By Tom Bridge
“Hey wait a second. That looks awful familiar,” I said to myself as we wandered the Olympic Sculpture Garden in Seattle. Turns out, it’s one of three of the versions of the sculpture in the world! The other famous one being the one we knew immediately: The National Sculpture Garden on the Mall:
Aw man, and I thought we were a unique snowflake…
By Max
this jersey says it all by dharmabumx
As August comes to a close, we should all be thankful for the amazing weather we’ve had this summer in DC. Sure, there were a few weeks with temperatures in the high 90’s and Vietnam-like humidity, but for the most part we’ve had many reasonable days in the 80’s – perfect weather for baseball and beer. Well, pretty much perfect weather for anything and beer, but when I look at this photo I want to Metro over to the Nationals stadium, buy a ticket, gorge myself with a halfsmoke from Ben’s, and wash it down with a really expensive cup of beer, all the while knowing that our team is destined to find a way to lose.
With only a month left of baseball for the Nats, why not go drink some beer in our new stadium? Might as well get as much out of your tax dollars as you can. They host the Dodgers tonight through Thursday followed by a series against the Braves through the weekend. Be sure to memorize the lyrics to Sweet Caroline for an extra good time.
By brownpau
This gets old really fast, but all three escalators at Foggy Bottom Metro Station are out once again, with only one available to act as both up and down stairs for a rush hour crowd this afternoon. GW Hatchet has details, and as usual, I was on hand to get video:
By Don
The statute memorializing America’s first drill sergeant sits in the northwest corner of President’s Park, as the area immediately north of the White House is commonly know. [fixed, thanks Kate!] Lafayette Park, as the north end of President’s Park above the White House is commonly known. Of course, most of us know it most commonly as the place the whackos highly dedicated stand outside in punishing weather to make their statements about our government’s choices. That’s assuming, of course, that we think of it at all as we use it as a byway between 17th and 15th street on our way somewhere else.
Ol’ Freddie sits far away from where the protesters and tourists would get a chance to see him, and that’s a shame on many levels. First and foremost, the North end of President’s Park is shady and green in the summer, a welcome change from the stark and open concrete expanse in front of the White House where the tourists pose. I took my shots there on a day when I walked down from Dupont along Connecticut Avenue and on to the Smithsonian, and my pass through the park was a nice shady respite from the hot July day.
This shot faces south towards the White House, just off to the side of the monument.
Beyond that aesthetic aspect, however, is the fact that von Steuben was arguably pivotal in America’s success in staying independent after declaring itself to be a sovereign nation. Continue reading
By brownpau
A Metrobus crashed into an Alexandria apartment last night. No one was injured as the resident wasn’t home and the driver had just offloaded his passengers due to a door problem — just before the bus started rolling away — but both apartment and bus appear to have been totalled. WJLA has more, and here’s some video of the scene from Associated Press:
By Brittany
photo: Adam Tuss/WTOP Photo
As shorter people across the metro area (myself included) know, the bars that run along the top of the middle of Metro cars can be quite high, leaving some to crowd around the vertical poles for security. On a full train, this was always challenging, but the problem was exacerbated when WMATA redesigned cars to have even fewer of these poles.
WTOP now reports that WMATA is looking into the issue and will begin adding nylon loops to the ceiling bars in the style seen on many other urban transit systems.
Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
IMG_4238, courtesy of Cavalier92
Located only two hours from downtown DC, Gettysburg is probably the most well-known Civil War battlefield in the nation. Originally begun as a memorial in 1864, the battlefield was established as a National Military Park in 1895 and transferred to the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service in 1933.
