SpaceTime Continuum no.2

THE SPACE:
Malcolm X Park (Meridian Hill), Washington DC
THE TIME:
Sunday 3aug08, 4:10pm. 90 seconds.

Truth in advertising

I was blown away by this little bit of decorating a while ago; just now getting around to documenting it.

So here we have a detail scene inside our friendly neighborhood boozer Wonderland, with their gorgeous new addition to the decor.

That old wedge of neon spent ages commanding the corner of 11th and Park like a proud figurehead on the prow of a rum-soaked viking ship. The old liquor store has been dead for a long time and is set for demolition as part of the whole Bi-Rite market rehab.

As reference, this was it six months ago:


And now it joins the rest of the goodies in the Wonderland. They've got a great collection of DC relics in there; signs from long-dead shops and countless bits of random weirdness. I would have loved to witness them trying to mount that sucker on the ceiling.

Always a fan of the old signage. Glad to see it will outlive its old home...

Go East, young Mayorga...

I conspired to meet the missus at Mayorga Lounge after work today, to celebrate.

Hell, who needs a reason? Uh... to celebrate the longer-lasting sunlight... celebrate her last and final visit to the bone-doc, following a long ordeal of healing a busted knee... (no? it wasn't the last visit? There's another appointment? Jeezus, these doctor creatures are vampires!)

As it turns out, tonight was the first night of a new menu at Mayorga.

Gone was the predictable cafe grub, which was always decent but mediocre. Now, I'm never one to complain unless it's really dreadful: Others were much more critical of the food there, whereas I still remember when the building was a dead shell of a place. Thus, I'm just grateful SOMETHING nice is in there, something clean and groovy and free of rats and crumbling plaster and racks of exposed rebar, looking like the ribs of a deceased antelope herd, rotting in the urban sun of northwest DC...

What? Anyway...

So today was the unveiling of the new menu: all Japanese and Korean stuff. The ownership and management is the same as it was before, but the kitchen crew is all new blood: The little Korean lady behind the swinging kitchen doors doesn't speak a word of English and bless her, the food was marvelous.


I'm no expert on the cuisine, but the modeum twigim appetizer (veg tempura with sides of kimchi, shredded radish, watercress, and some fish thing) was almost a meal in itself, and fresh enough to render the dipping sauce almost unnecessary.

We shared a bowl of the chop chae donburi (rice & wheat noodles with veg), which also came in a generous portion ("donburi" being the oversized rice-bowl: thank god for wikipedia): it was just enough to feed two moderately hungry adults. The noodles were done to perfection and the proportions balanced just right with the rice, vegetables, dressing, etc.

Having a Delaware beer with such a meal probably shatters the cultural vibe, but what the hell. It was a summer-ish day (mid-80s and a bit humid) so it all went down fine with a pint of Dogfish IPA.

Then, to completely destroy the Asian-cuisine vibe, I noticed the fresh bottle of 15-year Balvenie behind the bar. And, uh, well... call it "research" for our trip to the UK in a couple of months. Sure, we'll spend most of our time in London but I want to at least dip a toe into Scotland, and uh... "Research," as I said. Homework.


And the Balvenie 15 was the perfect cap on a cultural mishmash of food and booze at Mayorga. Any day that ends with a good single malt is a fine day indeed.

Anyway: for the locals here in Columbia Heights DC, I just wanted to spread the word on Mayorga's new menu. Get over there. It's a nice departure from the expected bar fare, and it appears to be authentic and quite well done.

I'm using the chicken to measure it.

I've been in the wind-tunnel of magazine deadlines for a while. Thus blog activity, photo activity, and musical activity have all come to a jittery, caffeinated, crashing halt.

Reality should come back by Wednesday.

But for now, a brief pause... I left the office typically late and M met me at The Heights for a light dinner and a couple of pints.

She brought a small rubber chicken, thus proving her superhuman level of pure awesomeness.

Ten points and infinite glory in paradise for the first one to identify the source of the title. Without looking it up, I mean. 'Cuz I'll KNOW, dig?

