Artist Sally Canzoneri

Food Vendors: 1916 & 2015

Date2016

MediumInk jet print, paper assemblage

Dimensions14 × 25 in. (35.6 × 63.5 cm) Framed Size: 20 1/4 × 31 1/4 in. (51.4 × 79.4 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2018.004.2

ClassificationsPhotographs

Locations

DMPED (1350 Penn Ave NW, 226)

DescriptionIn this lenticular, the historic image shows Keith Sutherland, owner of the “Fairview Hotel” at 1st St and Florida Ave. Sutherland, a former slave, was described as a “philosopher and prophet” in a 1933 Washington Post report of his death. When he wrote to Franklin Delano Roosevelt predicting a landslide victory for FDR in 1932, the President responded with a thank you note, saying he found the prediction “very encouraging.” The proprietor of the Philadelphia Steak Bites truck (photographed on 1st St in 2015) may not have made any election predictions, but the truck’s owner no doubt had to get a license from the District government to do business. In 1897, Keith Sutherland was brought to court in a test case confirming that cook shop owners could be required to pay a license fee. It seems he was the first in a long line of licensed Washington food vendors.