By Ben H. Rome
‘Patriotic photo for D-Day’ courtesy of ‘brianmka’
Wet, warm, sunny, chilly – you name it, we had it. Well, except for snow. Thank goodness. So as you get your morning caffeination on, enjoy some quick shots from our area photogs looking back at the weekend.
By shannon
‘The Forgotten City’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
Hello and welcome to another edition of Where We Live. This week we’ll be checking out the smallest quadrant in the District, Southwest. Can you imagine city planners essentially wiping out an entire neighborhood and starting from scratch? Well, that’s what planners did to this area back in the 1950s. Read on to hear how it happened, and what’s going on today in one of the most overlooked neighborhoods in the city.
History: The southwest quadrant was present in Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan for the city in 1791. In 1793, the city’s first rowhouses were built at Wheat Row, and in 1796 the Thomas Law House was built for one of DC’s first investors (both structures remain to this day). In 1815, the Washington City Canal was built and essentially cut off this part of the city from the rest of the District. The area became home to many poorer residents and tenements, but the neighborhood was thriving with churches, synagogues, and shops. Anthony Bowen made this area a stop on the Underground Railroad.
But by the 1950’s, planners working with Congress decided that the Southwest Waterfront area was the place to try out all these novel urban renewal concepts, so they declare eminent domain over virtually all of SW, wipe out nearly all of the houses and shops and churches in the area, and cause the displacement of nearly 30,000 people. Planners then build a series of modernist residential and office buildings, cut through the area with freeways, and destroy nearly all urban character that was there to begin with. The neighborhood businesses were replaced by various new buildings and the Waterside Mall (which was recently demolished), which included a Safeway and satellite EPA offices. These businesses didn’t exactly create a vibrant urban neighborhood, so they’ve been torn down to create a clean slate for massive new redevelopment.
By Tom Bridge
‘(heart) D.C.’
courtesy of ‘rockcreek’
When we started We Love DC last year, we knew that loving DC wasn’t something new, but we felt that it needed a new voice. In the last year, we’ve come to love our city even more, and we hope that we’ve made you love it a bit more, too. We’ll be celebrating our first year of existence with a party over at Science Club on 19th Street on July 1st, 2009 from 7pm until they kick us all out on the street for loving our city too much. Don’s awesome photobooth will be there, and the great bar staff at Science Club will be pouring tasty libations all evening long.
We’d like our celebration to also help make the city we love a better place, so we’ll be asking for a voluntary donation of $5 at the door to benefit Bread for the City, which provides comprehensive services to tens of thousands of low-income DC residents. Donations are tax-deductible and besides – we’re going to have drink specials to save you a few bucks once you get in the door, so consider a contribution to those less fortunate. Bread for the City staff will also be in attendance, if you’d like to learn more about their services and ways you can help.
We Love DC’s First Anniversary Party
1 July 09, 7pm ’til we pass out
Science Club
1136 19th St NW
Washington DC
By Katie
‘Sandy Palimpsest’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’
From boardwalks, to seafood, to sandy stretches to outlet shopping, Rehoboth Beach in Delaware has everything you could ask for in a beach. Three of my friends and I recently struck out for a relaxing escape-our-stressful-jobs girls weekend.
We’re twentysomethings on budgets, so we stayed at the Atlantis Inn. Clean, no frills, on the main strip, only a block and a half from the beach, the Atlantis is equipped with comfy rooftop poolside chairs, but take warning: double beds. So if you’re just a group of friends, you’ll be forced to do some mandatory cuddling. Whatever, at least we like each other.
The main drag of Rehoboth is adorable, lined with all kinds of great shops, good food and plenty of ice cream options. We were totally entertained. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘091208- Mike Daisey @ TBA 1b’
courtesy of ‘djbrokenwindow’
Mike Daisey’s back at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre for a one-night-only Sneak Peek at The Last Cargo Cult. I love the concept of Cargo Cults, and I’ve been told I owe Mike a look, so it seems that this might be the time to do it, as seats are just $15 for the show on June 15th at 7pm.
