Block-by-Block Biking: Block 34, Connecticut Avenue from Hawthorne Street to Cathedral Avenue
Distance: About 350 feet
Biking Conditions: A nice, short downhill block. There's a light at Cathedral Ave that I can usually catch if I take it easy going down this street.
When I started doing this route, this was the area where I would start trying to get over to he left lane so I could be in position to turn on to Calvert Street. But lately I've just been staying in the right lane all the way through and then doing a box turn at the intersection of Connecticut and Calvert. Not having to merge lanes here has made my mornings a lot less stressful!
I will say, though, there's a pretty serious lack of actual bike parking around here...
Favorite Feature: The sprawling Cathedral Mansions complex, which takes up all of the west side of the street.
Historical Context: Images of America: Woodley Park has this to say about Cathedral Mansions, which was built by notable developer Harry Wardman in the early 1920s:
Cathedral Mansions offered transportation facilities to and from the city center via a bus service with a real parlor car, "a real smoking compartment," and a streetcar for transportation between the apartment buildings. Built as the "world's largest apartment group," 2,700 residents lived at Cathedral Mansions in the 1920s. Due to its large size and bevy of services, the apartments were billed as "A City Within Itself."
Shorpy also has this great 1924 photo showing the grocery store that served the complex:
Most Apt Sticker Juxtaposition: This one on the east side of the street:
And this one on the west side:
Street Name Deconstruction: This one doesn't seem to tough to work out -- I'm gonna guess it's called Cathedral Ave because it leads in the general direction of the National Cathedral.