[roadcat]

I think it was a Holiday Inn. I'm not joking about the front desk warning us, we should have turned around and left at that moment. They told us not to go into the hall without looking through the peephole, and to only go into the hallway if we weren't alone. And suggested we not leave the hotel at night unless in a group. It was one of the worst stays I've ever had in a hotel. Maybe it's improved over the last dozen years. But back then everything was bad about that hotel and it's location.

My wife and our two daughters were with us from SF, and my cousin and her husband joined us from Philly. Next day we went to Georgetown and the difference was startling, like day and night (all whites well to do and students). Very pleasant there and nice restaurants and stores. We took the subway from there and could see the change of passenger types when we got to the DC downtown area to visit attractions.

[Albion Wilde]

I think it was a Holiday Inn. I'm not joking about the front desk warning us, we should have turned around and left at that moment. They told us not to go into the hall without looking through the peephole, and to only go into the hallway if we weren't alone. And suggested we not leave the hotel at night unless in a group.

There's one at 15th and Rhode Island Avenue, about 3 blocks from the White House. Wow. So sorry. When I was growing up in DC in the 50s-60s, well-brought-up teenagers could walk all around the downtown alone until dark in safety. There were police on the streets and discreet Secret Service in all the museums. You could park everywhere, too.

Then in the 70s-80s the dotcoms and big lobbying and law firms started taking over; the downtown became skyscrapers instead of small proprietor shops and restaurants, the gubmit exploded with thousand of entitled workers (and their parking needs) who had little to offer except political correctness, and the population in the nation at large doubled. Real estate speculation and prices multiplied, sending all the low-info's to ruin the surrounding Prince George's county, which at one time had the best schools in the state. A recent fund-raiser for one of the biggest PG County schools stated that the graduating class of '11 did not send a single student on to college (the student body is now about 99% black and Hispanic).

A beautiful metropolis that was built to be an inspiration to the civil order under the rule of law became the site of some of the worst commuter traffic and street crime in the nation. And by the way, DC didn't allow guns even for self-protection until a recent SCOTUS case. So it just got worse and worse until they overturned that prohibition. The results of liberalism in all Democrat-ruled cities have made them no-go zones for all but thugs.