Mrs. Gunn's Diary: Jan. 13, 1942

She exults in a spring-like day, and eats lunch at the beautiful Shoreham Hotel

“This is a wonderful day in which you could almost believe that spring is just around the corner,” Mrs. Gunn wrote. The high, according to the afternoon newspaper, had just reached 43 degrees, but after days of below-freezing temperatures, I guess we can understand her elation.

She and three lady friends had lunch at the Shoreham hotel “and then took a nice ride in the country,” she wrote.

The Shoreham, opened in 1930, was the center of much of Washington’s social life in the 1930s and 1940s as well as the residence of some of the city’s biggest power brokers. Paid subscribers can read on about this art deco masterpiece, which is still flourishing today as an Omni Hotels and Resorts property.

The vintage postcard of the Shoreham Hotel is being offered by a dealer on eBay.