Welcome to the Neighborhood: Columbia Heights

I held off on posting this entry for April because I am now officially a resident of this wonderful neighborhood known as Columbia Heights!  On March 23rd, I closed on a condo on DC's "hip strip" and I couldn't be more thrilled.  When I first moved to DC, I knew very little about the various neighborhoods.  Dupont Circle was the only one with which I had some familiarity.  I ultimately landed in Woodley Park, not knowing anything about it, because I found a wonderful apartment building with great staff and fabulous amenities that was actually in my price range.  Woodley Park is a lovely neighborhood, but it's definitely more residential and less a hub for culture, nightlife, or general "goings on."  The band I started playing with here in DC practices in Columbia Heights in the drummer's basement of his beautiful 1890s row house, so I soon found myself in this neighborhood at least once a week.  After a year in the city, I got a better feel for the various neighborhoods (mostly in NW, but some in the other quadrants as well) and started to feel like Columbia Heights (or CoHi as it is often referred) was more the place I belonged, and here's why.

Columbia Heights is home to a plethora of independent bars, restaurants, shops, and arts and music venues as well as big box retail stores like Target and Best Buy, and a large, well stocked Giant grocery store.  Residents have not one, but two metro lines that run through this neck of the woods as well as a Circulator line and several other city bus routes.  There is a combination of old historic row homes interspersed with brand new high rise condos as well as boutique condo conversions, such as the one I just purchased.  CoHi also has plenty of beautiful outdoor space, including a playground, a dog park, and one of my favorite places in the city, Meridian Hill Park.

The neighborhood known as Columbia Heights extends from 16th Street NW to Georgia Avenue NW (west to east) and Spring Road to Florida Avenue (north to south).  It is surrounded by Mt. Pleasant and Adams Morgan to the west, Crestwood and Petworth to the north, Shaw to the south, and Howard University to the east.

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You can check out this Wikipedia post to learn more about the history of this neighborhood.  A couple of interesting highlights include the fact that Duke Ellington bought his first house on Sherman Avenue and Marvin Gaye attended Cardozo High School, both in the Columbia Heights neighborhood.  I've only lived in DC for a relatively short time, but I do know that it wasn't long ago that CoHi had a less than stellar reputation for safety.  It's revitalization and gentrification began with the opening of a Metro Station at 14th and Irving.  Fun fact: Columbia Heights is DC's most economically and ethnically diverse neighborhood.  Real estate options range from public housing to high end condominiums and fully refurbished row homes and racial and socioeconomic demographics have shifted considerably over the last decade.

Some of my favorite spots in CoHi include:

• Meridian Pint - My favorite bar/restaurant in DC.  Great draft beer selection including plenty of DC Brau and tons of vegetarian and vegan meal options for those of us who are meat-free.  Pool tables and shuffleboard in the basement and a really fun trivia night on Wednesdays.

• The Dunes - A mixed media venue, which according to its web site "morphs easily from art gallery to concert venue to retail pop-up shop to cocktail lounge to private event space."  It's a great space in a fabulous location, situated just above The Getaway restaurant.
• Red Derby - Hipsters of the world unite.  The Derby is the quintessential dive bar that only sells beer by the can.  It's also well known and loved for its awesome roof deck and affordable brunch ($2 mimosas when you order food!)  
• DC USA - For better of for worse, big box retailers are pretty useful and the DC USA shopping center combines so many into one space, including Target, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Best Buy, Payless, Marshall's, Staples, and more.
• Red Rocks - It's consistently crowded, but with good reason.  Fantastic venue to grab one of the best slices in the city (definitely in another league than the Jumbo Slice variety).  My band loves to convene here after Sunday afternoon practices.  It's built in an old rowhome, which definitely adds to its charm.
• BloomBars - A non-profit arts venue on 11th Street where you can attend a poetry reading, participate in an open mic, take a dance class, take part in a drum circle, or engage in any other artistic pursuit you can imagine.
• The Wonderland Ballroom - Drink a beer out on the patio after work during the week at this Alice in Wonderland themed venue, participate in one of the most challenging trivia nights in the city on a Tuesday, or dance your ass off upstairs on a Saturday night.

