Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I noticed in the street level photo of Farragut Square that there was a Mrs. Fields Cookies shop where the Starbucks is today. Mmmmm....cookies.
Too bad there were not enough street level shots in the portfolio. The aerial shots did not give a more in-depth picture of the 1990s street activity.
I suspect that many of these photos were shot during weekends when the downtown area was mostly empty. Unfairly makes the 1990s DC appear more desolate and lifeless.
Downtown area had more BKs too. This was before the corporate chain sandwich shops started taking over corners. Long before Au Bon Pain, Wall Street Deli and Subway arrived on the scene.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coolio69
You forgot one thing: Peoples Drug! They were all over the place. Now it's all CVS.
Also, the downtown area had a slew of Roy Rogers. There were some MCDees, but I think Roy's had more stores.
I have always been infatuated with New York City during the 1990's and the entire decade in general for quite a long while, and now I am curious to know what D.C. was like during the 90's. The oldest I was when the 90's ended was 7 and some of my memories of The City back in those days were school trips to the National Zoo and the museums, especially the Natural History one. In fact, I remember 90's Forestville, Suitland, Temple Hills, Landover, and Tyson's Corner Galleria more so than 90's D.C., no lie!
So without further ado, I would love for those who have clearer and crispier memories of 90's D.C. to share your thoughts and memories of what things were like in D.C. during the Marion Barry Era, like the nightlife, entertainment, music scene, culture (obviously it was better in this regard since this was before gentrification went into FULL swing), crime (I already know that D.C. was murda capital back then, but I would still like to hear insight), shopping, streetlife, housing quality, cost of living, the state/nature of the neighborhoods, the local economy, etc.
I loved DC in the 90's despite the high crime and drugs. I was in high school/ college and would come down to DC to party. My relatives lived in the city and MD. I would sneak into the bars and clubs. If my parents knew the neighborhoods I was in they would have died. lol... "Chocolate City" back then had so much culture and energy.
The party scene was awesome. The Zei Club. Enough said.
The cost of living. Pleeeease, a struggling wage earner used to be able to afford living near 14th Street back in the day. Only the DuPont Circle area was gentrified at the time. Struggling income earners could still afford a dump in Adams Morgan, Logan Circle, Mount Pleasant etc.
Crime. There were prostitutes along K Street making their moves on male pedestrians and drug dealing was rampant in MacPherson Square Park. Yeah, it was scarier at night back then. Now, you have new glitzy office buildings for law and PR firms in the same neighborhood and new clubs selling drinks at $12 a glass and tables for parties at $400 for the evening. Bye-bye prostitutes and drug dealers on K Street.
There were more independent shops along many downtown streets. I remember clothing tailors, music record sellers and magazine shops owned by families struggling to make a profit. Now...you have corporate chains running restaurants and retail shops. What. The. F#ck.
The 9:30 Club used to be near the FBI building. There were shops that sold pornographic magazines near the old 9:30 Club. I miss those dirty mag stores.
Back then, DC was a majority black city and it definitely had a more "Chocolate City" feel to it. Chocolate in the Go-Go music. Chocolate in the black-owned businesses. There was a real black pride feeling in the city. Many white suburban types were intimated by this scene but I didn't mind it all.
The people were REAL back then. No pretension. No smartphones or cell phones to check every two minutes during a conversation. You were more interested in making FRIENDS in the long term than contacts so you can advance your career in the short term. Life was more casual back then.
I sound nostalgic because DC WAS a better place with the people. Sure, there was more CRIME and BLIGHT back in the 1990s but the people you met in bars and parties made you feel like you were in a HOME. Today, it could not be more different and that is so depressing.
Back then, DC was a majority black city and it definitely had a more "Chocolate City" feel to it. Chocolate in the Go-Go music. Chocolate in the black-owned businesses. There was a real black pride feeling in the city. Many white suburban types were intimated by this scene but I didn't mind it all.
The people were REAL back then. No pretension. No smartphones or cell phones to check every two minutes during a conversation. You were more interested in making FRIENDS in the long term than contacts so you can advance your career in the short term. Life was more casual back then.
I sound nostalgic because DC WAS a better place with the people. Sure, there was more CRIME and BLIGHT back in the 1990s but the people you met in bars and parties made you feel like you were in a HOME. Today, it could not be more different and that is so depressing.
