoln’s cottage here Directions from the Petworth metro here.

From an email:

“Join us Sunday, November 13th 4 – 6 p.m. for

The BROOKS Family in BROOKland at 1021 – 7th St. NW at the WAREHOUSE THEATER

Gather with host and Brooks’ descendant Molly Murray Ruppert and many other descendants for an afternoon of Brookland history. Featured will be new photos discovered since the recent release of the Brookland book, as well as artifacts from Ann Queen & Jehiel Brooks, including the Colonel’s pocket watch and signet ring, family heirlooms and more. Broad array of presenters, including the authors of Brookland, Rosie Dempsey & John Feeley, as well as Laura Henley Dean, author of “Our Past Before Us, A History of Northeastern Washington Co.” F R E E”

“Dear PoPville,

I wanted to let you know that an application to nominate the Ontario Theatre for local landmark status has been submitted to the Historic Preservation Office. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 17th.

I am working with the team that submitted the nomination to get the word out in the community. While significant in several ways, the theater is of particular importance to Adams Morgan’s historic Latino community, as the site operated as “Teatro Ontario” from 1969-1978. During those years, the Ontario ran exclusively Spanish language films for neighborhood residents – supposedly the only theater between here and Philadelphia to do so. You can read more about the full history of the theater through the links above.

We think the Ontario would be a unique and crucial addition to the local register, as we are reasonably sure that the register does not yet include any sites associated with Adams Morgan’s historic Latino community.

(For the other side of the argument, the owner of the property proposed a five-story, seventy foot mixed use condo development.)

If the building is accepted as a landmark, the defining physical characteristics of the building exterior (the triangular marquee, the store frontage, etc.) would be legally protected. The building interior could be freely altered, although hopefully the lobby interior – which is largely intact – would be preserved voluntarily by the owner. The building exterior could be modified in ways that the Historic Preservation Review Board agrees would not diminish its significant historic characteristics. The use of the building would be totally up to the owner.

On a cultural level, the Ontario Theater would potentially be the first site associated with Adams Morgan’s historic Latino community from the 1960s onward to be included on the local register.

Some other bite-sized pieces of its history:

* When first opened in 1951, the Ontario was one of the last large movie theaters (1,400 seats!) to be built in the city before the emergence of television, drive-ins, and multiplexes in the suburbs began to dominate the popular entertainment culture. It hosted DC’s premiere screenings of Mary Poppins, Lawrence of Arabia, and The Sound of Music, which played at the Ontario exclusively for two years.

* The Ontario is also a site importantly associated with the emergence of DC’s live music scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when it hosted such bands as The Clash, U2, Blondie, The Police, and Talking Heads, among many others. Music promoter Seth Hurwitz got his start in the music business programming movies and live shows at the Ontario before taking over the famed 9:30 Club on F Street in the early 1980s.”

Ed. Note: We’ve discussed the potential of this property and lamented its current state of disrepair since Nov. ’08. It has regularly come up in discussion every year since.

As someone admittedly a bit obsessed with DC’s homes I think this site is freaking awesome!

From a press release:

“A new online resource for lovers of literature and history has been launched in the nation’s capital. DC Writers’ Homes, at www.dcwriters.org, celebrates the rich literary heritage of Washington by mapping former homes of novelists, poets, playwrights and memoirists. Some authors remain famous, such as Paul Laurence Dunbar, Zora Neale Hurston, Sinclair Lewis, and Katherine Anne Porter. Others are rediscoveries.

The over 120 homes included on the website represent every major period of Washington’s history and span the range of urban architectural styles. The earliest documented writers’ homes include those once occupied by: Francis Scott Key, the lawyer-poet who wrote the lyrics to the US National Anthem; Horatio King, who served as Postmaster General during the Civil War and hosted a popular literary salon in his home; and Frederick Douglass, whose remarkable autobiographies remain deservedly beloved. The most recent include authors who passed away in the last few years.

The project was conceived, researched, and created by DC writers Kim Roberts and Dan Vera, who spent more than five years tracking down and photo-documenting house locations. Only authors who have passed away, and whose houses are still standing, are included. Most houses are privately owned and not marked by historic plaques. “We wanted to claim our literary forebears,” Roberts states. “We don’t want our history to be lost or forgotten.”

The project is a collaboration among five groups that support or present the literary arts in the city. Split This Rock, whose festivals of “poets of provocation and witness” bring nationally-acclaimed authors to the city, is the sponsor. The Humanities Council of Washington, DC, provided funding. And three other organizations signed on as partners: The American Poetry Museum, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, and Poetry Mutual. Sarah Browning, Director of Split This Rock, calls DC Writers’ Homes “an extraordinary gift to DC.”

Authors are sorted by the geographical location of their houses, as well as by affiliations. Users can easily find authors, for example, who taught at or attended Howard University, served as US Poets Laureate at the Library of Congress, wrote on environmental themes, or were Latino. Every author is cross-referenced into at least two categories.

Kim Roberts and Dan Vera will present a slide/lecture on the making of DC Writers’ Homes on Friday, December 8 at 6:30 pm. This event, at the Institute for Policy Studies, 1112 16th St. NW, Suite 600, is free and open to the public. A reception will follow the presentation.”

This cemetery near Dumbarton House has seen better days. The disrepair reminds me a bit of Holy Rood cemetery in Glover Park.

Though many moving headstones can still be found:

From Kennedy St, NW at the northern Petworth border. So freaking cool. Note the old school phone number: