Longtime nightlife fixture Eighteenth Street Lounge shut down last year, but the owners have now announced that it will be resurrected in Blagden Alley—which, keen observers will note, is very much not on 18th Street. Even so, the lounge is retaining its name, joining other spots around DC with confusing monikers. Here’s a look at some of the businesses with geographic names that don’t connect to their current locale:
9:30 Club
The concert venue’s name comes from the address of its original home in the Atlantic Building, located at 930 F St., NW. Shows even started at 9:30 PM when the club first opened—hence the logo’s clock-like appearance. The venue moved to its current location at 815 V St., NW, in 1996.
Potomac School
Originally located in Dupont Circle, the private school is now confusingly based not in Potomac, Maryland, but McLean, Virginia. The situation is compounded by the existence of the McLean School, which is situated in—you guessed it—Potomac.
G Street Fabrics
Before this massive fabric store opened on Rockville’s Wilkins Ave. (a street name that does not contain a single letter “G”), the tri-level G Street Remnant Shop was situated at 805 G St., NW. Although the name and location have changed over the past 79 years, the fabric store is still owned by original proprietor David Greenzaid’s kids and grandchildren.
G Street Food
Not affiliated with G Street Fabrics—and also not currently located on G Street. The sandwich shop got its start near the White House at 1706 G St., NW, quickly expanding to locations in Dupont Circle and downtown. Although the flagship location closed in 2016, the name remains.
Georgetown Day School
The moniker was a case of wishful thinking for founder Aggie O’Neil, who hoped to one day move the campus from Chinatown to Georgetown. The school is now in Tenleytown.
Nineteenth Street Baptist Church
When the First Baptist Church of the City of Washington, DC, started segregating congregants, a group of Black worshippers gathered to pray at a building on 19th and I Street. The congregation found a new home in a former synagogue on 16th Street more than a century later, but the name remains.
Daniella Byck joined Washingtonian in 2022. She was previously with Outside Magazine and lives in Northeast DC.
