Monthly Archives: May 2009

Life in the Capital, Mythbusting DC, The District, The Features
By

DC Mythbusting: Traffic Circles

Photo courtesy of
‘Sheridan Statue Hoof’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting!  Last week we discussed how, contrary to popular belief, the height limit wasn’t based on the Capitol or the Washington Monument.  This week I’m here to debunk the myth of the traffic circles in DC.   I have heard from a couple different sources that supposedly Pierre L’Enfant designed the traffic circles in Washington DC as artillery bases to defend the city.  It is said that cannons were placed in the center of the circles to defend against cavalry.  This myth has some traction out there– it can be found in transportation magazines, Washingtonian magazine, and even a book.

The fact is that the circles weren’t even originally envisioned as circles.  According to Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, DC, L’Enfant had planned for squares where the avenues intersected the grid.  In fact, L’Enfant’s plan for the squares was more of an economic development tool: he thought that each square should be settled by residents and Congressmen of a particular state, creating informal state ’embassies’, and that states would then encourage the development of that particular area of the city.  In this way, the squares would encourage both business and residents to locate near their home state square and foster community development.  His plan for the development of the city was to start developing at each of these nodes and connect the nodes with grand avenues. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

New Lost Dog Café Opens in S. Arlington

A New Lost Dog
As a big fan of Lost Dog Café, which has drawn crowds in Westover for years, I was thrilled to see a “now open” sign at its new location this weekend, across from the Arlington Cinema ‘n’ Drafthouse.

Like the original, this one has a menu with scores of specialty pizzas, 50-odd sandwiches, and more beers than I could easily count. My man and I checked it out last night, and to our yummy dinner added a Bad Dog a la Mode brownie sundae to celebrate the opening.

This area of Columbia Pike is being redeveloped, and Lost Dog is one of the first new businesses to open there, in the retail area under the first new condos. So more Lost Dog, less waiting. Oh, happy day!

News, People, The Daily Feed
By

Real Housewives of DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Bianca Gascoigne ( THE SAME HIGH HEELS and NAILS’s COLOR )’
courtesy of ‘Andre Portfolio’

This just in from EW and Just Jared – Bravo has announced the development of a Real Housewives of DC. (Because Blonde Charity Mafia was not enough, as Belle from Capitol Hill Style says.)

“We’re tapping personalities who are among Washington D.C.’s influential players, cultural connoisseurs, fashion sophisticates and philanthropic leaders – the people who rub elbows with the most prominent people in the country and easily move in the city’s diverse political and social circles,” said Frances Berwick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Bravo Media.

“These leading members of D.C. society will be attending important cultural events, political galas, gallery openings and fundraisers in Washington society.”  Sigh. Really? I’ll bet you one million dollars they all live in Georgetown and lunch at the Four Seasons.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
By

Our City is Fitter than Your City


‘Dedication’
courtesy of ‘N.S.’

Good news: according to the American Fitness Index, D.C. is the fittest metro area in the United States. Our combination of general good health, admirable dietary habits and frequent physical activity placed us at the top of the study released by the America College of Sports Medicine this week. The news wasn’t all good, though. Our fair city lags behind in the number of park acres per 1000 residents (surprising to me), as well as playgrounds and dog parks. Even so, D.C. was well above the mean in most categories and we beat the competition handily. You can see the full read out on D.C. here.

Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
By

The Graceful Edge

Photo courtesy of
‘marathoners’
courtesy of ‘Joe in DC’

Maybe I’m late to the party (wouldn’t be the first time) but I just discovered via The DC Concierge this really lovely Daily-Candy-but-for-exercise email newsletter. It’s all about new or unique exercise opportunities in the DC area for women, and it is called The Graceful Edge.

You know me, and how much I like lists and round-ups, so this is perfection. Broken into types of exercise like yoga, running, triathlons, biking and more, this is a great way to get your morning inspiration for a workout while keeping up on local trends.

Check out what today’s DC items are and if you like what you see, you can sign up on the site. I’m picky about what comes into my email box, but this one made the cut.

