Yearly Archives: 2009

The Features
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DC’s Great Streets: Part 1


View We Love DC’s Favorite Streets in a larger map

The District’s Great Streets Initative aims to revitalize selected corridors in the city by focusing funding on streetscape improvements, economic development assistance, and public safety initiatives.  The program was started back in 2005 and it’s probably too early to tell how successful it has been.  But that program really focuses on streets that need revitalization– areas with little pedestrian activity, not a lot of walkable attractions, and pretty bleak streetscapes.

What about streets that are already great?  Streets that are pleasant to walk down, with lots of shade and benches and a mix of uses to walk to– DC certainly has some pretty fantastic streets already.  I set out to ask our authors about their favorite streets, and here’s the first half of their picks for the District’s greatest streets:

Tom: Pennsylvania Ave SE & 7th Street SE.  From this corner, you can see so much of the city.  Just north of here on 7th is Eastern Market, to the northwest along Pennsylvania are the Library of Congress (my favorite DC Landmark) and the Capitol.  Large trees stand along the sidewalks, and in the medians, and while cars traverse the neighborhood, the sedate pace feels like that of a county seat, and not the nation’s capital.  Seward Square has beautiful residential spaces just a block away, and the small businesses that dot Pennsylvania and 7th are some of my favorite. Montmartre is a great place to get lunch, and Peregrine Espresso is one of my favorite cups of coffee in the universe, and Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery is just a couple blocks away.  Shade and comfort, right in the middle of our busy city.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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To Market, to Market, to Buy…What?

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Hoffmann’

Sure, we know that farmers markets bring in fresh, healthy food and allow us to support local farms. But knowing what to buy when we get there is a different story.

How is a white peach different from a yellow one? (It’s sweeter, and sublime.) And what do you do with a rutabaga anyway? (Darned good question.)

Find more answers at a local foods tasting on Monday at 7 p.m. at Arlington Central Library, where you can sample our area’s produce and learn how to cook it.

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, News, People, The Daily Feed
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DC’s Own On Top Chef Masters Tonight!

Photo courtesy of
‘art and soul mac and cheese balls’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Just a quick reminder to all you foodies and Bravo Top Chef fans out there – Chef Art Smith of Art and Soul will be on Top Chef Masters tonight! Art and Soul, located in the Liaison Capitol Hill, right near Union Station is hosting a Top Chef Master’s Viewing Party tonight. The party will be held in ArtBar from 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., and will feature complimentary hors d’oeuvres that showcase classic Art Smith dishes.

Good luck Chef Smith!

The Daily Feed
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Kastles Are Buzzkillers


Nadia Petrova by Max Cook

Last night the Washington Kastles (6-7), with the help of their new teammate Nadia Petrova, made easy work of the New York Buzz (4-9).  The relatively effortless 23-12 win put them one game closer to the Eastern Conference Finals which will be held here in DC on Friday if the Kastles make the cut.  In order to make it to the conference finals they have to win their match tonight against the Springfield Lasers (12-1) or the Boston Lobsters have to lose their match against the New York Buzz.  In other words, we’re in a tight spot.

Petrova, listed at 5’10”, must have grown a few inches since being measured.  Currently ranked #10 in the world, the powerful Russian is easily six feet tall and posted an impressive 15-3 record during her three sets last night.  Her addition to the Kastles roster may be just what they need in order to beat the one loss Lasers tonight.  Win or lose, it should be another incredible night of DC tennis.  Tickets to tonight’s match are still available.

Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA, WTF?!
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Talkin’ Transit: In the Dark

Photo courtesy of
‘Where To Set One’s Eyes’ courtesy of ‘Bogotron’

It’s been a month since the fatal Red Line crash outside of Fort Totten. You’d think a deadly event like that would force some changes over at Metro at how they do things, right? More accountability, more transparency, better oversight, more concern for public safety..

Initially, I was impressed on the fact that they were at least trying. Despite some hard questions. Now, however, I’m not so sure.

Everyone by now has heard about the Post’s pretty damning report regarding Metro and the continual widespread failure of track circuits on four of the five lines. Incredibly scary stuff; those circuits are used to keep track of trains, their speed and location. The failure of such a circuit seems to be the cause of last month’s accident – though the NTSB has not officially announced the actual cause. Metro rail chief Dave Kubicek has downplayed the Post’s report, saying that none of the problems detected are anything close to the track circuit problem at the crash site. He insisted again that “the rail system is safe” and that it’s “a gross exaggeration” to suggest it’s widespread.

