Photo by PoPville flickr user mosley.brian

The following was written by Sarah Katz-Hyman. Sarah is a student at University of Maryland and lives in College Park.

Museum Musings

I visited some of my favorite museums (only three on this day) and here are my “oldy but goody” exhibits and “new and exciting.” This list is by no means exhaustive, so please share some of your favorite exhibits from these museums and others.

National Air and Space Museum

Oldy but Goody: The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age

The Wright Brother’s famous first flight occurred in 1903, and now in 2013 we have another rover on Mars, satellites that are reaching the end of our solar system and the ability to fly cross country in about five hours. This exhibit is classic and humbling to think about just how far flight and technology has come.

New and Exciting: Moving Beyond Earth

Who hasn’t thought about being an astronaut for at least one second (literally everyone has, especially if you just read that). This exhibit helps visitors imagine the life of an astronaut through hands-on stations, live lectures and video.

Note: Although I didn’t go this trip, if you have are able to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly you should definitely go. It’s a huge hanger with a ton of cool and important planes throughout history. Highlights for me are the Enola Gay, the Concorde and of course the Space Shuttle Discovery – all three pieces important to the history of aviation, culture and politics.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Going to the Movies is written by Mount Vernon Triangle resident Catherine Taegel.

This week I saw “Warm Bodies” starring Nicholas Hoult as R, the zombie with a heart. This is Hoult’s first stab at the starring role in a film. (You can see him later this year as Jack in “Jack the Giant Slayer”as well.) The story is a of world post zombie apocalypse, but with a twist. R, the young zombie, falls in love with a much alive young female human, and begins to feel again. A friend referred to it as the best both worlds for a date night – zombies for the guys and romance for the ladies. I can get down with that, but I did relatively enjoy both sides.

The film opens with R aimlessly wondering (stumbling) around an abandoned airport with other zombies. His internal dialogue shows us that unlike most zombies we’ve encountered before, there is something in him. He has habits, a personality, and his sarcastic voiceover guiding each scene exposes the utter ridiculousness that is zombies. Since the sole purpose of zombies is to eat humans, it’s befitting that R discovers his one true love on a quest for a meal.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Going to the Movies is written by Mount Vernon Triangle resident Catherine Taegel.

Last evening I saw a screening of “Parker” starring Jason Statham (“The Italian Job” &“The Transporter” trilogies) and Jennifer Lopez.  The movie was exactly what I expected it to be – it is starring Jason Statham after all – but I was actually alright with that. Jason Statham has created a nice little action star niche and he is in his groove in Parker.

With all of the heavy hitter movies out there these days – Lincoln, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo – we all need a little mindless entertainment. And I mean that in a good way. Parker is not going to win any awards. It’s no cinematic feat with a carefully crafted script. It’s a typical action film that doesn’t quite stand up to “Bad Boys” but is at least better than “Public Enemies”.

Jason Statham stars as Parker, a thief who would like to think he has a moral compass, but let’s face it – he’s about kicking ass and taking names. Again, it is Jason Statham. The plot is surface level –  he gets wronged and wants to get even. It really is that simple. The movie opens at the Ohio State Fair and while the entire encounter maybe lasts around ten minutes, it’s probably the longest scene in one place in the entire movie. That’s an action movie for you though – continuously moving with the guide of a revolving door of stolen cars.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Last night I watched “The Impossible” with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. The film is about the true story of the Belon family who miraculously survived the deadly tsunami that hit Thailand on December 26, 2004 and killed 230,000 people. Watching “The Impossible” I already knew the ending. It’s no spoiler alert. You know the family survives, but that clearly wasn’t the intention of the film. The journey of a family played a supporting role to the real story of sheer devastation that happened in an instant, with no notice at all. This film was about impact.

