>> From the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
[ Pause ]
>> Well, good afternoon and welcome to the Library of Congress.
I'm John Cole.
I'm the Director of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress
which is the reading promotion arm of the library.
We promote books, reading, literacy, and the National Book Festival
which is one of the activities in which we're involved.
This year's Library of Congress National Book Festival will be
September 22 and 23.
A year ago, we expanded for the first time to 2 days and we will be
on the mall again and have well over 100 writers, illustrators,
and poets on the mall and that we're looking forward to that very much.
One of the ways that we promote reading at the Library of Congress
in addition to the National Book Festival is
through these Books & Beyond talks.
These talks are tied to a recently-published book in each case
and each of these books, most of these books at least are based on,
at least in part, the resources of the Library of Congress
and so we think-- I think it's important to--
as the Center for the Book that we celebrate books and that
in particular, we celebrate the connections between the collections
of the Library of Congress and books.
The Center for the Book was created by Daniel Boorstin
when he was Librarian of Congress in 1977.
In addition to the book festival and these talks,
we also have a new function I like to talk about very briefly.
We opened 2 years ago-- almost 3 years ago,
the first Young Readers Center in the Library of Congress.
It's not an official reading room, but as the suite of beautiful rooms
in the Jefferson Building that are aimed at under 16s
which is quite a remarkable development
in the Library of Congress' history.
It's the first such place that is setup as both a read aloud area,
internet connections, a meeting place for under 16s as long
as they're accompanied by an adult and I hope
that someday you will have a chance to take a look at it and to enjoy it
and to see the kinds of collections that we have for young readers
who we hope will turn out to be lifelong readers.
This Books & Beyond series features the noontime talks
and we always have a book signing at the end.
We are recording this presentation for a future webcast on the Library
of Congress' site where you can see several hundred of these webcasts
with Books & Beyond, as well as with National Book Festival speakers,
so I hope you will take a look.
For this reason, I'd like you to turn off all things electronic
and also note that if you ask a question during our question
and answer period session, that you are in fact giving your consent
to be part of our webcast and we thank you in advance.
Our speaker today is Mark Ozer, a former professor of neurology
at Georgetown Medical School and currently a study group leader
at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
at the American University.
There, Mark has lectured extensively on the history of most
of the great cities of the world and out of this interest came a series
of books on Washington, D.C. The first, entitled Washington, DC:
Politics and Place was published in 2009 followed rapidly
by Massachusetts Avenue in the Gilded Age published in 2010,
both by the History Press.
And today of course, we have Northwest Washington, D.C.:
Tales from West of the Park.   Mark was born in Boston.
He is a graduate of Harvard College with honors in history.
He remains active in the National Capital's History Community
including of course the History Society of Washington,
the US Capitol Historical Society, one I've never heard of,
the Association of Oldest Inhabitants,
and the McLean Gardens Association and another one that I have heard
of which is the Cosmos Club.
Please help me welcome Mark Ozer to talk about the topic
of Northwest Washington: Tales from West of the Park.
I love that subtitle.   [ Applause ]
>> Thank you John.
It's real pleasure-- It's really a pleasure to be here.
Much of the work I've done over the past year since I retired
as a neurologist has been done here at the Library of Congress.
I had my own little shelf which made me feel
like I was a researcher again.
So, it's been-- it's a real pleasure to be here and I thank John
for his efforts to arrange this talk.
Now, when you here this subject title, Northwest Washington:
Tales from the West of the Park, most people think
of Northwest Washington: West of the park, as a socioeconomic area rather
than what I'm going to be talking about which is
as a geographic and geological area.
So, it really has a fundamental difference from any other part
of Washington and that's what I'd like to focus on today.
As John said, I focus on the history of great cities
and I'm always interested in the interaction of geography
and history, time over time history, but also how it's affected
by the geography and in this case, the geology of Northwest Washington.
