1/17/02:
Sad to report that 12" Dance Records, on P St, will be
closing its doors. Like the admittedly-dumpy costume
shop Backstage which once graced 21st & P, 12" was a
truly unique shop which gave Dupont some character.
Dupont's best photo processor, Photo Focus, in the
18th St courtyard 'tween the Kirkman and the Belgrade,
will be closing. (50%-off sale now in progress.)
Former Redskin Barry Wilburn, who was caught mugging
people at knifepoint in Dupont Circle last September,
escaped from his halfway house. That escape charge is
pending trial with a status date of 1/16. He also has
a pending misdemeanor marijuana charge which is set
for trial 3/6.
Rainbow History Project reports the story of 1724 20th
St, first home of Lambda Rising. See
http://www.rainbowhistory.org/1724.htm
Food Bar DC is now open under Cobalt at 17th & R.
See "Drag Queens Are Out. Drag Kings Rule, and Club
Chaos Is Their Local Dominion,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17052-2002Jan8.html
The Village Voice's Michael Musto reports on his
recent trip to DC, where he says "the queers are
everywhere, gagging at the architecture, delighting in
the power plays, and marveling at the afternoon sex
parties." (Oh, really?) Musto visits Secrets, Perry's,
Velvet Nation, and "a pre-Stonewallish gay steak house
named Annie's." See middle of "La Dolce Musto,"
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0202/musto.php
WP profiles new complex at 15th & O. See "Gatsby's
Residents Say Upscale Rents Are Worth the Money,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32661-2002Jan11.html
WT reviewed two of Dupont's new hip hangouts. See
"Menus are imaginative at Topaz, Bar Rouge,"
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weekend/diningout-200211004344.htm
WP looked at their fashion aspect. See "Washington,
This Is Your Wake-Up Call: Hip new hotels are bringing
eye-opening style to convention city,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55330-2002Jan16.html
GoodWood has reopened with a new aura of saintliness.
Two rooms have had their walls removed, with more
renovations to come. Visit them at 1428 U St.
14th St's Go Mama Go! got a nice profile in the WP.
See "Going Ethnic," (and check out their new hampers)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20386-2002Jan9.html
See note from owner Noi Chudnoff, [1] below.
WP reviewed nearby art gallery at 919 Florida Ave. See
"At Decatur Blue, 'Rooms' With a Voyeur's View,"
http://eg.washingtonpost.com/profile/1067780/
WP says the 9:30 Club was named USA's top nightclub
venue, selling 193,323 tickets for 266 shows.
Marie Reed pool is now open, Monday through Friday.
Open swim/laps 3:00 - 5:30, laps 5:30 - 8:00.
InTowner covers Adams Morgan's new parking garage. See
"Adams Morgan Garage on 18th Street Opens With Ribbon-
Cutting Ceremony,"
http://www.intowner.com/fr/issue/stories/story1.htm
Mt Pleasant's The People Garden - the Home Rule of
grocery stores - is offering bargain organic produce
boxes for winter. See [2] below.
Mayor announced plan to spend $23 million to buy 250
abandoned homes within 20 months, including some in
Columbia Heights, and resell them to developers and
the usual assortment of low-income housing advocates.
See "District Has Big Plans for Vacant Homes,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51752-2002Jan15.html
See also "City to rehab vacant homes,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/14/daily34.html
I'm leery of the government stepping in as a
middleman. Are clean-it-or-lien-it laws and
delinquent tax collection not a sufficient incentive
for the owners to invest in or sell their properties?
G'town will get its second 24-hour diner this fall,
near Wisc Ave and N St, by owner of Tahoga. (The
Georgetown Cafe, at 1623 Wisc Ave, is the first.)
The Current reports on urgings to widen M St's
sidewalks in G'town as part of the coming streetscape
renovation. See "Georgetown board says ho hum to
streetscape," [3] below.
The Current reports on planning process for waterfront
park at foot of Wisc Ave. See "Design panel considers
look of Georgetown Waterfront Park," [4] below.
More news on 5th & K lot winner. See "Tivoli Developer
Gets Nod as Lead in Partnership for Wax Museum Site,"
http://www.intowner.com/fr/issue/stories/story2.htm
See also "Developer ready to take up residence at
museum site,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/14/focus6.html
This spring will see the opening of an "art cafe" on
7th St across from new convention center, adjoining
the Warehouse Theatre (home to GALA Theatre and the
odd-yet-serious 11:00 Show, which returns in April).
Owners plan a bar, coffee bar, and "simple,
interesting, good food." See [5] below.
