Beck’s Polar Bear frozen custard stand, a neighborhood landmark from 1938 to 1973.
develop a more urban style. The neighborhood’s future was ensured in the 1890s, when new electric streetcar lines allowed government work- ers to live here and ride to jobs downtown. The limestone Masonic temple and the columned Bank of Brightwood were both completed just after World War I (1914-1918) at the intersection of Georgia and Missouri avenues. They formed an architectural gateway that can be seen today. Hundreds of brick rowhouses rose off Georgia Avenue, luring hard-working government clerks and professionals and their families. A new Classical Moderne style “Park and Shop” opened on Georgia Avenue in 1937 with stores and the 1,000-seat Sheridan movie theater.
As in many DC neigh- borhoods, Brightwood’s rowhouses came with covenants pro- hibiting sales to
John Deoudes at the Waffle House grill, early 1960s.
certain white ethnics and to African Americans. Over time, though, the covenants against white ethnics were broken, and by the late 1940s Brightwood became known for its Greek, Jewish, and Italian families. Georgia Avenue businesses reflected the neighborhood’s ethnic mix. The old African American settlement near Fort Stevens had largely disappeared during
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker