It’ll be ten years since I moved to DC. For some in the audience, it’s a small eternity and darned close to half your lifespan, whippersnappers. For many, it’s but a blink: a speck in the infinite spectrum that is life in the DMV (just don’t call it that in front of Claudia).
Anyway, little gems like Laura Brienza’s small-but-mighty tome, Discovering Vintage Washington D.C., are the kinds of books that newcomers can use as a guide to the bits of the city they may not yet have discovered through the grapevine of a breathless local, or that visitors –whether first-time or frequent– can use to get away from the memorial-and-monument extravaganza that is our nation’s Capital.
In the 200-plus page book, Brienza guides the reader through trivia and tidbits from places that they may not be familiar with, even after living here for a while. In our own beloved neighborhood and environs, Brienza fills us in on the history of Senart’s Oyster and Chop House –and specifically on the side mural; invokes the Tune Inn (but is respectfully silent on the Hawk ‘n’ Dove); makes us hungry for A. Littieri and inspires us to make a pilgrimage to the Catania Bakery. She intrigues us with the not-so-distant echoes of clacky heels and drag queens’ croons where Nationals park now stands. There are other wonderful places to revisit or discover in this guide, which is a warm and genial companion in your journey around the region.