1960s

In recent years the small brick building at 2507 N. Franklin Rd. in Arlington has been the home of coffee shops and eateries. That is quite a departure from the building’s previous life. From 1968-1984, this duplex was the national headquarters of the American Nazi Party. A swastika hung over the doorway (visible from busy Wilson Blvd half a block away) and khaki-clad “storm troopers” occupied the space, periodically clashing with neighbors.

So where do you think Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath made his professional football debut? Shea Stadium in New York? Wrong. Fenway Park in Boston? Wrong again. D.C. Stadium in Washington? Nice try, but no. The correct answer is George Washington High School in Alexandria, Virginia.

Washington doesn't usually get mentioned in the pantheon of great American music cities but we've had our moments. One of them was Sunday, November 28, 1965, when Bob Dylan played the Washington Coliseum. But the real story that day wasn't the music. It was an iconic photograph.

In one of the more creative publicity stunts D.C. has ever seen, the Curtis Bros. Furniture Company commissioned Bassett Furniture to construct a giant chair in Anacostia. Then, the company then convinced a local model to live in a glass apartment atop the chair for seven weeks in the summer of 1960.

The Who vs. Led Zeppelin... It's one of the eternal questions argued by classic rock aficionados — which of these legendary bands rocked the hardest? Perhaps the only people qualified to make that call were those lucky enough to be at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. on the night of Sunday, May 25, 1969, when Led Zeppelin opened for The Who in one of the most epic double bills in rock history. It was a pairing of hall of fame live acts that would never be seen again on the same stage.

It’s Election Day, and hopefully most of you are braving the weather and the lines at your local polling place to make sure your voice is heard. If you cast your ballot for a presidential candidate in the District, you exercised a right that has only been around since 1961; that’s how long DC residents have had the right to vote in presidential elections, a right granted by the 23^rd Amendment.