“The Impossible” opens in darkness. A thunderous sound, that you assume is the tsunami, grows louder and louder. Seconds later the screen comes alight and the sound climaxes as a plan soars overhead. We are introduced to the Bennett family – Maria, Henry, Lucas, Thomas, and Simon (10, 8, and 5, respectively) – on a plane coming into Thailand to spend Christmas at a beautiful resort right on the Indian Ocean. The first twenty or so minutes of the film are a purposeful build-up. The family relaxes, enjoys a beautiful Christmas day, and expects the next days to be as perfect as the last. The scenes show peace, comfort, and blissful ignorance. However, the audience knows what’s coming and my heart raced as I waited for the impending moment.

Director Juan Antonio Boyana (The Orphanage) did respect to the experience of going through this disaster. He wanted you to feel the terror, pain, and anguish that undoubtedly surrounded the moments just before, during, and after the tsunami. Mission accomplished. You watch the sea rise up, people freeze and brace for the impact, and then you’re at Maria. She’s clinging for dear life to a palm tree and shrieks with terror. It’s real. This is happening. She hears the screams of her oldest son, Lucas (Tom Holland), and watches as he is whisked away by the sea. You feel her maternal instincts as she lunges into the wave, leaving the seeming safety of the palm tree, to get to him. Another wall of water comes rushing to shore and the terror occurs all over again. It is truly unbelievable.

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The following map was made by Sarah Hank. She contributed a crime map of DC here, a sewage and plumbing map of DC here, and a housing values map here.

When DC’s population explodes for a days-long of celebration of the 2nd inauguration of Barack Obama this coming weekend, not everyone will be dusting off their screen printed Obama family portrait sweatshirts or marching to the mall via several human funnels with their YES WE DID signs in tow. Even though DC did go 91% for Obama, there are still quite a few who voted for Mr. Romney. In case you were wondering where those people live, I made this highly predictable map of which voting precincts recorded the highest numbers of votes for Romney on election day. The proportional circles (placed at the center of each census tract – not the same as voting precincts) represent average household income based on the 2010 American Community Survey. If you mouse over the circles, you’ll see average income displayed, and if you mouse over the precinct, you’ll see the percentage vote for Romney and Obama (sorry Jill Stein and Gary Johnson).

Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

Going to the Movies is a new PoPville feature by Mount Vernon Triangle resident Catherine Taegel.

I’m Catherine Taegel, a MVT resident, and member of the wonderful DC Film Society(which anyone can join!). I have had no formal training in reviewing movies, but as a lover of all movies – old, new, big, and small – I look to provide thoughtful reviews that will intrigue and guide locals as they attempt to sort through the various cinema offerings in our area.

The other night I attended the screening of “Zero Dark Thirty” at the Regal Gallery Place cinema. Telling a story that is so engrained into the very fabric of our society is a tall order, even for Kathryn Bigelow, whose movie “The Hurt Locker”, portraying the war in Iraq, won a slew of awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture, in 2010. She’s no stranger to controversy – often criticized for glamourizing and sensationalizing war and the personal stories occurring within them. Her direction of “Zero Dark Thirty” is no different.

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Jeremy Barr is a writer and journalism student. A native of suburban Maryland, he now lives in Mount Vernon Square. He last wrote about Green Hat Gin.

In early December, I noticed a police truck attached to a light tower on M Street NW between 4th and 5th streets (pictured). A few days later, the light was set up near my house, a few blocks away. It was switched on late at night and stayed on until morning.

I spoke with an officer on the scene, and he said that the light was a response to two recent muggings in the area. Angled as it was, the police light made our living room ceiling light almost unnecessary, cutting down our electricity bill dramatically, I’m sure. But after only a handful of nights, just as we were starting to get used to it, the police truck and light disappeared.

I checked with a spokesman for the city police department to find out more, and heard back from Lieutenant Derek Larsen, who patrols the encompassed area, Police Service Area (PSA) 308.

Lt. Larsen confirmed that the light was a response to a series of muggings in November:

“All of our victims report that the suspects came up from behind them and committed the robbery. We have found that when robberies like this occur the suspects were hiding behind vehicles and in between buildings. We have found that these towers assist us in deterring robberies and burglaries as well as order maintenance crimes, such as drinking in public.”