When we think about it, Washington, D.C. started as a--
on the coastal plain when along fought laid out the City
of Washington which as you know is the State from the District
of Columbia, the original city which was bound
by Florida Avenue is a coastal plain, but above that, as you know,
there is an amphitheater of hills and those hills above the city
and affected the character of how the city developed
into the District of Columbia.
On the east side of town, you have low, relatively easy hills to go up,
whereas on the west, the hills are much higher
and the ground is much harder and we--
the fact is that this is the fall line of this area and that is
where the Piedmont, that is a plateau leading from the mountains,
the Appalachian Mountains come down to the coastal plain.
So, this is the fall line which affected so much of the history--
early history of the English colonies because it's at this point
that ocean-going ships could come up the rivers and then had
to be eventually transshipped to deal with going into the interior
and later on in the history of the United States, after the--
and after independence, entire range
of cities grew up along this fall line.
Well, in this case, the fall line is right here.
It's right in the District of Columbia and Rock Creek.
Rock Creek as it runs down defines this fall line.
To the east of Rock Creek is this lower area of coastal plain.
To the west is this more rocky, more cliff-like harder rock
which as you can see on the-- along the river and the Great Falls
and the Little Falls are the boundaries where the land falls
down to the coastal plain.
So that this is as far up as one could go going up the river--
going up the Potomac River.
Georgetown was a port that came about because of that.
Of course, Alexandria was also a port and Bladensburg was also a port
and Bladensburg was on the head of navigation of the Anacostia River
which as you know was called the eastern branch
where it got its name Anacostia River somewhat later.
So, we're talking about the story of these geological characteristic
which define the history of how development occurred
within this area of the District of Columbia.
The first slide shows the road to Frederick [phonetic] by Georgetown,
Tenleytown, and Rock Creek.
So, Georgetown was not only the head of navigation of the Potomac River.
The harbor was the delta of Rock Creek, that little harbor
which of course has been obliterated by all the development.
But not only was the Georgetown the head of navigation,
it was also the only place where you could cross the river easily
and the reason for that is because there's an island,
it's called Theodore Roosevelt Island now,
but it has had different names over the years and most of the 19th,
18th century was called Mason's Island.
It was owned by the Mason Family, George Mason, of course,
was the man who wrote the--
helped write the Bill of Rights and so forth.
But the Mason Family were large landowners and they own that island
and it was a very profitable island because not only it was farmed,
but it was also-- as you know, going to Theodore Roosevelt Island now,
is a very short bridge that you can take from the Virginia Shore
to the island and then there was a ferry that went from the island
across the Georgetown Channel to the Georgetown shore.
So, this was a place-- the only place,
the major north-south road in colonial era.
So, in 1754, when General Braddock was about to try to evict the french
from Fort Duquesne and present day Pittsburgh, he landed his troops
in Alexandria then marched them up that road across that ferry
and up what would became High Street which is Wisconsin Avenue,
up passed what is now the National Cathedral, up along that road
and then eventually moved up to where he transferred going west
up to Frederick and then to Rockville
which was then called Montgomery County Courthouse
and then onto the west.
As you know, he was defeated in Fort Duquesne.
George Washington was one of his aides
and George Washington was not killed as was General Braddock.
George Washington went on to fight other wars as we well know.
In any event, this road then was one
of the most important colonial roads.
This road that goes across that ferry, up to that street,
that-- and up onto the west.
Eventually, it became part of the National Road.
Remember that road came about in the 1820s or 1830s,
it was one of the first national activities
and it was the main road west and as you go up Wisconsin Avenue today
and you go to Old Georgetown Road which was the road
that Braddock took, there's a statue of the Madonna of the Trail
and that was the road that those pioneers took
to settle the northwest territory, the present day States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, et cetera, et cetera.
So that road has a lot of significance in the history
of the development of the United States.
But that's the road General Braddock took and that's the road
that defines Northwest Washington.
Northwest Washington is High Street, Wisconsin Avenue,
Connecticut Avenue, going up toward the north and to the west.
Now, this is that Georgetown ferry that I told you about.
