Category Archives: The Features

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

Dupont Circle, History, Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: The DC Streetcar System

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington, DC View east down F Street NW no date’
courtesy of ‘army.arch’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting.  In order to avoid thinking about the terrible accident on Metro yesterday, I’m going to transport you back in time to when DC had another transit system.  That’s right, our fair city was served by a streetcar system beginning in 1862, and the last of the trains ran a hundred years later in 1962.  Then, as was the trend at the time, the transit system was forced to switch to buses, and the streetcars were no more.  There are many legends about the streetcar– it’s hard to imagine a transit system just leaving town with no marks, but you look around the city today and it’s hard to imagine the thriving streetcar system that existed just a few generations ago.  However, we’re lucky enough to have some very cool remnants of the old streetcar system.

Have you ever walked around Dupont Circle and seen those things that look just like New York City subway entrances?  Well, those are old streetcar entrances.  They were not all fancy like our Metro entrances (no one is standing to the right on escalators here), they’re just simple stairwells down to the streetcar platforms.  Passengers would descend into the station, where the streetcar would run in half-circles.  The Mount Pleasant Line of the streetcar system shut down in 1961, and by 1964 the station entrances were paved over.  But that’s not the end of the story for Dupont’s old streetcar station– in 1995, the station opened as a food court called Dupont Down Under, but apparently people don’t like eating in windowless underground lairs when they could be eating outside in one of DC’s great urban parks.  The project failed within a year, and the area was once again abandoned.  A couple years back, Jim Graham suggested that the space be used for adult clubs; however, neighborhood residents weren’t too excited about that and the space has remained vacant.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Red Sox Donate World Series Items to Smithsonian

Presenting the Artifacts

Red Sox President Larry Lucchino was joined by Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield at the National Museum of American History this morning, where the Red Sox donated artifacts to the Museum. They donated a Base from the 2004 World Series, and a Game-worn Jon Lester Jersey from the 2007 World Series. The artifacts will be on display on the 3rd floor of NMAH through this weekend, and will be part of a permanent exhibition to be named later.

So, Red Sox fans, join the 2.5M people who’ve visited the NMAH since it reopened eight months ago, it’ll be worth it. Or, just watch Larry Lucchino donate the items, or hear the NMAH sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame.

Dupont Circle, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Seagull on 16th Street

Naomi Jacobson and Jerry Whiddon in "The Seagull" at Theater J. Photo credit: Stan Barouh

Naomi Jacobson and Jerry Whiddon in "The Seagull" at Theater J. Photo: Stan Barouh

Most people don’t associate Chekhov with comedy. We think Russia in all caps, passion with a punch, alcoholics, suicides, depressives. And yes, there’s a lot of that. Except it can all be pretty hysterical stuff, as Theater J’s adaptation of “The Seagull” proves. It’s a thin line between tragedy and comedy, and Chekhov certainly meant us to see the absurdity in our own hyperbolic neuroses. Or put more simply – when a guy presents a dead seagull to his girlfriend, it’s ok to laugh.

Theater J’s mandate is to explore the Jewish cultural heritage and they usually tackle bold new plays. To pull Chekhov into this mandate involved a new translation by Carol Rocamora and an adaptation by Artistic Director Ari Roth that weaves in Jewish cultural references, mostly at the top of the play. If you aren’t familiar with “The Seagull,” these changes will barely register. If you are, they are easily accepted, unless you’re a hardcore Chekhovian scholar. And so we have “The Seagull on 16th Street,” a reference to 16th Street’s Jewish history and a nod to “Uncle Vanya on 42nd Street.”

The core of “The Seagull” is the idea of faith – in oneself, in one’s work and talent – and the terrible capacity to do both good and evil, on a whim. Director John Vreeke delicately pulls this out in a production that makes an excellent introduction to Chekhov. And an ensemble cast of Washingtonian theater regulars is admirably up to the task. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Eatonville

Photo courtesy of
‘Eatonville’
courtesy of ‘Jenn Larsen’

So I’ll let you in on a little secret, new restaurants. Sometimes two of the blonde single lady authors of We Love DC hit the town together, and judge you. You can spot us, cause we ask a bunch of questions, giggle to ourselves, and take tons of pictures of our food and drinks. One of us is southern, the other northern. One twentysomething, one thirtysomething. We try and represent all demographics. We also try not to make a scene. Maybe one day we’ll get fabulous enough to don disguises Ruth Reichl-style, but for now, we aren’t particularly incognito. I’m pretty sure our server last week at Eatonville knew something was up, but he was a good sport, as we grilled him all about the menu, the best picks, and even the decor. He wound up asking us a bunch of questions back to our questions about the restaurant. Bending over our table, conspiritorially, he asked us “do you twitter?” (Yup.) “Will you tweet about this?” (Sure will.) “Even if you don’t like it?” (Uh huh.) Luckily for him, we liked it just fine.