The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
By

Just a Reminder: Don’t Drive Through Standing Water

Photo courtesy of
‘Pipeline burst’
courtesy of ‘ECU Digital Collections’

The rain this morning has been significant so far, with a flash flood warning in place until 11:30 this morning. Several cars got stuck this morning after driving through standing water and shorting their engine. Folks, if the spark plugs can’t make the gas in the cylinders explode, your car will rapidly lose locomotion and you’re not going to be able to restart the vehicle. So, really, don’t drive through standing water. Unless you want to get stuck in the rain on Rhode Island Ave waiting for a tow truck driver who will probably laugh at you, like several folks did this morning.

National Airport’s weather station is reporting an inch and a half of rain in the last twenty-four hours, but I’ve been hearing totals as high as 2-3″ of precip, so this is a pretty soaking event, and we’re due showers all day. So, drive careful DC.

Food and Drink, The Features, The Hill, We Love Food
By

We Love Food: Taqueria Nacional

Photo courtesy of
‘Taquira Nacional’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

The first step to healing, is admitting you have a problem, right? Well, people, here is my admission: I am addicted to Taqueria Nacional. Its draw to me is more powerful than Potbelly’s was when I used to work near 17th & L (best Potbelly’s location ever) and those of you who know me know that I adore Potbelly’s. I will forgo any lunch I’ve brought to work faster than you can say “Hey Katie, wanna go to Taqui…” I’ll dash out of conference calls, I’ll leave my boss in a lurch, I’ll do pretty much anything for a pork taco from Taqueria Nacional in the middle of the day. So this We Love Food? This one is personal, cause I’m a regular. A regular with an addiction.

Taqueria Nacional opened in 2007 amidst a flurry of rumors (it’s in an alley, it’s only a takeout window, it only has tacos) in the foodie scene. Clearly we did not have Twitter to quickly spread the truth, and it took a while for everyone to get on the same page – but here it is: Taqueria Nacional is tucked away behind Johnny’s the Half Shell, in the corner of the courtyard of the CSPAN building. It hides as a little standing-room-only takeout shop with a line that usually reaches halfway across the courtyard. Ann Cashion and John Fulchino are behind this little taco place, which bodes well for the new Mexican fare at H Street Country Club (Cashion’s new venture), and the standards are high. The tacos are five bites of heaven, the salads are fresh with high quality lettuce, the agua frescas are creative, and my stomach cheers at the thought of the fried yucca. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Sports Fix: Holiday Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘jumping in vain’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Capitals

If you missed Ben’s season wrap-up last week, be sure to check it out. Though the Caps lost a lopsided Game 7 to the Penguins, who’ve gone on to mostly obliterate the Hurricanes (meaning very possibly we could’ve had the Caps in the Stanley Cup finals if they’d shown up for Game 7…) it was a fantastic season where there is much to cheer for.

Nationals
Record: 13-30
Last Two Weeks: 3-11
Place: Last in the NL East, 11.5 games out of first, 6 games back of fourth.

They’re still bad. But it’s getting better. The Nats moved the wildest pitcher in the modern era, Daniel Cabrera, to the bullpen where he won’t do as much harm, or where his harm can be properly directed, and replaced him with Craig Stammen in the starting rotation. If you went, “Wait, who?” you’re not alone. The Nats now have four rookies and a second year in their starting five. Pretty crazy. What they need now is some defense. And some relief pitching. The Nats lead the league in errors with well over 40. That’s the kind of total good ballclubs have in September, or for all season, not in May.

Continue reading →

Technology, The Daily Feed
By

Military Robots Author to Speak

Photo courtesy of
‘i bought the little grey guy on the right’
courtesy of ‘hsingy’

On Tuesday, June 2 at 7:30PM HacDC will host best-selling author Peter W. Singer  for a talk on military robotics and his new New York Times best selling book Wired for War.

Peter Warren Singer is Senior Fellow and Director of the 21st Century Defense Initiative at the Brookings Institution, and he is the youngest scholar named Senior Fellow in the 90-year history of Brookings. His new book looks at the implications of military robotics on war, politics, ethics, and law in the 21st century. Described as “an exhaustively researched book, enlivened by examples from popular culture” by the Associated Press and “awesome” by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, Wired for War made the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list in its first week of release. It has already been featured in the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot, and Singer has given presentations on the book to a diverse array of military and civilian audiences.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
By

When Sparrows Attack

Photo courtesy of

‘#3000: sparrows in a row’ courtesy of ‘philliefan99’ 

Given the glorious weather DC has been experiencing, everyone seems to be out enjoying the crisp, cool and (dare I say it) non-humid climate. The city really seems to have bloomed in the last few weeks. And you know what else has gone into overdrive? You guessed it–the mating activities of the House Sparrow.

