The Old Ebbitt Grill, Washington's oldest, most historic saloon, was founded in 1856. According to legend, innkeeper William E. Ebbitt bought a boarding house at that time, but no one today can pinpoint its exact location. It was most likely on the edge of present-day Chinatown, somewhere near the Verizon Center. As a boarding house, the Ebbitt guest list read like a Who's Who of American History. President McKinley is said to have lived there during his tenure in Congress. Presidents Grant, Andrew Johnson, Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Harding supposedly refreshed themselves at its stand-around bar. Each table in the Ebbitt was graced by a blue history card that read: "Many other famous statesmen, naval and military heroes, too numerous to mention here, have been guests of the house." Evolving to a higher form, Old Ebbitt became Washington's first known saloon. And as the years passed, it moved to a number of new locations. By the early 20th century, it had found its way to what is now the National Press Building at 14th and F Streets, N.W. Two saloons co-existed in the Press Building at the time, a Dutch room and an Old English room. During the 1920s, when the Ebbitt moved to a converted haberdashery at 1427 F Street, N.W., the legacies of these Dutch and English bars were combined into a single Old Ebbitt Grill. The F Street location was just two doors away from the Rhodes Tavern, which occupied the northeast corner of F and 15th Streets. Having a considerable history of its own, its bar was reportedly the site where British generals toasted one another as they watched The White House burn during the War of 1812.Bruce Seidel - CEO of Electus’ HUNGRY Channel
He is responsible for running the channel, leading all creative, programming, scheduling, production, marketing and interfacing with advertising clients. Bruce Seidel will be talking about HUNGRY, which is multimedia studio Electus' new food-centric YouTube channel. With original cooking shows, new culinary talent and unique food videos, HUNGRY represents the next phase of food programming.CRN listeners can check it out at: www.YouTube.com/Hungry. They can subscribe to the channel for free and receive updates whenever new episodes & videos are posted. Prior to joining Electus, Bruce was Senior Vice President of Programming for Cooking Channel. Before joining the Cooking Channel, Seidel served as Senior Vice President of program planning and special productions at Food Network through early 2010. While at Food Network, Seidel developed and oversaw some of Food Network's top-rated programs, including "Iron Chef America," "The Next Food Network Star," "The Next Iron Chef," "Worst Cooks in America" and the record-setting "Iron Chef America: Super Chef Battle." Seidel also hosted the network’s blog, The FN Dish, reporting on new shows, sharing food news, attending food-related events and much more.