RSS FeedOktoberfest
This weekend, I’ll be heading to Fort Belvoir for Oktoberfest in celebration of my Dad’s birthday. German food, fun rides, and large mugs of beer, a perfect way to spend a Saturday!
Here are just a few places you can check out if you want to join in the Oktoberfest festivities this month.
Friday, September 30 through October 29, check out Biergarten Haus (1355 H St. NE), which I’ve heard is an authentic locale for giant mugs of German beer and oompah music.
Here in Penn Quarter, you can go to the Things to Do DC Oktoberfest at the Goethe Institut (812 7th St., NW) on October 8. For $45 you get an open bar featuring German beer and wine, German desserts, and live music and dancing.
Or, you could simply stop by Café Mozart (1331 H St., NW) and buy some authentic German food and pantry items and have your own Oktoberfest party.
If you’re up for a road trip, there are several large Oktoberfest celebrations in the suburbs of the city, from the 12th Annual Mid-Atlantic Oktoberfest in Shirlington to Oktoberfest Reston to Frederick’s Oktoberfest.
Ein bier bitte!!!
Pennsylvania Ave In Top Five Most Expensive Streets In USA
A recent study by Jones Lang LaSalle, a publicly held company headquartered in Chicago providing integrated real estate services to companies worldwide, reveals that Pennsylvania Ave has the fifth highest rent per square foot in the nation for office space. The reason quoted in the press release follows:
5. Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC $80.00 per square foot
Known as “America’s Main Street,” Pennsylvania Avenue is home to dozens of law firms and government affairs lobbying outfits that crave proximity to Washington’s two main points of power, the White House to the west and the Capitol to the east.
Surprisingly, New York City did not take the top spot. The top spot went to Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California which is the home to many venture capital companies like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital. New York City’s Fifth Avenue came in second. The closest location to Washington, DC, in the study is Baltimore’s Pratt Street which runs by Camden Yards and the Inner Harbor, also in a downtown environment.
Hat tip: Anonymous PQ Living reader
Parade For A Playground On Sept 24
It seems like it was just yesterday when we were busy photoshopping a onesie to say “I <3 PQ”. Now that PQ has an active Penn Quarter Parents mailing list and those PQ babies have grown, it’s time to get down to brass tacks and talk about playgrounds! A group of Penn Quarter parents have organized to bring a playground to our neighborhood.
The newly (April 2011) formed DowntownDCKids.org, a resource created by Penn Quarter parents for families living and playing in downtown DC, will be hosting a parade for a neighborhood playground on Saturday, Sept 24. The meeting point is 755 8th St NW (Calvary Baptist Church) at 10:30am and the parade will walk down to the National Book Festival on the Mall. In addition to the parade, organizers have setup an online petition and ask PQ residents to help this issue get more attention by our elected officials.
The group of parents have already made significant progress in advocating for a downtown DC playground, including meeting with Tommy Wells, the Councilman from Ward 6, who is Chairman of the Committee on Libraries, Parks, Recreation and Planning.
We’re very excited to see Penn Quarter grow into a more family friendly neighborhood!
So Much to Do
This weekend is one of those crazy, there’s so much going on, I want to be everywhere doing everything set of days. Since I can’t be everywhere, at a minimum, I’m hoping to go to some of the following.
Friday, September 23, there is a special late-night opening party at the Hirshhorn (7th and Independence Avenue, SW) in honor of the Andy Warhol: Shadows exhibit. There’s a special offer for tickets available on the Pink Line Project.
Nuit Blanche is coming to DC this Saturday, September 24. Enjoy free contemporary art and music performances from 7pm to 3am (apparently, unlike Paris and New York, DC considers 3am the end of the night) throughout Penn Quarter and Shaw.
Here are just two of the Nuit Blanche events that I’m looking forward to checking out:
7pm-11:30pm International Block Party (Techworld Plaza & I Street, NW): Graffiti artist Scotty 76 and other artists from here in DC and around the world, as well as tune from DJ Baronhawk Poitier.
7pm-3am WonderBread Factory (641 S Street, NW): Exhibitions, live henna painting, live painting and graffiti, plus performances by WALKER ROAD, YEVETO, DIGITAL 21, and SND+VSN
Click here for the complete list of participating venues and artists.
Saturday and Sunday is the National Book Festival on the Mall (between 7th and 14th Streets). This is a great event, especially if you’ve never seen or heard one of your favorite author’s in person. I’ve gone for two years and it’s always interesting and fun. Click here for the full schedule of authors. Some of the authors I want to see this year include David McCullough (The Greater Journey), Jim Lehrer (Tension City), Amy Chua (Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother), Michael Cunningham (The Hours), and Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius).
On Sunday, the National Symphony holds its season opener featuring the amazing Joshua Bell and one of my favorite pieces of music, Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor. (Sadly, I discovered this too late and there don’t seem to be any seats remaining).
I have always dreamed of going to the Tomatina in Spain. No one else I know thinks being covered in tomato sauce sounds fun, so I will just have to settle for the Tomatina festival at Jaleo (480 7th Street, NW) now through October 2. Click here for some examples of what they will be concocting to celebrate the end of tomato season.
Also for the foodies, there is going to be a great opportunity to hear Ferran Adria, founder and chef of El Bulli, speak next week. He and long-time friend and local celeb chef, Jose Andres, will have a conversation about all things food at the Lisner Auditorium on Thursday, September 29. I am definitely not going to miss this incredible opportunity to hear a legend in the culinary world talk about his passion for and creative genius with food.
It’s events like these that make me so grateful to live in the heart of a wonderfully diverse city!