WP looks at boost given to 7th St restaurants like
Capital Q, District Chophouse and Fadó. See "Wizards'
Jordan Works Magic on Downtown D.C.: Business Is Brisk
Around MCI Center,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59419-2002Jan3.html
WP looks at empty building across from MLK Library
being turned into condos. See "Refitting a D.C.
Masterpiece: After a Decade of Neglect, Mather
Building Is Finally Getting the Overhaul It Needs,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41014-2002Jan13.html
More info on Shakespeare Theatre's plans for a new
stage at 7th & F. See "Shakespeare Theatre to Consider
A $75 Million Second Building Downtown,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11383-2002Jan7.html
See also "Shakespeare Theatre more likely to be
than not with $30M start,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/07/daily30.html
WBJ reports House of Blues might come to old Discovery
store spot at 7th & F, and Woodies building is being
mentioned as possible home for Best Buy, Circuit City,
Virgin Records, Crate & Barrel, Container Store, or
Linens 'n Things. See "Supermarkets in, movie theaters
out for 2002 anchors,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/07/newscolumn7.html
WP looks at Chevy Chase Circle, saying "transportation
planners are considering a combination of signs,
pavement markings and possibly rumble strips to slow
traffic." See "City Putting Brakes on Circle: Lights,
Signs to Shield Accident-Scarred Park in Chevy Chase,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20319-2002Jan9.html
I wish we could make it easier, and safer, to walk
into Dupont Circle past the four lanes of traffic.
WBJ reports on massive office and retail complex
planned for 7-acre empty lot at 1st & M NE. See
"Penrose finalizes NoMa complex,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/07/story5.html
Capitol Hill will get new black box theater space at
1365 H St NE. See "Former French’s Restaurant Site
Will Become The H Street Playhouse,"
http://www.voiceofthehill.com/latest.htm#Playhouse
WP profiles DC's new forester, Mark Buscaino. See
"Reversing Decades of Neglect: City Seeks to Restore
Dwindling Green Space,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20317-2002Jan9.html
Some stats from the WBJ bear repeating: According to
"the Small Business Survival Committee, the District's
business climate ranks 51st overall in comparison to
the 50 states, making D.C. the most 'anti-
entrepreneurial' jurisdiction in the country. Why?
Just look at the District's relative rankings:
* Corporate income taxes (50th)
* Crime rate (51st)
* Personal income tax rates (48th)
* Property taxes (36th)"
See "Tax parity, or tax parody?,"
http://washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/14/editorial1.html
The Landmark art-house theatres that were supposed to
open in Lincoln Square downtown are now set to open in
Bethesda Row, with 8 screens and an espresso bar.
Dr. Gridlock looks at pedestrian communities within
DC. See "Looking for Car-Free Communities,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55256-2002Jan16.html
January 17 - 20: Hordes descend on DC for Mid-Atlantic
Leather weekend. See http://www.leatherweekend.com/
Friday, January 18: Miss Pixie's at Dupont opens at
noon. Opening party 5-7, 1608 20th St.
Saturday, January 26: Opening reception for "Susan
Smith-Pinelo: Dances with Hip Hop," 6-8pm at Fuzebox.
See [6] below.
Best regards,
Michael
------------------------------------------------------
[1]
Go Mama Go would like to thank Home Rule, friends in
the neighborhood and the gay community for supporting
us. Our biggest thanks are for those of you who also
purchased art. The store profit went into sending
Patrick Campbell to paint for three months in
Guatemala. We will send Shawn Davis/photographer to
Cuba in June.
Go Mama Go is opening an art gallery/artist studio
in April. It will be on 14th St. Our aim is to make
art accessable and as a part of every day living. We
are merely trying to connect the artists with our
neighborhood.
------------------------------------------------------
[2]
People Garden launches Winter Organic Produce Boxes
The People Garden Health Market has launched a new
effort to provide the community fresh organic produce
at lower prices and support local farmers during the
winter months. For the last couple of years, Community
Harvest has organized a Community Supported
Agriculture produce program during the winter months
to help support Tuscarora Cooperatives of local family
organic farms. This year, Community Harvest's
executive director John Friedrich has asked The People
Garden to organize the project. We will be donating
$1.00 per box to Community Harvest for their
assistance in launching the project and spreading the
word.
The boxes will contain a variety of at least 10 all
organic produce items. Typically, they will include
salad greens, cooking greens, apples and/or pears,
carrots, broccoli, squash, and potatoes among other
items. Tuscarora offers very unique, seasonal produce
which is always a treat and rare to find elsewhere.
Boxes are sold at a rate of $25.00, which is a 25%
savings off the retail price. Additionally, we are
offering a voucher for 10% off your in-store shopping
to be used on the day of pick-up. The boxes may be
picked up from 4:00 p.m. on Fridays until 8:00 p.m.