More deep journalistic substance Wednesday.

Pete's be with you...

Another addition to the 14th & Irving big-business-bang hatched yesterday.

Pete's New Haven Style Apizza is nestled in the corner behind the Potbelly and the west entrance to the Columbia Heights metro. With all the construction and finish-work being done on the condos above, it's easy to miss the place, wedged beneath scaffolding and noisy whatnot...

I'm not familiar with the idea of "New Haven Style Apizza" -- evidently "apizza" is a colloquial term for this particular subspecies of pizza(?!?!) But New Haven? What, pray, is Connecticut's unique contribution to the pizza universe?

That's not a snarky question, seriously: what's the deal? At first I thought the name was just a weak pun, which isn't a bad thing. Clearly I dig me some weak puns.

For what it's worth, they claim (via the website) to use organic and local ingredients whenever possible, to be environmentally sensitive, and to revere "the Italian food culture of freshness, quality and simplicity." So there you are.

This aint no cheap apizza, neither. The basic pie will run you $17.95, one topping $19.95, two toppings $21.95, three or more $23.95. In terms of raw cash, Red Rocks beats Pete's by several bucks ($8.95 for the Red Rocks basic pie, plus $1.50 per basic topping or $2.50 for the exotic stuff).

BUT, Pete's toppings list offers some nice items as well: sauteed wild mushrooms, fried Italian eggplant, asparagus, carmelized onions, grilled artichokes, etc. This means I can finally get a decent artichoke/roasted red pepper pizza (a magical combination, trust me... particularly if you can get it with smoked gouda).

The menu also mentions appetizers, pasta, panini, Italian coffees, draft beer and wines, and a few desert items (no specifics on the beers).

So, the neighborhood continues to grow, and now the scent of highbrow pizza enters the mix. I'm eager to try the place. But I'm still a-wondering about this "New Haven" thing....

Apizza? Gesundheit!

D'Vines is born

We are beer snobs and we may rejoice now.

Last week was a blur of magazine deadlines and other editorial misfittery (that's a new word, thanks). So on Saturday, I walked the neighborhood in a daze, as if I'd been locked in a shoebox for a month. The air, the people, all the colors... is this..... freedom?

D'Vines had actually opened last week, but this was my first glimpse; it's the New Kid in a huge mash of shopping craziness in the area.

I've already spewed my opinions about the retail "rebirth" of the area. DC-USA is a convenient-yet-necessary evil, with its Target, Best Buy, etc, but the architecture of the place is a shocking affront to the neighborhood. Next to the great old Riggs building and the Tivoli, DC-USA is a mammoth hellbox. An enormous robot's poop. Design-wise, I mean.

But of course, having it within walking distance is still better than driving 30 minutes to the soul-killing suburbs for a bulk case of chicken corn-dogs. Or whatever. So the verdict is complicated as always. Bittersweet.

Despite all the media madness surrounding the big-box openings, I was more thrilled about the birth of two tiny places across the street: Julia's Empanadas and D'Vines.


D'Vines is the new enterprise of the folks behind De Vinos in Adams Morgan (2001 18th Street) and the selection here is just as eclectic. Most of their wine, beer, and sake are specimens that didn't exist in the neighborhood before. Their mission is to remain aloof (in the nicest possible way) from the selections at the nearby Giant, and to be very price-competitive against Whole Foods.


I'm no wine expert, nor do I like the stuff very much (although several years in Syracuse turned me on to the mad genius of Bully Hill vinyards, still hard to find down here). So my enthusiasm is reserved for the craft beers in the back of the store. They've got a wide selection of Belgians, porters, and ales; everything from barely pronounceable imports to the humble yet consistently great Brooklyn Brown. My symbolic first purchase (photo) should empower some mighty yardwork and house-cleaning today. Having Maudite within walking distance is a mighty fine thing. And just in time for summer.

So call this a slobbery endorsement from Intangible HQ. Suddenly getting thirsty...