By Jenn Larsen
"Light Fixture, Policy" by Jenn Larsen, on Flickr
Right from the start, you know something’s off at Policy. Standing in the luridly lit stairwell, a sickly yellow gleam gives everyone the look of a mental patient. Not even the most nubile twenty-year-old looks good in light like this. It doesn’t get much better inside. The whole place is lit like a lighting designer who hates his actors. I was originally going there to write it up for my usual We Love Drinks but, any cocktail menu that has a drink mixing my beloved espresso vodka with Red Bull is off my list. But the food menu seemed at least potentially interesting.
However, I had reservations about Policy the first night I walked by and saw they had valet parking. At 14th and T, I really wonder. What does that say? Your clientele is too scared to park their own cars? What are they doing in the neighborhood anyway?
After you get past the mental hospital stairwell, the dining room greets you with a look rather like the Diner From Hell. Ceiling tiles seem to drip blood all night. Awful lighting in your booth gives you a migraine. Bad club “hits” from a decade past pound away. Contrast the forced clever black-and-red motif here with the crazy kitsch black-and-red motif at Jimmy Valentine’s, and it doesn’t take Dante to tell you where the Devil would rather hang out.
Ok, I keep getting distracted, because all these things are actually not the worst part about a night at Policy. It’s the overpriced mediocre food. Another bad sign is when your server explains to you the “concept of small plates” because “not everyone gets it.” Um, right. 14th and T again, remember? We’ve got Cork and Bar Pilar already. Or is this explanation for the people who want the valet parking?
Right, distraction. Sorry. Here we go. We tried six dishes at Policy. Two were good. Four were disappointing. The Madras Curry Lamb Sliders may have had curry in them, but I wouldn’t have known if it wasn’t in the title. The three little sliders for $13.95 were juicy, sure, but had no flavor at all. For lamb, that’s… odd. Continue reading
By Kirk
Air guitar pants’ courtesy of ‘rabid_c’
The crowd screamed and the LED bars fluttered and held at the upper border of the E-Q shirt. “I think you all broke the t-shirt! Again, 1-2-3!” More screaming, more lights, the same result. This was how the regional US Air Guitar championships were being decided: the read out from a sound tech’s geeky, light-up shirt. I hardly batted an eyelash. It just fit into the natural course of things. After several hours of flamboyance and machismo, the honor of DC’s air guitar reputation resting on the fluctuations of a light-up t-shirt seemed like nothing to me. And that’s what the US Air Guitar Regionals, held last Friday at the 9:30 Club, was all about. Blowing your mind.
I approached competitive air guitar with a measure of incredulity. I assumed that I’d be treated to fleshy denizens of “mom’s basement”, out to strut their stuff and generally make fools of themselves, and that after two or three performances I’d grow bored and b-line for bar. I was so self-assured that I grabbed a few drinks before the competition, just to give the evening a fighting chance. Journalistic integrity (if bloggers are actually beholden to that) kept me to two beers, after which I girded my loins and headed for the 9:30.
By AcaciaO
Maybe it was the Women’s Studies major joke in which Dugan’s father asks his former girlfriend, “Women’s Studies? You go to school for four years just to learn how to cook?” (I took a Women’s Studies course or two at Vassar) or it could have been the “militant feminist lesbian chiropractor” joke, “She cracks my back and breaks my balls” (I was a member of the feminist alliance in college. I read Bitch magazine.) Early on in Mike Dugan’s one-man show, “Men Fake Foreplay,” adapted from his book by the same name and now playing at the Bethesda Theatre, I realized I wasn’t quite the target audience for either Dugan’s jokes or his message. Despite my skepticism and even criticism, however, I left with an appreciation for Dugan and what it is he’s attemping to convey. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
‘Candlelights at Leopold’s’ courtesy of ‘Unlisted Sightings’
With the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India, the ever-tense relationship between Pakistan and its eastern neighbor was once again headline news. Pakistani government officials condemned the attack, but the incident raised questions again about links between the Pakistani Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Islamic terror networks. How does the history of the ISI- and its partnership with the CIA during the 1980s-affect its actions and worldview? How do the United States and Pakistan look on their partnership in today’s circumstances? These pressing questions will be considered and discussed tonight by a panel of experts at the International Spy Museum.