It would-- that island, the people--
the soldiers there are members of the first colored soldiers troop.
They were bivouacked on Analostan Island.
I think it was still called Mason Island then.
Anyway they were bivouacked there and they're--
you see them at the ferry and you see across the channel, Georgetown.
So this was the beginning of this whole area and of Georgetown
because of course, Georgetown preceded the City of Washington.
Now, Georgetown was the place that people lived and this house--
and I'm only talking about places that still exist.
This is the Forrest House.
Uriah Forrest was a revolutionary war veteran.
He and a fellow called Benjamin Stoddert,
who was the first secretary of the Navy, bought a very large piece
of land from the Beall Family.
Now the Beall Family had bought this entire area
which they called the Rock of Dumbarton.
Now, Dumbarton was a name of a rock in the River Clyde and the founder
of the family, Ninian Beall had come to Maryland,
had been actually an indentured servant, but became very prosperous,
owned a large, large piece of land and we now see the remnants of it
with Dumbarton Oaks and Dumbarton Street,
and Dumbarton this and Dumbarton that.
That's all from the Dumbarton-- Rock of Dumbarton from Ninian Beall.
Anyway, his-- one of his descendants sold a large piece
of that land all the way along the west side of Rock Creek
and that was called Pretty Prospect.
It was thousands of acres I think or maybe hundreds of acres,
but it was a large piece of land and it was bought by the Uriah Forrest
and his partner 'cause they thought things were going to go well
with the new National Capital and that land was bought at a time
when things look good,
but eventually Uriah Forrest found he couldn't.
He nearly went bankrupt.
In any event, he owned this house and it was in this house
that the actual arrangement was made between George Washington
and the proprietors as to how the land was to be divided
for building the seed of government in this coastal plain
and he was very significant figure in Georgetown and this house now,
much modified, it's the Embassy of Ukraine.
It's still there on the M Street, right,
near what is now called the Key Bridge and Uriah Forrest was married
to a daughter of one of the Maryland governors
and she disliked living in Georgetown.
It was too noisy, it was too hot, it was too smelly,
and she said, "Let's move uptown.
Let's move to our country place," and she did so
and that's where they lived.
They lived on this farm called Rosedale.
That farm is still there.
That farm house is still there, although it's been much modified.
Indeed I was reading somewhere that it's on the market.
So, you could buy it.
[Laughter] Anyway, Rosedale was their place
and they'd never lived down in Georgetown.
They lived up here, up on the hill in Rosedale.
Now, Rosedale is on Newark Street between Newark and Ordway Street,
right, east of Wisconsin Avenue.
It's still there and it's a very large property given the fact
that most other properties around it are quite small and they lived there
and they added to it and so forth.
The family settled there and they of course had all this land,
they didn't know what to do with it
and so Uriah Forrest had a brother-in-law,
name was Philip Barton Key.   Now, Barton Key was a wealthier man.
He was married to another daughter of the Maryland governor
and he built Woodley House.
He took over large piece of the land that had been owned by Uriah Forrest
and he built Woodley House.
Now, Woodley House of course is still there,
is much enlarged is now the Maret School,
but it has its own very interesting history 'cause he was the first
of the gentleman's estates that were built up on the hills.
Because of the problem in Washington, people would move
up there during the summer and it was not only his home,
of course he was the uncle of the famous Francis Scott Key
and Francis Scott Key actually worked
in his office, they're both lawyers.
But, many of the presidents came up to live at Woodley House.
They'd rent the house during the summers and most recently,
the largest single, most important inhabitant was Henry L. Stimson.
Many may remember him, he was Secretary of War in the Roosevelt--
Franklin Roosevelt Administration just prior to World War II.
Franklin Roosevelt invited Frank Knox and Henry Stimson
who were both staunch republicans to become members of his cabinet
and to bring about a unity government prior
to the onset of war.
Anyway, Henry L. Stimson had a very extensive career.
