Wow, these look a thousand times better than the old ones.
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Mount Pleasant
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Do not be deceived. Dollar Star, at 3219 Mount Pleasant Street is no Dollar Store. The Mount Pleasant Main Street Business Directory (yes, this exists and I own it) bills it as “a mini-big box department store.” I am not sure what the owners bill it as, but in the 30 minutes I spent wandering the aisles I found only 4 items that sold for one dollar; bleach, rubbing alcohol, single rolls of toilet paper, and some Spiderman pins.
Dollar store or not, this place is totally insane and filled with all kinds of crazy junk. I read a review on Yelp that said places like this are “amusing to look through, but contain little of value.” I beg to differ. Where else can you find anything quite like this!?!
Story continues after the jump. (more…)
Thanks to Heather for sending:
“If you’re a Mt. Pleasant resident or work in the bar/restaurant industry in the Metro area, you can submit your work to hang (and sell) in the newly renovated Tonic bar space.
More details here:
http://www.districtplayground.
For those of you outside the precise neighborhood but interested in participating, take note of this tacked on at the bottom of the page: “We define Mount Pleasant by the ANC 1D map. Harvard St. on the south, Adams Mill Rd. to the west up to Piney Branch Rd on the north and 16th St. on the east. If we learn of significant interest from residents of Columbia Heights/Adams Morgan/Petworth who want to participate, we may reevaluate our submission requirements for future exhibitions.”
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You know these stickers you’ve probably seen on cars that usually feature vacation spots like the outerbanks or Veil, or some place in Vermont? MtP’s hitting the big time. At least this sticker was a scooter…
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I stopped in the other night and had the pleasure of meeting store owner Barbara Cameron. She is a Columbia Heights resident, and married to the Dentist downstairs. Together they spend lots of time travelling the world to keep Boveda stocked with all sorts of great stuff. They often travel to places where they have no connections and just network with local artists and communities to see what they can find. A visit to her store shows that they usually have pretty good luck; silver jewelry from the Hill Tribes in Thailand, pottery from Morroco, and for the entomologist – some cool butterfly and insect displays from Ecuador. I even found a sweet looking frog that kind of looks like a PoP mascot!
Her son (who helps out in the store when home from college) recently started a project that provides shoes to children in impoverished countries. You can find out more about that here: http://www.
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Man inflation has gone up. I used to sell cups of lemonade for a quarter. $3 for corn doggies? They better come with mustard…
From a reader:
“Hey everyone, please come by Haydee’s Restaurant tomorrow, Tuesday 7/22 and hang out with me for a good cause! Haydee has generously agreed to donate a percentage of the proceeds to Mount Pleasant Mainstreet Association Drop by Haydee’s Restaurant at 3102 Mount Pleasant Street NW (at Irving Street NW) on Tuesday, July 22nd from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Bring all your friends and neighbors! There is no cover charge – just enjoy some food and drinks while supporting Main Street! We may even get to see a live Mariachi band perform!
For more information, visit www.mtpmainstreet.org. Mount Pleasant Mainstreet is dedicated to promoting the cultural uniqueness and enhancing the economic health of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Mount Pleasant is a culturally diverse neighborhood located in the heart of Washington, DC. The juxtaposition of our compact and independent businesses district with quaint residential streets gives us a distinctive “small town” feel.”
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I can’t remember if I’ve ever posted this before but it made me laugh again so I had to put it up just in case. I wonder how the light bulb lit above the owner’s head – “Oh yeah, I know, I can cover the window with a twin size mattress. Of course! Why didn’t I think of this earlier?”
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Meridian Hill Baptist church is of course the church that was damaged by the terrible fire that decimated the apartment building on Mt. Pleasant Street a couple of months ago. It is located on some prime real estate on 16th Street. That’s really sad if they were forced to sell because they didn’t have proper insurance.
Now having said that, if they do end up selling what do you think this spot will become? Another church? Condos? Restaurant/club? Full photo after the jump. (more…)
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I’m a relative newbie to the world of Laundromats, save for one visit sometime in 2004 to a terrible place in Silver Spring that was so gross I felt like my clothes were actually more dirty when I left. Fortunately, I’ve always lived in a place that had laundry facilities. I still do, but after discovering that my duvet cover was too much for the machines in my apartment building to handle, I was on my way to Mount Pleasant Street for a laundry adventure!
I’ve been curious about the Laundromats for a while. Is it cheaper or faster than doing laundry in my building? Are they as awful as that place in Silver Spring? Who uses them? So many questions! So I took a trip to Laundroland, at 3215 Mount Pleasant Street, to find out.
The only other option was Pan American (3127 Mount Pleasant St) since it seems that Speed Wash, over by Hobart St., has closed. I’m not sure when that happened. Laundroland doesn’t have video games like Pan American does, but it’s bigger, has more seating, has AC, and seemed to be doing a bit more business. It’s also open 24 hours, which might be a nice perk for some.
I spent a few minutes wandering around since there are so many different sized machines and I wasn’t sure which one I wanted. There are toploaders that cost $2, and commercial washers at various sizes, costing $6, $4, $3, and $2 per load. In total I’d say there are about 50 machines, and only 6 were out of service – not bad! I finally settled on a $3 “Speed Queen” washer, though I probably could have used the smaller one. Sixteen minutes later (Speed Queen, indeed!) I was ready for the dryer. I only had one item, but even the small machines are HUGE. You could probably fit two loads into one easily. The dryers get super hot too, so at 7 minutes/$.25 I was able to dry my laundry for one dollar.
Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience. It was clean, there were two employees inside, I was in and out in 45 minutes and it only cost me $4. I brought my own supplies, but they sell detergent, bleach and softener and there’s a change machine. It wasn’t too crowded either, but that could be because I went on a weeknight right after work. The convenience of doing laundry at home wins out for me, but if you don’t have a laundry room, I’d recommend Laundroland.
