My Mother Slept Here (and here)

I don't know where George Washington slept, but I do know that my mother, Bernice Bailey Calvert, gave him a run for the money. Her family moved at least eight times while she was growing up, and all of those addresses were within the confines of the District of Columbia starting with the old Sibley Hospital on North Capitol Street where she was born on November 18, 1917.

Wednesday was my mother's birthday, and I'd planned a tour of all her former residences, but first we needed sustenance. We stopped in at my favorite place for soul food-the Hitching Post near the Old Soldier's Home for a fabulous fried chicken feast thanks to the proprietors, Mr. and Mrs. Carter.


After the birthday lunch, we headed to 1346 Quincy Street NW- one of the many addresses I have for the Calvert family.

Built in 1918, these homes must have been fairly new when my family lived there. (As far as I can tell this was the second place the family lived- the first being 2107 F Street-"near the gas works" according to my mother.)

We then headed west to Mt Pleasant neighborhood where the family settled for quite a while though they did still get around. The next address, 1370 Irving Street has given way to "new luxury condos," but the Argonne Apartments- built in 1921 at 1629 Columbia Road- are still standing. The family lived in two different apartments there. They also lived in the Chalfonte- built on Argonne Place in 1918- right behind the Argonne. Mom remembers lying in her bed at night hearing the lions roar at the National Zoo down the hill.


The house at 2606 Motzart Place is still there although the big side yard where my mom climbed a tree has given over to a parking lot just like Joni Mitchell predicted.




She remembers the floor plan of this place- having a fireplace angled between the living room and the hall to the kitchen. She could walk out her back door to HD Cooke Elementary which was on the other side of the block.

Cutting across town we passed by the rather grand Broadmoor-3601 Connecticut Ave. My grandparents were the first managers when it opened in 1929- just before the Big Crash. They lived in at least 4 different apartments there. (Is anybody keeping count?)

Back out on the Avenue, I thought we were finished when Mom started waving at yet another building on the corner of Connecticut and Ordway. I veered over to the curb and found out that she lived there as well when she was about seventeen. She graduated from Western High School that year in 1935, and it was from this place that my mother left "home" for good.