I was reading this article in the Guardian yesterday and wondered if anyone may know where this place is? It is apparently still open as a restaurant with a different name:
"My father's diner, the Jefferson Coffee Shop, was a simple, 27-seat affair in Washington DC, open for breakfast and lunch – coffee and eggs in the morning, cold cuts and burgers in the afternoon. It was the size of a small train car, with 13 stools covered in orange vinyl, four booths along one wall, a cigarette machine, an open kitchen and a counter illuminated by overhead lamps that my father and I had hung one Saturday. My dad bought the place in 1965, after various jobs in carry-outs and soda fountains, and a stint working for my grandfather at Frank's Carryout, a soul-food eatery and beer garden. The Jefferson, on 19th Street, was my father's pride"....
"....Every so often I take the metro down to Dupont Circle, walk into the old diner and have a seat on one of the orange stools. The current owner has switched the menu to gourmet fare and changed the name, but the space is unchanged."