I recently did an interview with the Examiner (to be published Sunday) and this was one of the questions they asked. As I was answering it, I thought to myself “man this would be a good FQoTD”. Since this has been a pretty rough week, I thought this would make for a nice ending. I had a bit of a goofy answer, claiming that laying in my hammock is the most romantic spot in DC. But what do you guys think, where’s your most romantic spot in DC? The monuments? Arboretum? Roof decks? Or are you with me on the hammock…
I’m currently working full time and am a grad student and I’m looking for a coffee shop to go and get some work done on the evenings and weekends. (it’s really hard to study and write papers with a boyfriend and two cats in the house). I’m looking for some place that has comfy seating, good coffee, hopefully serves some simple food, and will be a great place to go for a few hours and work.”
We once tackled this question before but I was hoping we could have a definitive list that I could refer folks to in the future. This reader is specifically looking for spots near Petworth. I’d of course recommend Domku (800 block of Upshur) or a bit further south Columbia Heights Coffee (11th between Park and Monroe). But as we know lots of development is coming to town. So it’ll be interesting to check out Fresh Off the Roast Coffee that is slated to come to Georgia Ave (near Randolph, set to open in the next few weeks). Tynan Coffee is set to open on Irving Street near the Columbia Heights metro in the next few months. And who knows what other spots will be filled in the vacant Columbia Heights and Petworth commercial areas.
If possible I was hoping to draw up a list of the best spots to study in all of the neighborhoods in PoPville. So if you have a favorite place to work/study during the day, in addition to the name please leave some cross streets so people can find the spot. So where’s your favorite spot to work/study during the day – Big Bear (1st and R), Tryst (18th Street in Adams Morgan) one of the many Starbucks around town, Busboys & Poets (14th and V), Sticky Fingers (Park Road east of 14th Street) the library…?
I think Georgia Avenue could really take off once the economy turns around — as a business intersection with a great mix of old and new businesses. Hopefully if done right, it can be revamped, rebuilt and renovated to keep much of the old neighborhood’s interests at heart. But I think a huge problem is how many intersections there are long Georgia Ave south of the Metro station that don’t have street lights, only those intersections with the signs telling cars to stop for pedestrians. These are frightening intersections to cross — most cars treat Georgia Ave like a highway. I think if the area is to reach its potential, it needs to have street lights to make pedestrian traffic safer.”
I think this is an interesting question for Georgia Avenue and DC in general. Do you think Georgia Avenue would benefit from more traffic lights? Do you think other avenues would benefit from more traffic lights?
I once asked folks where they read about local news. Well, this is kinda related. I canceled my subscription to the print edition of the Washington Post this week. Now I, like many other folks in DC, am a bit of a news junkie. I’ve been getting a print newspaper (first the New York Times then the Post when I decided DC was my home) for years. I thought they’d have to pull the print edition of the paper out of my cold dead hands. But I realized recently I was simply throwing out the newspaper without even reading it. Of course, I still read it online and as a result I found the print edition to be old news. So I finally understand that the print newspaper industry is in some serious trouble if someone like me cancels the paper (though obviously this development is not a new one). It just never sunk in with me. So the FQoTD is a simple one. Does anyone still read the print edition of the newspaper? How many years do you think the printed newspaper has left?
They’ll still have to pry the New Yorker from my cold dead hands…
On a related note I’m hearing all this buzz about the Kindle 2.0 version (where you can read books in a digital format). Does anyone think print books will go the way of the print newspaper?
“The Office of Planning, in coordination with the National Capital Planning Commission and the District Department of Transportation, are working on a re-visioning of the North Capitol Street Cloverleaf interchange at North Capitol Street, NW and Irving Street, NW.
We are in the process of doing a study to test other design options, such as a traffic circle, for that location and looking at how these changes affect neighborhood character.
We could really use help getting the word out to younger residents of Petworth, Bloomingdale, Brookland, Eckington, Park View, Pleasant Hills, and Pleasant Plains. We are hosting a community workshop on Saturday, March 14, from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. (at the Pryzbyla Great Room , Catholic University Student Center, 620 Michigan Ave, NE) to ask for community input on what they’d like to see happen at this interchange.
(http://planning.dc.gov/planning/cwp/view,a,1354,q,645949.asp). It is an opportunity for residents to help create a vibrant, Dupont Circle-like area east of the park.”
Wow, this sounds like a phenomenal development. So my question is two fold. Do you think a “Dupont Circle-like area east of the park” is realistic? Secondly, as I’m a huge fan of all the circles in DC, I’m wondering if there are other fans of DC’s circles? I know some folks don’t like them because of driving issues. What do you think – do you dig them?
“I’ve told you before about our crazy landlord (didn’t fix the washer for 9 months, outright refuses to fix other things, and is the infamous “artist” of the front yard headboard hose holder that was featured in a past Photo Archives Caption Contest). Well, now she’s evicting us. She’s evicting us because although she hasn’t repaired any other single thing in the building in a timely manner, she’s decided that she must replace the pipes in our kitchen, NOW. I’ve been trying to navigate the various DC rental and legal aid agencies to figure out what our rights are, but in the end, we’re thinking it might be best just to get out, as much as it pains us.
It pains us more because we are hoping to move back to California in the next year, which means signing a 1 year lease elsewhere is not smart. Ideally we would find a month-to-month lease situation or 3 month lease that goes month-to-month thereafter. We have no idea how long it will take to get jobs in this economy, but we would really *like* to be there by summer. I’ve been looking for sublets and lease transfers but there’s really not much out there that meets our needs. I wonder if any PoP readers know of anything that might fit the bill. Ideally, it would be a furnished one bedroom for under $1400, but everything is negotiable. We’d be willing to live anywhere in the PoP readership area that has decent transportation to downtown.”