Eatonville had come up with mixed reviews from my foodie crowd, but ever the southerner, I was excited. Jenn was ready to judge with me, and she’s always good to have around to bounce thoughts off of. We dived into the menu headfirst, ordering the two most popular appetizers, the Hushpuppy (singular, that’s right, find out why after the break) and the Fried Green Tomatoes. (I don’t think it’s in my genetics to say no to a fried green tomato!) Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit, The Features, WMATA, WTF?!
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In the Aftermath of the Metro Crash: Tips for Tuesday

Metro Map

Tomorrow is going to be a very, very difficult day for many. Our hearts go out to those who’ve lost loved ones, or were injured in the catastrophe. But, we must go on, and we must learn from what happened. We have to get ready for tomorrow.

Let’s start with what’s closed:

– Red Line Metro Rail service between Rhode Island Ave/Brentwood and Silver Spring. This will be closed all of Tuesday, and possibly longer. It’s going to take some time to get things back to normal on those tracks.

– Brunswick Line MARC train service will not be running on Tuesday.

There are options for getting around tomorrow, even though there is a giant hole in the Red Line. So, let’s ask one question, if you’re going to be affected by the Red Line closure or MARC train cancellation: Do you really need to be in the office? If you can work from home tomorrow, or take a mental health day, or can afford to call in sick, give it some thought. It’s not that your job isn’t important, but tomorrow’s going to be a royal cluster out there, and if you can stay home and still get everything done? Do it. For everyone.

If you’re an end-to-end commuter, Metro’s got some advice for you:

Metro officials recommend that customers who normally use the Red Line between the Glenmont and Silver Spring Metrorail stations should commute to Metrorail stations between the Shady Grove and Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail stations, or to use the following Metrobus lines to avoid the service disruption:

• Metrobus C8 line (Glenmont to White Flint)
• Metrobus Q2 line (Wheaton to Rockville)
• Metrobus C2, C4 line (Wheaton to Twinbrook)
• Metrobus J1 line (Silver Spring to Medical Center)
• Metrobus J2, J3, J4 line (Silver Spring to Bethesda)
• Metrobus L7, L8 line (Friendship Heights)

If you can possibly use the Green Line, instead of the Red, or bus to the Green Line and take it in, that would be a good option.

Commuters who are coming from the edge of town can continue to park at the outer-edge Metro stations on the red line and deal either with the shuttle bus, or attempt to park at College Park Metro, but parking’s going to be at a real premium, so if you’re not early, you’re going to miss out. Dr. Gridlock has some ideas about alternate busing solutions as well.

Whatever you do, be prepared for delays. Metro will be operating on full manual control tomorrow, which means that trains won’t be at top speed, and braking may be a bit of an adventure. Hold on tight. Leave a little earlier, if you need to be there on time. The trains are going to be crowded, the buses are going to be crowded, so, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am, make sure you’re showered tomorrow, and make sure you’ve got deodorant going. Lay off the cologne and perfume, though, as that can be just as bad, if not worse, than BO. Be polite. Squeeze in a little tighter if you have to. Don’t block the doors. If you have to, get off the train and get back on after people have debarked. If you miss a train, it’s not the end of civilization. Relax. It will be okay.

And yes, I’m telling people to go ride Metro tomorrow. Metro is, historically, a very safe system. Less than a dozen people in the last 33 years of its operation have come to their end in an accident. You’re far safer on Metro than you are on the Beltway or on the surface streets, where thousands die every year in car wrecks.

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: but Lear is unlovable

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Joel Washing’

In brief: this is Shakespeare as torture porn.

It’s tough to organize this review. Put marginally less briefly, this production of King Lear pretty much sacrifices the story in order to wallow around in physical violence, partially demolished sets, thrusting and grunting and marital rape. It has a lot of visual appeal with regards to the sets and costuming but that’s not enough to recommend it.

That’s not really the fault of anyone on stage. With one significant exception every one of the actors does a nice job, though only Jonno Roberts as Edmund really puts in an notable performance. Others suffer from some odd choices that may or may not be their fault, such as the painful sing-song that Joaquin Torres uses when voicing Edgar’s alter-ego Tom.

