Category Archives: The Features

These are our features. They come back either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

The Features, We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: July 11-12

Photo courtesy of
‘Patriotic photo for D-Day’
courtesy of ‘brianmka’

The weather this weekend looks to be pretty good, with some chance of a popup thunderstorm both days. What are our authors up to? Here’s the account…

Ben R: We’ll be celebrating my newfound return to the land of employment with a nice dinner over in Penn Quarter, probably either Zaytinya, Jaleo, Matchbox or Poste. If the weather holds well, we’ll probably be taking our cameras out down to Mount Vernon; they’ve got their National Treasure tour still going on, but more awesomely, the wheat harvest has begun and they’ll be doing demonstrations throughout the summer. If the weather tanks, then it’ll most likely be a “Washington DC movie night,” where we’ll pick a few movies out that were filmed / set in DC and proceed to either identify locations or snark them for poor representation.

Jenn: Who cares if the forecast is calling for evening rain this weekend? The W Hotel Washington is open, you should hit the POV rooftop bar (there is an enclosed section that’s superswank) and relax while the thunder rolls. Or check out H Street’s newest bar, Little Miss Whiskey’s, which finally opens after last week’s liquor license snafu. Hit a few crazy plays at the Capital Fringe Festival. Me? I finally bought a bike! I’m hitting the trails! So if you see a girl with a bike that’s way cooler than she is, constantly falling off and cursing, that would be me. Get out of the way before I get hurt.

Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Arts
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Colors and Shapes: An Interview with Harry Potter Illustrator Mary GrandPré

Photo courtesy of
‘Harry Potter’
courtesy of ‘KitAy’

Harry Potter fans, close your eyes and think of “The Half-Blood Prince” — the sixth book in the series, the movie of which will open in just a few short days. What image do you see? What color? Chances are, the answer is an amalgum of green and yellows, with the faces of Harry and Dumbledore as imagined and drawn by the hand of Mary GrandPré, the American illustrator of the series.

While GrandPré is best known for her work on the series, she has an extensive body of work beyond the realm of Hogwarts and Horcruxes, including many children’s story books. She will be discussing her career at the Corcoran Museum on Monday, July 13 in a talk entitled “Creating Characters: An Illustrative Evening.” WeLoveDC’s Acacia O’Connor had the opportunity to chat with GrandPré about “King Harry” and what inspires her.

WeLoveDC: Tell me a little bit about the upcoming lecture and presentation.

Mary GrandPré: Well, most people know me as the Harry Potter illustrator, so I’m going to show some slides on the work I’ve done on that, and some of the work behind the scenes that people don’t see.  Also a new collection of pieces that are editorial and other works. I’ve been an illustrator for 25 years now so I have quite a variety of things to show.

So you’ve been to DC before? What were your impressions?

I really enjoyed (DC). I know it’s changed now but it seemed like it’s really efficient, it’s beautiful, good food, good art. I just thought it was a great town, I think it still is.

When you get a cover assignment – where do you begin?

I go through the manuscript at least 2 or 3 times, I read it with a fine-toothed comb. I actually have this system where I highlight characters in one color descriptions and events in another color, I’ll highlight little descriptions that are important — anything thats a clue for me to making a complete cover. Continue reading →

Getaways, The Features
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Getaways: Tangier Island

Photo courtesy of
‘tangier local riding in his little boat to his crab shack.’
courtesy of ‘mrtobo’

Nestled 12 miles west of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, lies Tangier. The island of Tangier was officially settled in 1686 by John Crockett, whose descendants still reside on this 0.2 square mile cluster of small islands and marshes.  Despite its size, Tangier is a fascinating and wonderful summer trip for those looking to getaway.

Getting to Tangier requires visitors to board a ferry from various points on both the Maryland and Virginia Eastern shores.  However, don’t expect to take your car, as the only methods of transportation allowed on Tangier are bicycles and golf carts.  Don’t worry the island is flat and totally walkable. Tangier also has a small municipal airport, but the vast majority of flights in are personal aircraft.

