Adams Morgan Blog

Click on image for large view. See end note on source.  The columns and long steps leading up the old Church of Christ Scientist in Adams Morgan give it the feeling of a federal building.  The plan to convert it into a hotel , part of a new line of boutique hotels,   Edition , designed by Ian Schrager, will preserve the columns, steps and general outline of the church. The 179 rooms will be in a new 10-story structure. In the rendering above, the former church space will serve as the hotel’s main lobby. It shows plans for two bars and a restaurant. It’s a large space, and it’s not hard to imagine areas of dramatic light and height. Schrager’s Edition hotels are being built with a design philosophy that calls for “rare individuality” in each property along with an “unique ethos” that “will reflect the best of the cultural and social milieu of its location and of the time. “ But how will Schrager interpret the “unique ethos” of Adams Morgan? Will the former churc...

Just discovered that iPad doesn't support blogger, so we are trying this blogpress app. It seems to provide some capability but not the ability to resize photos. any recommendations for an iPad app that makes custom photo sizing easy? Location: Dc

The reason Vincent Gray won this election was economics of the most basic kind. School reform turned job security on its head.  District employees were wary of another  Adrian  Fenty term and the risk that it might prompt him to expand his more radical approaches and layoffs.   Employees, in any company, dread upheaval even if it promises new opportunities.  In the election 126,000 people voted, or 34% of eligible voters. The District employs approximately 32,000 employees.  No doubt a large number of these employees live in the District and since most District jobs are middle income, the highest concentration of these workers likely live in Wards that went heavily to Gray.  District employees, plus friends and family, make up a sizeable voting bloc and enough to swing an election.   District civil servants have a powerful incentive to vote in any mayoral race. And in this race, they had no incentive to vote for Fenty.  ...

Wok n' Roll, at 604 H Street NW, in Chinatown, is evidently planning to open up a restaurant at 18th and Belmont Street. The space had formerly been the home of the Prince Cafe, a houka bar. The menu . It's the second restaurant new restaurant to (pending) open in heart of Adams Morgan. Snap, which has a store in Georgetown, recently opened a second location on 18th near Columbia.

There's a new store opening near Columbia and 18th that will focus on urban gardening supplies. It's called Urban Sustainable , and it plans to stock organic seeds, hydroponic supplies, grow lights, tools, as well as offer vegetative roofing consultation and installation. It says this about itself: "Based in the heart of Adams Morgan, Urban Sustainable will help you set up your own garden." It is occupying the old locksmith store at 1787 Columbia Rd. This sounds like an excellent addition to the neighborhood. There been some rising angst lately over the number of vacancies in Adams Morgan; most notably the recent closing of Design Within Reach at 1838 Columbia St., and Blockbuster. But new places are opening as well. Snap, a longtime Georgetown fixture, just opened a restaurant on 18 th near Columbia. It serves crepes, bubble tea and smoothies. (I just had a banana smoothie there and it was very good.) Snap also has plenty of seating.   I don't know w...

The scene: 7 a.m Monday morning, Columbia and 18th.

Here are a few of things that were wrong with the Blockbuster in Adams Morgan. -- From time to time, areas in the store had to be roped off because of water leaking from the ceiling. -- If the line was long, checking out a disk could take, it seemed, forever. -- A rental cost more than a rental download off iTunes. -- You needed to clean the DVD before using it if you wanted to watch uninterrupted. But I will really miss the place. A sign announcing its closing was put up Sunday. Everybody knew this coming. Ever since Blockbuster closed its 17th Street store in October last year, it was clear what was going on. Blockbuster, the company, is a mess. The stock was selling for about 14 cents this morning, down from its dizzying heights of $1.50 last year. It was delisted this year from the New York Stock Exchange. This rental store was a favorite. I often stopped in there at night when the apartment was feeling claustrophobic. The selection was tiny compared to online, but its physical d...

I was walking by Walter Pierce Park just as this happened, but did not realize what had taken place until some messages about it appeared on the Adams Morgan neighborhood mailing list. What I saw was a man, perhaps in his 30s, who held his fairly large golden hair dog tightly against his body while apologizing to a woman with a baby. The baby was crying. The dog owner seemed stressed and upset, but my initial impression was that the dog probably startled and scared the child.  To stop and linger would have been rude and this is all I can recall of it. But since this incident, the mother has posted messages on the neighborhood mailing list in an attempt to locate dog's owner. She needs to confirm that the dog was up-to-date on its shots; without that confirmation, the baby will go through some rounds of preventive shots. The photo above is of a sign outside of the dog park entrance at Walter Pierce Park. As of tonight, there's been no word. I would recognize the man ...