D'Vines: 3103 14th Street NW, Washington DC. Shouting distance from the Columbia Heights Metro.

He Ascended into Target...

Late afternoon on a brisk Easter Sunday in Columbia Heights, Washington DC: The new Target store closed early today, what with Christ's ascending to Heaven and all.

Of course we didn't realize the store would be closed early (truly, the Messaiah wouldn't have left Earth without tube-socks and Pepsodent), so we arrived to see the carts wandering in a daze, outside the locked doors. The giant, illuminated Target logo stared out over the carts like a huge eye.

Meanwhile, the carts puttered nervously. Wondering what to do. Where to go.

Nobody is here. Nobody is pushing us around, stuffing toasters and throw-pillows and bulk boxes of chicken corn-dogs inside our gaping plastic mouths...

Poor dears. They know nothing of this "ascended Christ" person. They have heard of an "Easter Bunny" though, but have yet to see it, or to experience its healing touch.

Perhaps THAT would be a god more befitting this brave new world of chocolate, diapers, credit cards, and dreams? I've seen him hanging around the bar...at the Wonderland Ballroom... His name is Harvey, I believe...

Empanada nirvana

Praise Julia!

So I was happily putting off certain duties today, as one should on a Saturday afternoon: Dishes? Who needs 'em? Laundry? Hell, what's the point?

And besides, I can't "do anything" productive when the dog is NAPPING, can I? Gomez asleep on a Saturday afternoon??!!? It's like a rare and precious moment, like a solar eclipse! Or Haley's Comet! Or a biblical plague of locusts! Or a ride up 14th street during the afternoon rush without a dense crush of people and someone's shoulder in my mouth all the way to Irving Street!

What? Ah yes!

'tis better to bypass all those chores and catch up on email.

Friday's digest from the Columbia Heights listserv had only four messages, but the topmost item had these golden words:

---
Julia's Empanadas opened today, in the triangle area between
Park & Kenyon @ 14th St, next to Pollo Campero.
They've got some great food on hand!
---

I started trembling like a junkie instantly.

I've raved about Julia's already. And I've been going to the Dupont location regularly for a classic DC lunch on-the-hoof, and it's always a satisfying treat. Those "pillows of bliss" are cheap as hell and very tasty. As I said, Julia's deserves a place in DC's foodie paradise next to other heavy-hitters like Ben's Chili Bowl and the Florida Avenue Grill. Infact, we can just call that The Holy Trinity of DC food right there.

So I shut down the email and ran like a spastic idiot to the corner of 14th and Park.


I got my salteñas, asked if I could take a few photos inside, and spent the next few minutes munching happily whilst walking around the block like I owned the friggin' place. Like Paul Muni in the original Scarface. The world is mine.

To paraphrase Brundle-Fly:

Julia's Empanadas are inherently encouraging. They make a man a KING.


Of course everyone has their own priorities. For me, history will show that Julia's was much more meaningful than the new Target. At least in terms of repeat visits between the two places.

And a few doors down, the opening of D'vines (the beer/wine store for discriminating snobs like me who dig a Maudite now and then) will be the next big thing. Watch for that in a couple of weeks.

Targetnacht

It was a hypnotic time in Washington DC today, particularly for those of us that live in the Columbia Heights neighborhood.

The blogs were buzzing with DC-USA's grand opening of its flagship retailer, Target. Other than Lane Bryant, Target was the only tenant open for business at this point, but the local media were determined to chew this cud repeatedly until it became a fine, milky paste that glazed over us, causing us to fall into a mad shopping coma, dribbling credit cards and mumbling about kitchen appliances...

I was determined to keep my cool, stay away for a few days, and let the other bloggers tackle it first. The City Paper's blog ran several posts about it. Prince of Petworth landed a coveted spot at Target's pre-opening party, thus robbing me of that competitive first sprint for the bulk tube-socks. But that's cool.

I find shopping malls and big-box stores deeply troubling.

