Yes, DC had a thriving retail culture

(in response to W's comment in an earlier entry)

11th and F Streets NW, Washington, DC, December 1968 -- after the riots.


Metropolitan Theater on F Street in the 1950s.


F Street, NW, at 13th Street looking west, c. 1970s.

Of course, the Wymer photos at the Historical Society are great, although they don't usually show people. And the Kiplinger collection of photos--are they at the HSW now?

Kavakos Confectionery, 8th and H Streets NE. Postcard.
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Kay Jewelers, the national chain, started in DC. Hechts grew to more than 70 stores before being subsumed into Macy's. People's Drug Stores had more than 800 stores before acquisition by CVS. Giant Supermarket started in DC. The Ourisman Car Dealership company started on H Street NE. Herbert Haft (I talked with him once, actually), led the revolution of discounted retail, from a store on Columbia Road in Adams-Morgan.


Peoples Drug #5, 802 H Street NE, Washington, DC


Ourisman Chevrolet, 600 block of H Street NE, 1948

And Sears had one of their first department stores in Washington, on Bladensburg Road in the H Street neighborhood.

This ad was created by Kevin Palmer and myself. The image is cropped and on the lower left there is great stuff not here--a street clock and police officers walking the beat.






(Images from the Washington Star Collection, Washingtoniana; Reston Paths; DDOT; Peter Sefton, LC; LC; Kevin Palmer art, image from the King Collection, Lee Rogers, Curator; Sefton; Sefton.)