Larsen said that each of the Metropolitan Police Department’s patrol districts has a light tower assigned to it, and that in this case, the department immediately saw results.

Incidentally another reader sends in a photo of a light tower (above) and writes:

This light tower showed up on both sides of the Harrison Square complex (13&W) after a mugging the night before. Below is an email we received from a resident.

Everyone,
Apologies for the scary email but better that people know and will be alert. Monday night, a little before midnight, a Harrison Square resident was robbed at gunpoint on 12th place by the parking alley and V street. There were two or three assailants, and they were likely hiding near the bushes at the entrance way to the courtyard underneath the decks. No injuries, but wallet and phone were stolen. The criminals ran off towards U street – no news yet on whether anyone has been caught.

Police arrived quickly and a full report was made.

Jack Van Paepeghem works at Meridian Pint and is a Certified Cicerone® You can read his previous post about travels in Sea Change Pale Ale here.

Cellaring

Last time we talked it was about drinking beer fresh and enjoying all those bright green, resiny, juicy, citrusy hops as if they were right off the bine. By all means, continue to drink your IPA’s, pales and other bitter bombs as soon as possible, but how about we celebrate the New Year with some old beers. Old, in this sense refers not to the stale, mistreated, and outdated ones, but beers that have been carefully put down with age and ready for consumption and true appreciation. The idea of a “new” or another year may have some worried as their days are numbered, but for beer, it can be quite the opposite. I want to address the question of why and how we should age beer, and when it is best for consumption.

So first off, if brewers have complete control over their ingredients, process, and final product, why shouldn’t we just drink their beers when they are released instead of aging them? This question has a couple leads. First, when we consider a beer as “fresh” it is also implied that a beer is made ready to drink. Several breweries may have a product ready for sale but instead choose to either hold the beer in bottles, barrels, stainless steel tanks, or other mediums so the beer may have time to come together and for higher alcohols to settle out. For example, the original IPA’s of Great Brittan were aged in wood barrels for up to a year before they were released to the public because they were so harsh and bitter that nobody would’ve cared for them “fresh.” Otherwise, brewers intend on creating beers which have favorable characteristics both when fresh and when aged. One of my favorites is Sierra Nevada’s Bigfoot Barleywine (that should be hitting the market any day now) which has a juicy, citrusy, piney hop aroma and flavor with a biting bitterness, but as they beer gets a couple years on it, the hops fade and the caramel and toffee malt flavors develop into something complex and warming.

This then begs the question of which beers are worth aging and which are potentially better fresh? In all honesty, it depends on each particular beer and the individual tastes of who is aging it, but one can apply the following guidelines:

-Look for beers with an ABV of 8% or higher. Alcohol is a natural preservative and keeps a potentially perishable product intact and helps the maturation process over time. Beers which do not follow this rule of thumb are generally Belgian Lambics and Gueuzes which are around 6% but contain live yeast and are bottle conditioned.

-Beers which are bottle conditioned contain living yeast in the bottle (whether capped or corked) which continue to ferment and develop flavors. Those ales made with Belgian yeast strains as well as wild yeast strain are perfect candidates for aging.

-Beers which have already undergone aging and/or fermentation in say bourbon or wine barrels can further benefit with time, as burnt oak or tannic flavors may develop and intensify or recede over time, depending on the beer.

-Many breweries produce “anniversary” or “reserve” beers which imply a special designation of a beer that is generally meant for aging and comparison against prior years.

-This ties in with the idea of having a “vertical” tasting, which is to say, a tasting of one particular beer from several different years. However, some breweries change up their particular “vertical” beers from year to year, but are still worth trying against one another.

-In general, look for styles which are all around “bigger” beers: think imperial stouts, barleywines, Belgian strong golden or dark ales, even double IPA’s with a large malt bill pick up an interesting character as hops subside. You probably get the picture. But also, don’t be afraid to throw an oddball or two into the mix, you never know what can turn out incredible 3 years down the road.