I remember Georgetown Leather, Mr. Henry's, hanging in Adams Morgan all night, 9:30 club, Paragon I and 2 in Georgetown, Foxtrapp, hanging at the wharf, happy hours at Phillips, H street before the trolly cars and all things now trendy and urban when then it was urban and grimy. Murray's and DMV satellite office on H now becoming a Whole Foods, no National Harbor or Tangers Outlet or Cirque du Soleli, just Oxon Hill, lol. Going up to Tech and sitting in the bleechers to watch the fireworks, or parking on 395 and watching, going to V street and watching the guys race cars, colonel brooks tavern in Brookland etc. I miss my old hometown.
Georgetown back in the day was so unique and quirky. I loved the shops and bars. On Friday and Saturday night it was so packed you had to walk in the street. I loved Georgetown Leather and Paragon 1 and 2. Today Georgetown is so commercialized and bland.
Georgetown back in the day was so unique and quirky. I loved the shops and bars. On Friday and Saturday night it was so packed you had to walk in the street. I loved Georgetown Leather and Paragon 1 and 2. Today Georgetown is so commercialized and bland.
IIRC, I think the parts of Georgetown closer to the canal and the River were kinda industrial as well, even the gritty kind of industrial.
Georgetown back in the day was so unique and quirky. I loved the shops and bars. On Friday and Saturday night it was so packed you had to walk in the street. I loved Georgetown Leather and Paragon 1 and 2. Today Georgetown is so commercialized and bland.
It seemed like G-Town was the major party spot in DC along with Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle, but Georgetown seemed to have been the king of the DC nightlife scene back then according to older heads.
Nowadays, G-Town is still a major party hub but has seemed to have lost some of its luster according to some. Adams Morgan (Older heads say that the AdMo scene was more gritty and bohemian back then) and Dupont Circle are still major nightlife spots.
And here are the new nightlife kids on the block: U Street, H Street NE, Chinatown/Gallery Place, Penn Quarter, West End, K Street, and even Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, the Convention Center area, and Logan Circle (the parts around 14th Street) are starting to develop decent to significant nightlife activity.
I don't know if 8th Street SE aka Barracks Row in Capitol Hill has always been a major nightlife area in that neighborhood.
Woodley Park and Cleveland Park have decent nighttime activity on their main drags as well.
And from the looks of things, Navy Yard is trying to lay the groundwork for a nightlife scene of its own in the future and so is Southwest (Once the EcoDistrict redevelopment plan comes into play).
CityCenterDC could potentially add significant nighttime foot traffic in Downtown DC once it comes online with the restaurants and retail.
I'm a huge Go-Go fan and majority of the places I used to party are long gone. I'm 39 now and Fur nightclub and the 9:30 club was my favorite spots.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tcave360
It seemed like G-Town was the major party spot in DC along with Adams Morgan and Dupont Circle, but Georgetown seemed to have been the king of the DC nightlife scene back then according to older heads.
Nowadays, G-Town is still a major party hub but has seemed to have lost some of its luster according to some. Adams Morgan (Older heads say that the AdMo scene was more gritty and bohemian back then) and Dupont Circle are still major nightlife spots.
And here are the new nightlife kids on the block: U Street, H Street NE, Chinatown/Gallery Place, Penn Quarter, West End, K Street, and even Columbia Heights, Mt. Pleasant, the Convention Center area, and Logan Circle (the parts around 14th Street) are starting to develop decent to significant nightlife activity.
I don't know if 8th Street SE aka Barracks Row in Capitol Hill has always been a major nightlife area in that neighborhood.
Woodley Park and Cleveland Park have decent nighttime activity on their main drags as well.
And from the looks of things, Navy Yard is trying to lay the groundwork for a nightlife scene of its own in the future and so is Southwest (Once the EcoDistrict redevelopment plan comes into play).
CityCenterDC could potentially add significant nighttime foot traffic in Downtown DC once it comes online with the restaurants and retail.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
for quite a long while, and now I am curious to know what D.C. was like during the 90's. The oldest I was when the 90's ended was 7 and some of my memories of The City back in those days were school trips to the National Zoo and the museums, especially the Natural History one. In fact, I remember 90's Forestville, Suitland, Temple Hills, Landover, and Tyson's Corner Galleria more so than 90's D.C., no lie! 