That doesn't come from some high-minded concept about macro-economics or sweatshop labor or whatnot: Just the simple experience of walking into those places, as a human being, to get a thing done: They are creepy as hell. I slip into an annoyed, melancholy state where the human race becomes a suicidal zombie mob, with their colorful boxes of frosted sugar-bombs and plastic trinkets and vacant, medicated stares...

So whenever I need to hit these places, it's like a military operation: Get in, do the job, get the hell OUT. And now one of those places is here in the 'Heights.

It doesn't seem that long ago that I was living around the corner from the site. There was no Metro stop then, and this DC-USA place wasn't even a dream yet. The Tivoli theater was still slumbering in a bed of barbed-wire fences and decay. So I'm not idealizing the "good old days" here: there was a deeply real neighborhood spirit but after dark, it was a no-man's land.

And that is why the DC-USA development inspires a bittersweet confusion. Sure it's good for the neighborhood, the local economy, jobs, all that. And it IS a rare treat to walk ten minutes to get things I'd normally schlep out to the suburbs for.

Anyway.

I was lulled by all the media attention and decided, screw it. I might as well go after work and just see the freaking place. I had nothing in mind to buy. But yet I found myself going inside. Just...to see...


I saw scores of people milling around in a daze, probably like I was... One couple (white, young, affluent) wandered onto Target's escalator, simultaneously mouthing an obvious *W*O*W* as they gazed around them at the interior of....a Target store.

Now, uh, Target is a fixture of every suburb in this country, right? I don't understand the wonder and amazement. I was reminded of the old Mondo Cane footage of the cargo cults: a distant tribal society that, upon seeing large cargo planes for the first time, formed the logical conclusion that they were giant, god-like birds from heaven.

*W*O*W*...

People wandered around the aisles of Target, touching things with gentle fingers, bumping into each other, talking in whispers as if they were in church during a High Mass...

I was crawling insane by this point, so I grabbed the most logical thing I could think of, a Magical First Purchase, to commemorate this great occasion:


Gomez adored the smell as they cooked. Marian and I munched our chicken corn dogs in reverential silence, contemplating the wicked, wonderful place that delivered them to us.

And now I am left with this gigantic building a few blocks away, sitting there, mocking me. It's just a complicated relationship. Perhaps it'll be better once the gym opens. We'll work it out.

Extended family politics

Georgia Avenue at Columbia Road NW, Washington DC 3mar08.

BEHOLD! SIDEWALK!

Great scorching locust-toes, mommy!

14th street at Irving NW, Washington DC: After many months of construction at the DC USA site, it would appear that we have our sidewalk back. Clappeth thine hands, and do proclaim YAY, my friends:

No more slithering along a weathered, improvised walkway of jersey barriers that stink of urine, while taxis and Metrobuses do battle with inbound commuters from Silver Spring along the constricted lanes... The west side of 14th street is pedestrian-friendly again. SCREW the Target, Best Buy, and all that: THIS is cause to celebrate. It's like Christmas in Paradise, mofos.

ALSO: Having nothing to do with all that: Dig some crazy sounds at The Vinyl District, where I've supplied a head-spinning guest post of audio heaviness. Take a trip down mammary lane...

Bruce News

Alas, you can't be at two places simultaneously, unless you've mastered the whole space/time continuum thing, or unless you're hopelessly insane.

In my case, the boxer meetup (see previous post) was happening in faraway Annandale at the very moment the Pleasant Plains Civic Association meeting was taking place.

On the agenda was an update on the long-neglected Bruce School. It's a huge, beautiful building, and I've been hoping someone with vision would magically appear and breathe life into its old halls again. Renovate it all you want, but please don't knock it down. It's an awesome thing, up on that hill.

So, while I couldn't make the meeting, at least I can offer some relevant minutes, courtesy of Darren Jones' post to the Columbia Heights listserv:

--Caesar Chevez Public Charter School Chief Operating Officer David Robinson says that renovation will be complete at the Bruce School campus in December 2008. The school is at Kenyon St. and Sherman Ave. and will house 420 students by 2011. Association members reminded Mr. Robinson that the school promised community space for afterschool activities. Principal Andrew Touchette spoke about the mission of the school and its hiring process for teachers. Construction Program Manager Eric Thompson says that a trailer will be set up in the coming months to hire neighborhood residents for construction jobs. The civic association will be informed.