I seriously could keep going... I really do love this neighborhood and am so happy to now call it home.  I am looking forward to doing a little vintage shopping at It's Vintage Darling and taking a class at Quiet Mind Yoga.  It's also almost time for the Columbia Heights Community Marketplace (a seasonal farmer's market) to start up again.  Are you ready?  I certainly am!  Keep abreast on the latest goings on in CoHi on the New Columbia Heights blog and learn more about this diverse and ever-evolving neighborhood on UrbanTurf's neighborhood profile.

DC 101: Stand Right, Walk Left

There's a learning curve involved with moving to a new city.  How late are the bars open?  When do the buses stop running?  How much will a cab cost me from Point A to Point B?  Over time you absorb local knowledge from your friends, co-workers, or all on your own.  You find out why no one goes to a particular 7-11 after dark and which grocery stores are always understocked.  Moving to a new place involves adjustments to new norms, culture, and laws. In the year I've been in the District of Columbia I can't even begin to tell you how much local knowledge I've acquired about not just city living in general, but DC living specifically.  For instance, the Woodley Park metro stop indicates that it is the stop at which you should disembark in order to go to the National Zoo, but the locals know that the zoo is actually equidistant from the Cleveland Park stop and that the walk from the Woodley Park station to the zoo is entirely uphill.  Those in the know get off at Cleveland Park (A) to go to the zoo (B) and then get back on the train in Woodley Park (C).  (This bit of local knowledge is particularly important to those with strollers, or so I'm told.)


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But if there's one bit of local knowledge that stands out above all the rest, one nugget of DC truth that will remain with you until the day you die, it is the following four words:

Stand Right, Walk Left. 

Let me repeat that in case you didn't get it the first time: Stand Right, Walk Left.  It will become your mantra very quickly if you ride DC Metrorail.  We pass on the left when we're in cars, and so shall it be on the escalators as well.  I'm sure once upon a time I was that annoying tourist who didn't have the system down yet and slowed someone's commute by 20 seconds or so, but rest assured, I am now a learned individual.  Now I'm the jaded local who frustratingly and passive aggressively grumbles, "Excuse me..." as I try to meander my way up to or down from the subway platform through the out-of-towner parents who don't seem to realize you can just as easily stand behind your child on the right side rather than blocking traffic by standing beside him or her on the left, or the gossiping teenagers in town on a school field trip to the visit the Smithsonians who congregate in hoards, even on escalators.

Turns out, the "Stand Right, Walk Left" principle is not universal, though.  It's definitely a remnant of DC's Type A way of life; Seattle, for instance has no such rule.  Seattleites aren't in a hurry; they will wait patiently for the escalator to take them where they need to be.  Washingtonians, on the other hand, can't sit still for a minute. 

So what's the moral of this story?  Come on, seriously?  If you haven't figured it out by now, you'd probably best take the elevator.

Where It's At: Amsterdam Falafelshop

Prior to officially moving here in January 2011, I took many recreational trips to the District of Columbia.  I had a fairly large friend network here and since I fell in love with this city on my first visit, when time would permit I didn't hesitate to hop in the car and head southward to visit with folks in my favorite city.  On one of these visits, my friend, Todd, promised to take me to the National Zoo.  Since I was staying in Fairfax on this particular trip with my friend, Sarah, I met him at his apartment in Arlington and we metroed from Clarendon into the city.  It's funny how before you actually know a place, various parts of town seem so disconnected and you don't quite understand how and where everything fits together.  Now that I'm a resident of not just the District of Columbia, but of Woodley Park, I realize how our afternoon fit together.  We got off at the Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan metro stop and walked through Adams Morgan, where I marveled at the beautiful row homes and contemplated the possibility of residing in one of the English basements below them upon my relocation to DC.  It was well past lunch time and we were each fairly hungry, so Todd took me to one of his favorite "fast food" places on 18th Street, Amsterdam Falafelshop.