Wow, what an insane situation. I’d like to think you could fight the eviction if you were willing to go through some headaches. I think if you plan on leaving in the Summer then it may certainly be easiest to fight this. I know DC has some pretty solid tenant laws. Can any readers provide some advice on this front? Do you think this person should try and fight the eviction or would it be least painful to just find a new apartment?
And now for the Friday Question of the Day – what is your craziest landlord story?
I had a landlord not believe me that there were rats in the apartment walls (near the zoo). Finally when I was moving out I was being charged for not cleaning up properly. So I showed the landlord the huge holes the rats had eaten in the wall and said I wasn’t paying a dime. The place was pretty trashed but I got out with my full deposit refunded.
Yesterday’s crime discussion got me kind of blue so I wanted to lighten up the FQoTD a bit. I was trying to remember my favorite vacation. It came down to Oktoberfest in Munich or Running with the Bulls in Pamplona. Both were definitely amazing but running with the bulls was pretty freaking scary. Even though the festival itself was amazing, the actually running with the bulls is terrifying. And anyone who tells you differently is either insane or lying. I’m slightly insane and had fortified myself with many vodka and a tang like orange flavored drinks but still when then cannon went off and the bulls caught up to you it was pretty rough. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I did it and the adreline rush was fun but it can’t match Oktoberfest.
Oktoberfest on the other hand was pure joy every waking minute. At Oktoberfest I went with a great group of people who I nearly instantly got separated from. So I spent tons of time hanging out with random Spanish, Italians, Germans and folks from all over the world. For some reason I remember there was a lot of singing John Denver songs and inexplicably, to me, everyone knew the words as well as many, many toasts. Half the time we couldn’t even speak the same language but it was no less fun.
So for a fun FQoTD – what has been your favorite trip (abroad or in the states)?
Ed. Note: The following was written by Robyn. I’d also like to make this the FQoTD – Do you take advantage of restaurant week? If so, how are your experiences? Any restaurants you’d recommend that really do it right?
First course: Caramelized Gnocchi. Followed by Crab Cakes with house-made tartar sauce. And for desert: Dark Chocolate Soufflé. All enjoyed in a mod, architecturally-lit main room at a fine dining establishment frequented by DC political powerhouses and socialites alike. Sounds exquisite, right? Well not if the gnocchi came out cold, you have to eat around the shells in the crab cakes, and it’s all washed down with a glass of mediocre chardonnay – just one because your lethargic waiter never notices your empty glass to ask for a refill. Welcome to DC Restaurant Week, a week of lunch and dinner specials that lures you in with enticing bargains at fine dining establishments….then chews you up and spits you out feeling unsatisfied with a lighter wallet. For someone who’s admittedly gullible, Restaurant Week gets me every time. Lunch is just over 20 dollars, dinner just over 35 – a steal when most restaurants can charge double that 50 weeks out of the year. So twice annually, I pack my week with at least two Famous Chef restaurants, one Pretentious place, one C-List Celebrity Visited Here During Inauguration, and at least one who claims that Obama has visited or expressed interest in visiting (however mildly). A flurry of texts are exchanged (HAVE ONE SPOT OPEN CEIBA 8PM HEAR BRAISED PORK GOOD) and I look forward to a week of very good eats at places I couldn’t normally afford. Except for the most part, the service and the ambiance is…well, bad. And as a self-confessed Ruby Tuesday fan, I don’t expect much.
Because I’m younger, I don’t own Gucci heels (actually I don’t own a single pair of heels – I think 5 foot 9 is tall enough), and I tend to have a my wide-eyed why-are-there-so-many-forks nature, it’s obvious that I’m there for the specials. Due to this, I feel subject to what I call Restaurant Week Discrimination (RWD). It’s that rushed, indifferent demeanor of the wait staff, the unapologetic plate auctioning (Who got the scallops? Anyone? No one? Sigh…), and the general mechanical nature of the staff as they quite visibly just want to get over catering to us common folk. Sometimes I want to play the part, put on my best Southern twang and exclaim “Oh mah gawd Bernie! Sayz here they serve thar tuna rawr! It ain’t cooked!”
Except I don’t have a friend named Bernie. Any Bernie’s out there want to be my friend?
I get it. It’s a week that attracts us 5-figured salary types and I shouldn’t expect to be treated as royalty. But Restaurants, can you at least humor me? You don’t have to treat me as if I was the First Lady, but maybe like one of her aides? Now I won’t name names, except the most extreme exception to RWD (Rasika), but in general, I’m not a fan.
Now if you excuse me I have reservations at a place where apparently Obama will be taking Malia for her report card. Or so I’ve been told. I said I was gullible.
Any Restaurant Weekers feel my pain? Or want to add to it? Bernie, you out there?
Today’s FQOTD is something I’ve been curious about. By no means do I think the PoP readership is representative of all DC but we are a much more diverse group than most people realize. Anyway, folks say that DC is a very transient town. Then folks who have lived here a long time or all their life get pretty pissed off. So, I am just curious about your particular situations. I know it’s impossible to predict the future but I’m wondering how many folks plan on staying in DC for the longterm or eventually plan on moving somewhere else?
“One of the most vocal proponents of the DC vote bill offered an alternative today: stripping DC residents of the obligation to pay federal taxes.
Rep Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties that he was introducing a bill this week to exempt District residents from paying taxes.”
Today DCist had a great list of alternative options to DC’s non vote problem.
But I’m gonna make the FQOTD a simple one – would you rather have a vote in Congress or not have to pay Federal taxes? I’m hesitant to admit but if given the choice, I’d have a very tough time turning down an exemption to Federal taxes. You?
