Movies

During World War II, the job market in D.C. exploded; between 1940 and 1945, the number of civilians employed by the government almost quadrupled. The Defense Housing Registry, created by the DC government to help these new employees find housing, processed around 10,000 newcomers every month. The result? A housing crunch.

In 1978, the FBI rented a swank rowhouse at 4407 W Street NW as the covert base for the Abscam sting operation in which a U.S. Senator, six members of the U.S. House, and assorted other local and state-level politicians in New Jersey were convicted of accepting bribes from a fictitious favor-seeking Middle Eastern sheik. The operation later inspired the film American Hustle.