Real World House, Four Years Later

Former Real World House at 2000 S St NW

Four years ago the District was subject to months of speculation about, and later, the actual filming of the dregs of television programming: the reality show. The Real World DC drama ended up being more bark than bite, and yeah, we had a lot of fun poking fun at the show and the city along the way. The Real World House was eventually located in Dupont, in a rather large (nearly 11,000 sq ft) manse at 2000 S Street NW.

I wanted to look at that corner four years out and see what had changed. In short, it's seen a bit of new activity, but physically, looks about the same.

The actual Real World House became a museum on the first floor and offices on the second and third floors. The Laogai Museum moved into the ground floor space in 2011. The Museum documents the laogai, the system of labor prison camps in China. It's open Tuesday - Sunday from 10-6.

The HIV/AIDS related non-profit HealthHIV occupies the top two floors.

The "Secret" Safeway was directly across the street at 2001 S Street. It eventually closed and the office building in which it lived was revamped and re-skinned. Part of the Safeway space eventually became Glen's Garden Market. Glen's is a specialty market that looks to sell locally made or grown fresh foods and grocery items.

Photo courtesy of Filter DC

Just a few feet down from the house, at 1726 20th St NW, is Filter Coffeehouse. Filter is my top #1 or #2 coffee spot in the city. It opened in March 2010, well after filming was complete (October 2009).

ThaiPhoon Thai restaurant is still  located across S Street from the house and TD Bank is still located next to the house, fronting on Connecticut Ave.

Here's a complete list of all the Real World houses and notes on their fates after the taping of each show; from the first New York house in 1992 to the new San Francisco house, filming as we speak.

Here are some amazing interior and exterior photos of the Real World DC house from both before and during production.