Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Yes there is local Washington history

Bacas Bros. Cafe (located where the Madison Bldg. of the Library of Congress is today)Postcard: Baca Bros. Cafe, which was located on the site of the present-day Madison Building of the Library of Congress.

I happened upon this postcard image a couple weeks ago, which is probably why the name Bacas called out to me while thumbing through the Metro section in yesterday's Post, where I came across the obituary "A Touch of Greece, and a Spatter of Grease," subtitled "A Local Life: Homer Angelos Bacas." From the obituary:

His father, Angelos Bacas (pronounced BACK-us), came to Washington as a young man and eventually brought three brothers with him. They ran a series of restaurants across the city, including the Bacas Bros. Cafe on Capitol Hill.

In 1919, Angelos Bacas opened the evocatively named P.O. Visible Lunch on North Capitol Street. The "P.O." came from its location near the main post office and the Government Printing Office; "Visible Lunch" referred to the glass-front cases that allowed customers to watch food being prepared in one of the city's first cafeterias.

It was part of a quainter, more relaxed Washington that was never forgotten by Homer Angelos Bacas, who died Sept. 9 of a stroke at 82.

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