Once there, you’ll be transported back in time, and I’m serious.  For starters the locals, and there are only 605 of them, speak in a unique Elizabethan dialect of American English.  Some linguists hypothesize that this dialect or “accent” has not changed since the occupation of English colonists.  It’s like having Thomas Cromwell or Shakespeare talking to you.

I recommend your first stop off the ferry be the Tangier History Museum.  There you can learn about the island’s settlement, crabbing and oystering history, it’s role in the War of 1812, and much, much more.

Continue reading →

The Features
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We Need Your Help to Save Jonathan’s Life

Jonathan Haupt, courtesy of TeamHaupt.org

Jonathan Haupt, pictured above, is a 32-year-old DC native, and he is battling acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive blood cancer.  Chemotherapy has not worked for Jonathan, and his only hope for a cure now is to find a bone marrow match for a transplant.  Jonathan’s wife Courtney and the rest of Team Haupt are asking for your help in joining the National Bone Marrow Registry, because there’s no good match in his family or on the registry yet.  It’s so easy to join— fill out a form, swab the inside of your cheek, and you’re on the registry.

By signing up for the National Bone Marrow Registry, you’re not only potentially helping Jonathan, you’re helping everyone.  Too often, the friends and family members of a patient needing a bone marrow transplant aren’t a match, and that patient has to rely on the kindness of strangers who have added themselves to the registry.  Imagine if your husband or wife, child, or friend needed a bone marrow transplant and you weren’t a match?  Knowing that only 3 in 10 patients will receive the transplant that could save their lives, you’d probably encourage everyone you could reach to join the registry to find a match.  The National Registry needs people from all backgrounds (in Jonathan’s case, European Jewish heritage) to make sure they have a wide selection of matches out there, so if you’re African American, American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or multiple races, please strongly consider joining because they need you the most.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Discs Over DC: The Washington Area Flying Disc Club

huddle 2

It’s a warm and sunny weeknight in DC, and as the tourists are abandoning Potomac Park and the FDR memorial in favor of dinner, area residents young and old are streaming in. It’s sports night — or so you might think, judging from the number of uniformed people and shouts ringing out across the Polo Fields. Organized soccer, pick-up soccer, team softball and — the most sizable group — ultimate frisbee. Discs are being tossed as team members pull on cleats and stretch, chatting animatedly. Its clear that many of them have been waiting for this all through the workday, and who could blame them? They’re here to run around in the sun, sweat out a bit of the stress and enjoy their game. Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA
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Talkin’ Transit: We’re Number Two

Photo courtesy of
‘Typical Beltway traffic’ courtesy of ‘brianmka’

Just like death and taxes, transportation woes never seem to go away around here.

The annual Texas Transportation Institute traffic study released today shows that while traffic is lighter in every other major metro area, it’s only increased our misery here. The DC area continues to rank second to LA in congestion, wasting about 62 hours a year as we crawl along our major routes. That’s an increase of 3 hours over the previous year, by the way.

Sitting in traffic around here has cost us nearly $2.8 billion and 90 million gallons of gas. The data is from 2007, by the way, so next year’s study may (hopefully) show a decline due to increased focus on transit options after soaring gas prices last year.

Continue reading →

Where We Live
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Renting in the District

Photo courtesy of
‘070309 207’
courtesy of ‘dougtone’

If you don’t love your current place of residence you can at least take some comfort in knowing that others are worse off then you. There’s a question on a high-visibility advice site right now that I don’t want to link because I’d hate to draw the wrong attention to the asker. Suffice to say the situation is one where, as a tenant, this person and his or her roommates are dealing with an odd landlord who only wants to accept their over $2000 a month rent in cash and who seems to be running some sort of welfare/child support scam.

Their situation is a little rarefied, but I see other questions there from renters that make it clear there’s a lot of bad information floating around. Let’s try to drop some knowledge here, shall we?

