I understand FloridaClay's confusion. Both hotels were designed by architect Henry Janeway Hardenbergh who apparently liked the style. The Willard is a decade older and a floor shorter than the Raleigh.

This is actually a 1917 or 1918 Haynes Light Twelve Cloverleaf Roadster.

As seen from a different angle, this car has license number 41441. According to the Sept. 17, 1916 Sunday Star, that tag was issued in early September 1916 to the Haynes Motor Company for use on a demonstration vehicle.

The Evening Star reports on the go-go experiment in October 1915 and its implementation in November of the same year.

I believe the hotel in the background is the famous Willard Hotel, not the Raleigh. It still stands.

[It's the Raleigh. -tterrace]

And don't forget the Evening Star, in the background.

The Haynes was manufactured in Kokomo, Indiana, from 1905 until 1924 by Elwood Haynes and brothers Edgar and Elmer Apperson. Before that, they produced the Haynes-Apperson from 1896 as the first automobile manufacturer in Indiana and one of the earliest in the United States.

Another pic of the same car is here.

Foreground is the 1300 block of Pa. Ave NW. Visible at top left is the Washington Post building (1339 E St.) and the Munsey Trust Building (1327-29 E St., housing the Washington Times), seen previously on Shorpy here and here.

I sure hope one of our eagle-eyed regulars can ID that auto!