Sundays. Credit cards must be kept on file or
pre-payment made by Wednesdays to secure pick-up.
Orders must be placed by close of business on
Wednesdays, or you may place a standing order for
several weeks in advance. Gift certificates are also
available for a present or to help someone who may be
in need this year.
For more information, please contact Jeff or Ward at
232-4753 or stop by the market at 3155 Mount Pleasant
Street.
------------------------------------------------------
[3] [from January 9, 2001 Georgetown Current]
Georgetown board says ho hum to streetscape
By CHARLES BERMPOHL
Current Staff Writer
The three architects on the Old Georgetown Board found
little to like about Streetscape -- a $9 million plan
to use stone, brick, slate, lighting, trees and color
to invigorate the historic community's commercial hub
after the underground utility work is completed.
In a strong rebuke to the urban design team the
city assembled to give commercial Georgetown -- the
north-south Wisconsin Avenue and the east-west M
Street -- a distinctive new look, the board members
not only said ho hum to the official Streetscape look
but expressed excitement over the one design element
the city has nixed: a wider sidewalk for M Street.
Fans of a fat sidewalk -- including developer
Anthony Lanier -- have no cause to rejoice, however.
The board's role in Streetscape is only advisory. And
the city's transportation chief repeated his stand
that turning the sidewalk into a widewalk is not going
to happen.
The Old Georgetown Board, set up as a division of
the federal Commission of Fine Arts to make sure
proposed private and semipublic buildings don't do
damage to historic preservation guidelines, made its
thoughts known at its regular meeting on Thursday.
"We spent nearly three hours walking the site, and
our concern is that a lot of work is being done and a
lot of money is being spent and we didn't see a lot of
improvement," said board chair Mary Oehrlein to Dan
Tangherlini, acting director of the District's
Division of Transportation.
But widening the sidewalks, she said, "would be
very positive." Her two colleagues said much the same
thing.
John McCartney said reducing M Street's six lanes
of traffic to five -- a necessity if the north and
south sidewalks are each given an additional five feet
in width -- "would just be terrific."
And Heather Cass said to Tangherlini, "Ask yourself
if you're really improving" the look of Georgetown if
the wide sidewalks aren't part of the plan.
"In a perfect world I'd agree -- widen the
sidewalks," said Tangherlini.
But he also wanted everybody to understand that
what with "extremely limited resources," plus the fact
that "tens of thousands of people" use M Street to get
to Key Bridge and Virginia every day, the perfect
world did not exist.
"It just can't happen right now," he said after the
meeting.
Peter Pulsifer, who chairs the Georgetown advisory
neighborhood commission, said he, too, favors the wide
sidewalks as a concept. But, he said, "How do we get
all those commuters to Virginia," without doing
something more radical than pinching the street and
stretching the sidewalks.
Pulsifer said he was surprised by the board's
aggressiveness in promoting the idea. "I didn't think
they would push it this hard."
Following his appearance before the board,
Tangherlini put the best face on things. "I thought it
was an extremely positive meeting," he said.
But it was hard to find the positives, much less
the extreme positives.
Oehrlein said that the bluestone being contemplated
for some sidewalks did not relate to the storefronts,
that the planned new but same size sidewalks were far
too busy with poles and signs and parking meters, and
that the treeboxes being planned for the new trees
made everything "a hundred times worse."
Board secretary Charles Atherton criticized the
proposed curb cuts as being too close together and too
close to the existing buildings. He said the double-
globe streetlights were out of sync with the original
plans for the city and found accidents in the making
in the large numbers of light poles planned for
Georgetown's narrow sidewalks. "You walk out of a
restaurant and bam! You walk into a light pole."
But Tangherlini seemed pleased with what the
Streetscape designers had come up with. "The net
result," he said of the overall plan, "is a Georgetown
that looks better and moves better."
------------------------------------------------------
[4] [from January 16, 2001 Georgetown Current]
Design panel considers look of Georgetown Waterfront
Park
By CHARLES BERMPOHL
Current Staff Writer
A design committee of the Georgetown Waterfront
Commission met last week to consider putting an
obelisk at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue -- or, if that
doesn't work, a 130-foot high illuminated flagpole.
Those are some of the notions that have been passed
along to the commission to help it figure out how best
to create a look to the park that would knock people's
socks off.
It is the National Park Service that will run the
10-acre park, and Sally Blumenthal, its deputy
associate regional director, said the agency will be
evaluating the resumes of architectural firms that
specialize in designing parks.
"They will be evaluating resumes, not concepts,"
she said of the company that will work with the Park
Service to screen the applicants and select the actual
designer of the park.
Blumenthal then showed a list of park ideas
submitted by Georgetowners that included the obelisk
and the flagpole.
