“Washington
seems the eternal and unchanging Federal
City with its grand
avenues and stately monuments. Yet the city that locals once knew--lavish
window displays at Woodies, supper at the grand Raleigh Hotel and a Friday
night game at Griffith Stadium--is gone. Author John DeFerrari investigates the
bygone institutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries with an engaging
collection of new vignettes and reader favorites from his blog the Streets of
Washington. From the raucous age of burlesque at the Gayety Theater and the
once bustling Center Market to the mystery of Suter's Tavern and the
disappearance of the Key mansion in Georgetown,
DeFerrari recalls the lost Washington,
D.C., of yesteryear. John
DeFerrari, a native Washingtonian with a lifelong passion for local history,
pens the Streets of Washington blog devoted to the history of the District of Columbia. He
has a master's degree in English literature from Harvard University
and works for the federal government.
