“The Georgetown Office”
The Accidental Realtor by Victoria Hall
The first day I entered the lobby of my newly minted life as a DC licensed realtor in the prestigious Georgetown office, I was greeted by a cheerful, bright, big, smiled receptionist. “Welcome Victoria Hall I’m Jenny and I love that scarf you are wearing!”
Scarfs had become my thing, my signature garment of choice. I had an international collection from India and China and then every place I had ever traveled England, Italy, France, Israel, Norway and Greece. They all represented the thin thread of connection that tied me to these memories, people, places, and things.
A bountiful bouquet of flowers graced the tall dark wood classic front desk. “These are for you!” she also proudly pronounced. Not only had I ventured into a new office, and earned a new real estate license, but I had also started dating a new man. “Congratulations on getting your DC real estate license! John.” Nice I thought but no “love” yet.
“Darrell will be right with you!” she continued and offered me coffee. This was the man who would become my and many others favorite manager of all time. A handsome, tall, bigsmiled bald man with an easy laugh, “Welcome to the Georgetown Office! “Little did I know at the time that my stage had been set with the most extraordinary theatrical cast of characters and office mates.
Darrell had been a real estate broker and office manager for a couple of decades. A former member of the Vienna Boys Choir, from a well-traveled State Department family. He’d show me to my desk. Nearby sat a handsome dark haired, very fit man. I would walk over and introduce myself, “Hi I’m Victoria,” I said extending my hand. “Hi, I’m Tony and I’m gay.”
To this day Tony, a former off-Broadway singer and L.A. actor, would deny that this is how he introduced himself, during our very first introduction. “I would never say that,” he’d almost shout, being a very demonstrative and often boisterous Italian man.
Tony was not only the most theatrical but the most popular realtor in the office, often bursting into a Broadway show tune in his deep rich baritone voice and then Darrell, our manager, would accompany him in perfect harmony alto.
During my first office Christmas party Darrell and Tony and another realtor, Jim, a tenor, who taught opera parttime at the nearby Duke Ellington School for the Arts, would perform. They billed themselves as, “The Three Realtors” as they’d sing in perfect harmony old Broadway songs from “Music Man”, “My Fair Lady” and “Westside Story” substituting real estate lyrics….
“I’ve got a house right here it’s down on Windermere, with a lot of space and garage parking near, big deck, big deck, you know its gonna cost a lot but what the heck!”
Tony and I and other office mates would go to see Darrell perform with his own trio that consisted of his wife accompanying his vocals on piano and a friend of theirs that was a base player.
Then there was Thyla (not her real name), the unofficial Grande Dame of the office whose deep New York accented voice would often boom across the office announcing her latest multi-million dollar listing or sale. Tall and very masculine energized, she made it a habit to dominate any or all conversations in the office.
She claimed her career started when she worked for Ted Kennedy as his assistant and then when his tenure as Senator ended, she jumped into the real estate business. Thyla would then tell you that that her real estate career really started with her helping Jack and Jackie Kennedy find their first home in DC in Georgetown. But the timeline never quite lined up with her story. She then also credits the Kennedys with her wildly successful top 10% of realtors in the country status, who has since represented many congressmen, senators, and DC glitterati and “congressati” over the years.
And then there was Doda, who seemed ancient but whose accurate age we’d never learn until her death at 90, when the alleged former Polish Princess who had escaped the Nazi invasion and whose entire family had lost millions of dollars in property and art collections.
I had been told by a psychic when I had returned to Atlanta a few years before, after my mother’s death in 1995 that I was only back there in Atlanta, for a brief time to take care of some unfinished business. And that I would be doing some kind of “international work” after I left the town I had lived in the past decade.
I guess you could say my international career had started. For here I was ensconced in our Nation’s Capital, in this international office, with what was about to become my international clientele and by far and away the most interesting, international colleagues and fellow realtors.
All of which and whom, like my international array of scarfs, you could say that the psychic’s predictions had come true. Nevertheless, you could also say it was a thin thread of connection to my new international chapter and career.