Today GM is introducing a new and exciting feature to the Georgetown Metropolitan. You’ve all seen the “Then and Now” blogs and articles that show an old photo next to a modern day photo to demonstrate how much has changed, or hasn’t.
Most of the old photos on those sites are from a long, long time ago. This is great, but sometimes it’s more surprising to see how much has changed in a much shorter time period. That’s what GM is going to do for Georgetown.
Recently GM came into possession of a pile of photos taken of Georgetown storefronts by the Citizens Association of Georgetown in 1993. The photos were taken as part of an effort to clean up the signage around Georgetown. It’s an effort that GM is trying to repeat, which is why he was given these photos.
What is immediately striking about these photos is how cheap Georgetown looked back then. It was only 18 years ago but the difference between then and now is stark. While the photographer was specifically targeting cheap looking signage, it appears he or she had plenty of material to work with.
So today GM starts off with the 3100 block of M St. Move your mouse on the picture above to see how it’s changed since then. Old Glory was there (although with slightly different signs). But where Ben and Jerry’s is there was Georgetown Electric, a television and appliance store. To the right of that was Crown Books, a Prince Georges County-based bookseller that went out of business in 2001 (most locations were taken over by Books-a-million, but GM doesn’t quite remember if this location was one of them).
Not too much has changed, physically, in 18 years. Old Glory is almost exactly the same. The Ben and Jerry’s store got rid of an ugly sign, which is good, but it added an awning which appears to be covering up a stained glass window, which is bad.
What was particularly surprising to GM was how new the Johnny Rockets building next door is. With its white paint job now it appears to be a Victorian era building. But stripped of the paint, it looks like it couldn’t have been built before the 1950s.
There are many more surprises to come from this pile, so stay tuned.
Update: Here’s a static shot of today and 1993:
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
This is such a terrific idea. People forget just how awful gtown had gotten in the early 90s, so its nice to see the improvements. But it’s an ice walk down memory lane nonetheless. Hope there are some “nice” pictures too of the Gtown I remember–Key Theater, The Bayou, Charing Cross, Nathan’s.
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Please consider donating this archive of 1993 Georgetown photographs to the DC Public Library’s Peabody Room (Georgetown history special collections located on the 3rd floor of the Georgetown Neighborhood Library) when you are through using them. Thank yoo!
Ah, Georgetown Electric. I remember buying all sorts of things there, including converters for trips to Europe. A store typical of the time that Georgetown provided for just about all the wants of its inhabitants. One had to go to Sears in Tenleytown to get things like freezers or washing machines. But otherwise Gtown had it all.
Meh, old Georgetown looks pretty white to me. As in all white — the photo isn’t displaying at all. If it’s a static photo, why not just do an image link? If it’s a slide show, perhaps linking to Flickr or wherever you’ve got it stored. Sounds like a neat idea in any case.
hmmm, where to buy a television today? Not in Georgetown.
Where to buy a book today (real books, that you hold, not some plastic pc)…hmmm, fast disappearing are bookstores. Georgetown is down to the big chain store, which is about to go under.
Not to worry. There’s ice cream and hamburgers for everyone…..at overly inflated prices and calories.
NO! the reveal feature is awesome! so cool. readers, paula your software!
*update your software
Jonathan: Don’t worry, I spent five hours this weekend figuring out how to do the reveal in Flash. I’m not going to quit after one ( the only difficulty now will be lining up the new shot with the old, so if you see someone on the street holding a photo and shuffling around trying to get the angle right, say hi). But I will post static photos in the future (which I meant to do this time but I forgot).
Jerry: I should give the origiinals back to CAG, but I was already planning on making you a copy set.
GM,
The flash photo reveal technology is awesome. I’ve never seen it before but can only imagine all the cool stuff that could be done comparing photos (e.g. building construction progress).
Keep up the good work!!!!
just noticed the new lampost! a nice addition.
I figured it was some sort of Flash-powered feature. I’m afraid that, like many readers, I don’t have any control over the software installs on the computer I use during the daytime. And it won’t work a certain family of fruit-flavored mobile devices. (And I know many web developers live by the creed, “Use Flash; pray won’t crash; ’til they pay you (in cash).”)
But it sounds cool. I’ll check it out from home.
I remember this well; I used to spend quite a bit of time in Crown Books looking for bargain art monographs. BTW the awning blocking the stained glass was not installed by Ben & Jerry’s but rather by “Mrs. Ann”, the palmist who performs her magic upstairs.
I downloaded the latest version of Flash on my home and work computers and still can’t get this picture to load. Any suggestions?
Not sure what the problem is, but I’ve added static shots for you.
you know, the crappy old plymouth voyager in the 1990s picture doesn’t make it look any better, either. what would have made this perfect would have been a brand-new $100k mercedes in the newest photo 🙂