Driving into Old Town tonight for my weekly trip to the Virginia Tech campus, something didn’t feel right. All of a sudden, I was Payne & King St., the heart of Old Town, but it’s like I had missed the gateway. Suddenly I had gone from residential to commercial with no buffer. I stopped at Payne Street, the site of a recent accident involving my Jetta and a crazy drunk woman’s Nissan, and it didn’t feel right.
Coming home, I put my finger on what was absent: this beautiful antique truck, with American flag & plastic horse and the striking Christmas lights. It’s the gateway to Old Town, coming from the Masonic Memorial. A homey touch of American making the transition from residential to commercial, and tonight its spot stood empty. The tired façade of Hard Times looked lonesome for its eponymous symbol of American perserverance in the face of its iconic Protestant Work Ethic name. Where’d the truck go?!
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