The truly offensive content – and there’s a fair amount – likely all can be laid at the feet of the director, Robert Falls. If you’re going to go anyway you may want to skip the rest of this review, as it’ll be filled with spoilers for how several scenes are staged. That it’s possible for there to be a spoiler for a four-hundred year old work is an interesting fact in and of itself, I think, but not a reason to subject yourself to this production.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: Top of the Heap Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Jaime Moreno, DC United’
courtesy of ‘geraintwn’

D.C. United
Record: 5-3-8
Last Two Weeks: 1-1-1
Place: 1st in the East

D.C. United played three games since we’ve talked last. Three very different games from what seem to have been three wholly different team. The first, a victory over the Chicago Fire, was a triumph of defense and striking offense. It also put them on top of the Eastern Conference, thanks to Josh Wicks’ goaltending. The second, a tie with the Seattle Sounders was thanks to late-game heroics, and a big mistake. The third, a 3-0 shutout at the hand of the Colorado Rapids left a lot to be desired.

So, who are D.C. United at this point? The team that knocked off the Fire and claimed first place? Or the team that nearly lost to the Sounders and did lose to the Rapids, who are both middle of the pack teams from the West? There’s a lot of distance between the two teams, and United will have to figure out which one they are before they go forward. Injuries have hurt United, with Fred and Jaime Moreno out each for a few games,

Continue reading →

Essential DC, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, The Features
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Restaurants For Any Stage of Your Relationship

Photo courtesy of
‘Hand in hand’
courtesy of ‘Pianoman75’
Dining out, especially in a city like DC, can be a daunting task. More so when you’re trying to impress someone, like maybe someone you’re trying to get your kiss on with. Or maybe you’ve nailed down the right person for you, and you’re just looking for some creative food to keep you on your toes. Or maybe you’re ready to pop the big marriage question but are unsure of where to do it.

Well, lucky for you, I’ve got a round-up of perfect restaurants for any point in your relationship. From first dates, to a late night married take-out place, I have you covered. Read on, romancer, and let me guide you. Continue reading →

Essential DC, Life in the Capital, Talkin' Transit, The Features
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Drive in Traffic, Get Paid

Photo courtesy of
‘Stuck in Traffic.. 218 3rd St SE, Capitol Hill’ courtesy of ‘KrS-NrY’

In case you haven’t noticed, gas prices continue to rise. Which means commuting costs are going up again for those who choose (or have no choice) to drive to work each day.

Which of course, leads to Beltway congestion. And then the inevitable “who’s got the worst drivers” discussion, often yelled between cars with exclamatory sign language.

Who needs that?

Starting this fall, the Commuter Connections Work Program will begin paying people to carpool. That’s right. PAY YOU MONEY. Specifically, $2 a day.

Continue reading →

Life in the Capital, The District, The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Mount Pleasant

Photo courtesy of
‘Shrine of the Sacred Heart’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

The diverse and eclectic Mount Pleasant neighborhood is the topic of this week’s Where We Live.  It was once a streetcar suburb and is now a mix of housing types  with a main street of its own.  It has great access to downtown and is right in between Adams Morgan and Columbia Heights, two very developed areas, but it has retained a quieter residential character.  Read on to hear the very cool history of Mount Pleasant and what to check out next time you’re there.

History: The neighborhood dates back to 1727, when a large area of what is now Columbia Heights/Adams Morgan/Mount Pleasant was granted to James Holmead.  The area was named Pleasant Plains in 1750, and then became part of the District when it was established in 1791.  During the Civil War, the area was home to a hospital, and after the war the neighborhood became known as Mount Pleasant Village.  The area was separated from the rest of the District by rural land, as DC hadn’t grown into its 10-mile square yet, which is why Mount Pleasant doesn’t quite line up with DC’s orderly grid of streets.  In the 1870s, the area became the District’s first streetcar suburb, and many middle class residents moved in to take advantage of the quick commute to Washington City.

The area has changed a lot since then.  In the 1950s, the neighborhood became racially segregated, with many white residents leaving the city altogether.  The 1968 riots only made things worse, and the area entered a period of decline.  However, throughout the 1960s Spanish-speaking immigrants began moving to Mount Pleasant, establishing vibrant communities of El Salvadorean and Dominican Republic immigrants.  In the 1980s and 1990s, affluent professionals began moving into the area for its access to jobs downtown and its historic residential housing stock.  And today, the population is a mix of all those eras: approximately one third of residents are white, one third are African-American, and one third are Hispanic.