When cellaring beer, it is best to buy more than one of each beer that you are putting down in order to try it at different stages to determine its optimal condition for drinking. Again, each beer will have its nuances and evolve differently, but there are certain characteristics which can be expected with aging:

-Higher fusel alcoholic flavors and aromas (think nail polish remover) which were once considered “hot” become subdued and the alcohol becomes pleasantly warming. This is especially helpful for barleywines, old ales, and strong ales which are 12% and above.

-Upfront hop bitterness, flavor, and aroma will fade, but can transform and work with the malt and yeast character over time. Highly/over-hopped beers may benefit with a few months, even years. Dogfish Head 120 Minute, a hop-driven beer, is extra hot, astringent, and aggressive at first, but aged versions are reborn with an amazing barleywine-like character.

-No matter the strength of a seal, whether cork, cap, wax, or steel, all beers will become oxidized over time. This means that oxygen left in the bottle or keg, or that which enters in will transform what beer it is coming into contact with. Positive oxidation occurs when a beer picks up deep sherry or madeira-like notes whereas oxidation can leave some beers tasting like wet, stale, cardboard or paper. You will never forget this flavor once you’ve had it in high concentrations.

-Due to the conditions of a beer over the course of its life, the yeast may become overworked or just simply die out. This process is called autolysis and can leave a beer tasting meaty and like soy sauce. In some beers like old ales or imperial stouts this brings out the “umami” or savory character while in others it can overwhelm and spoil an otherwise great product.

-Sour ales may get sourer just as those beers with significant funk may keep on getting funkier, sometimes they become more nuanced, subtle, and smoothed out, but other times they may just die out completely. Some non-sour beers may even pick up a sour (sometimes desirable) or infected character (always undesirable) depending on the conditions of cellaring.

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Jeremy Barr is a writer and journalism student. A native of suburban Maryland, he now lives in Mount Vernon Square. He last wrote about his experiences finding a group house.

On Saturday, I tasted Green Hat Gin, billed as the city’s first legally distilled spirit in a century, for the first time. It is produced by Ivy City-based New Columbia Distillers, which began selling .75 liter bottles in early October. I picked up my bottle — part of batch #9, according to the label — at Schneider’s of Capitol Hill, which sells it for $35. (John Uselton, co-owner of New Columbia Distillers, used to be the store’s beer buyer). An employee told me that demand for the product is such that they keep it near the front of the store, rather than on their floor-to-ceiling sale walls.

Seeing as that the city now has three breweries — with the addition of 3 Stars Brewing this summer — I got to thinking about why New Columbia Distillers is by its lonesome. I also wondered why it took so long for the country’s most-stressed out city to have a locally-produced spirit to turn to.

Luckily, DC’s has its very-own alcohol historian. I reached out to Garrett Peck, who literally wrote the book on the city’s hooch history. Prohibition in Washington, DC: How Dry We Weren’t tells the story of a city flush with liquor — dispersed at more than 3,000 speakeasies — at a time when its lawmaker residents had outlawed it.

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Photo by PoPville flickr user Rich Renomeron

Jeremy Barr is a writer and journalism student. A native of suburban Maryland, he now lives in Mount Vernon Square.

At first, it seemed easy. Craigslist, I was told, is the best way to find a room to rent in this city. Intent on finding a moderately-priced option in a “good,” “pretty good,” or “up-and-coming” area, I scoured the site, sending introductory emails when listings met my criteria.

And then I waited. And waited. I soon realized that the process of getting into a group house in D.C. is as painful — if not more so — than landing a coveted job. Such was my experience in the three separate times I sought housing over the last two years.

I may have only scored a 2 on my Advanced Placement microeconomics exam, but I understand the concert of supply and demand. And in D.C., there is significantly more demand for rooms than there is supply.