Also of note was Chairman Thomas Smith's announcement that a new sit-down restaurant is coming to Lower Georgia Ave. I could find no further details, so as always, stay tuned...

And finally, it was confirmed that the grand opening of the love-it-or-hate-it DCUSA Shopping Center will be Saturday, the 8th of March. I can imagine the place being mobbed by barking mad photo-bloggers, hungry for discount tube-socks:

You ready to rumble, Prince of Petworth? I'll race you to those damned tube-socks! Digital Cameras at ten paces!

It's all WASA under the bridge now...

Irving Street NW: Just a quick update to a previous Intangible rant about the huge WASA sign staying up for nearly a year after a dig project was completed...

To be fair, this update is late. The sign was removed only a week after calling WASA. I was impressed.

It's like....a whole new street now...

The only downside is, on March 18, we would've hit the one-year mark: a full year after the completion of the project. If we hit that date and the sign was still there, I was planning to festoon the sucker with all manner of helium balloons and streamers and nutty whatnot. Birthday party stuff.

But the prompt efficiency of the DC Water and Sewer Authority ruined the party by doing the right thing. So, uh, hooray and blast their damned hides...

Bi-Rite Curious?

3400 11th Street NW, in Columbia Heights: Many of us have walked past this rotting thing for years without a second thought. I always thought there would be tremendous potential in that space, for someone with the guts and good will to invest in it.

Then in 2006, that block of 11th Street started crawling out of the grave: Columbia Heights Coffee opened just a few doors away. Folks started renovating the vacant husk of a beautiful old victorian house across the street. Nearby, Red Rocks Pizzeria was coming...

I heard rumors about proposals on the decaying Bi-Rite Market, but it seemed frozen with inertia. Nothing was happening.

Most of those rumors were the result of a press release from the property owner 3DG LLC. In the release, the company says the original plan was to convert the building into a mixed-use unit with small retail at the ground floor, with an added 1.5 stories to hold six "high-end condominium units."

That plan went to hell with the housing market. DC was saturated with half-built condos, and many of those would likely become rentals now. So 3DG wisely retreated, and did a remix on the plan.


According to the release, the new plan was to snag retailers and restaurants "that will provide roof decks and outdoor seating areas that will certainly breathe life into the currently barren corner and promote a more pedestrian freiendly atmosphere." Current zoning on the site was not an obstacle, and it looked like the plan could move forward quickly.

That was 9oct06, and they expected to finish the thing by mid-2007.

So what the farting hell happened?

On 2aug07, the Washington Business Journal reported that Warehouse Theater owner Paul Ruppert had leased the space, after property tax assessments forced him to consider bugging out of his 7th Street location. Then, confusingly, the article said he had merely "signed a letter of intent" for 3,000 square feet of it.

So did Ruppert have it or not?

Evidently not. The terms of the lease were not agreed upon at that point.

JEEZUS, man, stop playing with my emotions!


The Warehouse would be an UNBELIEVABLY COOL thing to have in the neighborhood. They've hosted crucial experimental music events in the past, and honestly, I'm not sure WHAT their full impact has been on DC's art scene. But I was eager to find out, when I could walk to the place in ten (friggin) minutes.

Then, the trail went cold on the Warehouse connection. Silence.

The most recent thing I could find was a post from 3DG's John Goldman on the Columbia Heights listserv. In it, he announces (with a definite tone of victory) that three leases had been secured for the Bi-Rite lot.

The ground floor would become the Belgian-themed restaurant and bar Meridian Point (also reported by Prince of Petworth), and the upper floor would be shared between Solimar International (eco-travel agency) and 3DG's new home office.