Present will be Shuja Nawaz, Director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States and author of Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within; Bruce Riedel, senior fellow, foreign policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution, former CIA officer and senior adviser to three U.S. presidents on Middle East and South Asian issues; and Ambassador Teresita Schaffer, the Director of the South Asia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies, who has written extensively and testified before Congress on Pakistani issues.
To get an idea of tonight’s discussion, we obtained from the ISM a quick Q&A session with Shuja Nawaz. Continue reading
Tyler Sonnichsen, whose picture I’m using because I couldn’t find a decent video clip
courtesy of ‘Aaron Webb’
A comedian acquaintance and I were lamenting the challenges of acceptably promoting local comedy recently, and something we both noted was the utter lack of demo clips that are professional and showcase the comedian to his or her best ability. I’ve seen it happen in We Love DC’s very own comment section, where a promising comic gets written off by the commenters after viewing a couple of crappy videos of an open mic that takes place in an echo-y classroom on some college campus. The problem, of course, is that it’s hard to get a decently produced video until you’re performing in clubs, and it’s hard to get booked in clubs without a decently produced video. But that’s a rant for another time.
So I decided to stay up late and find you some videos of comics who have made me fall out of my seat laughing. Most have been produced well, so that you can evaluate the comedy without being distracted by poor sound, a room unsuited for comedy performance, or other factors that frequently beset eager young comics. Put your headphones on if you’re at work, though. Maybe you don’t want your boss hearing this. Continue reading
By Jenn Larsen
Alex Mills as Puck in Synetic Theater's "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Photo credit Raymond Gniewek, courtesy of Synetic.
Blending both breathtaking physical control and hypnotic emotional projection, Synetic Theater is the bright star of the Washington arts scene. Seriously, if anyone ever yaps on and on to you about DC having nothing to offer in the way of brilliant theater, get them to the current production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and dare them to say so afterwards. This is both a beautiful and hysterical night out. For a company known for dark tragedy and breaking hearts, they also prove themselves more than capable of splitting your sides.
Right from the start Synetic puts their signature wordless stamp on a play most of us know well. The fairies are powerful, pagan and exotic. In a perfect twist on the plot, Puck becomes the orphan that Titania and Oberon fight over, instead of it being some nameless child, and that battle is a glorious dangerous display of both the physical and the magical. The thwarted young lovers are discovered drinking away their sorrows with a bottle of Jack. They go from sadly tipsy to athletically audacious on a dime – there are some frighteningly daredevil toss-and-catch fights. The goofy “rude mechanicals” are a hodge-podge of leather and denim. There’s even a delightful nod to the Marx Brothers with a pianist in a Chico hat (and was that a riff from “A Night at the Opera” maybe? brilliant job as always by composer Konstantine Lortkipanidze). Not to mention a hilarious parody of Synetic’s past Shakespeare productions. You have to love a company that can make fun of itself. Continue reading
By Katie
Hailing from Winchester, Virginia, Devon McTavish grew up watching DC United play soccer, and has early memories of his Dad getting lost in the twisted DC streets near the White House. So if any DC United player loves DC, it would be Devon, our quasi-hometown boy. He and I grabbed drinks at Whitlows, and I grilled him on his favorite places around DC, his toughest game this season, and what he does in the community. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘jumping in vain’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
Gene Wojchiechowski of ESPN thinks we could all do without the Nats, putting them atop the list of 50 Things We Can Do Without in Sports. Now, the Nationals are bad, and I’ll admit that they’re on their way to eclipsing the 1962 Mets for the worst single season record of all time, but really? We have a beautiful stadium here now, and we’re supposed to ditch the team? For what?
Well, that got me thinking:
What do you think we should do?
By Max
Rolling Thunder ’09, Washington, DC by Nicole Aguirre
Memorial Day weekend is one of my favorite times of the year in DC. With so many monuments dedicated to remembering those who have lost their lives defending our country, our city fills up faster than the Titanic with people of all different ages, from all around the country, from all walks of life. It’s a time when people put aside their differences and focus on what they have in common, a love and sense of patriotism for our great nation.