He was one of these men who came to Washington intermittently
from Wall Street being a large-- very large scale corporation lawyer.
He also was secretary of war in the-- he was a, whatever.
He had a very extensive career and he lived in this house and a number
of other interesting people, but as I said, it was the first
of the Gentlemen's Estates and it's one of the few
that still remains extent.
Now, the others that are still there, one of those was Twin Oaks.
Now Twin Oaks is the Embassy of Taiwan, Taiwan Government.
It's still there.   It was the home of Gardiner Hubbard.
Now, Gardiner Hubbard was the father-in-law
of Alexander Graham Bell and actually, Hubbard was the man
who organized the Bell Telephone System.
He came to Washington from Boston and was instrumental in ensuring
that the telephone patent remained viable.
It is described as the most valuable patent ever in the history
of the world, if not the United States.
Anyway, Twin Oaks is still there and the group that's
on the porch was a picnic of people
who joined the National Geographic Society
and Gardiner Hubbard was the founder of that society
and the Grosvenor Family which are descendants of the Bell's are--
had continuing involvement with that society until very recently.
Now, this is another one of the houses that are still there.
This is-- if you recognize that, it's the Zartman House
of Sidwell Friends School and it is--
it was another one of these houses that was built by a family
that originally bought the land which is now the National Cathedral.
Now, as you know, it's called Mount Alban and Saint Alban's Church
on the corner there is preceded the National Cathedral.
Now, the man who bought that land
and built his house were Saint Alban's Church now is I believe,
was the man called Nourse, N-O-U-R-S-E.
He was the Treasurer of the United States.
As you know, he's the man who signed on all the--
his descendants hold that office, sign on the note,
on the Federal Reserve note, the treasurer not the secretary,
the treasurer and he was deposed when Andrew Jackson took over
and got rid of all these federalists.
But he was the treasurer for many years.
He bought-- he owned that land.
He built his house and he named it after Saint Alban.
He was from Hertfordshire in England
where the famous Benedictine Abbey had been built,
dedicated to Saint Alban who is the first British-Christian Saint.
Anyway, so we have Mount Alban, we have Saint Alban's,
that family then built--
one of their children or grandchildren built The Highlands
and they lived there for quite a long time until 1910, 1915.
The last descendant died and it was owned by Admiral Grayson.
Admiral Grayson was the physician to Woodrow Wilson
and he was instrumental in ensuring that Woodrow Wilson was able to stay
in office, although he was not really fully competent
and he tested-- he had tested to his ability
to remain president as was his wife.
His wife was very interested in that as well.
So, Admiral Grayson-- I just read a book, a memoir by Grayson
in which I was interested in what he said about this whole episode
and he sort of clause over the whole thing which was so important
and it led to many, many changes including some method
by which we could attest to the competence
of the president remaining in office and he just said
that Woodrow was fully competent throughout that time.
Of course, he had a very severe stroke, many strokes,
but he had very severe stroke and was really bedridden.
Now, this is the story of the 1890s.
These Gentlemen's Estates became broken up
and subdivisions were planted
and that's the story of the 20th century.
Now what happened was we had electrification of the trolleys.
The horse cars could go up the 14th Street Hill and did so
and Mt. Pleasant was an early development because that hill,
what you could go up very easily even with horse cars.
Whereas the western side, the hill was too steep
and it couldn't be developed into subdivisions
and suburban development until the electric trolleys came in,
in the 1890s and this is a picture of the Capital Traction Company
which was the company that had been the successor
to the first horse car system which went from the Navy Yard on the east
to Georgetown on the west on Pennsylvania Avenue.
That was the very first in 1860s
and then there were other transit systems,
traction systems that were established.
But this is what Capital Traction looked
like at its height and it went up the hill.
As you can see, that hill that goes up Wisconsin Avenue to the very top
and that was one of its lines and had other lines elsewhere,
but the main line was the one on lower east-west line
that was the very start, that was the horse car line.
So, here we go and here we are, Cleveland Park,
one of the first of the subdivisions.
