Public Safety
Mugging Adams Morgan
Top Stories
La Joya Steakhouse Restaurant Coming to former El Limeno Space in Petworth Memorial Day Weekend Road Closures for Rolling Thunder, National Memorial Day Parade and United House of Prayer Memorial Parade Former Sutra/Viet Thai Spaces to Become NYNY DIVA or NY Diva NY in Adams MorganNeighborhoods
Adams MorganCapitol HillColumbia HeightsH St. NELogan Circle16th St. heightsAU ParkAlexandriaAnacostiaBarnaby WoodsBethesdaBloomingdaleBrentwoodBrightwoodBrooklandCarver/LangstonCathedral HeightsChevy ChaseCleveland ParkCrestwoodDowntownDupont CircleEckingtonEdgewoodFoggy BottomForest HillsFriendship HeightsFt. LincolnFt. TottenGeorgetownGlover ParkHill EastHillcrestIvy CityKaloramaKingman ParkLamond-RiggsLangdonLanier HeightsLedroit ParkMDMt. PleasantMt. Vernon SquareNavy YardNoMaPalisadesPark ViewPenn Quarter/ChinatownPetworthPleasant PlainsRosedaleSW WaterfrontShawShepherd ParkSilver SpringSpring ValleyTakomaTakoma ParkTenleytownTrinidadTruxton CircleU StreetVAVan NessWesley HeightsWest EndWoodland-NormanstoneWoodley ParkWoodridge
See MoreRecent Forum Posts
Recent Classifieds
Columbia Heights – 2004 and 2011
2004
“Dear PoP,
I thought your readers might be interested in a picture I took in November 2004 showing the area around 14th, Park and Kenyon in Columbia Heights. It was taken from upper deck of the Giant parking garage, under construction at the time. I’ve also included an image of the area as it looks today, from roughly the same vantage point.”
Category: Columbia Heights, Development, History
Blog Categories
Most Commented This Week
79
COMMENTS
Dear PoPville - Parking Suggestions for non DC Residents?
22 May 2013 11:02 AM
69
COMMENTS
Dear PoPville - Valet Problems Part Two
20 May 2013 10:16 AM
61
COMMENTS
MPD Reports Cyclist Killed at 11th and U St, NW on Thursday
19 May 2013 4:27 PM
60
COMMENTS
Adams Morgan BID Launches New Outdoor Dining Campaign "Al Fresco. Al Frisky."
23 May 2013 4:53 PM
59
COMMENTS
Friday Question of the Day - What is Your Favorite Meal to Grill?
22 May 2013 6:26 PM
Upcoming Events
Recent Comments
The Dancing Crab's commercials have to be the worst I've ever seen. The owners saying,... 
God you people are boring. Why not more chatter about their footwears?
kook47797
9:24pm
Cheesy and cheap. Something you'd expect the Montgomery, Al. Convention's Bureau to run...
8:50pm
People thought it was a good look at the time.
See also: wood-paneled basements,...
That’s awesome.
Sometime in 2002, approximately the same vantage point:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsorconsulting-dc/5242659232/in/set-72157625426922287
The community garden, where the Giant now sits:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsorconsulting-dc/sets/72157625687628158/
great!
Wow!!
Thanks for sharing. I always like looking at before-and-afters of revitalized neighborhoods.
Same here!
WOW. Thanks for sharing. It’s amazing how much has changed over the past few years.
This is the stuff that gentrification boners are made of.
There should be a 2001 photo showing all of the burned out crackhouses that occupied the space as well.
I was thinking that a shot pre-Metro would really give some perspective on how Columbia Heights has changed.
Uh, yeah. You just stay on your side of the park, because dude, that square was never “burned out crackhouses,” but certainly not in 2001. The metro opened in 1999.
Wasn’t most of the land used as metro staging during construction? that is what i recalled during the metro build. Was hilarious when metro opened at CH, because people who were used to getting the buzzer flash at U St (as it was the last stop) would be all confused when they went past U.
mister we could use a man like herbert hoover again
There weren’t any burned out crackhouses in 1987 (when I moved to 14th & Columbia)either. The drug trade back then was actually very stable and organized. Scary yes – but in a very different way.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsorconsulting-dc/5242659232/sizes/o/in/photostream/
This appears to have been taken right around the time we moved here. Metro was in, but the little storefronts on 14th were still open.
OH! That’s my photo! I just posted a link under the first comment, which may still be “under moderation” and also a link to photos from August 2001 of the community garden that was located where the Giant currently sits.
Wow! Interesting that my building is visible in the earlier photo, and that my view in 2004 would have been of something other than a loading dock.
I was in that apartment complex the other night doing weird stuff. The rooftop is kick ass!
Weird stuff, eh?
Remember the CH farmers market where Lou’s City Bar now is? Or how about the post office where IHOP is? Or the windshield repair place next door. Sure has changed.
Yes, Yes and No.
Sure has.
when was the farmers market?
Remember the old Waffle Shop at 14th & Park.
That was the nastiest post office ever!
Remember the old Giant where the Alero Apts are now? I moved in in Dec 2002 and remember zipping around in my car around Park/Kenyon/Columbia Rds. Those days are long gone, don’t even bother driving up there anymore. And before the new Giant was built that area was a bunch of squaters living in cardboard box huts, about a dozen of ‘em.
All that sunshine, and free flowing traffic…
+1
and the lovely patch of green…
That’s what I thought too. Now it’s an unbelievable traffic clusterf**k that we visit only as we visit MD and VA, for shopping.
I lived in CH from 2004-2007. I don’t remember it being so bad. Underutilized, sure, but that huge greenspace where the Target is now was just lovely.
Sunshine, free flowing traffic, greenspace… that’s why Montgomery County has a rural reserve. Go visit it there; building stuff here keeps land like that pristine and rather less polluted.
What “lovely huge greenspace?” Target was built on a rubbley mud lot where a bunch of one-story old concrete buildings had been demolished – mostly a Woolworths or GC Murphy store – don’t remember which.
Wow! What neat photos! Thanks for sharing.
PayLess is really in it for the long haul – looks like they’ve been in the same spot (sortof) through all of the buildout. I wonder if their displacement by DC USA guaranteed them a storefront in the new place (reduced rent,etc). Look on the bottom right of this pic (link from above) http://www.flickr.com/photos/windsorconsulting-dc/5242659232/sizes/o/in/set-72157625426922287/
Great photos! This is how I remember Columbia Heights as well, when I moved there back in 2004! right before all the construction started, and then the yuppies came!
Rock on! I love these before and after photos.
Lots more shaggling in that old neighborhood but me like the new Target and Best Buy.
Thanks for sharing the photos. One can definitely see the improvements that have been made to the area.