Neighborhood Character: Mount Pleasant has a strong historic residential character throughout the neighborhood and a pedestrian-friendly commercial strip along Mount Pleasant Street.  Rowhouses and smaller apartment buildings make up the neighborhood, and many historic structures from the early 1900s remain.  The area is very walkable, with strong transit access and a variety of neighborhood destinations.  In recent years, Mount Pleasant has been changing due to the nearby development of Columbia Heights.  Tim, author of the neighborhood blog The 42 and Mount Pleasant resident of six years, had this to say:  ” There obviously have been hundreds of changes, some from within and many from without.  We’ve been greatly affected by the development of Columbia Heights.  Most of that has probably been good for Mount Pleasant in terms of access to amenities.  On the other hand, we’ve seen stagnant development of out own commercial strip at the same time.”

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Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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First Look: Zentan

Photo courtesy of
‘zentan interior’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

Last night Inspiration DC‘s Rebecca and I headed over to preview Zentan, the new trendy hot spot at the Donovan House Hotel on Thomas Circle. The new hot spot opened on June 8th, after a bit of a kerfluffle (the space was supposed to be a new Todd English spot), when Chef Susur Lee of Shang in New York stepped up to fill in. Chef Lee, who is known for a wide variety of Asian-influenced restaurants, was also the second Canadian chef to appear on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America against Iron Chef Bobby Flay. So I was excited to see what came of all the drama – would Zentan live up?

Also, if you’ll let me ramble for a moment, Zentan signifies to me the solidification of the quality I’ve come to expect from hotel restaurants in our area. This is thanks in part to boutique chains like Kimpton, who work to pair quality Chef-driven restaurant concepts with their hotels. But excellent in-hotel restaurants are certainly on the rise in DC, and I have much higher standards for hotel restaurants here than I do when I travel. I was interested to see what Lee would bring to the District, plus get a peek at the Thompson Hotel. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Night Life, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Cantina Marina

"cantina marina" by Somewhat Frank, on Flickr

"cantina marina" by Somewhat Frank, on Flickr

Sometimes you don’t care about lovingly crafted cocktails or the beautiful people or even 12% ABV beer. Sometimes you just want a drink in a plastic cup. With a view.

Cantina Marina is the kind of place you could easily find in Florida, a simple almost shack-like atmosphere on the Gangplank Marina, with three sides open to the elements and the waterfront view. This is an extremely casual scene where flip-flops, beach dresses and short shorts reign. It’s getting to be quite packed now that the weather is warm – whether we’ll ever see sun again is anybody’s guess – but you can easily hang out here on an overcast drizzling day like I did.

It’s really a perfect spot for an afternoon delight, with spots to perch on ranging from the center square bar surrounded by tables or the outside seating right on the water. Decent but not too exciting bar food means noshing of the mostly-fried Gulf Coast variety. Happily they feature my favorite summer drink of the moment, the Dark ‘n Stormy, made with rum and ginger beer. Oh, sexy steel drums… no wait, that’s just my head. Continue reading →

Getaways, The Features, The Great Outdoors
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Getaways: Chincoteague & Assateague

Wild Ponies at Sunset, Assateague

"Wild Ponies at Sunset, Assateague" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr

Relinquish control to nature. That’s extremely difficult for an urbanite like myself. But, I was on the fast track to total anxietyville and desperately needed an escape. What better way to unwind than leaving yourself behind on a five mile bike trek through a barrier island refuge? Sighing upon spotting wild ponies? Napping on a deserted beach? Being bitten by insanely voracious mosquitoes?

Ok, this last is not quite as relaxing as the rest! Definitely watch out for those bloodsuckers while you enjoy some sea-drenched nature just three hours away from DC, on the Chincoteague Island National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague National Seashore. With some 14,000 acres of barrier island habitat including marshes and long stretches of beach, this is a naturalist’s dream.

