# J Street in Washington, DC

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-street-in-washington-dc/108>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [June 22, 1999, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-street-in-washington-dc/108 "1999-06-22T19:25:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 1999, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/j-street-in-washington-dc/108/1 "1999-06-22T19:25:00Z")

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Just found the column from waybackwhen about the absence of a “J” Street in our fair capital. I believe Cecil got it wrong when he said Pierre L’Enfant didn’t include a ‘J’ in the lettering system because of an article I read in the Washington “Post” about local prostitution and other fun activities during the Civil War. Included was a map of the locations of numerous bawdy houses, and on it was clearly labeled a ‘J’ Street, which the label noted was eliminated during re-numbering in 1887. I’ll see if I can find a copy of the “City Plan” around here (copies of L’Enfant’s design have been made into a poster) to back this up but I don’t think Pete would have left out a ‘J’ only to have some later bureaucrat-stickler put it in, only to have a yet later bureaucrat pull it back out again.

Then again, this _is_ Washington.