What is troubling isn’t just the technology failure; it’s how Metro’s handling it and other issues that have popped up lately.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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More Track Circuit Failures on Metro

Photo courtesy of
‘Navy Memorial’
courtesy of ‘Tony DeFilippo’
So, you know how Metro GM John Catoe said that they’ve inspected all 3,000 track circuits since the crash on June 22nd and haven’t found any problems? Yeah, not so much. According to the Post, Metro employees started finding faulty track circuits 5 days before that statement. Thanks, Mr. Catoe! There are 6 bad circuits found as part of the investigation into the crash, as well as 7 more that may have been found during the course of other maintenance activities.

Interestingly, Metro staff is disabling the faulty circuits. This causes a stretch of rail where the computers can’t control the train, so the train must be manually driven by the operator. Which is demonstrably better than automatically driven over a faulty circuit as far as keeping the trains spaced appropriately, but which tends to create delays, as manual control goes much slower, and only one train can be on that stretch of track at a time. Meanwhile, the disabled circuit blinds the central control staff, AND can’t detect track problems that can lead to derailment.

Disabling the circuit seems like the kind of thing that makes sense for a couple of days until a replacement part can be installed, but this is now going on a couple of weeks of potentially cascading delays caused by disabled circuits, meanwhile, Catoe is telling us, Baghdad Bob-like, that everything is FINE, there are no circuit problems within 100 miles of your Metro train.

The Daily Feed
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For the Love of Cats, Dogs and…Sushi

Photo courtesy of
‘when Nelson met Cali’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

On the same week that doggie Molly is returned to her rightful owner, two area animal rescue groups are holding fundraisers — oddly enough, both with sushi.

Tomorrow, if you eat at Sushi-Zen Restaurant in Arlington, mention Homeward Trails, and 20 percent of your check’s proceeds will help dogs and cats find permanent homes. Join their free Royalty Rewards program to donate an additional $5.00.

This Sunday afternoon is Bark & Bubbles, with sushi and bubbly drinks for the humans, ice cream, doggie treats and pet caricatures. The Washington Animal Rescue League will benefit from this event at WagTime Pet Spa & Boutique, which will offer same-day discounts to guests.

All Politics is Local, Life in the Capital, Music, The Daily Feed
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Health Care: How DC Stacks Up

Photo courtesy of
‘Health Care Rally for a Public Option in front of Senator Bill Nelson´s Office’
courtesy of ‘leoncillo sabino’

Interested in how the Health Care debate and potential reforms will impact the District?  For starters, try reading up on DC’s Health Care current status quo.  I’m not advocating for any specific plan (I’m still trying to edu-ma-cate myself) but the DC site has some stats that really bring the health care debate to the home front.  Here’s to hoping that our government can come up with a solution that’s both viable and effective.

The Daily Feed
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RW Cast to Mingle With Interns at Hawk & Dove

Photo courtesy of
‘Hawk ‘n’ Dove’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

Just when you thought Happy Hour at Hawk & Dove couldn’t get any less enticing, Politico reports that the cast of the Real World will be heading there tonight. Twitter rumors (twumors?) concur, H&D staffer @JPeterDonald claims “Just got called into work tonight at Hawk n Dove because the Real World is coming in…” Proceed to Penn. Ave at your own risk.

The Daily Feed
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Not helping your cause

Photo courtesy of
‘Dr. Schreiber of San Augustine giving a typhoid innoculation at a rural school, San Augustine County, Texas (LOC)’
courtesy of ‘The Library of Congress’

Today’s WaPo has an article on some area doctors who are asking patients to sign agreements prohibiting them from making any statements in any media outlet without prior authorization.  I find the idea comic myself – I’d be out the door looking for another physician before I was done laughing at their chutzpah – but the real gold in the article comes from a DC-area doctor who didn’t necessarily take the side of the agreements.

“The people least capable of judging quality of care are patients,” said District internist Nancy Falk, whose mostly positive ratings are offset by those calling her curt and intolerant of questions, descriptions she denies. “They don’t know what we know.” Falk regards doctor rating sites as just as dubious as “Best Doctors” compilations. In her view, both amount to popularity contests.

then at the conclusion of the article…

Although many doctors are unenthused about online ratings, Falk, the District internist, said she would support a different kind of site.

“I’d love to have a Web site where I could complain about patients,” she said. “All doctors would.”

Hard to imagine this is a person who was called curt and intolerant of questions.