They had to be laughing it up in the Post newsroom when they put this headline on the BP oil spill story on the Express last week. Check out this collection: The Funniest Headline Fails Of All Time (PICTURES) (Just scroll over the images and the larger size will appear).

Here are three possibilities for explaining what's captured in this photo. (1) This is an attempt at a new art form called tree stump aesthetics , in which the stump is kept at roughly the same height of structures that are in close proximity. This gives the tree stump balance and the continuing appearance of useful purpose. (2) It is a product of BP's landscaping division. All the useful functionality of this tree, it's energy producing potential realized through photosynthesis, was obliterated and what remained is a stump that only delivers blight. (3) This is an Adams Morgan community art project to call attention to the perils of attention deficit disorder. The landscaping goal was to remove to stump, but someone got distracted. (4) It will grow back.* *Afterthought possibility. A storm a couple of weeks ago toppled the tree just past the Adams Mill bar.

Large crowd in Dupont Circle to watch the World Cup games; some large television screens were set up and people camped out on every inch of lawn.

It may seem mad to write a second post about the price of blueberries in Adams Morgan. Nonetheless, there's a point to be made. To recap: At Harris Teeter on Kalorama Road and Giant in Columbia Heights you can buy two pints of blueberries for $5.00 and $4.99 respectively, or about 15.5 cents per ounce. The Safeway on Columbia Road was selling blueberries this weekend at two six ounce packages for $3.99 per package or 66.5 cents per ounce. The latest: Tuesday night the price of blueberries at Safeway was $6.99 per pint or 43.6 cents per ounce. In sum, it will cost you $14 to buy two pints of blueberries at Safeway but if you shop at Harris Teeter or Giant you will pay $5 for two pints, a $9 difference. One of the reasons why the eating habits of people is an issue in urban areas is because stores such as Safeway overprice the food products that people should be buying. It's also why the idea of a 1 cent tax per ounce on soda was a bad idea. The soda tax doesn't f...

The Safeway on Columbia Road always seems to disappoint. This week I bought some blueberries, two packages for $3.99 each. It wasn't the plan. I was totally misled by the sign's placement above the blueberries. It's one package for $3.99. Safeway is charging 66.5 cents per ounce of blueberries. I felt totally ripped off after checking my receipt and even asked the clerk to double check the prices. Harris Teeter sign At Harris Teeter on Kalorama Road and Giant in Columbia Heights you can buy two pints of blueberries for 5.00 and 4.99 respectively, or about 15.5 cents per ounce. I went to Safeway again today to double check the blueberry price. It hadn’t change, but the store had no blueberries. The local Safeway staff is excellent, and I have many good things to say about them, but the corporate operations is out of touch with its competition and its residents. At one time, for instance, the local Safeway sold generic store brand diet root beer for $2.50 a 12 pack. I bought ...

I was walking home last night around 11 p.m. (after being forced to see Sex in the City where I was and-I-kid-you-not one of 10 men in a packed theater), and saw a black purse in front of 2630 Adams Mill Rd. It was on the ledge, in the grass, open and some of its contents spilled out. I didn't touch it but flagged down a DC cop driving by and told him about it. He checked it out and called it in. It had all the earmarks of a stolen purse that the thief discarded after removing any valuables before, in all probability, then fleeing in the nearby park.

I don’t know anything about this art but I love it. It’s urban, mysteriously revolutionary and evocative of DC. It’s also disappearing. This photo was taken at 14th and U near the bus stop closest to Columbia Heights. It was on the side of a building that now looks as if it is part of a construction site and behind a wire fence. Judging from the damage on this installation, it will probably disappear soon enough. There’s a similar installation on P Street near 14th, on the exterior wall of the hardware store. One of the things I especially like about this U Street work is how refreshingly different it from the colorfully vibrant, cartoonish and sometimes tiring installations that appear on buildings, particularly in Adams Morgan.

The temporary Mount Pleasant Library is very attractive. Excellent color scheme, comfortable and adds some new vibrancy to the area. The book selection is small; just a fraction of the original collection. But I've used the DC public library’s online reserve system to great success. You can find many stories on the library's shelves. Tonight, I was checking out the library's new book section and to my right on a library shelf was the smiling face of Jim Graham, councilman for Ward One. Imagine. The picture is on some library promotion material. Graham, in case you have missed the red signs he had installed throughout Ward One, is running for re-election. Reading informs which is exactly what Graham didn’t do at the debate in Adams Morgan last week for the Ward One candidates. Graham is running against Jeff Smith, an ex-school board member and Bryan Weaver, who is a four term ANC commissioner. Weaver headed the local commission until he was replaced by a Graham staff member...