Not too much was going on when this photograph was taken. However, this area can fill quickly before you know it. Identify where this photo was taken, and tell what goes on within these four walls. Send your idea to elliott@brack.net, and include your hometown.
Four readers spotted the last mystery photo. George Graf of Palmyra, Va. wrote that it was at the “Intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street NW in Washington D.C. At the bottom of the building with the black window canopies is the Capital Grille. Although Pennsylvania Avenue extends six miles within Washington, D.C., the expanse between the White House and the Capitol constitutes the ceremonial heart of the nation. Washington called this stretch ‘most magnificent and most convenient.’
“Laid out by Pierre Charles L’Enfant, Pennsylvania Avenue was one of the earliest streets constructed in the Federal City. The first reference to the street as Pennsylvania Avenue comes in a 1791 letter from Thomas Jefferson. One theory is that the street was named for Pennsylvania as consolation for moving the capital from Philadelphia. Both Jefferson and George Washington considered the avenue an important feature of the new capital. After inspecting L’Enfant’s plan, President Washington referred to the thoroughfare as a “Grand Avenue”. Jefferson concurred, and while the “grand avenue” was little more than a wide dirt road ridiculed as “The Great Serbonian Bog”, he planted it with rows of fast-growing Lombardy poplars.”
Others spotting the photo include Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill; Lou Camerio of Lilburn and Allan Peel of San Antonio, who told us:
“Today’s mystery photo is of a mixed-use commercial and residential building located at 601 Pennsylvania Ave NW. It is directly across the street from the Federal Trade Commission building and approximately halfway between the White House and The Capitol Building. It is home to a number of high-end penthouses and condos, as well as a variety of commercial establishments and legal offices. The most distinctive part of the building in the mystery photo is of the Capital Grille, an upscale steakhouse which is part of an American chain of restaurants owned by Darden Restaurants. Considering its proximity to many of the swamp-filled federal office buildings in DC, I am not sure we really want to discuss what really goes on at this location. Let’s just say that eating quality steaks is likely the least interesting aspect of the shenanigan’s that occur in this establishment.”
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