Dupont Circle, Entertainment, Music, Night Life, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Fringe Arts: The Oresteia

Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue presents The Oresteia at Church Street Theater as part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival

Dizzy Miss Lizzie's Roadside Revue presents The Oresteia at Church Street Theater as part of the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival

Though I still stand by my original thinking that one of the chief joys of Fringe is seeing theater in the raw, as it were, scrappy and imperfect in rough and ready locations – sometimes I have to admit that can hinder as well. Dizzy Miss Lizzie’s Roadside Revue Presents The Oresteia, a funny and subversive retelling of the Aeschylus play, suffers from venue pains. Contained in the run-down Church Street Theater, it’s hindered by the confines of a proscenium stage. Despite the best efforts of a lively cast, the location really clips its wings. Chief among the venue problems is the sound quality – it’s plagued by bad miking that jars the ears and disconnects you from some truly great vocal pipes.

But, if you can get beyond that, there’s meat here. A lot of gusto in the retelling by company members Steve McWilliams (music) and Debra Buonaccorsi (direction), which takes the classic Greek tragedy pitting the old forces of matriarchal blood revenge against the new forces of patriarchal justice (or as my poker-faced drama professor called it, “the rise of the phallus”) and shakes it up with rock-n-roll, burlesque, and lots of profanity. The cast makes a valiant effort to get you in the mood upon entering, by busking cheap beer and flirting with the audience. But the theater’s not built to encourage much interaction and that’s a pity. Once the show starts the action is pretty much confined to the stage, and almost seems crammed in those confines. It erupts through in a couple of places where the gutsy singing just can’t be cramped.
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Sno-cones and Skeeball Tonight


Live, Work, Create by gorbomb

If you’re wondering what to do tonight, look no further than Play-Live-Work, a fun event to promote a design competition that could earn you $500!  The idea is to come up with a cool way to use a space as both a home and a workplace.  If your design wins, you get 500 bucks and your design will be staged in a Solea condo at 14th & Florida Ave NW.  Read more about it and enter at Define Live-Work.

But wait, there’s more!  Tonight’s event is sponsored by The Pink Line Project and will feature spinning by DJ Gold, sno-cones, a ring toss, Krazy Kans, a big mouth toss, and skeeball.  Seriously, sno-cones and skeeball?  In the heart of DC?  If that doesn’t have you hooked, I don’t know what will.

Play-Live-Work
July 21, 6 to 8pm
1405 Florida Avenue NW

The Daily Feed
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DC Squirrels <3 Au Bon Pain

Clearly the feral squirrels around Union Station have been getting a little bit too much access to the humans who frequent their parks, as we learned quickly when an unabashed squirrel refused to go away until he was given half a cookie. You know what they say, if you give a squirrel an Au Bon Pain cookie…

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Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting*: Washington Monument On Axis

The Washington Monument is not on axis!

The Washington Monument is not on axis!

 I admit it, I’m definitely a perfectionist.  I’m a big fan of symmetry and straight lines and order.  I think that’s one of the reasons I like DC so much– L’Enfant’s plan is so orderly, with the important sites marked by radiating avenues, and the clear axis of power coming straight down the Mall.  But something has always bothered me– the center of the White House doesn’t look like it lines up with the Washington Monument.  Why, in a city so based on order and symmetry and strong axes, does the Washington Monument not line up?!

Because the ground right at the intersection of the center of the White House and the center of the Capitol was not strong enough to support such a giant structure.  Originally, L’Enfant had proposed a small equestrian statue of George Washingon at the intersection of the east-west axis of the Capitol and the north-south axis of the White House.  But plans changed, and the Washington Monument went there instead.  The Monument was larger and heavier than anything that L’Enfant had envisioned, so it had to be shifted off axis to avoid less solid, marshy ground.  The Monument now rests “about 300 feet southeast of the crossing point of L’Enfant’s two primary vistas” (from Grand Avenues, page 271).  Mystery solved!

So has anyone besides me noticed and been bothered by this?  Or am I the only one who will be sleeping easier tonight knowing that there’s a reason behind the off-axis placement of the Monument?

* Ok, so I realize this isn’t a myth exactly.  But it’s something that’s always bothered me about DC that I couldn’t figure out.  If you have a DC myth in mind that you’d like me to bust/confirm, please e-mail me at shannon (at) welovedc.com.  Thanks!

