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Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Crowds at Metropolitan Theatre, F Street N.W." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
Hunh. 930 F St NW, next door to the theater, was the old home of the 930 Club, a well-known alternative-music venue where I saw many a band back in the 1980s. I think Nirvana was the last band I saw there, with Loop opening up. If you can imagine Nirvana in that tiny front room; yeah. It's no mystery where my hearing went.
In the 1922 guide book “Historical Self-Guide of Washington The Heart of the Nation. Arlington and Mt. Vernon. A Liberal Education for the Sight-seer" its ads included “‘Mintz the Trunk Man, agent for Indestructo Custom Made Trunks’, who mixed low commerce with patriotic reverence and promised ‘IMMEDIATE repairs to your trunk or leather bag’ located ‘just around the corner from Ford’s Theatre where President Lincoln was shot’”.
Along with trunks and suitcases he offered traveling bags "for the missionary, and leather novelties". Probably better not to question the juxtaposition of missionary and leather novelties.
For better or for worse, these buildings remain as facades only. A clever compromise has been reached in DC that allows developers to construct modern office space that incorporates the facades of legacy structures such as these.
The young lady in the Kelly-Springfield ad is Miss Norma Shearer.
It is ironic that the theater is showing a Louis B. Mayer film. In a few years Miss Shearer would become one of the superstars of MGM pictures. She would also marry Mayer's nephew Irving Thalberg.
An article on the theatre:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7629
Washington Post, October 10, 1920.At the Picture Houses.
Metropolitan — "The Woman in His House."
An event of particular importance in the picture world will be the first showing on any screen of Louis B. Mayer's superproduction, "The Woman in His House," at Crandall's Metropolitan for the entire week. An all-star cast headed by Mildred Harris Chaplin appears in the picture which is said to surpass the "Miracle Man" in heart appeal and has already been booked into a production house in Broadway where it will be shown at $2 prices.
The Atlantic Building, to the left of the theater, was a hotbed of music and art in the 1980s. "The Bootery Footwear" housed a carryout which featured the "bone fish sandwich," a big piece of fried fish, complete with bones, on a bun.
Mildred Harris Chaplin, the star of "The Woman in His House," made a personal appearance at the Metropolitan, which probably explains the crowd.
From what I can see on Google maps, the theater is the only building that is gone on that block The other buildings look pretty much the same today as they did then.
I see Lotta Miles, the Kelly Springfield Tires lady, looking over the scene.
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