80’s/90’s DC vs 2020’s DC-Biggest Similarities, Biggest Differences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

This. It kind of was bombed out. No one rebuilt after the riots decades earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

I used to work a night shift job around there back in the late 90s. The only place open in that area (Thomas Circle) to get a snack was the CVS. It would be me and the hookers in line to check out. We weren't friends, but we recognized each other and we'd each joke how the other was "working" that night.

Yeah, I used to work nights at 15th and L and it was part of the stroll back then. A buddy of mine got accused by a pimp of trying to muscle in on his turf when he was just outside the building having a smoke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

I remember the giant hole that eventually became DC USA.

Yep, and the Tivoli building went unused for decades. And the incredibly bad Giant at 14th and Meridian that was replaced by the incredibly bad new Giant.

Strangely, I felt safer living in Columbia Heights then than I do now.

[Anonymous]

Weekly bus-pass cards and paper bus transfers, which were often used as currency (one bus transfer usually was good for one cigarette).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

I remember that! It was so … blatant. Do hookers still do walk the streets anywhere in DC?

[Anonymous]

All the Black neighborhoods are white and ridiculously expensive now. But safer, too. Obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

I remember the giant hole that eventually became DC USA.

Yep, and the Tivoli building went unused for decades. And the incredibly bad Giant at 14th and Meridian that was replaced by the incredibly bad new Giant.

Strangely, I felt safer living in Columbia Heights then than I do now.

I lived around there in the mid-1990s and then again in the mid-2000s. I would say that the mid-90s were pretty scary. Like, every day was a new adventure in "what crime may happen today to me or in very close proximity to me?" Mid-2000s was amazing. When I visit the area these days (still have friends there), there's more of a concern about crime than mid-2000s, but it is definitely not like the 1990s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

I used to work a night shift job around there back in the late 90s. The only place open in that area (Thomas Circle) to get a snack was the CVS. It would be me and the hookers in line to check out. We weren't friends, but we recognized each other and we'd each joke how the other was "working" that night.

+1 I worked at the Peoples then CVS in Bethesda in the late 80s/early 90s. The only other 24-hour pharmacy was at Thomas Circle. If we were out of something and told customers late at night that they would have to go to Thomas Circle to get what they needed they looked at us like we had three heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weekly bus-pass cards and paper bus transfers, which were often used as currency (one bus transfer usually was good for one cigarette).

Student bus tokens!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

This. It kind of was bombed out. No one rebuilt after the riots decades earlier.

+1 I’m listening to a new podcast from The Atlantic called Holy Week that’s all about DC the week that MLK was shot. Fascinating so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whores walked up and down 14th St.

Now the whores run lobbying and law firms on 14th St.

Lol at this!

I'd add Marion Barry. Incredibly different from Marion Bowser!

That would be Muriel!

[Anonymous]

You could drive anywhere in about 20 minutes

A lot more movie theaters

Taxi zones — fun times

[Anonymous]

Kids had pink Metro fare cards that cost 15 cents a ride. And I never saw anyone jumping a turnstile. Not saying it didn’t happen but people really respected the system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Half the city looked bombed out. The difference between then and today is amazing.

I remember the giant hole that eventually became DC USA.

Yep, and the Tivoli building went unused for decades. And the incredibly bad Giant at 14th and Meridian that was replaced by the incredibly bad new Giant.

Strangely, I felt safer living in Columbia Heights then than I do now.

I’ve been in CH since 2000 and watched the transformation. That Giant was the absolute worst. I still feel pretty safe.

I lived in Adams Morgan in the early 90s and remember coming over to CH to go to the bigger post office on Irving. You always had to go with a friend who would keep the car running so you could quickly leave. That post office was super sketchy.

[Anonymous]

The amount of good dive bars we used to have compared with now is striking. Crow Bar. Mr. Eagan's. The Townhouse Tavern coke den. Fox and Hounds before they cleaned it up and got rid of the good jukebox. Any number of places in Georgetown. We actually stopped into Post Pub the other night and it was great. Our server was about 80 and was not having any of our BS. Don't see that much here anymore.