If you take nothing else away from this article, save this link: D.C.’s Office of the Tenant Advocate and this resource: Tenant Survival Guide[pdf].

The OTA is an organization that’s existed in the DC government for about three years now and has been an independent agency for the last two. Their whole reason to exist is to be a resource for you as a tenant. The tenant survival guide was prepared in conjunction with Georgetown University’s Harrison Institute for Public Law, who have the Tenant Survival Guide on their website, just slightly more nicely formatted[pdf]. Between the OTA site and the guide you’ll find everything you need inside or linked from there.

That accomplished, let’s take a few minutes to talk some common myths so you don’t turn a minor problem into a big one. Continue reading →

Essential DC, Mythbusting DC, The District, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Built on a Swamp?

Photo courtesy of
‘Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens – Egret Among the Reeds – 7-20-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting.  I’m sure you’ve heard that the muggy mosquito-filled summers in DC are due to its location on a swamp.  The Chicago Tribune named their DC bureau’s blog “The Swamp” and it is oh-so-clever to call sleazy politicians “swamp creatures“.  And yes, we all know that summers in the city are humid and gross and miserable… but was DC really built on a swamp?

Not really– today it’d be called more of a tidal plain.  When Pierre L’Enfant set out with a team to survey the city, there was a lot of variety in what he found: fields of tobacco and corn, small forests, and some waterside bluffs and wetlands.  Most of the marshy areas were along the rivers and were susceptible to tidal fluctuations and intermittent flooding, but most of the core of the Federal City wasn’t marshy.  That being said, DC was and still is a water-rich city, with the Rock Creek, the Tiber Creek (which was enclosed in the 1870s), the Potomac River, and the Anacostia River and countless creeks.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Vegetate

Photo courtesy of
‘Vegetate Outside’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

I have a co-worker and friend named Heather. Heather is a vegetarian. She’s one of those odd vegetarians, though, that doesn’t really eat a bunch of vegetables. She likes them just fine, and she’ll eat them if you cook them for her, or bring them to her, but she doesn’t seek out vegetables the way a stereotypical vegetarian would. In fact, she tends to eat a lot of mac and cheese, and mozzarella sticks are her favorite bar nosh. Fried food is good food for Heather, especially when it involves cheese. So when I told her about Vegetate, the vegetarian restaurant in Historic Shaw, and my experience there, she said “now that’s the restaurant for me!” – and it totally is. Here is why. Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: DC Hip Hop Theater Festival

Photo courtesy of
‘Grand Analog @ The Reverb’
courtesy of ‘blurasis’

The DC Hip Hop Theater Festival (HHTF), beginning today and running until July 11, will host a plethora of events and performances that integrate hip hop and theater, and address the socio-political issues relevant to the hip-hop community.

The kick off performance, AM Radio Live Art & Performance, begins tonight at 7pm at The Library Salon.  The show pairs DJs and painters to create 7’x5′ compositions in front of the live audience. Performance goers will watch as the artists combine to create pieces from beginning concept to finished product.  This will definitely be an inspirational show, breaking down the craft to its core.  Afterwards, hit up the Open Night Party at Marvin’s and take in various DJ’s spinning hip hop music from around the globe.

Here’s a little taste of the HHTF.

YouTube Preview Image

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: Kastles Home Opener Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Picture 033’
courtesy of ‘wearedc’

Kastles
Record: 0-2
Last Two Weeks: 0-2
Place: Last in the East

Here we are, at the start of our second WTT season! The Kastles will face off with Philadelphia tomorrow night in the new tennis stadium at the corner of 11th & H Streets. Short-benched by the Wimbledon tennis final (a quick aside on tennis, holy crap! Between Venus vs. Serena on Saturday and the brink-of-insanity matchup on Sunday, could tennis be any more exciting right now?!) the Kastles have lost two incredibly close matches to Sacramento and Newport Beach. Tomorrow night, they’ll face off with the Philadelphia Freedoms, lead by Venus Williams.