On my jaunts around the city, I’ve witnessed male sparrows going nuts over female sparrows. This aggressive harassment involves 5-6 male sparrows dancing, chirping, pecking, etc. one poor female sparrow, who IS NOT (judging on her fleeing) into this behavior. In fact, it often looks like she’s the one bearing the brunt of her male suitors competitive rage.  In the spirit of female unity, I often want to jump to her rescue, but have thought better of it and decided instead to investigate these strange, foreign, avian behaviors. Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The Mall
By

National Museum of American History opens new Maritime Exhibit

Lifeboat.jpg

The National Museum of American History has a beautiful new exhibit ready just in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend. “On The Water” is an exhibit surrounding the American Maritime culture, dating back to the first explorations of the Americas, through to modern day. We’ll have a big feature on the exhibit this weekend, but the festivities start up tomorrow first thing. They’ll be opening at 11, and going til 4, with special music from the Washington Revels, as well as an opportunity to sail a small boat near the Smithsonian.

Get on out, see the cool museum, or wait until tomorrow and the whole big photo gallery will make it clear why!

Entertainment, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, The Great Outdoors, Tourism
By

Tourism: Hillwood Museum and Gardens

Photo courtesy of
‘Hillwood Museum’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Hidden up in Van Ness, Hillwood Museum and Gardens is a few acres of green, colorful, luxe heaven. The tagline for the museum is “where fabulous lives” and I think that is the best possible way to sum up the place.

You drive up to the gates (yes, it is gated, they also recommend you have reservations to visit the grounds, though that is not required, we did not) and a guard lets you in. You drive up a windy, steep azalea-lined road, and are directed to the visitors center where you check in. The suggested donation is $12, and not particularly suggested, much more mandatory. But well worth it. After you are given a map and the lay of the land by guides, you’re set free to roam the house and the gardens.

There are many, many gardens to explore at Hillwood. There is the french parterre, the rose garden, a putting green, a Japanese-style garden, a lunar lawn, and a cutting garden. But I think it might be easier to show you, than tell you what those are like. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Jazz in the Sculpture Garden is Back

 Photo courtesy of
‘mr cube cubes’
courtesy of ‘dret’

Start flexing your booze-disguising muscles and port-a-picnic over to the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden tonight for Free Jazz nights. Starting tonight, from 5-8:30 p.m. you can enjoy live jazz music and the company of far too many strangers. Put this on your weekly calendar, but maybe contemplate sneaking out of work 15 minutes early and getting there as soon as possible. After 6 p.m. there is nary a green patch to put your bum on, honest. If you do get there early, you can also pop in line for a delicious pitcher of sangria before everyone and their mother joins you.

The Daily Feed
By

Night- and Money- at the Museum

Photo courtesy of
‘Time Lapse: Crowds of Tourists at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History’
courtesy of ‘brownpau’

The Post has an interesting article today covering something I had been wondering about. How will “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” actually benefit our beloved Smithsonian? In several different ways, it turns out.

The first “Night at the Museum” turned into a 20% increase in attendance for the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and that movie only used exterior shots of that museum. So the Smithsonian has a bump in attendance to look forward to, and it has already been paid licensing fees for the use of its name not only in the movie, but on the merchandising tie-ins to promote it. There were location fees for the four days of local filming, it gets a cut of movie-related merchandise sales in museum stores, and if the movie does well and hits certain box-office targets, there will be additional payments to the Smithsonian.

