Mount Pleasant

McDonalds Coming to Mt. Pleasant Street?

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to a reader for sending in this rumor from the Mt. Pleasant Forum.

Although one commenter rightly notes that:

“I saw this same story about Starbucks moving into Irving and MtP that apparently had no basis in reality.

http://www.mtpleasantdc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2783&highlight=starbucks

I am also aware that John Andrade who has a bar called Meridian Pint wanted to put in an independent beer/wine store in that location:
http://www.princeofpetworth.com/?p=1962

So, pretty much “expressed interest” and $2 will get you a cup of coffee in this town, what’s the truth? ”

And my favorite commenter said:

“This would be such good news! A McDonalds would contribute SO much to the community, we would never have to worry about it selling or serving alcohol, and it would never even THINK about providing entertainment of any kind, live or otherwise! This would be such a feather in our cap, our community leaders should be proud they’ve created an atmosphere on Mt. Pleasant St. that attracts the attention of such high-quality businesses! What Mt. Pleasant needs, no, what Mt. Pleasant DESERVES, is more least-common-denominator businesses like McDonalds that have no character, no soul, and that nobody will ever protest, argue about, or make a fuss over!”

But just out of curiosity do you think a McDonalds would do well on Mt. Pleasant Street?

A Special Guest Interview with, Jean Poholsky, a Resident of Mt. Pleasant in 1940

By Prince Of Petworth

Thanks to Kalia for submitting this great interview.  If you have any neighbors who have lived in any of the neighborhoods covered on PoP please send their recollections to [email protected]  

“I have been fortunate enough to work with an extraordinary woman and friend who I recently discovered was a former resident of Mt. Pleasant. Jean Poholsky was born in 1936 and since then has traveled and lived all over the world in places like East Africa, Ireland, and Australia to name a few. She often shares her fondest memories of living in Mt Pleasant and can recall things like they were yesterday. In 1940 she moved into her first house in Mt. Pleasant, 1948 Irving Street. Her grandmother owned the property which was a house split into two apartments inside the vestibule area. Her neighbors, the Vought’s, were an older couple that had the lower level apartment and her family’s door led them up to the top two floors including the attic (where she once ate a moth ball just to see what it would taste like!) The house was beautiful inside she describes and had a very similar look to the 1.3 mil house featured earlier on PoP’s site under “Let’s Play Good Deal or Not -Fantasy Edition”. (Yes, Jean does like to occasionally check out PoP’s blog!) Jean’s family would live in this house from 1940 to 1946 where she fondly remembers being able to roller skate from 16th street to the Zoo jumping the curbs and cracks in the sidewalks. When it snowed, Irving Street would be closed to traffic and she and the other children would sled down it all day or ice skate on Adam’s Mill Creek. She loved going to Tivoli to see a movie or hopping on the Street Cars to ride to the National Theater to catch a show. Jean says that those were very exciting years for her. Interview continues after the jump. (more…)

Mural of the Day

By Prince Of Petworth

I don’t quite get it but I couldn’t stop staring at it. Who is that supposed to be at the right? Saddam Hussein? Someone explain the mural to me, please.

Tina Visits Pfeiffer’s Hardware

By Prince Of Petworth

It’s easy to overlook a tiny little mom and pop shop like Pfeiffer’s with all the new options mere blocks away, at the DCUSA mall, in Columbia Heights. Target might have everything you need, but there’s nothing quite like walking into a little neighborhood shop to be greeted with a friendly and sincere “hello, how can I help you?” quite often from the owner himself. The hardware store has been around for quite some time, but it’s only been Pfeiffer’s since December of 03 when Todd Pfeiffer and Adriana DiFranco took ownership. They live right in the neighborhood and you can tell they love it, they even sell some pretty sweet Mount Pleasant T-shirts.

It may not be as big as a Home Depot, but don’t let the tiny storefront fool you. Pfeiffer’s is packed full of just about every hardware item you can imagine. They don’t waste an inch in there! Need some loose screws or nails? Check the bins right next to the register. Want to paint your living room? Head to the back right corner. Gardening supplies? Across from the paint. Want to rent a drill? No problem, just 5 bucks a day. Looking for lumber or some drywall? Ask the staff and they’ll be happy to help you out. What’s that, you need something Pfeiffer’s doesn’t have? Well, you can put in a special order online and have it delivered to the store for pickup. If it turns out that it’s not what you need – no worries, it’s 100% returnable.

I really just think this place is great. I’m no girly-girl, but I’m not much of a DIY-er either. But every time I’ve stopped into Pfeiffer’s to get a spare set of keys made or to look for some appliance I don’t know the name of, the staff has always been helpful and super friendly. And they’ve never made me feel stupid when I ask for “those things that you stick in the drywall, you know, so your shelves don’t collapse? dollies?”

Longest City Driveway

By Prince Of Petworth

This driveway really cracks me up. It is huge. It goes all the way from the street to the very left of the photo across the sidewalk in a curve about 20 feet to the garage at the very right of the photo. For a city rowhouse that is one enormous driveway.