Unfortunately, we won’t have a rematch with Serena (are you looking at her titles?) in the home opener, but Wimbledon champ Serena will be playing in several matches at the Kastles Stadium this July, so keep an eye out.

Also making news for the Kastles are Leander Paes, who was part of the winning team at the French Open in Men’s Doubles, and Rennae Stubbs, who was part of the 2nd place team in Women’s Doubles at Wimbledon this weekend. If you haven’t, check out Max’s interview with Kastles manager Murphy Jensen.

Continue reading →

The Features, Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 7/3 – 7/5/09

Photo courtesy of
‘Fireworks in DC – the aftermath’ courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

Aaaaand welcome back to the workweek! Hope you enjoyed your very special three-day holiday weekend. We know it’ll take a bit to get into the swing of things on a Monday, so we’ve slipped in some extra photos for you to ogle while the caffeine drip gets started.

And if you’re hankering for even more fireworks photos, check out our Flickr pool for some great area photographer contributions. (We couldn’t possibly fit them all in here.)

Meantimes, we’ll get our crew up and awake so we can stock your week full of great articles. We’re a year old now, you know. Time for us to be professional… eh, who are we kidding? We know you love us just the way we are!

Continue reading →

Special Events, The Features
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Happy Anniversary, WeLoveDC!!!

Photo courtesy of
‘The We <3 DC Crew’ courtesy of ‘marc.benton’

With apologies to a certain escapist ’80s TV show…

“In 2008 a crack blogging team was bound by restrictions of a blogging organization they didn’t build. A select group of men and women promptly escaped from the shackles of the oppression to the freedom of WordPress. Today they survive as a radical bloggers in the nation’s capital. If all you see is the politics, if no one else can give you the real scoop on DC, and if you love your metro region, then maybe you can read: WeLoveDC.”

It was one year ago today we stepped out on our own into the brave new blogging world. I’ve been extremely blessed to have been included in this endeavor from the start and want to take a moment to especially thank Don, Tom, Tiff, Carl, Paulo, Wayan, Jenn, BenS and John for inviting me into the fold. I’ve felt like a modern version of the Founding Fathers and am humbled and amazed that we’re still around after a year and that all of you – our wonderful readers – continue to support us. So, on this first anniversary and on our nation’s celebration of Independence, this humble resident thanks you all.

Here’s to 233 more!

Entertainment, The Features
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We Love Independence Day Movies

Photo courtesy of
‘Tchotchke the Freedom Bulldog’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’
With one day to go until July 4th, it’s time to marinate the chicken, clean the grill, set out the checkered table cloths, raise Old Glory and get pumped to celebrate the birth of our country.  And what better way to do that, than watch a kick ass, chest thumping USA! USA! movie tonight that will make you jump out of your recliner, scream “God Bless America!” and parade around your living room waving a small US flag.
Not surprisingly some of these movies were filmed in or are based in DC, which makes them all the more badass to watch for us DC lovers.  Of note:  this is only my personal shortlist of movies to get me in the Independance Day mood.  I’m sure there are a lot more out there that spark the same sense of pride, so leave a comment on what you’d add to the list.

  • In The Line Of Fire: Clint Eastwood as a secret service agent, nuff said. Oh, and the plot is awesome and John Malkovich is creepy (what’s new.)  A large portion of the movie takes place in DC, with the Lincoln Steps prominently featured.
  • Top Gun:The Kenny Loggins featured soundtrack to this movie alone will get you pumped up, but the F-14s,  shirtless volleyball, Tom Cruise/Val Kilmer tension and a good old fashion love story don’t hurt as well.
  • The Great Escape: If you’ve got time for this one watch it! Yeah, I know I’m recommending a movie with the Yanks working with the Limeys on Independence Day, but it’s a classic. Continue reading →
Dupont Circle, The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Dupont Circle

Photo courtesy of
‘a hug on Riggs’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

Welcome to Where We Live: Dupont! Dupont Circle is one of the District’s best-known neighborhoods, and there’s so much history and beautiful architecture to love here.  Dupont is home to everyone from recent grads in group houses to young professionals in condos to well-off diplomats with kids, and yes, even some new stars.  I know I’m probably supposed to be unbiased in my descriptions of all these neighborhoods, but to be honest, Dupont’s my favorite.  Read on to find out why.