As such, in the same way that job seekers are told to “stand out” in cover letters, so to are prospective roommates when emailing listers. The goal, I learned, is to check all the boxes — “correct” age, employment status, etc. — while also putting yourself outside the box. So, while I was happy to report to prospective housemates that I attended a “name-brand” university, was in my early/mid 20s, and was gainfully employed, I was sure to weave in my time teaching English in Hungary and backpacking through Eastern Europe.

I learned quickly to cast a wider net in my search than I would have liked. In one ad I responded to, for a house between Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights, prospective roommates were informed that they might be compelled to engage in a foot-race to “win” the room. Ultimately I decided that I could find less insufferable (more sufferable?) people to live with, and, more importantly, that I probably wouldn’t win the race if it came down to it.

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Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is also the author of Lost Washington DC.

“Why is peace such an untellable tale?” wonders one of the patrons in a Berlin library as he is observed by a kindly angel in Wim Wenders’ classic film, Wings of Desire (1987). Just as peace is hard to write about, so it seems to be hard to erect a memorial to. We have countless monuments to wars and their heroes, but relatively few to celebrate peace. Even our Peace Monument, erected in 1877 at the foot of Capitol Hill where Pennsylvania Avenue ends, is really more about war than peace, and like the city’s many war memorials, people have bickered over it at least as much as they’ve celebrated its theme of tranquility.

The Peace Monument (photo by the author).

The monument was the brainchild of Admiral David D. Porter (1813-1891), one of the top two naval commanders of the Civil War. In 1864 Porter had led the successful naval campaign to take Fort Fisher at Wilmington, North Carolina, in what would be the last major naval campaign of the war. It was after the fall of Fort Fisher that Porter began a campaign to have a memorial erected to all of the brave Navy men who had been killed in the war, just as his famous father, War of 1812 hero David Porter (1780-1843), had commissioned the first naval monument to heroes of the Barbary Wars. That memorial, now known as the Tripoli Monument, had been completed in 1806 and originally stood in the Navy Yard but was moved to the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1860.

When the Civil War ended, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles (1802-1878) made Porter superintendent of the Naval Academy, where he would go on to institute many reforms that enhanced the professionalism of the navy. While at the Academy, Porter worked to get the new naval monument built so that it could join the venerable Tripoli Monument at Annapolis. He collected contributions from Naval officers and seamen totaling $9,000 and sketched out the design of the monument himself. Sculptor Franklin Simmons (1839-1913), who also sculpted the equestrian figure of General John A. Logan at the center of Logan Circle, was hired to carve the figures for the monument in fine white Carrara marble in his studio in Rome. So far so good. A reading of the National Register listing for Civil War monuments in Washington suggests that the ensuing production of the memorial was accomplished with efficiency and purpose: “The sculpture was erected by the government with contributions from Navy personnel under a Congressional Act approved July 31, 1876 (19 Stat. 114). It was sculpted and carved in Rome in 1877 and dedicated in the same year.”

The Peace Monument c. 1880, from a stereoview in the author’s collection.

However, things didn’t really go quite that smoothly. For one thing, it seems that Admiral Porter and Secretary Welles may not have gotten along well together. According to retired Navy officer C.Q. Wright, who wrote about the Peace Monument in the Washington Post in 1923, “the few surviving letters which passed between [Porter and Welles] concerning the location of this monument seem to indicate indifference in the mind of Mr. Wells to the erection of the monument or a quiet disapproval of the affair in which he may have thought he saw sign of the high-handed self-assertion of Admiral Porter.” Wright suggests that friction between Porter and Welles may have led to changes both in where the memorial was to be placed and how it was to be designed.

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Nik Sharma is a local DC-based food blogger who writes a brown table. His recipes try to keep the emphasis on simplicity and try to adapt Indian and other international cuisines. Nik’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post Taste, The Kitchn and Honest Cooking Magazine.

If you have a recipe from PoPville please send an email to princeofpetworth(at)Gmail and include recipe in the subject line.

