Rant/Revel


photo by Adam Fagen

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. But please no personal attacks and no need to correct people’s grammar. This is a place to vent and/or celebrate things about daily life in D.C.

To. never miss a post, please sign up for our free daily email summaries here.

Follow PoPville on Instagram here, on X/Twitter here, on Facebook here on Threads here and on BlueSky here.  Please email tips and questions to [email protected]

Get the inside, inside scoop and help PoPville’s long term viability by joining the Friends of the PoPville Sauntering Society. Thanks!


Remembering


Photo by angela n.

From the office of Councilmember Charles Allen:

“The following statement is from DC Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6), as the country marks the five-year anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol to prevent the democratic certification of the 2020 US Presidential Election:

“Five years ago today, Ward 6 neighbors, DC residents, and Americans lived through a traumatic attack that shook this country’s very foundations. A mob, rallied by President Trump, attacked the US Capitol to disrupt Congress’ duty to certify the Presidential election results, assaulting the men and women of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department who were the first to answer the call from the US Capitol Police. During the insurrection, more than 100 law enforcement officers were injured, and President Trump notably refused to activate the National Guard. One US Capitol Police officer died from injuries they sustained, and three responding MPD officers and one US Capitol Police officer died by suicide in the months after. The violence placed thousands more in harm’s way. President Trump then granted more than 1,500 pardons to the insurrectionists at the start of his second term. The President’s message is clear: If you support me, the law does not apply to you. (more…)


wildlife

Thanks to Becca for sending this happy guy from “the corner of Penn NW and 7th NW. Quite a few folks stopped to see him but he kept munching unbothered.”

Friends of the White Whale Society is brought to you by the team behind Hawks*** around Town. You can email your sightings to [email protected]

If you spot a hawk, any interesting wildlife or celebrity skateboarder Tony Hawk, and get a good photo please send in an email where you spotted them to [email protected]. Thanks! Hawks around Town is made possible by a generous grant from the Ben and Sylvia Gardner foundation.

From the White Squirrel Institute(!!?!!):

“What is a white squirrel? (more…)


Event

The evening ranges freely across the American songbook, threading together the theater music of Sondheim, Rodgers and Hart, Bernstein, and Weill with the songs of Ives, Barber, and Liebermann, and the setting of poets as distinct as E. E. Cummings, Langston Hughes, and Allen Ginsberg. It’s a program that moves with ease between the bright patter of numbers like “The What-Cha-Ma-Call-It” and the aching intimacy of “Lonely House”—music that captures both the exuberance and the tenderness at the heart of the American voice.

Bliss brings to this repertoire a voice of exceptional beauty — bright, focused, and capable of extraordinary refinement — along with a natural feel for the wit, swagger, and vulnerability this music demands, whether he’s channeling Sondheim’s restless “Being Alive,” or the sly nostalgia of “One for My Baby.” Expect an evening that is as much a portrait of a nation’s music as it is a showcase for one of the outstanding tenors of his generation.


Mount Pleasant


3201 Mt Pleasant Street, NW

Update from a reader: “Leon needs our grace right now, he’s trying really hard to get back on top of his customers’ orders. He was assaulted over the holiday and is having a family emergency. Would we have preferred he put a sign up and let us know how to reach him or when he would be back? Sure. But none of us know what we will be able to handle when something terrible happens and you are the only one running the shop. Leon does good work and he is honest. There are very few cobblers left in the city or anywhere. It’s hard dirty work, and no one is apprenticing anymore. So while we have a few good craftsmen in our city we may need to acknowledge that when something really hard happens in their life, we may not get our shoes on time.”

“Dear PoPville,

Leon’s Shoe Repair in Mt Pleasant is a staple in the neighborhood. He hasn’t been open or there for about a month, (more…)


DC Water

“Dear PoPville,

What’s going on with DC Water … around the change in impervious area measurements? I got a letter over the holidays with a huge increase, only for DC Water to announce a pause in implementation. Wondering if this was citywide? So much opacity!

I’m confused about who received these letters…I have some friends in NW who did and others who did not. My increase is large, but others are larger. (more…)


Columbia Heights

As PoPville gets ready to celebrate our 20 year anniversary this November, I’m gonna lean into historical posts a bit leading up to the party. It occurred to me that I (and we collectively) have a LOT of institutional knowledge. So why not share it from time to time? But mostly because these are just fun to remember! So a ‘Dose of DC History’ is born.

This trivial pursuit question that we first posted back in 2009 is simply stunning:

“What major U.S. city closed its post office at 14th Street and Irving because rodents were eating the mail, in 1998?”

hahaha Columbia Heights represent!! Yikes.

In another dose of dc history, here’s a little video from our IG that we’ll be doing weekly: (more…)


Announcement

The museum’s annual Native Art Market features award-winning and innovative Indigenous artists from across the Western Hemisphere. This event invites lovers of art and craftsmanship to meet Indigenous artists and learn about the traditional arts and contemporary Indigenous creativity. Visitors will have the opportunity to purchase traditional and contemporary handcrafted artworks, including beadwork, jewelry, paintings, photography, pottery, and sculpture.