The quite Pennsylvania countryside around Gettysburg became the turning point of the Civil War during three days in July 1863. When the smoke settled and the clash of arms subsided, over 20,000 soldiers were injured and close to 50,000 were casualties of the brutal fighting. In the end, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was a broken force; the South would never recover from the defeat. Continue reading
Jeff Maurer
I’ve caught Jeff Maurer at the Hotel Topaz Thursday comedy nights a few times, and one of the things that always struck me is the control in his delivery- most comedians act like they’re telling jokes, which is fine, because hey, you’re at a comedy club. Jeff sounds like he’s telling a story to his friends at the bar, which just adds to the comedic value, I think. See for yourself; I particularly recommend the “Appetizer” clip. You can catch Jeff this week opening for Mike Birbiglia at the DC Improv.
By Ben H. Rome
DSC_9921, courtesy of juan.barredo
Two items of interest today for commuters on both sides of the Potomac: Tysons Corner and MARC.
Tysons Corner. It’s a name that sends shivers up most North Virginian commuters’ spines. Notorious for traffic flow “issues” and the spawning of language more suitable for “R” rated movies, the Tysons area is one big, over-bloated, dysfunctional urban mess.
So can it be fixed? Is it really possible to make Tysons a more commuter- and pedestrian-friendly place to be?
By Wayan
Nationals Stadium Stairs - Already Crumbling
Look at the close-up of these stairs. Note the grip tape at the edge of the steps is already almost gone. And that the star itself has a large crack in it. These would be Nationals Stadium stairs. Wait, let me describe them better:
These are $611 million dollar stairs less than an year old. And they’re already falling apart.
Now you know why the Lerners are withholding payments from the city. I wouldn’t pay a builder if their work was this bad too. I would pay for better shoes though – that would be a whole other stadium attendee.
By brownpau
Quick update on the Foggy Bottom Metro escalators: Friday’s mess was the result of a passenger’s footwear getting stuck on the middle escalator that afternoon, closing it down in addition to the already-under-repair first escalator, so that only one escalator was left open to serve as stairs. As of today, two escalators are open but shut down, both serving as stairs. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
The Redskins are doing their best to impress this pre-season, racking up their third win on Saturday night against the Jets, 13-10, in New York. Soap-opera star, er, quarterback Colt Brennan was impressive for the ‘Skins, leading a fourth-quarter rally to push us over the top. The big story, unfortunately, was that Brett Favre started for the Jets, and that seems to be all anyone can talk about. It’s fine, though, fortunately his presence overshadowed the Skins disappointing performance from their starters. It definitely was the bench that won this game for them.
One little tidbit out of ESPN before we head on to DC United, apparently there’s talk of Usain Bolt heading to the NFL as a receiver. Dan Snyder, if you’re listening, get this guy now. It’d be hilarious to see cornerbacks try to cover the fastest man in the world.
On to United and the Nationals, below the cut.
By brownpau
Foggy Bottom Metro escalators have done it again, this time at the height of the Friday afternoon rush, and I have once again gotten video of the mess:
Last time this happened, only one escalator was barricaded, so desperate riders could at least scamper up the opposing escalator. Today, two were blocked, so only one shut-down escalator was available to serve as narrow stairs for both ascending and descending foot traffic. The result: crowds above and below. Epic fail once more.
Metro police and station personnel were on hand to do what little they could, but that didn’t seem to do much to thin the mass of people. And, as before — after taking this video, I didn’t bother waiting in line; it was faster to just walk the two blocks to Farragut West Station.
This is pretty bad, WMATA. Why have escalators at all if your contractors can’t even maintain them?
By Jonathan
I’ve always wondered what United Airlines did to deserve their treatment at Dulles Airport. I mean, really, you guys have the worst terminal in the airport. No, not sort of. They put you out in ghetto, trailer park, bus stations look better than this, terminal. I don’t know what you did (okay, I can imagine a few dozen things) but the travelers are really paying for your sins.
For anyone who has been to Dulles, there are actually two airports out there. The first, relatively nice, airport is the newly expanded A & B terminal. Getting there is a snap. Come out of the security gates and head towards the brand new tunnel. No shuttle buses for you – those are reserved for the low class section. A long set of escalators in each direction, and some moving walkways, and you emerge in to the Dulles equivalent of airport heaven.