Goldman confirmed that the building would still undergo a radical transformation; Well, it would HAVE to...but hopefully the design will mesh somewhat with the block, and not become yet another modernist eyesore.

He also promised to keep the North Columbia Heights Civic Association up to speed on the plan, at a future meeting.

So that appears to be the bottom line: No Warehouse, but we get the restaurant: European food and a billion Belgian beers. We could certainly do worse than THAT, my friends.

UPDATE 7feb: Thanks to commenter dcdude, who passed along a link to the architectural rendering of the proposed site. Apparently this was revealed at yesterday's NCHCA meeting. Same day as my post.

Had I been paying attention, I could've attended the meeting and reported something more meaningful. But ehh. Next time. We'll get 'em next time.

Shutters to think?

A brief update on the curious home construction project on Irving Street NW, just east of Sherman Ave.

First it was the fake bricks being painted into a template. Now, it seems, the windows were placed so oddly, the ornamental shutters can't fit on the far left side.

I suppose this COULD be deliberate. Perhaps it's an example of design awesomeness that I'm just too simple-minded to understand.

I'm no architect, but, it looks like an improvised oopsie.

Not that I'm against improvised oopsies, that is.
Keeps life interesting.
Keeps the squirrels laughing at us.

chillin' with the illness...

21jan08, Kenyon Street at 11th, Washington DC:

Clearly, neurological diseases get no respect in Columbia Heights. It looks like the city is running wild with neuropathologist gangstas with a score to settle...

Sure, you may laugh now, but when you start seeing graffiti tags like BIOPSY BOYZ, you'll call me a prophet...

A November night

The bus ride home from work tonight was tainted with menace.

For the first time in ages, I chose to shut out the world with iPod and headphones while I traveled. I don't usually do the iPod outside, so it seemed to paint the world with a surreal sense of detachment. Like watching the world from behind a plate glass window, letting the music influence everything.

The bus seemed to creep through the 14th Street gridlock even slower than usual. Typical of this time of year, it was dark already (around 6pm) and it had rained earlier. Or maybe it was just the humid mist which left everything slick and gleaming.

A dark sepia gauze seemed to be hanging over the world. The title track to Coil's album Love's Secret Domain was pulsing in the headphones when I noticed the first police car speed past, racing ahead of the bus. Then another. Two minutes passed, and three more squad cars blew by, with lights flashing and wailing sirens mixing with the music in the headphones...

Give sanity a longer leash
Some of us have sharper teeth
In love's secret domain...


The police had blocked all northbound traffic on 14th street at Harvard. This was not far from my stop, so I hopped off the bus and walked it. The exact problem wasn't clear, but the greatest concentration of police was at the Trinity Towers apartment building near Irving Street.

Perhaps somebody had been shot, or maybe it was a hostage situation, or a kitty stuck in a drainpipe... Maybe somebody had just saved a bunch of money on their car insurance by switching to Geico, and went on a murderous freakout to celebrate. Who knows. Local news didn't have anything on it when I got home.

Just another night in the 'Heights.

Or was it? There was a palpable, fearsome vibe tonight. Something extra. And I began to wonder:

Is it because I witnessed some police action on 14th? Sometimes "quiet" can be menacing, and sometimes it can be peaceful. Solace and danger are very close cousins, it seems.


A tow-truck crept by slowly on 11th street, hauling a car with its passenger side crushed like cardboard. Ghosts seemed to be everywhere.

After I got home, I was inspired to walk around the block with camera and tripod. Starting with the back alley (top photo) and letting the shutter lag as long as it wished: A brief meditation on the mood of the evening. Wondering if it was real or imagined; are we still animal enough to sense true danger?

Many of us residents of DC's Ward One are a bit tense these days, due to the recent increase in violent crime. And perhaps we humans are animal enough to sense each other's fear, if not the true danger.

Whatever.


The light was painting streaks of feral trepidation over the alley behind the house, coloring everything with tense melancholy and making the warm comfort of home feel that much.....more. But the dawn will surely sweep away the blood and fear, won't it?