Chocolate brownies make a great treat for the holiday season and this version is not only delicious but also simple. I’ve modified and adapted this brownie recipe from Alice Medrich’s Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. This is also my new favorite holiday dessert that I’ve made for myself and for others as gifts.What makes these brownies special are two things, the browned butter flavor and the delicious red wine. Each of these ingredients flavor the brownie and improve the taste of the cocoa. By browning the butter the brownies get a smooth and wonderful taste that I would describe as somewhere between a light butterscotch to nutty flavor, if that makes any sense.

I used a Malbec for the red wine since it is a bit robust and intense in flavor but even a good quality Shiraz would be great here. To make your life easier and less messy, I recommend either buying pre-chopped walnuts or putting the shelled walnuts in a bag and then pounding them a little a rolling pin to coarsely chop them. Eventually most of the walnuts will get sliced once you cut your baked brownies into bite-sized squares. These brownies have a light and thin crust but also have a soft and creamy smooth interior. Enjoy immediately or store them in airtight container until needed!

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The following map was made by Sarah Hank. She contributed a crime map of DC here and a sewage and plumbing map of DC here.

Hey Renters! Ever wondered how long it would take for you to pay off a house in the DC metro area? Here’s a rough guide.

I’ll start off by saying I am not a housing market expert, and have never bought a house, but I took some commonly accepted numbers and made this map of average length of mortgage by census tract for the DC metro area. I based my calculations on the following assumptions:

– 20% cash down payment (previously saved) ( Source)

- 30% of income contributed toward mortgage ( Source)

- Average household salary per census tract ( American Community Survey 2010)

- Average house value per census tract (American Community Survey 2010)

Of course these numbers are not going to represent everyone’s reality. For example, I did not take into account interest rates, and I assumed that income will be constant as well as the percentage of income contributed to the mortgage (which in reality would most likely not be true). Also, saving up 20% for a down payment is often out of reach for many people, especially these days.

I also overlaid proportional circles (once you zoom in a few levels) showing the percent of the population that holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. The thought behind displaying that data is that it “should” be correlated with average income if you’re lucky.

You can see that a lot of the map looks to fall in the 10-15 year range (light pink). I assume those people might choose to have a lower monthly payment and extend their mortgage a bit longer, but in terms of analysis, it is good to see that a lot of the metro area appears to be in balance. Meaning, housing prices are on par with the average income. In the NW Maryland suburbs, you’ll see $1,000,000 houses with average incomes of $200,000, and in the SE Maryland suburbs, you’ll see $300,000 houses with $70,000 incomes. (By the way, those tracts that have $1,000,000 homes actually are 1 million or above.)

The more consistently dark area is the one where many of us live.* From Shaw following Georgia Ave straight up to the top of DC, that is where the income and housing prices are a bit more in disparity. Does living in a $600,000 house with an income of $50,000 sound familiar to you? These are areas where many people are renters, and probably can’t easily afford to buy the house they live in on their current income.

What do you see on the map that is interesting to you? Do you have other theories about the dark spots and light spots?

*Looking at DC, there are a few spots that need to be disregarded. Why, you might ask, is the average income of the West End so low at around $11,000? Most of that census tract is devoted to GWU. I’d say the same goes for the UMD area. I’m sure AU and Georgetown have a bit of an effect as well, but those areas have many more wealthy residents than the others I mentioned.

Johnna Rowe is the author of the great food blog Johnna Knows Good Food.

Living in DC for over 10 years now, I thought I knew everything there was to know about each and every neighborhood. Funny, but I found out just a little over a year ago how little I really know about this town. Having spent many of my years on Connecticut Avenue in the upper Northwest neighborhood of Vann Ness/UDC, I had developed the kind of comfort level that made me never want to leave that area. Quiet, young professionals everywhere and a few Metro stops from work…why would I ever leave?? That was my mindset until I began the house hunt in the District of Columbia.

