Pennsylvania Avenue lighthearted celebrations, including a series of day- and nighttime Shriner's parades in the 1920s and 1930s. Thomas and Concepcion Picciotto are the founders of the White House Peace Vigil, the longest running anti-nuclear peace vigil in the US, at Lafayette Square on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, the Secret Service closed the portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House to all vehicular traffic. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic, however, was still permitted on the sidewalk. After 9/11 this policy was made permanent. Near the White House traffic is redirected to
Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site the idea, and established an informal "President's Council on Pennsylvania Avenue" to draw up a plan. The initial proposal, by architect Nathaniel A. Owings, envisioned a number of massive mixed-use buildings on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue to complement Federal Triangle but which would also include theaters, restaurants, shops, condominiums, and apartments. The plan called for E Street NW to be buried and turned into a cross-town expressway, a major new plaza to anchor the avenue's west end, new plazas north and south of the National Archives, and a new reflecting pool for the base of Capitol Hill. The