Georgetown Time Machine

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m exploring a fantastic shot that was published by the even more fantastic Old Time DC Facebook group. It shows the 1500 block of Wisconsin Ave. in the 1950s. And there’s so much here!

The first is obviously the streetcar. This was the 30 streetcar line, like the 30 series bus that replaced it in the 1960s, it went from Friendship Heights all the way to Barney Circle in southeast. But what’s interesting about this particular spot is that this is where the streetcars shifted from getting power from the overhead wire to the conduit in the street.

In this detail, you can see the DC Transit worker who would switch the power source. In this particular case, the streetcar was switching to the in-ground power as it went downtown.

Another item you can see when you zoom in are the two gas stations:

At the location of the current Shell, you can see a Texaco. Just across the street you can make out the edge of the Esso sign. The Esso stood where the former Capital One Bank is. (There was yet another gas station where the Exxon is now. This intersection has pretty much always had a lot of gas stations!)

What I find intriguing about this detail is the red brick building behind the Texaco. The property at the northwest corner of Q and Wisconsin held a used car dealership from the 1930s through to the 1980s. But I always understood that it was an open lot throughout the time (like it appeared below in the 1960s:)

But from the main photo above, it sure doesn’t look like an open lot. An aerial photo of the intersection from 1950 is inconclusive:

There appears to be five cars or so parked on that lot, which would suggest an empty lot. But maybe the cars were parked on the roof? It’s really hard to reconcile all the photos, honestly.

That mystery aside, there are some great store fronts along Wisconsin in the photo:

But I think the sign that intrigues me the most peeks over the streetcar from what is now the George Towne Club:

There are two intriguing signs off the corner by Volta and Wisconsin. I’m not sure what the circular sign says, beyond the letter 2. But I believe the CLE sign fully spelled out “CLEANERS”. The location hosted a dry cleaners in the 1950s owned by Peter Maroulis:

During a particularly brutal heat wave in late June 1952, the Washington Star visited workers who had particular hot workplaces and attached a thermometer to them to see what they suffered through. Mr. Maroulis’ tally came to 108 degrees, which wasn’t nearly as bad as the blacksmith who worked on 24th St. His thermometer got up to 131!