“Dear PoPville,
Shot in the dark —
About 25 years ago I was living in NW DC (16th & U), working as a bartender at Julio’s. In my travels, I came upon an older Russian (or Eastern European) homeless man; very disheveled and with a big scraggly beard. I may have run into him in the Adams Morgan area. I had heard that he was an artist, so I struck up a conversation and in fact he was! I ended up buying a piece from him that has been with me ever since. I never saw him again.
It is haunting. So much pain and sadness.
I never got his name. Do you think you could help me find out who he was? I doubt he’s still with us unfortunately. I have attached a pic of the art, and what may be a signature/initials. Maybe some of the folks who used to frequent A.M. in those days would know something.
I think we may have found our guy – Alexandr Zhdanov. If anyone could confirm that would be great!”