Evening Star Newspaper, June 10, 1935, Page 49

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 10, 1935. YOWNTOWN WASHINGTON GREETS SHRINERS HiH Theaters, Motion Pic- ture Houses, Hotels, Stores and Shops in the Capital’s Business Cen- ter, Open Wide Their Doors to Convention Visitors. ASHINGTON has a reputation for hospitality which 1= almost a byword = the length and breadth of the land. In gain- ing this good name Washing- tonians get plenty of pra“tice, r the city is a mecca for tourists and visitors rom every part of the countiry. Brhind this putation for hospitality are hotels considered mong the best of the world The Capital has 77 hotel:. Somewhere among hese hostelries one will find preciscly the serv- e he demands. He may have anything from luxurious penthouse, presidential suite with our baths, to a lone 100m with no bath. No hatter which 1s selected exceilrnt service 18 endered beeause the bread of no small number f Washingtonians depends on its tieatment ol Curisis L | If the visitor wishies to purchiase methimg, ewclry, clothing or souvenirs, he will find that he city possesses some of the finest chops in he New W 1, and a variety of stores that pre- ludes the possibility of him not finding what 1 wants, regardless of price, The :hopping Histrict is far-flung, and even if one is stop= ing in a neighborhood hotel such as may be ound on upper Fourteenth street or on the mter reaches of Connecticut avenue, he will ind groups of hops that are fairly complete in ariety of goods and price ranges (overed, The city has but a single theater which caters o Jovers of the legitimate stage. This 1s the autional, located on E street, in the middle of he downtown business district. between Thir= ecnth and Fourteenth strects, When the Shrine pathered here 12 years ago there were two bther theaters where one could go to appease iis intellectual appetite, One, Poli's, wus razed o' make way for the park between the new Jommerce Department Building and Pennsyiva- 1a avenue, while the other, Shubert-Belasco, 10w shows cinemas almost entively. Then, too, here was Keith's in those days where one ould enjoy good vaudeville, This also hus becn turncd over to the screen, while the demand for vaudeville is well supplied by two houses which give combination shows of the ait of the silver screen, and the kicking legs of dozens of chorus girls. ROUPED according to general location, Washington's hotels fall into three gen- eral categories—downtown, outlying and those around Union Station and the Capitol. In each group there is offered a wide range of accommodations, while the outlying hotels offer the added attractions of sweeping views over wooded hills and ravines. Included 1n the downtown classification is Looking cast on F street from Thirteenth, in the center of Washington's principal shopping district. the Mayflower Holel. the youngest major hotel in this district, and one of the finest in the United States. The Mayflower offers the ulti- mate in luxurious accommodations for those who demand Oriental rugs, marble statuary and caviar. It is situated on Connecticut avenue, between L and M streets. Numbers of social affairs are held here, including dinners of state, end the dances of the Capital's “400.” Along Connecticut avenue, beth mnorth and south of the Mayflower, are scattered many of the city's finest and most exclusive shops. These shops deal in rare jewelry, antiques of many descriptions, expensive clothing and rich Ori- ental rugs and fine linens. Some of the best dining places are likewise located in this sec- tion. Connecticut avenue is truly the “Fifth avenue of Washington.” The Willard Hotel, Fourteenth street and Pennsylvania avenue, extending through to P street, is another of the city’s most luxurious hostelries, as well as one of its most historic. The present 1l-story building grew from an humble structure on the northwest corner of Fourteenth street and Pennsylvania avenue, erected in 1818. For more than & century it has been the headquarters of statesmen, diplo- mats and distinguished foreign visitors. Charles Dickens stopped here in 1842. In its huge ball room are held the famous Gridiron dinners. “Peacock Alley,” extending through the build- fng from Pennsylvania avenue to F street, is a favorite meeting place of distinguished persons, NE of the few hotels in the United States operated strictly’ on the formal European or continental plan of hospitality is the Carlton Hotel, located three blocks north of the White House at Sixteenth