In 1979, I walked up 14th St. in search of an address. The farther north I proceeded, the more dangerous the neighborhood appeared. At R St. I turned around because it looked too dangerous, with young men who looked like hoodlums slouching on the sidewalk. I was obviously entering a slum.
Turns out I was in the wrong quadrant. The address I was seeking was in Southwest DC, not Northwest DC.
Nowadays, Sette Osteria, an upscale Italian restaurant, stands at the corner where I turned around due to concerns about safety in 1979.
In 1964 you could take 14th St. to K St. and see a good number of hookers. It was quite a sight. Not just the get ups the wore but the hair colors as. Every color imaginable and then some. Colors that I have never seen again. The area around 14th and K was better than a circus.
About a year ago I walked from UDC down to the Lincoln memorial and then over to near the capitol. The hoodlums seems much more distributed these days.