If you’ve been in DC for over a decade, you’ve seen many companies come and go. And if you’ve been here long, you’ve seen local bookstores, department stores, and restaurants being swallowed up or pushed out of national chains. Maybe it’s all the espresso martinis, but I’ve been nostalgic for the old days when you went to Olsson’s and Kemp Mill, not Amazon.
Then a gift guide for the long-term interested and natives. Will everyone have a cache of People’s Drug pencils in their sock (or uhh, some 70 year old sugar cubes)? Probably not! But Ebay is full of relics of all kinds, from Woodie’s, Jhoon Rhee and other institutions.
Sans Souci ashtray, $ 64.99
This black glass ashtray from what was once DC’s hottest dining room has seen some things. A porcelain version from Paul Young’s will cost you less. Keep an eye on one from Yenching Palace.
Folkets Drug poker cards, $ 4.99
Before CVS came to town, there were People’s, a number of local pharmacies that started in Alexandria. Grab some “Say No to Drugs” pencils for the kids.
Commander Salamander button, prices vary
Pin-back buttons from Georgetown’s late punk-rock / rave clothing store for kids abound.
Sutton Place Gourmet cutting board, $ 62.99
DC’s defunct fancy-food empories – folded into the Balducci’s brand in the early years – sold French cheeses and honey-mustard sandwiches and apparently a beautiful-looking maple cutting board.
Hogate’s sugar cubes, $ 4.99
We’d rather have the recipe for rum buns, but apparently these two wrapped dice, possibly from the 1950s, were found in a scrapbook shelf for the long-gone Southwest Waterfront institution. There are also plenty of mugs, menus and match books.
Woodward & Lothrop Christmas Decorations, $ 49.99
The DC department store’s Christmas exhibits were epic.
WHFS t-shirt, $ 199
The one-time alt-rock station HFStival t-shirts sell for $ 100 and up. Before hell.
Garfinckels umbrellas, $ 69.99
This pair of tasseled beige umbrellas from the lavish DC department store is apparently from the 1920s. Also some cool 70s Christmas glasses (and a ton of clothes and bags).
Jhoon Rhee in child size martial arts equipment, $ 50
No one will bother the badass that shows up to class in these gloves and pillows (and a few of the tae kwan do schools still exist).
Swizzle sticks, prices vary
Set your home bar with swordfish-swizzle sticks from Bish Thompson’s, golf clubs from O’Donnell’s or red spoons from Duke Zeibert’s.
Vintage restaurant postcards, prices vary
Particularly framable: those from Duke’s, Hot Shoppes, Reeves Coffee Shoppe and Rive Gauche.
Executive Food Editor / Critic
Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian at the end of 2003. She was a former editorial assistant at Weekly entertainment and chef in New York’s restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Logan Circle.
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