Dietz's Rathskeller
 German Roots in Washington

  • The building of the former Dietz's Rathskeller, August 2010. Image from the Collections of the Historical Society of Washington, DC.
  • Dietz’s Rathskeller, 511 7th Street NW, n.d. (likely between 1913 and 1918) 'Fine Day, Sir' reads the caption overhead. Doubtless the beer was good and the smoke heavy. Wall decorations and traditional proverbs, common in German restaurants and saloons, adorn the walls. Image from the Collections of the Historical Society of Washington, DC.
    Dietz’s Rathskeller, 511 7th Street NW, n.d. (likely between 1913 and 1918) 'Fine Day, Sir' reads the caption overhead. Doubtless the beer was good and the smoke heavy. Wall decorations and traditional proverbs, common in German restaurants and saloons, adorn the walls.

Dietz’s Rathskeller was a popular watering hole located at 511 7th Street NW, before World War I. Doubtless the beer was good and the smoke heavy. Wall decorations and traditional proverbs, common in German restaurants and saloons, adorned the walls. The city directory lists Charles Dietz as running a saloon at this location starting in 1908; as of 1913 it is advertised as "Dietz's New Rathskeller."

Mr. Dietz’s establishment disappears from the city directory after 1918, perhaps a commercial casualty of the anti-German sentiment that followed in the wake of World War I.