George Lady, a former resident of Crestwood, has been going through old slides his father took of Crestwood. A few of the slides have been digitized and were provided to this website, along with some of George's memories.
Hello Crestwooders:
I am George Lady. I grew up in Crestwood, and have more or less considered it home ever since. I am writing to offer to share pictures of the neighborhood, against the chance that some of them might be considered appropriate to post on the Crestwood website. My history is briefly this:
My grandfather, George Webster Lady, moved from Capitol Hill to Crestwood, building 1810 Shepherd St., around 1939, plus or minus a year or so. This is the very house in the background of the "Fun at the Fourth of July Parade" photo posted on the Crestwood website (as below):
My father (David Franklin Lady) and mother (Dorothy Ellen (Dean) Lady) built 4028 Argyle Terrace in 1941 and my earliest memory is of that house (I was just 2). Around 1947 my parents sold 4028 and we moved a few doors down Argyle to 3930 Argyle Terrace, essentially the house that I grew up in. My father moved his dental practice in 1954 from Capitol Hill (from the SE corner of Lincoln Park) to the residence at the corner of 16th(4000 16th for the 16th St. entrance) and Shepherd (1601 Shepherd for the Shepherd St. entrance).
This house had originally been built by Glen and Carolyn Pincock, both MD’s, with part of the house arranged to house their medical, and then my father’s dental, practice. I was married in 1962 and moved a few miles north, but returned to live for two years, 1965-1967, in the residential portion of 1601 Shepherd while finishing graduate school. My parents sold 3930 and moved to 1601 Shepherd in the fall of 1967. My father retired in the 1980’s and they sold 1601 and moved to the Kenwood condominium on River Road. Both of my parents have passed away, my mother most recently this past January. My sister, Carolyn Redmon (who lives in Lorton, VA), and I have finally faced up to looking over the literally thousands of 35mm slides that my father took over many decades. Of these, we have chosen several hundred, of which many show Crestwood during the 1950’s (and other years too), the golden age of my childhood. These are being converted to digital format and, once done, I plan to set up a website for my family. Many of the pictures may otherwise be interesting to current Crestwooders.
For example, here is 3930 a few years after we moved in. My guess is that it is Thanksgiving 1949 or 1950. The cars show that it is a family gathering of my father’s father (from just down the street), brother and sister.
And here is one of me, holding a football in my Redskins garp. This is pretty early, maybe even 1948. We are on the (then vacant) lot on the east side of Argyle Terrace between Shepherd and Taylor Streets. This was our neighborhood playing field throughout my childhood. The fine home there now, built I suspect in the 1970’s, is of course in my mind viewed as “the new house.” To my right in the green helmet is Bobby Simpson, son of Robert Simpson who lived across the street to the north (4000 Argyle Terrace) and next to him is (I am pretty sure) Jack Vernstein, son of J. Elsworth Vernstein who lived across the street to the east in 3911 Argyle Terrace (I am good at these addresses because we found the 1953(!) Crestwood Citizens Association Directory among my mother’s things). The three boys to my left I cannot, at this point, remember. In any event, I will soon have hundreds of these pictures. I will post many on a website (http://www.optima-com.com/old_pictures/pictures.htm). As I go through these pictures, the ambiance of Crestwood comes back to me…a wonderful neighborhood that remains beautiful to this day.
George Lady
(I currently live in Hainsport, NJ and am a professor of Economics at Temple University in Philadelphia. I still have my Redskins season tickets and come down each year for games, to visit with my sister, or as a sometimes consultant to the Department of Energy. Every once and a while I come back to Crestwood to enjoy the pleasant memories).
Addendum
I will have to think about it, and you might also. I am bound to know something(s) that current Crestwooder's would find interesting. For example: six or so houses up from 3930, in the small cul-de-sac on what becomes Quincy, in the near-north house of the several in that cul-de-sac lived at one point Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower. Edward R. Murrow did one of his, "You Are Here" or some such program which brought full TV coverage to the neighborhood in the day when that was pretty new (it would be pretty exciting now). My friend Buddy Smith, who lived over on Randolph St., and I tried figure out how to pull the plug on the TV coverage. But we failed, which I suppose was best, but it was exciting.
Here is a very early picture of me (on the front porch) at 3930. This is before the "cars in the driveway" picture, which showed my father's new, and greatly proud of, 1949 Cadillac. Here we see his earlier 1947 Pontiac. Of course, I am the stately youngster standing on the porch.
