Ed King S e p t e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 5 · Shared with Public A Peddler's License in Washington, DC By ED KING I arrived in Washington, DC from Boston in the fall of 1972 intending to start a street-peddling operation selling handmade Moroccan sheepskin wallets from my supplier in New York. Street-peddling in New York and Boston the previous two years had been a free-wheeling, anything-goes sort of affair, but I soon found out that Washington was a little different. Attempting to play by the rules, I went to the government office where they issued street peddlers' licenses. I filled out the application I was given and turned it back to the clerk who told me that it would take three or four weeks to process my application. She didn't seem moved by my story that I had just arrived in town and needed to get out on the street right away to start making a living. I looked around the office and there must have been fifty workers sitting at their desk...
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