The other day, Shorpy.com–the wonderful blog of historic photos–featured a great shot of Wisconsin Ave. showing a truck from W.T. Weaver & Sons hardware. For those that don’t know, Weaver Hardware is still around at the same address on Wisconsin. These days the fourth generation-owned shop provides high-end decorative bath hardware.
From this great photo you can make out so much great stuff still around:
Right near the center of the photo you can see the tower of 1238 Wisconsin Ave:
That tower now houses Zara:
The facades on the east side of Wisconsin are barely changed as well:
The buildings that currently contain UGGs, Ralph Lauren, Energie/Miss Sixty, and Madewell look almost exactly the same. The Apple Store building is obviously new (even the building it replaced, which can be seen above, was only built in the 1980s). The building that contains Nine West also looks pretty different than the building in the old photo, even though the current building looks pretty old. (It’s more confusing when you consider that the roof line of the second to last building on the right in the old photo looks a lot like the building that has Vinyard Vines now. But it doesn’t look like it can be the same building since in the old photo it’s too far north).
The last question is: is the man in the photo W.T. Weaver himself?
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Weaver & Sons Hardware is the oldest business in Georgetown. Riggs Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank used to be, but it folded like a $3 dollar bill amidst scandal a few years ago.
When I first came to Georgetown in 1966, one of the first merchants I called on as ad salesman/editor/office boy/delivery person of The Georgetowner newspaper was Bryce Weaver, who was the owner of this esteemed hardware store. His young son Jim Weaver was hard at work on the main floor. Coming from a small town in Illinois, Mr. Weaver made me feel right at home. I have been a big fan of this family ever since. Great people!
Thanks for the photos and report. There used to be another hardware store on M Street, not far from the old Up Against the Wall. Anyone remember its name? Like Dave, I also moved to Georgetown in 1966. There were so many shops back then; some of them have been talked about already on GM (Doc’s, Sugar’s, Biograph, Food Mart, Rive Gauche, People’s, etc.) Here are just some of the other old stores I remember from the 60s:
Three Penny Bit
Powder & Smoke
Woolworth’s
Kleins 4 Seasons
Wine & Cheese Shop
The Parlour (ice cream, on Wisconsin near Q)
Bredice’s (cobbler; still exists)
Ladd Mill’s gas station (SW corner Q & Wisc.)
Emergency (youth disco, where Chaumiere now is)
Cafe a Go Go (SE corner of 35th & Reservoir)
Cellar Door
In the 70s we had:
American Cafe
Swensens
Coffee Tea & Spice
Conran’s
Monkey Business (disco)
Pisces
Reme’s Antique Clothing (next to Govinda)
My uncle owned the three penny bit
The hardware store located on M St. was Meenehans.