By Ben H. Rome
Have you ever wondered what might be going through the mind of a tourist to our fair area? We see them all around every day, from all corners of the globe – wandering museums, walking the Mall, riding transit. So what if we took a moment to find out what it is they’re thinking as they visit what we see every day?
This is the first in a periodic series of interviews of tourists to our area. Call us curious, but I’m sure all of us at one time or another want to know what these out-of-towners really think about Washington, DC.
So let’s introduce a recent visitor. Meet Diane, from New York City. She actually was in town for the Cherry Blossom Festival; I had enjoyed talking with her then and felt she’d be a great start to this unique series here on WeLoveDC.
By Don
Ocean City, Maryland, courtesy of amishah
When it came time to come up with this week’s getaway column I stepped up to volunteer to cover Ocean City. Why write a full column all by myself when I can instead lean on my darling fiancée to provide me with material on her hometown?
The trip out to Ocean City is notorious at the best of times, but this last week it’s been in the news a lot. I’ve never cared for their dual-tracking on that bridge and I go out of my way to either be on the far right hand lane on the Westbound trip or on the Southernmost bridge when I’m heading East. Once you make it over the Bay Bridge – hopefully without too much tooth grinding – you’re on Kent Island, a perfect not-quite-halfway place to stop for lunch or dinner. We’re partial to the Harris Crab House but there’s no shortage of options.
Put down that last hush puppy and get back on the road, buddy – time’s a-wasting. Continue reading
By Ben H. Rome
Halberd, dated 1611. Courtesy Higgins Armory Museum
Just in case you’re unaware, the Folger Shakespeare Library is now weaponized.
Currently running in a limited engagement, the Folger presents Now Thrive the Armorers:
Arms and Armor in Shakespeare, an exhibit where you come face-to-face with “a wide-ranging collection of armor and weaponry dating from the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries.” For you non-history types, that’s a critical period in arms development, as the nature of warfare across Europe underwent rapid change to keep up with evolving technologies and societal change.
The exhibit features primarily pieces from the Higgins Armory Museum, the largest collection of medieval arms and armor outside of Europe, along with several pieces from the Folger’s collection. According to Amy Arden, a Folger representative I was able to talk to, the “exhibition centers on Shakespearean plays in which arms and armor figure prominently while also exploring ‘real world’ weapons and fighting techniques from the period.”
By Tom Bridge
As much as we’ve been talking about Dulles in our travel columns, it’s interesting to see things take a turn in the construction of the new subway and terminals. 42 illegal laborers were arrested yesterday at the Dulles Construction site. A full 20% of the workers checked by Immigration & Customs Enforcement were tagged as without having valid work documents and were detained pending hearings about their status.
By brownpau
A small track fire on the Red Line at Metro Center prompted single tracking between Dupont Circle and Judiciary Square earlier this morning (around 7:30 AM), causing a cascade of delays down the Red Line in both directions all through the morning rush. The fire has been put out and trains are moving, but between 8:30 and 9:00 AM things were still a fair mess, with crowds of people filling trains and platforms to capacity.
To WMATA’s credit, communication with passengers from train and station PA systems was clear and thorough, and the rush hour crowd, though thick, flowed with tolerable courtesy and smoothness. (As quickly and safely as possible, as they say.) At least, that was my experience getting to work this morning. Does anyone else caught in the crowd feel differently?
(NBC4 reports that the fire started in a “stud post.” What are those?)
Roger Mursick is a standout in the local comedy scene- while most local comics I run into have day jobs and can only work on the road on weekends, Roger has been a working comic for 28 years, traveling to shows nationally as well as appearing at the DC Improv, Wolftrap, and the Laugh Riot at the Hyatt. While Roger has been a syndicated columnist, performed on Comedy Central, and written for The Tonight Show, he frequently does short sets at open mics and smaller venues around DC to stay sharp between corporate and national bookings.
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