At this page in the Shorpy Historical Photos website, is a photo of a few hundred people standing on 111 Street in the July 2, 1921 heat in Washington, D.C. They are reported to be listening to a radio broadcast of the Dempsey- Carpentier Fight. 
To fully appreciate the wonder of this occasion, the photograph itself and Shorpy’s amazing website, read the comments where a commentator shares an image of an old post card that displays the Harvey‘s Restaurant shown on the far corner in the photograph.
Next you need to see it full image. There are a dozen or so social interactions, as well as example of mass behavior common for the time and place. The most obvious is the proliferation of straw “boater” hats. These were worn on hot summer days. They shielded the head and face from the beating sun and its harmful rays. The men are all wearing suits, the woman can be wisely found under umbrellas.
For the car buffs amongst you, look at the Ford Model T’s The motor bus covered with a fringed cloth top. There is the Capitol Burlesque house next to Harvey’s, the barber shop in the lower left corner on the same block with the YMHA.
See what else you can find in the larger photo and then read the comments on the first page. A stroll though history caught naked in the middle of a hot Summer day in D.C.
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