They got its named because this-- the Forrest Family had as its--
one of his descendants, a man called Green
and he built a house on the property.
He then-- it then was sold to Grover Cleveland when he married--
during his term when he married his young wife and they moved uptown
to get away from the heat and that house, it was called Red Top
and a portion of Red Top still exist in the--
as a gazebo in the garden of the Washington National Cathedral.
So, you can see a little piece of that right now,
but that land was eventually sold to Francis Newland.
Francis Newland was a very interesting fellow.
He was the son-in-law of the William Sharon who owned a great deal
of Nevada particularly the Comstock Lode and number of other things
and Francis Newland moved to Nevada.   He was originally from the east.
He moved to Nevada and married William Sharon's daughter
which helped a lot for his career.
In any event, he had a very extensive career.
He then became the representative for Nevada
and the Nevada Democratic Senator throughout most
of the era we're talking about, from 1890s to later on.
As you know, he was the head of the syndicate that bought land all up
and down Connecticut Avenue, all the way up to--
from Calvert Street all the way up to Kensington,
but included Chevy Chase which was his development.
He also built the streetcar line that went up Connecticut Avenue
which enabled its development.
So, Cleveland Park was developed by virtue of the streetcar line
that went up from Calvert Street.
It didn't cross Road Creek where the Taft Bridge is now rather,
it cross from Calvert Street west to where the Sheraton Park Hotel used
to be and so forth where it still is,
but it's called something different, it's the Marriott now.
In any event, that streetcar line crossed Calvert Street Bridge is now
the Ellington Bridge and went all the way uptown all the way
to Chevy Chase, to Chevy Chase Lake and to Kensington eventually.
In any event, that's the story of Cleveland Park
and Cleveland Park got its name because the land
that Newland's bought had been part of the Cleveland home,
the little farm that he had.
The other properties that developed along Connecticut Avenue during the
heady days before the Wall Street crash,
the last of which was the Broadmoor.
Now, the Broadmoor epitomized these buildings 'cause it was very
prejudiced in the use of land and pretended
to be a resort and so forth.
It's still there at-- it's still there.
It was the first building that converted to coop and has managed
to maintain itself in good shape.
So, the Broadmoor and the number of other buildings grew
up along Connecticut Avenue during the 1920s.
Now, the only estate that remained
after that was the Friendship Estate.
Now, the Friendship Estate was that of the McLean's.
Now, the McLean Family came to Washington from Cincinnati.
The founder of the dynasty was a boilermaker and he built steamships
on the Ohio River which needed boilers and he did very well.
He owned The Cincinnati Enquirer and of course, his wife wanting
to do better than Cincinnati, so she came to Washington to develop
in terms of her social standing.
Now their son, John R. McLean was kicked out in Harvard for,
I don't know what, probably cheating, but in any event,
he was a very-- he played baseball for the Cincinnati Reds
which they also owned and he came to Washington.
He did very well.   He married Emily Beale.
Now, Emily Beale was the daughter of Ned Beale.
Ned Beale had grown up around Washington.
He went out west and he was in the military but he was there
when gold was discovered and he ended
up by owning perhaps the largest piece of land in California.
Anyway, he came east.
Again, he bought the Decatur House, and Decatur house which is
on Lafayette Park was-- is still there.
It's part of the-- it's owned by the National Trust
for Historic Preservation, but the Beale Family owned it
until it became part of the National Trust.
Now, the Beales were the social leaders
and Lafayette Park was the social center
and Henry Adams thought very ill of Emily Beale
for marrying this [inaudible].
I mean this arriviste, this [inaudible] rich guy
from Cincinnati, John McLean.
But John McLean was a very shrewd businessman.
He eventually bought the Washington Post along
with the Cincinnati Enquirer.
He also was a big founder of the Washington Gas Light Company.
He also owned what's called the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad
and that had-- and one of its stops
in Virginia called McLean, named after that family.
So, they own this Friendship Estate, this is their country house.