There are only two things on the menu at Amsterdam Falafelshop, falafel and french fries, and they do each remarkably well.  It's pretty hard to mess this up.  You really only have to make two decisions to place an order: (1) small or large and (2) white or wheat pita.  Once your order is up, however, you have a smorgasbord of toppings at your disposal: hummus, babaganoush, tsatsiki, cucumber salad, hot peppers, and so much more.  The tables have holes cut into them where you can hold your paper cone of french fries.  You can go back as many times as you'd like to the topping bar, so long as you use little plastic cups for your refills.  It's a tiny dining space, but it's got character.  I wouldn't go so far as to say the management has a "soup nazi" attitude, but they can be a little impatient if you arrive at the register and have to him and haw over your order; there are only two decisions to make, after all.  Last Spring, I took advantage of a Scoutmob deal for a free falafel sandwich with my friend, John, and the line was out the door.  It's also a popular late night food destination since it is located in the heart of Adams Morgan and is open until 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.  DC loves Amsterdam Falafelshop and Amsterdam Falafelshop loves DC. Soon, other areas will have the pleasure of experiencing this Adams Morgan treasure; franchising opportunities are now available!

Overheard in DC: State of the Union

The State of the Union address is like the Washington equivalent of the Oscars.

DC Loves Studio Apartments

"It's perfectly normal to have a party in your bedroom!"  --Rachel

The studio apartment - a prominent hallmark of single city living.  One room, many purposes.  As is the case with most major cities, finding affordable housing in a desirable* location is an arduous task.  So what is a young, single DC professional to do to keep a roof over his or her head without being relegated to the wilds of Northern Virginia or Montgomery County?**  The answer is to sacrifice space for place.  The answer is the studio apartment.

Granted, one can find housing on the cheap without living in a glorified shoe box if he/she is down with the roommate thang.  You can find plenty of rooms for rent in very nice row houses throughout the city, but if you're looking for your own place, the studio is the way to go.  The challenge, of course, is how to turn 400-500 square feet (or sometimes less) into "home."  Some things to consider:

• Natural light can really open up a space.  Look for places with lots of sun-facing windows.
• Total number of square feet is less important than how the space is laid out.  450 square feet can look a lot different from one building to the next.
• Keep in mind that you probably are not going to be spending that much time in your apartment anyway.  Between the 9-5 job you work to pay the rent for that apartment, the gym, happy hours, dates, and various social activities, the vast majority of your time inside those four walls will probably be spent sleeping.

My "Living Room"

I think I've done a pretty decent job with my studio in creating distinct spaces (e.g., a "living room" space, a "bedroom" space, a "dining room" space) to minimize the feeling that I live in a single room.  It may seem silly, but psychologically, it makes a discernible difference.

Warming my "house" - April 2011

I also don't let my tiny abode prohibit me from doing one of the things I do best, hosting parties.  While it may seem odd at first to host moderate to large groups of people for gatherings in your studio, it's not quite as weird as you may think.  At a holiday party I hosted back in December, one of my guests joked about how it was *so* DC to throw shin-digs in the room you sleep in.  "It's perfectly normal to have a party in your bedroom," she said.  And she's right!  With so many of us in the same residential boat, it's a non-issue.  If anything, it brings everyone closer together (literally!)

Who says you can't have a fondue party in a studio apartment?

*Desirable can mean either or both of these things: (1) proximal to the places you like to go and the people you like to spend time with, and/or (2) a notable shortage of crack dealers on the corners.

**I kid.  I have plenty of friends who live in NoVa and MoCo and they're both fine places.  :)

Welcome to the Neighborhood: U Street Corridor

As a musician, one of the first questions I had upon moving to DC was where Washingtonians went for live music.  I was given two answers to this question, the first of which was "U Street."  The U Street Corridor isn't actually it's own neighborhood, it's a segment of the Shaw neighborhood, but for all intents and purposes, it's a distinct entity.  The U Street Corridor exists in the Northwest quadrant of the city and extends from 9th and U to 18th and Florida.  It is bordered by Logan Circle to the south, northern Dupont Circle to the west and to the north, Meridian Hill (a hybrid neighborhood that's too far east to be Adams Morgan and too far south to be Columbia Heights).






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My good friend, Wikipedia, gave me all sorts of insights about this part of town that I will happily share with you now.  The U Street Corridor is a historically African American neighborhood.  Until the 1920s, it boasted the nation's largest urban African American community (until it was taken over by Harlem in New York).  Duke Ellington is one of DC's native sons, having grown up on 13th Street between T and S.  A period of neighborhood decline began after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968; the intersection of 14th and U  became the epicenter of violence in the DC riots that followed the assassination.  Consequently, the area's more affluent residents fled and the corridor fell into a period of sharp decline; by the mid-1970s, 14th and U had become a hub for drug trafficking.  It wasn't until the mid-90s that the area began gentrifying.  Development in the adjacent neighborhoods of Adams Morgan and Logan Circle ultimately spread into the U Street Corridor.  As luxury condominium and apartment complexes moved in, rents and property values increased and U Street started to be considered an "up and coming" DC neighborhood.  By 2012, I think it would be a fair assessment to say that it's "come."

