Music Box Center

I gave it one star because that is how I feel at the news that this wonderful, five-​star DC institution has closed.

Sadly, this shop is now closed (2010). The wonderful lady who ran it has passed away. This amazing couple taught music lessons to so many, and thrilled with their music boxes from the President to us normal folks wandering in from the street.

Not sure how to rate a music box store, but if I were to imagine what one should be like, I would think it’d greatly resemble this place, down to the kindly, little old shopowner who works on the music boxes herself. It brings to mind a Cold War, Eastern European shop-​of-​yore, where nothing is updated or electronic, and everything is done by-​hand.
A friend of mine and I were just finishing up lunch at a nearby Peruvian restaurant when on our walk back to the office, she noticed this place and asked if we could stop in. Twenty minutes and $ 100-​ish later, we were heading back to the office, my friend with a beautiful wood-​engraved Polish music box that plays «La Vie En Rose» and me with a tiny wind-​up that plays Schubert’s Serenade. I also have another one that the shopowner is putting together which I’ll be able to pick up in a day or two (you can essentially create your own combo of music and music-​carrier).
I have no idea what the feasibility of a music box store is, but I have a feeling that if this one were to close up shop, we’d be losing that much more of a storied past that existed years ago.

Music boxes are really neat, in my opinion. With the influx of Ipods and other MP3 players, I think that music boxes are in danger of becoming extinct. However, this store may just keep them around.
All of the boxes here play music, of course, and there are a BUNCH of them in all shapes and sizes as well as made of different materials like ceramic, porcelain and wood figurines. Some of the boxes are made into different shapes like clowns or doctor figurines. There is even a box here that dates back to the late 1800’s.
You can get a box personalized either by adding an inscription or selecting the music it plays. The Music Box has been here since the 1960’s and I hope for many years to come. The owner is a very sweet lady.