But upon closer inspection this is an example of an award winning environmental design circa 1989. It is just west of North Capitol Street, NW.
“I’ve always wondered where each of the nuclear fallout shelters is in DC. This one appears to be No. 25, on Park RD right after 11th ST.”I too have been fascinated by these signs.
Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer, DJ, and collector of stories. In September, he launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. Every day, People’s District presents a different Washingtonian sharing his or her insights on everything from Go Go music to homelessness to fashion to politics. You can read his previous columns here.
“I have lived in DC for 5½ years now. I love my apartment and my location, but I don’t love the neighborhood. You know, people have a real pride about living in a place like Mt. Pleasant. But, this specific neighborhood doesn’t even have a name. We don’t know if we’re Logan Circle or Dupont Circle. It is total Puggleville. People are out walking their puggles all of the time and no one makes eye contact. There is no neighborhood feel to it.
“I love to walk. I go walking every day for at least an hour, and I walk up around Mt. Pleasant and even in the back parts of Adams Morgan. Right around dusk, especially in the summer, people are all out stooping. They’re all hanging out, pouring wine for each other and just being buddies with whomever is around. It is this whole feeling of community that is the reason why I love DC. DC is a place where 5½ years in, you can feel like you know so many people. I can’t walk outside without running into people. But, I don’t get that sense where I am living; it feels very nondescript to me. There is not a real sense of identity for this area.
“So, I went back and forth for a while about whether I should move to Mt. Pleasant. Then I realized that I could just be my own agent of change, and I started stooping. I have friends over for dinner a lot and we started a stooping routine, just hanging out on the stoop with a glass of wine. I started buying a pack of cigarettes in case people want to stoop out with that. And it’s funny, it freaks a lot of people out, especially in the twilight hour. People are super confused about why two people would be sitting outside chatting. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone stoop on this street. But, I think that I am the only person in the building who knows my neighbors’ faces. You get to hear so many stories from hanging out here. I heard this great story about my neighbor interviewing Woody Allen the other day. But, it’s still just friends that come by, no strangers, that’s the goal. People are very focused here and they miss the opportunity to just chill out.
“People are down on DC because it is not New York, because it is not big enough and because it doesn’t have a lot going on, but I think that is what DC has going on. It gives you the opportunity to make it a small town for yourself. In such a transient city, you need to set roots. That’s why I stoop.”
Read more about finding the right stoop and the games you can play on them, including stoopball, here.
Matt Dunn, originally from the Bronx, NY, lives in Shaw and has been a freelance photographer since June 2000. Matt’s work has been published in the New York Times, Spin Magazine, Mother Jones, Washington City Paper and other publications. He has work on photo projects internationally in Haiti, Cuba, India and Uganda. Matt previously featured a portrait series on PoP called “Tough”, archived entries can be found here. Disposition is his current portrait series. He writes:
“A person’s disposition is one’s personal temperament, or according to Webster, one’s prevailing tendency, mood, or inclination. I am interested in how each person I photograph copes with life in DC at the end of the decade, the year 2009. I hope to reveal each individual’s disposition in this series of portraits. This week features portraits from H Street, NE.”
Matt Dunn, originally from the Bronx, NY, lives in Shaw and has been a freelance photographer since June 2000. Matt’s work has been published in the New York Times, Spin Magazine, Mother Jones, Washington City Paper and other publications. He has work on photo projects internationally in Haiti, Cuba, India and Uganda. Matt previously featured a portrait series on PoP called “Tough”, archived entries can be found here. Disposition is his current portrait series. He writes:
“A person’s disposition is one’s personal temperament, or according to Webster, one’s prevailing tendency, mood, or inclination. I am interested in how does each person I photograph copes with life in DC at the end of the decade, the year 2009. I hope to reveal each individual’s disposition in this series of portraits. This week features portraits from the Tea Party Protest on 9-12-2009.”
I saw this on New Hampshire Ave just south of Georgia. It looks like there was an eviction. But it was gigantic, I couldn’t get all the items in one photo. It nearly stretched the whole block. It’s so sad that things get to this level.
Incidentally there was an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that says:
“Next year, many option ARM payments will begin to readjust, slamming borrowers with dramatically higher monthly mortgage bills. Analysts say that could unleash the next big wave of foreclosures – and home-loan data show that the risky loans were heavily used in the Bay Area.”
Hopefully this doesn’t hit the DC area to hard. Whatever the reason, it is truly heartbreaking to see the scene in the photo above.
Ojo Latino is a series by Néstor Sánchez Cordero. This week features a runway show from the H Street, NE Festival that took place on Saturday. Nestor was unable to get the names of the designers so if anyone went and recalls who they were please leave their names in the comments. Néstor says, “Images are around, the secret is to catch them at the right moment and with the right light…”
Four more beautiful shots after the jump. (more…)
I needed a photo like this after a pretty gray few days. Have a great weekend!
Matt Dunn, originally from the Bronx, NY, lives in Shaw and has been a freelance photographer since June 2000. Matt’s work has been published in the New York Times, Spin Magazine, Mother Jones, Washington City Paper and other publications. He has work on photo projects internationally in Haiti, Cuba, India and Uganda. Matt previously featured a portrait series on PoP called “Tough”, archived entries can be found here. Disposition is a new portrait series. He writes:
“I have started a new portrait series called “Disposition”. A person’s disposition is one’s personal temperament, or according to Webster, one’s prevailing tendency, mood, or inclination. I am interested in how does each person I photograph copes with life in DC at the end of the decade, the year 2009. I hope to reveal each individual’s disposition in this series of portraits.”
Matt Dunn, originally from the Bronx, NY, lives in Shaw and has been a freelance photographer since June 2000.