U Street is where I go to dance.  Every Friday, DC9 (9th and U) hosts Liberation Dance Party.  Third Saturdays at Liv (11th and U) feature Fatback, the funk/soul "come as you are" dance party I mentioned in this previous post.  The Black Cat hosts lots of interesting dance parties both on its mainstage and backstage.  Cafe St. Ex (14th and T) can be a bit of a meat market in the basement after dark, but hey, some people are into that sort of thing.


I still haven't made it to U Street Music Hall (11th and U) though and I hear that's a fun spot to dance as well.  Patty Boom Boom (14th and U) is supposed to be the spot for reggae in this city.  As with any of my Welcome to the Neighborhood posts, I'll never be able to highlight all of the many destinations of interests, but can at least share a bit about the spots I've come to know and love since moving here.  In addition, being my primary dance destination, U Street also has great dive bars (e.g., Dodge City, 9th and U), some of which also serve as great live music venues (e.g., Velvet Lounge, 9th and U).

The king of all live music venues in Washington is, of course, the 9:30 Club (9th and V), and I'm sure at some point I will devote an entire blog post to just this one place.  I've seen many a show here, my all time favorite of which was Death Cab for Cutie.  The Black Cat (14th and T) has the next largest stage in the area and also features some pretty great acts.  My first DC show was actually at the Cat; I saw The Get Up Kids and it was a killer show.  Velvet Lounge and DC9 are smaller, but more intimate, and typically host more local talent.  My band, J Street (so named for the lack of one in the city, see previous blog post here), for instance has played at the Velvet Lounge twice and has our first DC9 show coming up on January 21st! #gratuitousselfpromotion

I take a lot of videos from live shows I attend, but here are a couple of highlights from my first and from my favorite (so far) DC shows, respectively, and a snapshot from my band's first show at Velvet Lounge:



  My first DC show: TGUK at the Black Cat on March 1, 2011



  My favorite DC show (to date): DCFC at 9:30 Club on June 3, 2011  

My band, J Street's, first show at Velvet Lounge on November 18, 2011

I cannot in good conscience conclude this blog post without mentioning a true U Street institution, an establishment that will eventually get it's own post, the famous Ben's Chili Bowl (12th and U). After a night of consuming live music or dancing up a storm, you will no doubt be hungering for something of a less than healthful nature. This is where Ben's comes in. Starting around midnight, a line starts to snake around the building filled with hoards of drunk and hungry young people demanding half smokes and chili cheese fries (and yes, they have vegetarian chili!)  It is the perfect end to a raucous night out in the District of Columbia.

DC 101: The Exercise Man

It's a Friday afternoon at the intersection of 7th and H Streets NW, just outside Gallery Place, and there's a man spinning in the streets.  Yes, spinning.  His name is Cedric Givens, but he's known more colloquially as "The Exercise Man."  He's one of many local personalities in this city.  I don't know how many times I've seen him twirling in circles or jogging backwards singing loudly to whatever music he has flowing through his earphones, but I do know it was enough times that he deserved a spot in my DC blog.  From what little I could find on the Interwebs about his existence, he lives on H Street NE and has been at this for at least a couple of decades now.  In an interview he did with CNN, he told Anderson Cooper that he runs backwards because it exercises different muscles.  He told DC photographer, Danny Harris, for a piece in his blog, The People's District, that he spins in circles to improve his endurance.  He's apparently not crazy and/or a drug addict; the man is quite literally high on life.  He just loves to run.  Next time you see him, wave hello or give him a high five. 

Here are some videos of the man in action (and there are plenty more where these came from):






Want to learn more about DC's Exercise Man?  Check out the Prince of Petworth blog post about Mr. Givens from earlier this year or this feature on Penn Quarter Living from 2007.  Or better yet, just head outside and catch him in action!  He apparently runs the same route every other day: straight down H Street, past the White House to 20th Street, and then back the same way.