and K streets. It is ex- pensive, and noted for its colorful Sixteenth street dining garden - for luncheon, tea and dinner, The Ralcigh Hotel, Pennsylvania avenue and Twelfth street, on the site of the old Kirkwood House in which Andrew Jackson took the presi- dential oath, is the home of a number of the “old-timers” of Congress, notably Senator Car- ter Glass of Virginia, who has made it his Washington home for 33 years, occupying one room almost the entire time. It is convenient to down'own shops and theaters, and is noted for its dining service. The Washington, Pifteenth street at Penn- syivania avenue; the Hamilton, Fourteenth and K streets, with the Ambassador across the street; the Powhaten, Eighteenth street at Pennsylvania avenue; the Hay-Adams House, Martinique, Lee House, the Lafayette, the Blackstone, New Colonial, Annapolis, Harrington, Burlington and the Arlington are other well-known downtown hotels. The newest hotel in the Capital, the Shore- 17 ’ll‘l! Ih.v lights flash on in Washington's “movie row.” F street near Fourteenth, heart of the movie district, where two "!u’h" .p‘rmm[‘tal downtown moving picture houses are located. t he Palace and the Fox. Nearby are the Earle and the National, a “legitimate” house. and Jurther down on F street are the Columbia and the Metropolitan. R-K-O Keith's iz about a block a@way on Fifteenth street. ~—Star Stafl Phote. 0P, —Star Stafl Phote. ham, opened early in 1930. is one which comes in the outlying classification. It is at Con- necticut avenue and Calvert street. On nearby Woodley road, just west of Connecticut avenue, is the Wardman Park Hotel, one of the city’s largest and finest. Others of the outlying hotels are the Falrfax, 2100 Massachusetts avenue; the Roosevelt, Sixteenth and V streets, and the Cairo, Sixteenth at Q. Surrounding Capitol Hill is another interesting group of hotels. All are within easy walking distance of Union Station, the Capitol, the Library of Ccngress and the Folger Shakespeare Library. The group is about a dozen blocks from the F street theater and shopping dis- trict. In this group are the George Washington Jnn, Hotel Continental, the Dodge Hotel, Capitol rark, Hotel Commodore, Hotel Pennsylvania and Hotel Plaza, Fl]"rEE'Nm street from the Treasury Depart- ment Building to K street is Washington's “Wall Street.” Here are to be found many of the largest banks and brokerage offices of the city. As Fifteenth street is & miniature Wall Street s0o P street compares to New York's Broad- way. This avenue is the bright light district of Washington. On it or in close proximity to #t are all of the “first-run” cinema houses, more popular shops and large department stores. Two of the “movie” houses also have vaudeville shows to serve up to the public. These are the Fox, in the city’s iargest office bullding—National Press Building—F street at Fourteenth, and the Earle Theater, on Thirteenth street just north of E. Others of the show houses are the Palace, Thirteenth and F' streets; Columbia, F street near Eleventh; the Metropolitan, F street near Tenth; Keith's Fifteenth street near F. and Shubert-Belasco, Madison place adjacent to the ‘White House Grounds. While F street is perhaps the principal shop- ping and theater district of Washington, both Ninth and Seventh streets have their popularity. Two decades or more ago these streets, along with Pennsylvania avenue, formered the prine cipal theater and shopping district. On Ninth street may be found the Gayety Theater, the lone stronghold of burlesque remaining in the Capital. Included in the general F street shopping district is G street, one of the most popular thoroughfares in the Capital. While huge office buildings may be found throughout washington's far-flung business district, extending roughly from K street on the north to Pennsylvania avenue on the south, from Eighteenth street on the west to sixth street on the east, the intersection of Fifteenth and H streets may be said to be the hub of the office building wheel. . The principal office structures of the city are located within a radius of four blocks of this intersection. The Munsey Trust Co. Building on downtown E street is considered the city's highest commercial strue- ture. Though Washington has no skyline of tower= ing concrete and steel, due to restrictions on the height of buildings, the business distriot presents a picture of conformity and orderliness, interspersed with park areas which helps make mte; Capital one of the worlds most beautifal cities,