The first movie, while not exactly Oscar-grade material, was a fun romp that I caught on cable. So I’ll go see this one in theaters- maybe even at the Smithsonian’s IMAX- and enjoy picking apart the geographic accuracy of the movie. But affectionately, this time.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
By

To Dream the Impossible Dream: Parking in Adams Morgan

Photo courtesy of
‘Adams Morgan’
courtesy of ‘N.S.’
Ah, Adams Morgan: quaint, bustling, and completely impossible to park in. The lack of a metro stop and the narrow streets has long been the bane of DC drivers out for a night on the town.  Apparently, this problem doesn’t extend only to non-residents.  The popularity of Adams Morgan is making it difficult for locals to find parking near their homes. WUSA reports that Councilman Jim Graham is proposing a solution: Enhanced Residential Parking. He plans to introduce legislation that would designate one side of each street for residential parking only. While this may be a welcome development for people that live in Adams Morgan, it is going to make the area much less accessible to outsiders. Hopefully the draw of the nightlife will be enough to induce people to walk long distances for it.

Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, The District, The Features, Where We Live
By

Where We Live: Capitol Hill

Photo courtesy of
‘The Shape of Colors in DC’
courtesy of ‘Gen Jones (Gen-esis Photography)’

This week we’ll be looking at the Capitol Hill neighborhood. This neighborhood could probably be called the largest in DC, since essentially anything east of the Capitol, north/west of the Anacostia River, and south of Union Station is generally known as Capitol Hill.  The area is home to so many great places, from Eastern Market to Barracks Row to Union Station, and it also has some of the best historic architecture in the city.

History: The hill that the Capitol sits on was originally called Jenkins Hill (or was it?).  Pierre L’Enfant decided that it would be a good location for the “Congress House”, and before you knew it, it became the center of residential development in our fair city.  Because it was so close to the Capitol, congressmen lived in Capitol Hill boarding houses, and because it was so close to the Navy Yard, it was also home to craftsmen and laborers.  The neighborhood continued to grow throughout the nineteenth century, and many historic rowhouses in the area date from this era.  It was mostly a mixed-income neighborhood for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  However, the fringes of Capitol Hill were hit hard by drugs in the 1980s, and as recently as 2000 crime was out of control in Hill East (if you get a chance, check out Jim Myers’ description of that time in The Atlantic).  Most of the area has bounced back, and Capitol Hill is now the city’s largest historic district and one of the city’s greatest neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Character:  The neighborhood is certainly one of the District’s most diverse.  You’ve got empty-nesters, long-time residents, recent college grads, families with small children, and Hill staffers all mixed together in a few square miles.  Hill East resident Shaun says, “My fiance and I live in a condo that’s home to Georgetown law students, Hill staffers and a retired woman who’s lived at our intersection for so long, she remembers when the new condo around the corner was a crack house.” Historic rowhouses make up the majority of the housing in the area, with a few apartment buildings and condominiums throughout the area.  Commercial development is mostly located along Pennsylvania Avenue, 8th Street SE (Barracks Row), and around Metro stations.  The area is quite pleasant to walk around, with brick sidewalks and mature trees and beautiful views of the Capitol.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
By

Rashomon at the White House

Photo courtesy of
‘Crying baby’
courtesy of ‘_Nezemnaya_’

There’s a story going round this morning about the Evil Evil White House and the Evil Evil Steelers that ran off a kindergarten class from a White House Tour because they were 15 minutes late. Interestingly enough, all of the media mentions from one family, the Stines.

More interesting was the second half of that same story that says they weren’t just 15 minutes late, they were an hour late, and the White House told them their window would end at 30 minutes.

Folks, if you don’t plan ahead for traffic in the DC area, there’s not a whole lot you can expect in the way of sympathy. While it’s definitely a huge bummer for the kids, and they’re certainly not responsible for the lateness, they do get to pay the price because their parents, and the bus company they hired, couldn’t plan ahead. Actions have consequences. Turn this into a teachable moment about the responsibility of being on time, not an excuse for entitled whining.

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
By

And the Winner Is…

Photo courtesy of
‘The result of a Maryland driver’ courtesy of ‘terabithia4’

The results of the National Driver’s Test for 2009 have been released and guess what? We have proof once again that Maryland drivers are indeed worse than Virginians. But worst of all are those who live in the District.

The test measures basic knowledge of driving laws and how much we know about safe driving. And the fact is, we all suck. (Just that some states suck worse than others.) GMAC stated in their press release that they “found that 20.1 percent of licensed Americans – roughly 41 million drivers – would not pass a written driver’s exam if taken today.” Sobering thought.

The District is the 8th worst on the list, followed by Maryland at 11th and Virginia at 31st. The worst? No surprise there: New York.