Mount Pleasant Heritage Trail – Part 2 by Tina

By Prince Of Petworth

It’s hard for me to imagine what life would have been like as a city kid. My mom and dad still live in the house I grew up in, in suburban town on Long Island, about an hour outside of Manhattan. We spent a lot of time in the city when I was young, and hearing stories about city life from friends who grew up in Manhattan or DC make it sound pretty cool. Even so, I have nothing but fond memories of growing up in the ‘burbs – just minutes from the beach and not too far from all the wonders the city had to offer.

The second leg of the Mount Pleasant Heritage trail speaks a little more to what life might have been like raising a family in DC. Maybe you’d send your kids to grade school at the Sacred Heart Academy (stop number 4). Maybe your family would attend Sunday mass at one of the many churches around 16th and Newton, referred to at stop number 5 as “The Avenue of Churches.” Maybe you lived in one of the gorgeous detached homes – perhaps 1626 or 1640 Newton Street – the two of which are some of Mount Pleasant’s original wood frame houses. Or maybe you skinny dipped in Rock Creek, just like Teddy Roosevelt did. How’s that for a mental image?!

As hard as it is to imagine having grown up in the city, it’s even harder for me to imagine what it would be like to raise a family here. While I was wandering around last week I came upon this house somewhere around 19th and Lamont, where it looks like someone’s got a few city kids of their own. Check out the personalized stepping stones leading up to the rocking horse. If it wasn’t for the kid-sized bikes lined up on the porch, I’d have wondered if it was just a group house full of 20-somethings who are young at heart! Whatever it is, I thought it was pretty sweet, and it makes me happy to know that Mount Pleasant is still very much a village in the city!

A Historic Village – with an Equally Historic Library by Tina

By Prince Of Petworth

What better way to experience the history of our wonderful neighborhood in a single afternoon than a stroll along the Mt. Pleasant Heritage Trail, huh? Well, since it was about ten million degrees out on Saturday, I’m going to have to complete the second half of the trail on another day, but allow me to welcome you to the first of what will be a multi-part post on the stops along the way.

Before I went along my merry way, I picked up a trail booklet at Pfieffer’s Hardware. You can find out where else to get one, or download it from the web here. I spent a little time reading through and learned quite a bit of interesting information about good old Mt. P. Did you know that Mt. Pleasant originally extended as far east as 7th Street? Me neither! It wasn’t until 1903, about 40 years after Mt. Pleasant came to be, that electric street cars began running on Mt. Pleasant Street, businesses started sprouting up, developers started building houses and apartment buildings and Mt. Pleasant began to morph into the neighborhood I know and love today.

Moving along…The trail starts at 16th and Mt. Pleasant Streets and runs north along 16th to Newton, then west on Newton and down 19th Street all the way to Adams Mill Road, back east on Park Road and south on Mt. Pleasant Street, back to where you started from, all with 17 stops along the way. I had originally envisioned this as a 17 part series with a post about each stop, but as I made my way along I realized that might not be too interesting. Who knows if I’ll be able to hold your attention better this way – but I’ve decided to tackle this 3-4 stops at a time and highlight one or two of my choosing. So, here we go… Post continues after the jump with more photos. (more…)

Tina Visits Ercilias Restaurant in Mt. Pleasant

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo credit to to “Angela N.”

When I first moved to Mount Pleasant last summer I spent some time scoping out the main drag and was pretty excited to see all the different restaurants lining the street. I had just moved down the hill from Cleveland Park – which is also full of options – but this was totally different. There are no less than 15 restaurants on Mount Pleasant Street, many of which offer some assortment of Mexican and or Salvadoran food. This is my favorite kind of food, so I was anxious to try these places out, and my friends and I talked about organizing our own “Mount Pleasant Restaurant Week.” I’m not quite sure what happened, but this never actually got off the ground. I think I ate a few pupusas, maybe a taco or two, and then found my favorite joints and didn’t do a whole lot of exploring. So, as you may be beginning to notice, “our intern in Mount Pleasant” has decided to use this experience as an opportunity to conduct her own neighborhood restaurant tour. In the next few weeks I’ll try and switch things up a bit, but on the whole you can expect a lot more of these. This week – Ercilia’s!

Right at the intersection of Mount Pleasant and Irving Streets, Ercilia’s Restaurant is home to some delicious, authentic, and pretty cheap Salvadoran and Mexican cuisine. Oddly enough, they offer Italian fare as well. I’m not really sure how that fits into the selection but unfortunately I don’t speak very good Spanish, and the man behind the counter didn’t seem to speak very good English. So, the notion that people like spaghetti and meatballs might have to be enough of an explanation for that one.

I settled on three beef tacos and my friend chose a bean and cheese pupusa and a vegetarian taco. Even though they weren’t too busy, we did have to wait kind of a while for our food to be prepared. This was a little annoying, but if you don’t have someone to chat with, there’s a pretty good chance that you will become enthralled in whatever telenovela or Spanish talk show is playing on the TV set. Or maybe you can ponder why it’s June and the place is still decorated with Christmas stockings?! Anyhow, aside from the long-ish wait, I’d say the food was really good and the options are plentiful. I wasn’t blown away, but we both left satisfied and with our bellies full!

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