The Daily Feed
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Handling of graveside leavings at Arlington Cemetery

Photo courtesy of
‘Arlington Cemetery’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Salon has an interesting piece up about how Arlington National Cemetery handles mementos left by graves. The article seems to come down on the side of believing that there’s some obligation on the part of management to collect and store what mourners leave, but I’m not sure I concur. They reference the project that collects and archives items left at the Vietnam memorial but they don’t point out that the collection isn’t really viewable by the public in any way. Perhaps that doesn’t matter, though I wonder at the value of saving and cataloging these things versus simply disposing of them with respect.

On the other hand, if they did not we wouldn’t have stories like this.

I must have looked confused or incredulous. The value of saving a single cigarette was clearly lost on me.

“Look closely,” Felton said quietly.

I peered in at the cigarette. Someone had taken a pen and written on it in tiny letters, “It ain’t wet. It ain’t broke.”

Felton waited. He could see this didn’t help me much. He smiled. Then he explained the sensation of patrolling the jungles of Vietnam, completely soaking wet, for weeks on end. You felt like you would never, ever be dry again. “A dry cigarette was worth a million dollars,” he explained.

I don’t envy the people who have to make policy decisions about things like this.

The Daily Feed
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Watergate Sells for $25M

Photo courtesy of
‘Watergate and Moon’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

The City Paper has the final word on the Watergate: Sold this morning for $25 million to PB Capital, who are creditors to the current owners of the property. There was just the one bid, despite some commotion and some phone calls. Who knows what PB Capital will do with the closed hotel. Perhaps turn it into a corruption-based theme park, with a hall of horrors featuring Richard Nixon and Duke Cunningham?

Business and Money, News, The Daily Feed
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Roll Call Buys CQ

Photo courtesy of
‘day295 :: year two’
courtesy of ‘erin*carly’

Two major players in DC’s political journalism are now one major player. Yesterday, Roll Call Group announced its purches of Congressional Quarterly Inc. for an unnamed price. The companies will combine under the name of CQ-Roll Call group and control a significant share of political coverage on the Hill. There’s no word yet on how the buy-out will effect either companies’ publications, although the official closing date is still several monthes away. Major changes may be in the works, but only time will tell.

Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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Georgetown Library to Reopen in Fall 2010

Photo courtesy of
‘The damage done’
courtesy of ‘

Three and a half years after a three alarm fire destroyed the Georgetown library’s roof and much of the second floor, the historic branch of the DC Public Library will reopen in the Fall of 2010.  The blaze occurred on April 30, 2007 just three hours after another DC landmark, Eastern Market, burned to the ground.  The library’s Peabody room, located on the second floor, housed numerous documents and artifacts detailing the history of the Georgetown neighborhood;  luckily 80% of these invaluable items were saved from the fire and quickly whisked off to the Library of Congress and various other institutions for restoration and protection.  Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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It’s a Blackberry Bonanza!

Photo courtesy of
‘Blackberries on the Towpath’
courtesy of ‘Girl Interrupted Eating’
It’s not often that we authors call the same story at once. But the Suggest a Story form that came in for this weekend’s Blackberry Bonanza and Wellness Fest at Great Country Farms of Bluemont, Va., created quite a stir.

And why not? They’ll have no less than pick-your-own organic blackberries (“Berries are one of the top foods to go organic because they tend to retain high quantities of chemicals applied to them,” said owner Kate Zurschmeide), blackberry wine, blackberry ice cream and slushies, freshly baked peach berry pies, BBQ and salads and burgers. Plus yoga demonstrations, handmade berry bowls and make-your-own tie-dye souvenir shirts.

There will be a “fear factor” style bug trapping contest so that we can beat the beetles to the berries in true organic style. And a 2,800 square foot jumping pillow, rope swings and a Tractor Tire Mountain for which no upper age limit is specified. I’m just saying.

The festival costs $10, runs 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. on July 25 and 26, and sounds (all together now) berry, berry cool!

The Daily Feed
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Molly returned!

molly

Molly, the vizla who was notoriously dognapped, was returned to her humans late Monday night by police. They were provided few details because of the ongoing investigation but they seem to believe the person who had her was suffering from some mental issues. Hopefully any case built against her will result in some treatment and prevent this from happening to others.

Like most happy homecomings, this one will have a party to celebrate. Art S says:

A thank you party will be thrown to show appreciation for everyone that offered their support, possibly on the weekend of August 22nd, location TBA.  Please email findmollydog@gmail.com if you are interested in coming.

Welcome home, Molly.