They also had a mansion down on McPherson Square which was north,
a whole block north of Lafayette Park.
But by moving up north, they set a new standard
from where a social activities where to be and Massachusetts Avenue
and all these big mansions grew up north of Lafayette Park
and Henry Adams never forgave them from moving north all the way
up to I Street from H Street.
In any event, they got John Russell Pope
who was just starting his practice to fix up their house
on McPherson Square, it was quite magnificent
which assigned almost completely for entertainment
and they had this country placed and they got John Russell Pope
to fix that place up too.
So, this was their house up on Friendship.
They called it Friendship and that fountain
that you see there is still the fountain you see in front
of the McLean Gardens Administration Building and it's still there.
Anyway, Friendship Estate was famous for the McLeans,
but also for Evalyn Walsh.
McLean's son, only son married Evalyn Walsh and Neddie McLean--
these were the 2 largest fortunes in Washington at the time
and of course, Evalyn Walsh was the daughter of Thomas Walsh
who had been a prospector and had not done very well
until he discovered gold and then he became very wealthy
and he had the largest most profitable,
most productive gold mine in the United States
and he moved to Washington.
He built his house on Massachusetts Avenue, still there,
it was the Indonesian Embassy and when you go by it,
you could see that when Walsh told his architect,
"I want to spend more money than anyone else has ever spent
for a house," and it looks--
it doesn't look anything but a most expensive possible house
that you can never have.
So, that's where it was and that's what it is.
So, Evalyn Walsh was the daughter of this very generous--
he was called the Count of Monte Cristo of Colorado.
He was like Monte Cristo in the Count of Monte Cristo
and that he had gold plates and he was just very,
very generous with his money and Evalyn was his only child.
Her brother had been killed on a automobile accident
and she had been badly injured, but she was his only child
and she loved jewels and so on their honeymoon with Neddie McClean
in Paris, Cartier saw that this was an easy mark.
He sold them the Star of India and then later on,
he sold them the Hope Diamond.
And there she is, Evalyn Walsh with her Hope--
Evalyn Walsh McLean and her Hope Diamond.
She wasn't young anymore, but she sort of flaunted her Hope Diamond.
It was her trademark.   It made her something special.
And this was the last of greatest estates and both
of them used up their money.
They were both-- both had difficulties as you know,
the Hope Diamond has a tradition of being very bad for its owners
and this case apparently was true.
Their eldest son was killed on Wisconsin Avenue.
He ran out of their gates and was killed by a car.
God knows they may have been one car an hour on Wisconsin Avenue
in those days and they managed to kill him.
It was really tragic story.   The family was away.
The parents were at the Kentucky derby
and their son was killed despite all the servants that they had.
Anyway, in 1942-- well, the people-- they were separated.
Neddie McLean eventually died of alcoholism
at Sheppard Pratt Hospital in Baltimore.
They were never divorced.
He had-- but she wouldn't give him a divorce and all their money went
up in smoke with lawyer's fees and everything else and she lashed
out on the Washington Post.
She wanted her children to inherit the Washington Post,
but it went in a sale to-- in a bankruptcy sale to Eugene Meyer.
So, in 1942, that became McLean Gardens and as we--
if we started with the geology-- we started with the geology,
we still have that geology, hasn't changed.
The fact is when the Metrorail came in, you noticed that when you go
down to do Dupont Circle or Tenleytown
or even Friendship Heights, you go way, way down on those escalators
because that's very steep hill and were to build the metro,
they had to go way, way down and so as we go down those esacalators,
we can still recognize the geology, the Northwest Washington,
west of the park where it is today.   Thank you very much.
[ Applause ]
So, I will be glad to entertain any questions.
[Inaudible Remark] Well, I have a book called Washington, D.C.:
East of the Park-- [Inaudible Remark] --
and I'm very interested in getting a publisher,
but they are not interested 'cause they don't think there are many
readers or book buyers East of the Park.
I try to assure them that there are literate people even East
of the Park.   >> Absolutely.