Other ideas included an art sculpture, "a
reciprocal focal point from Wisconsin Avenue on Teddy
Roosevelt Island," the "softening" of the Whitehurst
Freeway columns with flags or banners, and a fountain.
One idea that was shot down right off was placing a
Clyde's restaurant on the second floor of Thompson's
Boat House. "Putting us in Thompson's doesn't work for
us," said Clyde's representative Tom Meyer.
The local restaurant chain had long wanted to put a
restaurant on the Potomac River itself, but a U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers official said recently that
the floating restaurant was probably not going to
happen.
Meyer said the Army Corps official, George
Harrison, was "not looking favorably on the project."
But Meyer said that he still had hopes and that he was
going to meet with Harrison soon.
John Parsons, the National Park Service's associate
regional director for land use coordination, said any
discussion about replacing the river restaurant with
boathouses was premature.
Certain park principles included retaining Jack's
Boats, rehabilitating and expanding Thompson's,
helping to get a restaurant built under the Key
Bridge, lining up evening activities in the park but
forbidding "chili cookoffs," and creating multiple
river overlooks from various focal points.
The cost to build the park has been estimated at $8
million.
------------------------------------------------------
[5]
We are starting to work on the cafe that is going in
part of the Studio 7 space in front of Warehouse
Theater. The cafe with coffee bar, bar, and simple,
interesting, good food will be open by spring we hope.
We want anyone who is interested, wants to help, wants
to share ideas, or anything else to be involved. We
especially hope the artists who have been involved in
ArtRomp, Studio 1019 or Studio 7 and all those
involved with the theaters who have been part of the
theater space will be interested in the idea and
participate. Any ideas? Want to be part of this? It is
our intention to continue the gallery with the
addition of the cafe.
We want this great spot to retain the ambiance of our
part of town, the past of the buildings, and
especially its function as a gallery and theater. As
you know, art and theater spaces are not completely
supported by the art and theater so we want to support
ours with more fun and a lively place to be.
Those who have attended any theater or art events are
encouraged to be in touch and tell us what you think,
come up with ideas, and help out.
And if anyone knows of a good plumber or electrician,
let us know!
We can be reached at Warehouse 202 783 3933 Paul
Molly - cell 202 257 5989 home 301 654 2580
Paul pwr@warehousetheater.com
Molly ruppertm@erols.com
Look forward to hearing from you
- mmr
------------------------------------------------------
[6]
Fusebox, located at 1412 Fourteenth Street, NW in
Washington, DC, is pleased to announce its upcoming
exhibition, SUSAN SMITH-PINELO: DANCES WITH HIP HOP,
opening January 26 and running through March 3, 2002.
A reception for the artist will be held Saturday,
January 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
The keys that unlock the riches of contemporary black
female identity lie not in choosing Latifah over
Lil'Kim, or even Foxy Brown over Salt-N-Pepa. They
lie at the magical intersection where those contrary
voices meet the juncture where "truth" is no longer
black and white but subtle, intriguing shades of gray.
Joan Morgan, When Chickenheads Come Home To Roost: My
Life as a Hip Hop Feminist (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1999)
Through her video work, Smith-Pinelo addresses the
notion of female identity within the complex,
sometimes misogynistic world of hip-hop.
Simultaneously bewitched by the power and beauty of
hip-hop music and dance, and affronted by degrading
depictions of women in lyrics and videos, she explores
the tension inherent in this contradiction, attempting
in the process to reconcile her tenuous position
within the culture. For Smith-Pinelo, the video
installation, Dances with Hip Hop, is a blunt
examination of hip-hop and its hold over me. How does
a feminist deconstruct hip-hop, especially when she is
(not so secretly) in love with the genre despite all
its offenses? This is the core question I pose to
myself and the viewer in Dances With Hip Hop. The
piece features the body of a young African-American
woman disaggregated into a head, a pair of tits, and
an ass. The woman gyrates to a disjointed and
syncopated groove--a hip-hop song that only she hears
and that the viewer must imagine. Dances With Hip Hop
is about my search for a place in the popular culture
I love--even though it doesn't always love me back.
Susan Smith-Pinelo, 2002
Smith-Pinelo has garnered critical attention for her
work in two recent acclaimed group exhibitions:
Sometimes (1999) appeared in the 2001 Freestyle show
at the Studio Museum in Harlem, then traveled to the
Santa Monica Museum; and Cake, 2001, currently at the
Bronx Museum of the Arts, will travel to the Walker
Art Center in July.
For further information, please contact Sarah Finlay
at (202) 299-9220. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday
12:00-8:00 pm and Sunday 12:00-6:00 pm.
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