” it was like a slow Southern city back then, without much traffic.”
I know what you mean. There were still streetcars running on DC streets when I moved there, and I had the chance to ride one before they tore the tracks up. I think we must have arrived in Arlington the summer of 1956. It was still Southern enough that I have a Tidewater accent that some educated ears manage to hear.
My grandmother had that accent.
After she retired from the VA, she had a few of those DC Transit streetcar tokens left; I used to have one on my charm bracelet; but I think I lost it...
(I think some of the tracks are still left in Georgetown.)