I promised you there was a lot to learn walking up 16th Street,  and we are still really at the beginning. Only three blocks today, and more things of importance, perhaps, than everything we saw on Rhode Island Avenue put together. Or maybe not.

On the previous two blocks, we saw two hotels, the Hay- Adams and the St. Regis.

We start this walk with the Capitol Hilton, a 500 room hotel that was built in the early 1950s and fills the entire block between K and L.

I was having breakfast in the coffee shop of this hotel with an out of town client on September 11, 2001, when I learned of the planes hitting the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

You cross L Street, pass a large, modern office building, and then you get to a mansion built in 1910 but sold to the tsarist Russian government in 1913 to serve as the Russian embassy. The embassy is now housed on a large, secure campus several miles away, but this building remains the home of the Russian ambassador, over 100 years since it first housed someone in that position.

Next to the Russian building, you find the University Club, a private club with a restaurant and

squash courts. I just read that the initiation fee is only $1000, and the basic monthly fee is $172. Assuming this is accurate, call me amazed. The last time I was in this building was a few months ago for a 60th reunion college class luncheon. How was the food for that lunch? Not good. Maaybe $172 a month is actually too much.

Immediately to the north, you find the American Chemical Society

And then the headquarters of the National Education Association.

We are now getting close to the end of our three block walk. But wait……we have only done the east side of 16th Street. We will now go back to K Street and look at the west side of 16th Street. It is different.

You start with a typical Washington office building filled with lawyers and with a K Street address, but a 17th Street front door (no photo). You then have a 100 year old building, which is now a 14 unit office condominium building, followed by the first of the many old, historic residential buildings we will see as we proceed.

These are the buildings across the street from the Hilton.

But after we cross L Street, things get even more interesting. Our first stop is at the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center, where you can go to their small museum about Oman, take Arabic classes, or research in its library.

Unfortunately,  the woman who runs the museum had a conflict yesterday and the museum was closed. But I didn’t care, because up the block, I could go to the equally small Chinese American Museum.

Alas, closed for a private event.

We next pass the large three building headquarters of the National Geographic Society, which has its own, larger museum. Alas, again. The entire complex is under renovation. Nothing will be open until 2026. The photo below shows what I could see over the construction fence.

So we continue. Two major Hispanic organizations. First, Unidos, the largest Latino civil rights organization, and then the home of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, which provides educational programming for young Hispanic future leaders.

So we have Arabs, Hispanics and Asians on this block. What is left?

Greeks!

One building is left on this block. Two proud lions guard its entrance. No signs give away its occupants. 1222 16th Street. What is it?

It’s the American Academy of Achievement. (I’m tired. You will have to Google it.)

We are almost done. But on the block north of M, we have two more hotels. The first is the Jefferson, often paired with the Hay-Adams as the best two historic hotels in the city, priced a tad below (but more expensive than the Hilton). You could probably get a room here for $400 for tonight.

We now get to the Marriott Courtyard at the next corner. Anything interesting about this? Of course. This building used to be the headquarters of the National Rifle Association before they fled to far away Virginia, maybe 30 years ago.

And we are done. But where are we?  We have been here before. We are at the intersection of 16th and Rhode Island. Back at Scott Circle. Hello, Winfield. The two hotels and the good general are below.