>> My next book I think will be Washington Metro Land.
I really got interested in the metro system,
how it came about from the trolleys from the ancient roads,
from the Native Americans and the trolley system and then the metro.
I really got interested in that, so I think that will be my next book
if I can find a publisher.
I'll be going-- I hope to talk about that sometime in the future.
[Inaudible Remark] Where is that?   >> Right here.
>> Oh yes.   Go ahead.
>> [Inaudible] of the buildings that were still standing,
did that make it difficult that it changed direction
that you were facing in your research or?
>> No, it made it much easier of course because I didn't have to go
on about all these things that are not there.
So, I-- it really-- unfortunately, there are a number
of places still extent, most of them are embassies and things
of that sort, but they are there and therefore,
they can provide some kind of focus.
But I like to do that because on my books,
I did one on Massachusetts Avenue and one called--
as John said, Politics and Place which deals with buildings
in each era-- from each era, each generation,
but those that are still there because I think that's--
that gives people an opportunity to see things there now
but in the context in which they were created.
That served as theme of my books.   Any other comments or questions?
>> Mark?   >> Yes.
>> They were-- in my introduction of course which I got out at the back
of this book, about your interest in other cities,
what did you do regarding other cities that led
to this work on Washington?
>> Of course, Washington is my first love, really.
I mean when I came to Washington--
I'm from Boston, when I came to Washington, I just thought this is
so great, a city that makes sense, that's organized and rational.
[Laughter] Streets that are numbered and alphabetized.
And I used to take my kids up and down the road
and say what's the next street?
You know, A, B, C, you know what name is on it
and you have the famous Americans and geographical areas and all that
and the thing that intrigued me coming from Boston is
that man called Hagner, some of you may know,
Randall Hagner still a company that was real estate here and Hagner
in the 1890s was a judge in D.C. Court and he visited Boston and at
that time, they were talking
about extending the street system beyond the original, you know,
alphabet so that the idea was well where you're going to go double A,
double B and some cities have and he thought, no, in Boston,
in the Bank Bay, they named the streets alphabetically,
but they used very nice arrows to [inaudible] names
and he thought it would be nice to do 2 syllables
but have a famous Americans.
So he-- the idea for this very rational system came from Boston,
of all places and I thought that was fun.
But, Washington-- I really love Washington because as I said,
it seems so organized and rational and so beautiful.
I really love it.
But, anyway after I did Washington, actually I gave a course
on Washington, D.C. and then I said, "Well, let's go to other cities
in the same way, that is choosing buildings that are still there
that will reflect from Paris, London, Rome, you know, et cetera,
et cetera, et cetera," and I go through each era and look
at those buildings that are from that era.
So we start from Ancient Rome and then we go up to Modern Rome
and London, Paris, every city that I could think of, that I visited,
that I would like to visit, everyone of them, I'm going--
I'm doing Vienna now and because of Vienna I have to do music.
[Inaudible], when I go to Paris, we go to the National Gallery
and see the art, but when you go to Vienna, you have to do music.
So, I did Mozart in Vienna and this next semester, I'm doing Beethoven
and the first half of the 19th Century and then I'm going
to do Brahms-- [Laughter] -- in Vienna, and the Franz Joseph era.
Anyway, it's fun.   I really enjoy it.
It keeps me busy, it gets me up in the morning and I'm also interested
in the Civil War, so those of you who are interested can come
and here me on some other bases.   Thank you so much.
I guess I'm going to sign books now.   >> Yes you are.
>> Okay.   [ Applause ]
[ Inaudible Remark ]   >> Well, thank you Mark.
I feel like I've got a whole baleful of gossip about Washington
and its personalities and its people and you did a wonderful job.
We're now going to sign books and the books are for sale
out in the lobby and at a Library of Congress discount
and Mark will be happy to sign them and to chat with you
about any other questions you might have.
Let's conclude with a final round of applause for Mark Ozer.
[Applause]
>> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress.