Author: Prince Of Petworth

Weekend Picks (From Weekly Emails)

By Prince Of Petworth

Som Records is teaming up AGAIN with The Vinyl District, DC Soul Recordings and The Warehouse Next Door to host a record fair on Saturday, May 9th from 10am-4pm.
Details are on the poster (attached), but basically this is gonna be a FANTASTIC morning + afternoon of records, DJ’s, Booze (full bar!!), Food, CHUCK BROWN!!!, Autographed Daptone Records & Posters Raffles and more records. We’re getting 30 dealers from Connecticut, New York, Richmond and many points in between. And the best part is that it’s only 2 dollars to get in!!

DJ’s for the event:

Gavin Holland and the Nouveau Riche DJs (http://www.nouveaurichedc.com/)
Neville C. (http://www.somrecordsdc.com/)
Deep Sang (http://www.myspace.com/deejayholiday)
Stylus (http://www.vibeconductor.com/)
Lunch Money & Almighty Dollah (both of the group “Played Tomorrow”: (http://www.myspace.com/playedtomorrow)
Provoke (http://djprovoke.com/)
Eurok (http://www.djeurok.com/)
D-Mac (http://www.djdmac.com/)
Dan Amitai (http://www.amitai.net/)
Nitekrawler (http://www.dcsoulrecordings.com)

DC local Laura Tsaggaris is staging a CD Release Party to celebrate her latest album, “Keep Talking” on Saturday, May 9th at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Opening the show with short sets are other DC artists Meredith Bragg, Rana Mansour, and the David Stein band. Show starts at 9:30, doors at 8:30.

More after the jump (more…)

Good Deal or Not? It Doesn’t Take a King’s Ransom Edition

By Prince Of Petworth

This condo building is located at 1321 Fairmont Street, NW:


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The flier says:

“Cute, well maintained recently renovated building/unit 1BR/1BA. Granite, stainless, hardwood floors, Perfect for 1st time buyer. Low fee. Close to Columbia Heights Metro and all shopping.”

More info and photos found here.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen a price that is isn’t jaw dropping. This condo is one the first floor and is asking $219,000. Also in a quick search there is also a basement unit going for $229,000. But let’s consider the featured one on the first floor for $219,000 – sound reasonable?

Random Reader Rant and/or Revel

By Prince Of Petworth

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday. Anything good happen this week?

MT. Pleasant, U Street Markets Back, Bigger and Better (By Charles)

By Prince Of Petworth

I love markets. I can’t remember my friends’ kids’ names but I can remember that market day is Wednesday in Santa Cruz, Saturday in Portland (Oregon), Saturday in Uzès, France – Wednesday for the local/organic market – Thursday in Penn Quarter and Sunday in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. So Saturday was a red-letter day for me, with two markets selling for the first time this year, both having grown significantly during their fallow season.

The Mt. Pleasant market is right around the corner from my house and its opening was like an old friend coming back from vacation looking better than ever. It’s also the one thing we have that’s better than what Columbia Heights has, so it’s especially nice to see it prosper. The ex-hipster family pack was checking out new addition Atwater Bakery — which sells the best sourdough East of East Bay and the best rye south of the Lower East Side, among many other offerings — while the kids ran rampant around the edge of the park. Other new arrivals attracting attention among the shopping-bag-and-stroller set were Groff’s Content Farm grass-fed lamb and beef, and pastured pork; ethical veal from Painted Hand; and Cherry Glen goat cheese (excellent stuff).

Just a couple of years ago, Mt. Pleasant was the Little Market that Could, now it’s great to see it hitting stride in a big way. And, don’t forget: strawberry season is coming.

Down at the corner of 14th and U, where strollers are rare and everyone seems a little hung-over, they’re still in the Little Market that Could phase, but they’re growing, too. Big new additions: The Copper Pot, where impressively-résuméd (Maestro is all you need to know) Stefano Frigero is selling prepared pastas and brutally elitist prepared sauces (roasted shallots and Barolo) and jams (concord grape with grappa); and equally impressively-résuméd Loic Feillet (Citronelle, CityZen) is churning out fresh bread for Panorama – his loaves are a little lighter and a bit more nuanced than Atwater, it all depends on your mood. Try the rustique.

Besides the food – and, in addition to the food tasting great, you start noticing that you’re eating the same stuff swank restaurants are bragging about on their menus — the best thing about the markets is getting to know your farmers. They always actually give a shit about what they do, and they love to talk about it and, before you know it, instead of buying from Truck Patch or Tree and Leaf, you’re buying from Bryan or from Zach and Georgia and they’re telling you what’s good and what’s coming in next week and saving you something special because you have a big dinner coming up. And, if you have any questions, Market Managers Rebbie Higgins at Mt. Pleasant (nine feet tall, fuschia hair) and Robin Schuster (not so tall, floppy hats) are indeed mistresses of their domains and know everything you need to know.

Remember – protest marches are fun, but farmer’s markets are the tastiest way to save the earth.

Friday Question of the Day – What is Sketchy?

By Prince Of Petworth


photo by queued

This is gonna be a tough one. But I got to thinking after some recent “Good Deal or Not” posts. It seems lots of folks like to call blocks “sketchy”. The most recent one was most humorous to me, not for the accusation but for the reaction. You know I feel them. The defenders that is. It’s like you can’t call my family crazy only I can call my family crazy. I have the same exact reaction whenever anyone has anything bad to say about Petworth. There are positive and negative aspects of nearly every neighborhood.

But like I said, it got me thinking about the term “sketchy”. I think Reuben was the first to raise the question of what the hell is sketchy? You know when I first moved to Petworth, and I hate to open this can of worms, but I think lots of people called the area sketchy just because it was predominantly black. And I don’t think that is fair. What I have found after talking to lots of folks is that those who call areas sketchy have never actually spent anytime in these areas. They base their definition only on second hand reports and rumors.

For me, I define sketchy as dangerous. Yes there are many blocks in particular neighborhoods that I wouldn’t want to walk down alone in the late hours of the morning. But I don’t think that should define a whole neighborhood as sketchy. For God’s sake I saw a guy shot on my own block and I’d never call my block sketchy. People are very cavalier in how they throw that word around. I suggest folks actual spend some time in the areas that they so carelessly throw the term around.

Like I’ve said many times before, individual folks have their own comfort level. And that’s cool. So you can just say, “I don’t feel comfortable there” rather than throwing around a blanket statement about the whole block/neighborhood.

So my FQoTD is – how do you define the term sketchy?

GDoN Revisited – Half of a Dueling Edition by Hipchickindc

By Prince Of Petworth

In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland.  Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below.  Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system.  Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Featured Property: 1421 Varnum St NW

Original List Price: $485,000.

List Price at Contract: $465,000.

List Date: 02/06/2009

Days on Market: 42

Settled Sales Price: $455,000.

Settlement Date:  04/27/2009

Seller Subsidy:  $9,930.

Bank Owned?: No.  This was a family estate.

Type Of Financing: Conventional

Listing History: This property had been owned by the same family for many years.

Original GDoN Post is:  <a href=http://www.princeofpetworth.com/2009/02/good-deal-or-not-battle-of-renovated-vs-non-renovated-on-varnum-street/>Here</a>.

Recent Listing is: <a href=http://matrix.mris.com/Matrix/Public/Email.aspx?ID=30661264174>Here</a>.

The last time I sold a house on this block, it was to an architect, a few years ago.  Shortly after this home came on the market, I had clients, a couple who were both architects, make an offer.  The house was listed with one of my very favorite listing agents, real estate veteran and 16th Street Heights Maven, Denise Champion-Jones with Long and Foster.  (If you see any house with a sign that says, “Champion Collection”, it’s one of Denise’s listings).  We went back and forth for a while, but ultimately, based on what they figured they would have wanted to invest in renovations, we never came to an agreement.  The Sellers held out and, according to Denise, ended up selling to someone who had previously been looking at condos and thus saw the value of all that space and yard.  (My clients ended up getting a really cool and even bigger house off of 16th Street NW).

The general consensus of the “Good Deal or Not” (GDoN) commenters was that this unrenovated home would sell around $400,000.  Less the closing cost subsidy, it sold for $445,070 and was on the market for less than two months.

The other house from the GDoN post, that is on the same block, with some updates and priced much higher, is still on the market.

 

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