And by the way: Does anybody know what the hell happened at Trinity Towers tonight?

UPDATE, 27nov: Via DCist, we have the answer. For what it's worth.

Regulation levitation?

And now, a minor update on a recent post: The memorial in the median of Sherman Avenue at Columbia Road has mysteriously been elevated off the ground about two feet. Is there a safety-regulation height for memorial construction?

OR is this intended to be a karmic nightmare for people stopped at the light in tall SUVs who need to be glared at by a creepy fuscia bunny and a peach girlie-bear?

Be careful out there, people.

Columbia Heights Day, 2007

I really hate to bad-mouth this thing, since I'm a resident of the 'hood, but damn, where was everybody? The inaugural "Columbia Heights Day" didn't appear to be advertised much, and the event looked like an appalling failure.

We intended to catch the rock-solid-awesome Pet Parade at Sticky Fingers Bakery, but by the time we reached 11th Street, it was clear that the neighborhood's enthusiasm wasn't exactly at fever-pitch yet.

Some dejected folks with "Columbia Heights Day" t-shirts were apologizing and imploring folks to come back when things are really hopping. Workers were still wheeling in the porta-potties (portajohns? What are those wretched blue coffins called, anyway?), the stage didn't appear to be assembled, and vendors were still pretty sparse.

Eh, we thought: no worries. It's the very first CH Day, it may take a while to warm up. So we did brunch at The Heights and gave it some time. SURELY things would spring to life soon...


Brunch was fine, and I had my first bloody mary ever. There was a UNIVERSE of STUFF in there, and it wasn't half bad, although I imagine the vodka felt insulted, sharing the glass with all that STUFF. Anyway...

After brunch, not much had changed with the festival. Tubman Elementary's field was still void of action. We needed to give Gomez a bit of attention anyway, so we raced off to the dog park, promising to return and dig a little Columbia Heights Day later on...

These shots (all but the bloody mary) were taken at about 4pm, which should've been the very pinnacle of action and excitement.


I love the idea of this thing. Columbia Heights is a marvelous neighborhood with a vibrant population -- We could use a little grassroots power to keep the "human element" alive while the Target/Best Buy robot consumer madness swells on 14th street like a cash-filled carbuncle.

Ah well...if they do it next year, hopefully there will be more buzz & interest. This must've been a very expensive day for somebody.

And it's easy to accuse your humble narrator of bitching-without-volunteering, but hell: Attendance is participation, innit? I may offer my services as a graphic designer next year, if the crew behind this thing decides to do a little advertising. But real hands-on man-hours? I can't promise anything. The day-job is too unpredictable. 'Tis better to offer what I know I can deliver, rather than default on a promise later on.

But all that is for next year. As for Saturday, Tubman was embarrassingly devoid of action.


The Wonderland, by contrast, was buzzing with joy and beer and bodies...

So the lesson here is simple: Next time, skip the vendors, the music, and the whole DC Park Service stage setup in the school-yard, and just have a killer all-day happy hour at the Wonderland.

There. We have a plan.

False face on Irving Street

I posted this shot to Flickr a while back but this place continues to amuse me, as I walk by it nearly every day. It's a new house going up on Irving Street at Sherman Ave; it's been under construction for quite a while.

At first, it was "amusing" simply because the design looked like it had been pulled out of some generic urban/infill goodie-bag, with no sense of harmony with the neighboring rowhouses. But then, the facade began to take shape and I had something new to puzzle over.

Bricks without bricks. Looks like the exterior facing will be false-bricks painted into a template. Not brick! They lie! They LIE!!!

Whenever the place is finished and sold (given the pace of construction and the state of the housing market, I'm betting late 2009), it's easy to picture the neighbors giving the new owners creepy sidelong glances... THEY KNOW those aren't bricks.

Future owner, we've watched your place develop from a slightly eccentric fetus into this....this.....this..... FrankenHouse... And we shall give you creepy sidelong glances when you get your mail and take out the trash... Because we must do these things.

Yes, we must.