The town of Chincoteague itself is rather like a rusty old tugboat that does its duty with a trusty nonchalance. It’s not a glamorous destination, but there are plenty of decent seafood places, surf shops, cute boutiques, and decadent ice cream parlours. It’s still milking the “Misty” books, Marguerite Henry’s tales of the penning of the famous wild horses. Yours truly learned to ride on a Chincoteague pony back in the mists of her teenage years and still has a soft spot for these extremely tough and beautiful animals. There are pony rides to be had here, of course, but I suggest you rather seek out viewing them in their natural habitat on Assateague (unless you are or have kids, in which case, they will love a ride). Continue reading →

People, Sports Fix, The District, The Features
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Sports on the Hill: Youth Sports As They Should Be

Photo courtesy of
‘get coach! 2’
courtesy of ‘popofatticus’

Last week, Sports on the Hill, nee’ Soccer on the Hill, held the first-ever volunteers and coaches recognition dinner in its 25-year history. As a newbie coach of a U-13 co-ed soccer team with the league, I sat quietly at the dinner and listened as the history of the league and those who make it was spun out before me. Before listening to their stories, told one after another as if to emphasize and aggrandize each previous, my perspective of the organization was pretty microscopic and limited to soccer. I met my thirteen players and their parents twice weekly — once for practice, once for a game. They would run around and kick the soccer ball, I would yell in encouragement and instruction, then we would all go home. But the people who make Sports on the Hill a great place for DC kids to learn and love sports, do what I do times one hundred, and have been doing it since I was in diapers.

One of the first things I did when I first moved to DC was search for a sports league where I could coach soccer. Coaching, in a relaxed sense of the word, was something I had been doing pretty much since I was old enough to make 5-year-old peewees take me somewhat seriously. Without question I needed to connect to the community somehow, and I needed to be around organized sports — a need fostered by almost 20 years of incessant practices, games and other sport-related activities. At first though, I struggled to find an organization that would both accept me–as a flawed and comparatively inexperienced coach–and be acceptable–an environment that was more learning and fun, less competition and scholarship-seeking. Basically I was looking for a re-incarnation of Eastwood Youth Soccer, in Syracuse New York, the somewhat underfunded, haphazard but dedicated league that had given me my start. Continue reading →

DC Victory Gardens, We Love Food
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What do I do with all these vegetables?!

Photo courtesy of
‘The salad beds’
courtesy of ‘boboroshi’

So by now, your Community Supported Agriculture share has started generating produce. And if you planted spring crops in your garden, you might be harvesting some food. (Unless you’re mrmoonpie, who was WAY AHEAD of all of us, because he is too cool.) And the farmers’ markets are starting to fill out with actual farm produce, rather than jars of last year’s preserved produce.

If you’ve jumped as enthusiastically into the fresh-and-local food as we have in the Bridge house, this probably means that you’re shoving stuff into your fridge when you don’t quite know what to do with it.   So far we’ve gotten an enormous bunch of kale, a large bunch of spinach, more asparagus than we know what to do with, and strawberries coming out of our ears, plus a couple of bunches of spring onions, and that’s JUST from the CSA.  Here are some tips on how to enjoy what’s in season in these couple of weeks now, as well as preserving it for later. Post your suggestions in the comments, or let us know what else you’ve got that you don’t know what to do with. Continue reading →

Alexandria, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed
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Alexandria Fires Up the Money Cameras

Photo courtesy of
‘DSCF6337’
courtesy of ‘lakelandlocal’

Alexandria has powered up their revenue-generating red-light cameras along Route 1, as well as on Duke Street in an attempt to make us all “safer”. While this is probably less expensive than parking a police officer on the corner with a ticket pad, that certainly seems like something that would chasten people for running the light rather than just treating it as an “expensable” behavior like going over your cellphone minutes.

Comedy in DC
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Comedy in DC: You got comedy in my music venue

 

Velvet Lounge, July 10

Velvet Lounge, July 10

Okay, so first I have to get this Dylan-with-an-arrow-through-his-head thing out of the way. There’s this show at the Velvet Lounge on July 10th. It’s called 3 Chord Comedy, and it is, as the image above implies, comedy in a venue that generally focuses on music. It starts at 7PM, and the cover is a mere $2. Remember all those videos I showed you a couple of weeks ago? You can see several of those comics live at this event- Jake Young, Hampton Yount, and Seaton Smith. I promise, Jake has more than 42 seconds of material, no matter what his clip implies.  Also appearing will be Eli Sairs, Aparna Nancherla, and Justin Schlegel, whose only clips on YouTube seem to be a voiceover about horse genitalia and an interview for some Toyota advertising campaign. So you know, call that one an adventure and check out the clips from the other comics, all of whom are regularly performing professionally around the area. You should go, because  July 10th is a Friday, it’s on U Street, and it’s only $2, which is about as cheap as planned showcase gets. Continue reading →