History: Not much was really going on in the Dupont area until the Civil War.  Up until then it was a rural backwater, but a massive modernization program built streets and sewers in the 1870s, making the area a fashionable new residential district.  In 1871, the circle itself (then known as Pacific Circle) was constructed, and in 1882 Congress decided to use the circle to honor Civil War admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont.  A statue of Du Pont was erected in 1884, and replaced in 1921 with the fountain that we all know and love today.  The traffic signals in the circle were added in 1948 to make it easier for pedestrians to cross, and in 1949 the Connecticut Avenue tunnel was built to separate thru traffic and build a streetcar station.

By the 1870s and 1880s, impressive mansions were built along Massachusetts Avenue, and Connecticut Avenue had more shops and offices.  Much of the area was developed with rowhouses, many of which remain today.  The neighborhood began to decline after the 1968 riots, but in the 1970s some urban pioneersmoved in.  Dupont Circle took on more of a Bohemian character, and the area became a gay enclave.   It is considered the historic center of the gay communityin DC, though many of those original urban pioneers later moved on to Logan Circle or Shaw.  The 1980s and 1990s saw more reinvestment in the neighborhood, and today Dupont Circle is again one of DC’s most desired neighborhoods.

Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit
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Sensors and indicators in plain English: WMATA’s WEE-Z issue

Photo courtesy of
‘Rails’
courtesy of ‘mescon’

One of the most troubling things about the information emerging about this faulty sensor is the ways in which Metro indicates they might have expected to detect it. John Catoe’s press release from July 1 described the situation somewhat vaguely. “This is not an issue that would have been easily detectable to controllers in our operations control center. What the analytical profile showed was that the track circuit would fail to detect a train only for a few seconds and then it appeared to be working again.” Why it wouldn’t be easily detectable isn’t clear from his statement, but a Washington Post piece from July 2 credited the following information to Metro’s rail chief, Dave Kubicek.

Instead of completely failing, the track circuit “fluttered” on and off so quickly that, Kubicek said, the failure would not have been obvious in Metro’s downtown operations center, where controllers monitor real-time movement of trains by watching an illuminated graphic depiction of the 106-mile railroad.

“It was happening so fast, you would just blink and miss it,” he said. “Realistically, you had to be looking at the exact area at the exact place” at the exact time.

A controller would have to be staring at something the size of “a button on a BlackBerry.”

A fair number of engineers are going to read this section of text and grind their teeth, but the underlying problem isn’t intuitive to most people. If you eavesdropped on a conversation between two grad students considering writing about this situation for a paper you might hear them say something like this:

Metro’s problem here revolves around the challenge in displaying a digital result in an analog method and inability to detecting a problem using insufficiently granular data.

That’s a complicated phrase which you can explain with a $5 table lamp. Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, The District, The Features, WMATA
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Why I Love DC

Photo courtesy of
‘All quiet on the western front…’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

I first moved to the United States from a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the summer of 1997. My first foray into the country brought me to Los Angeles/Beverly Hills, which was a culture shock and half. After only a year, I moved to Boston, where I, Liam Michael Patrick Darmody, fit in quite nicely for 3 years. In 2001, upon graduating high school, I was deciding between UMass Amherst and American University and decided to go with the latter almost entirely BECAUSE of the DC location. To me, going to school in a world class city, even one with a crime rate higher than any other place I’d ever lived, appealed to me. And so in August 2001, I made my way to the District and have called it “home” ever since. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Champagne

Bubbles Glow

"Bubbles Glow" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr

Why so tired, people? A little worn out from partying with us last night(hmm… maybe it’s just me)? Well, it’s time to celebrate again! I hope most of you have a three-day weekend to look forward to, with fireworks and grilling and sun-soaking. My advice? Add some bubbles.

