John DeFerrari was born and raised in Washington, D.C., and has a passion for local history. Trained as a writer, he has a Master's Degree in English Literature from Harvard University. In 2009, DeFerrari began writing about Washington's rich history in his blog, Streets of Washington . His first book, Lost Washington, D.C., was published in 2011 and his latest, Sixteenth Street NW: Washington, DC's Avenue of Ambitions, co-authored with Douglas Peter Sefton, recounts often overlooked stories about the diverse buildings and residents of one of the city's most important arteries.