For a little over a year, I visited every neighborhood in the District looking for my dream home. My journey began with my upper Northwest neighborhood but I soon got a tip to branch out my search to the Southwest quadrant of D.C. My reluctance stepped in because Southwest is still in the transition phases of becoming a more vibrant neighborhood. The minute I stepped in my new place, all of that reluctance went right out the window. Besides the bang for your buck, the neighborhood is close to practically every major destination in the city. The National Mall, The Wharf, Arena Stage and Eastern Market lie right at your fingertips.

There were so many pluses to living on Connecticut Avenue, but I soon found out Southwest has its own handful of wonderful new experiences in store. Offering a quiet, serene vibe where you are literally minutes away from the bustle of Downtown DC, the neighborhood has attracted residents from all cultures and ethnicities. Apparently, someone else sees my vision for this neighborhood because there is a massive renovation plan set in place for the Southwest waterfront in 2013.

At this point, I know I sound like a cheerleader flaunting the SW letters but I am truly in love with this quadrant. Perhaps it’s the nights I am walking from Downtown DC and look up to find The Capitol standing on my left hand side and the Washington Monument on my right. Perhaps it’s the tingly feeling I get when I realize I can walk to a Nats game and avoid the parking or Metro crowds. It could be a host of reasons, but one thing is for sure: I made the right decision.

If you’d like to share some love of your neighborhood – send an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail with the ‘neighborhood love’ in the subject line.

Streets of Washington, written by John DeFerrari, covers some of DC’s most interesting buildings and history. John is also the author of Lost Washington DC.

The story of S. Kann, Sons & Co., once Washington’s second largest department store behind Woodward & Lothrop, begins just north of us in Baltimore. There a German immigrant named Solomon Kann (1836-1908) opened a clothing store during the Civil War. As time went on, he brought his three sons—Louis Kann (1860-1920), Simon Kann (1861-1932), and Sigmund Kann (1865-1930)—into business with him. In the early 1890s, the family learned that a Washington, D.C., clothing merchant by the name of Dorsey Carter wanted to sell his business, and Solomon Kann sent Louis and Sigmund to investigate. The sons bought the stock of the old business and later two other nearby stores as well, combining their offerings and opening S. Kann, Sons on the northeast corner of 8th Street and Market Space NW in 1893. The location was perfect, right in the heart of Washington’s commercial district, directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from Center Market (where the National Archives now stands). Louis (called “short, quick, and aggressive” by the Washington Post) and Sigmund (“tall, deliberate, and reserved”) soon brought Simon (“short, stocky, and wearing thick-lensed spectacles”) in as well, and the brothers’ store prospered under their energetic management.

Kann’s Busy Corner in 1907 (author’s collection).

Kann’s, like Woodies which had preceded it by only a few years, was one of the new breed of progressive department stores, imbued with radical business policies: goods were offered at a single, fixed price—no haggling—and customers were welcome to return goods they didn’t want and have their money cheerfully refunded, something previously unheard of. Kann’s and Woodies both vigorously promoted the “customer-is-always-right” philosophy, and it paid off in booming sales, which allowed them to keep prices low. Kann’s in particular was committed to selling goods at the lowest price possible, even resorting to shaving prices to various fractions of a cent—two thirds, three quarters, seven eights—a tactic that had a powerful psychological effect on price-conscious shoppers. “Always the best of everything for the least money,” Kann’s advertised.

Kann’s circa 1935 (Source: Library of Congress).

Frances Folsom Cleveland (1864-1947), the stunningly attractive first lady who had returned to the White House with her husband in 1893 for his second term, was an early customer of Kann’s. According to the Washington Post, “Washington was eager to see and admire her as she drove about the streets in the highly polished White House landau, drawn by a fine team of horses, attended by a coach and footman, visiting many of the stores along the avenue.” The story goes that as she shopped at Kann’s she attempted to have her purchases charged to her account, just as she did everywhere else, only to be informed by the nervous clerk that Kann’s policy was strictly cash-and-carry. Fortunately, Mrs. Cleveland had sufficient funds to cover her purchases and took no offense. The bargains at Kann’s were worth it.

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