A lot of people think champagne is just for snobs. Those people are wrong. WRONG. But I understand. The whole “blow it all on table service and a bottle of Cristal” movement killed simple enjoyment of champagne for many people. Just forget about those excess junkies. Champagne isn’t so very different from beer. I mean, they both have bubbles, right? Ok, perhaps I’m pushing it here but I firmly believe that champagne should be enjoyed all the time, and especially in the summer. There’s something about a chill glass of the fizz that reminds me to slow down, relax and smile.

You can enjoy the bubbly all over town. But I have a few spots that pop to mind when I want to pop the cork. And I’m happy to share a little tour of where I would go right now to inbibe. Tops on the list currently? Belga Cafe and its divine basil champagne cocktail.

Wait, basil? Continue reading →

The Features
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We Love Weekends: July 4-5

Photo courtesy of
’09-4-11 – Cherry Blossoms Fireworks – Spring Lights’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

Katie: Since this weekend starts on Thursday, my friends and I decided to celebrate with a fancy girl’s night out to one of the bars I wrote about in my Rooftop Bar Guide post a while back. It’ll be fantastic to get all of us together since we’re usually so busy! Then for the 4th I’m headed to a backyard barbecue at Jasmine’s, where I’m whipping up one of my signature party dishes, Roasted Tomato, Basil and Goat Cheese spread with basil that I’ve victoriously growing myself. (And have somehow managed to not kill yet!) Add in some quality pool time, a visit to my neighborhood farmer’s market and some quality relaxation, and I’ve got myself the absolute perfect 4th of July weekend.

Tiff: With my employer having recently moved back in to our newly-renovated headquarters on the Mall, we’ll actually be attending the company Fourth of July party. Usually I prefer to do my weekend and holiday socializing with friends and family rather than coworkers, but any time I can watch the fireworks on the Mall in a location with a 6th floor balcony, air conditioning, clean bathrooms, and parking, I feel obliged to check that out. Lots of the government agencies in the immediate Mall area take advantage of their prime fireworks-watching location to throw parties like this; if you or any of your nearest and dearest have access to one of these events, they’re worth attending.
Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Features
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Farm Fresh: Poste Moderne Brasserie

Let's do this
WeLoveDC authors Donna (greenie) and Katie (foodie) have paired up to bring you a double-hitting feature about local area restaurants that take on the challenge of being green. Donna will explain the logic behind the environmentally friendly trends and Katie will tell you if the food tastes any good. It’s a rough life, but someone has to do it, right?

Katie: Tucked inside the courtyard of the Hotel Monaco in Penn Quarter, Poste Moderne Brasserie is like a little city oasis. Most of the restaurant activity, at least in the warmer months, revolves around the closed-in patio. Poste’s patio has lots of tables, its own drink bar, a raised stage patio, and then this a little partitioned subsection off to the side with a large marble table situated between rows of herbs. This is the chef’s table.  And Donna and I were at Poste for the exclusive “MARKET TO MARKET” dining experience.

Photo courtesy of
‘Chef explains where he gets his lettuce, by needlessspaces’
courtesy of ‘mtngirl9999’

Katie: The concept of the market dinners is simple. Guests take a walk through the Eighth Street Penn Quarter Farmers Market with executive Chef Robert Weland then take a seat at the Chef’s Garden table for a five course tasting menu showcasing local and artisanal products. Our week was a bit different, as Weland was out moving to a new house with his baby (I suppose that’s an acceptable excuse), we were in the capable hands of executive sous chef Jon Nickerson. Continue reading →