This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m dipping back into the pile of 1993 photos I received. This particular shot shows a pre-Cady’s Alley view of the 3300 block of M St.
Specifically, this shot sows the south side of the block from 3322 M St. to 3326 M St. On the left stood Wall St. Art Gallery. It appears to have been a framing shop. In the spirit of quick 1 hour film developing of the era, this shop advertised 1 hour custom framing. You could walk down M St. with a roll of undeveloped film and two hours later have a custom framed picture!
Where to get the film developed? Well the shop next door appears to offer that service (although not clearly within 1 hour). The shop also lacks a sign saying what it’s named. But I supposed when you’re selling tourists some souvenirs, the name of the shop doesn’t matter much.
Next door to that stood yet another unnamed relic: a newspaper shop. To my readers under the age of 30, take my word that once there were places that sold news printed out on paper. Every day, no less. They also had these glossy, book-like things called magazines that came out every week or month. And people actually paid money for them to read. Crazy.
Last in view is the delightfully named Scissors of Georgetown. It would be fun to imagine that this was a store that sold scissors, but sadly it was just a hair salon. Those certainly have not disappeared into the mists of history.
All in all it, this is a nice snapshot of what Georgetown used to look like. Kinda run down, but actually quite useful. Nowadays this stretch is part of the extremely expensive homewares emporium that is Cady’s Alley. It’s certainly a lot nicer than it was in 1993, but for the average person it’s far less useful. There’s a bit of a lesson in there, I think.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
I miss the military surplus store that used to be there. I mean, now you have plenty of options to buy modern, high-end furniture, but what am I supposed to do if I have a hankering for a flame resistant camo jacket?