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Washington, D.C., circa 1950. "Waffle Shop on 10th Street. Exterior from side angle, day. For Bernard L. Fishman." Photo of the now-defunct eatery, shortly after it opened, by Theodor Horydczak. View full size.
Only the S survives. The Help Shop "popup store" in 2012.
Now I know that the plural of Victrola is Victrola.
I love the font, ( or should that be script? ), used for the sign 'Waffle Shop'. Very elegant, and stylistically extremely appropriate.
I don't know what actually led them to leave the awesome deco-licious Waffle Shop space, but the business is still in existence a few doors down in a much less photogenic space. It's still one of the few breakfast joints in that area, however.
That's the permit number for the sign projecting into public space. DC construction code still says today: "Marking of signs. Every sign for which a permit is required shall be marked with letters not less than 1 inch (25.4 mm) in height, giving the permit number and date of permit issuance (DCMR12, Section 3107.5).
Nice of Waffle Shop to so precisely follow the regs. The building was built in 1950.
I ate lunch there at least a hundred times in the late '50s to early '60s and never had waffles (it was also a burger joint). This original Waffle Shop closed in 2007 and the deteriorating facade was still there years later. Some of the iconic interior fixtures were saved, and Waffle Shop version 2 recently opened a few doors down the street.
You'll surely find me next door, at "The House of 1,000 Tools".
Note date on trim high above entrance: 9-11-50.
Both movies shown in reverse are from 1937 and Victrolas were last sold in 1929. I wish there was a car or something to show this as newer.
[The Waffle House opened in 1950, so it can't be older than that. The Victor and Victrola brands were used on phonographs made by RCA into the 1970s. The double bill of San Quentin and Alcatraz Island played at the Metropolitan in October 1950. And there is a car in the photo! - Dave]
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