This week’s photo shows two people from two walks of life, brought together by a park bench and some shade. According to the photographer (who had to wait for a gap in the pedestrians to get this shot), these two were “leaning into each other most of the time” as they watched the Rolling Thunder rumble by. What I love about this photo is that it makes the viewer wonder, wonder what the couple talked about all afternoon, wonder what war memories each of them has, wonder how their lives have differed to this point and even wonder how they’ve been the same. As someone who was born on the 4th of July and longs for the days when our country’s values were intact, this photo is moving and reminds me that there is a lot we can learn from our elders. Great capture, Nicole.
By jasmine
‘DSC04273’
courtesy of ‘Matt Lancashire’
It’s June! We made it! Finally, an end to those cold temperatures and a hearty welcome to sundresses and summer concerts. I know I’m excited. For that reason, I have included a couple of larger venues in my June concert preview that I’ve been leaving out in the past. Because what better time is there than summer to hang out on the lawn, enjoying a huge band you’ve always wanted to see? Can I interest you in some Eric Clapton, No Doubt, or even indie fan fave The Decemberists, perchance? Details after the break! Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
‘Big Mac and fries for lunch’ courtesy of ‘slworking2’
Frankly, I’m surprised it took us this long to gobble this entry right up on the Omnivore’s list.
Ok, I’ll admit it right off – I love comfort food. I don’t like the massive amount of exercise I need to conduct to burn off one of these babies (540 kcals in the burger alone), but sometimes? Totally worth it.
With me having extra time at home lately, I decided recently I needed some alone time with one of my favorite lunchtime pleasures. Don’t dis me – it’s not as expensive as a Ray’s Hell Burger and more convenient for me than a Five Guys. It’s a childhood thing, I think.
By Ben H. Rome
This weekend’s take in the WLDC Flickr pool was dominated by photos of Artomatic, many by our frequent contributors.
If you’d like to see your photos in Flashback, there’s really only one guideline we use: it has to be a shot taken between the Friday and Sunday prior. When we have extended weekends or a holiday, we’ll stretch the ‘eligibility’ period through that holiday. So there you go – now you know!
If you’re a visitor or a local to our fair area, please feel free to drop your photos – no matter when you take them – into our Flickr pool. We’d love to have them! And if you have a moment, visit the photographer’s Flickr page (by clicking on the photo) and let them know you liked their shot!
By Tom Bridge
Model Tradeship 2 courtesy of Me
Right next to the exhibit on the first floor dedicated to America’s transportation systems is the National Museum of American History‘s latest exhibit: On the Water. As much as transportation over land has changed the United States, the maritime elements of our economy has done the same. Divided into seven slices of time, some of which overlap, the exhibit focuses on the coastal and riverfront parts of the United States from 1450 through to the present. Read on for a preview.
By Tom Bridge
‘Twirling Fire at Artomatic’
courtesy of ‘starbuck77’
The building at 55 M St SE, right above the Nationals Park entrance of Navy Yard Metro still hasn’t become much. With area development on hold due to the economy, the completed, but unoccupied, monolith along the Capitol Riverfront is a perfect host for this year’s Artomatic. This the tenth anniversary of the roving art show that takes place in the District’s most ad-hoc gallery. This year, it covers 8 floors of the building, with several performance artist spaces, as well as the traditional art-mounted-on-plywood.
By Katie
‘Cotton Candy Mojito’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’
Months and months ago, I stumbled upon this post on local foodie blog The Arugula Files. In the post, Mary reviews New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Creek restaurant, describing the highlights of her meal. She writes, “Because of the drive (five hours from DC), I probably won’t go back to Blue Hill, but I’ll food dream® about that egg forever.” And then it clicked, food dream was the perfect name for the feeling I get about certain food dishes that I eat and then look back on wistfully.
To qualify as a dish that makes me food dream, I actually have to, at some point, look back on that dish and sigh, wishing I had it. It’s a combination of longing + craving, I think. I realize not a whole lot of people feel this strongly about food, but those who do, know this exact feeling. And with my busy eating schedule (hey, at least three times a day!) I run into a reasonable amount of dishes each month that make me food dream. So I thought it would be fun to share all the dishes I’ve had this month that I’m currently food dreaming about, from start to finish, opening cocktail to dessert. So, for what it’s worth, here is the month of May in Katie’s food dreams. Continue reading
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