J Street

If you've ever been to DC you know that the street names run in alphabetical order emanating out from the Capitol and starting with the letter A. What can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated is that the streets go G...H...I...K with no J Street.

Why happened to J?

The answer, which is a bit mundane, from The Washington Post...

Back in Colonial times, the letters I and J were written alike. (The Latin alphabet doesn't even have a J.) There's no J Street because the District's designers didn't want people to confuse it with I Street.

But, you ask, what about X, Y and Z streets? The original design was of only the central part of Washington. Twenty-three streets -- ending at W -- fit on either side of the East Capitol Street axis.

Washington's street grid is actually quite an elegant system. Numbered streets run north-south; lettered streets run east-west. Avenues named after states run (mostly) diagonally. After W Street in Northeast and Northwest, things get alphabetical, with two-syllable names (Adams, Bryant), then three-syllable names (Allison, Buchanan), then the names of trees (Aspen, Butternut). Things aren't quite so neat on the eastern bank of the Anacostia, but streets are roughly alphabetical there, too.

Sounds logical but for the driver new to the city it can be pretty tough and watch out for those circles.