RSS FeedDC Link Roundup: Heard In The ‘Hood
Photo: Museum (915 F St NW) on one of its soft opening nights.
Follow PQ Living via Facebook here and Twitter here. Our Flickr tag is pqliving.
Here’s what we were reading last week about neighborhood news in DC. Have neighborhood thoughts? Leave them in the comments!
Downtown – More details take shape on the venue Clyde’s will be setting up at the former Borders bookstore at 14th and F Street NW in the old Garfinckel’s building. [14th and You]
Penn Quarter – Then, it was the General Post Office of the United States. Now, it’s the Hotel Monaco (and fabulous, we might add) at 700 F Street NW. For the complete history and some fantastic postcards and photos from back in the day, this history lesson will enthrall. [Streets of Washington]
All Over DC – The DC Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign needs volunteer tax preparers to help low income filers with their taxes and also educate them about free financial services that will help with improving their financial condition. [The 42 Bus]
Logan/Dupont – Cookies…holiday cookies…holiday cookie recipes. Yum! Need we say more? [Borderstan]
Southwest/L’Enfant Plaza – The L’Enfant Promenade food court is nearing completion of its renovations. [Southwest…The Little Quadrant That Could]
Mount Vernon Triangle – A condo in the Madrigal Lofts at 811 4th Street NW gets featured on HGTV’s Real Estate Intervention. [The Triangle]
All Over DC – SmartBikeDC will cease operations on January 2, 2011 with Capital Bikeshare taking its place. [DDOT]
National Building Museum Seeks Docents
One of our favorite museums in the neighborhood, the National Building Museum (401 F St NW), wrote in to let us know that they are recruiting Historic Building Docents as follows:
Opportunities are now available to join the Museum’s historic building docent program, a dynamic and engaged group of individuals who are as committed to the building arts as you are. As a Historic Building Docent, volunteers are able to share with visitors the story of our historic home in a unique and personal way that is not done elsewhere in the Museum.
Working For The Weekend
We know how it is, you work all week and can’t wait for those two precious days off over the weekend. Hell it’s only Wednesday and we’re already daydreaming about our weekend plans. So we don’t fault downtown businesses that cater to the office worker crowd taking those two days off as well. But if we had our way, these three Monday-Friday businesses in Penn Quarter would be open 7 days a week.
First up is the Italian Gourmet Deli at 1212 NY Ave NW, home of the finest cheese steak in the city. They probably have some other great sandwiches or even breakfast, but we’ve never made it past that cheese steak. Sure we’ve got Taylor Gourmet and Amorini Panini already open on the weekends, but that’s only to fill the void left by the Italian Gourmet Deli.
Next we come to our personal favorite, Sip of Seattle coffee shop at 1120 G St NW. Somehow they’ve survived the Cosi–Starbucks apocalypse; appearing to have thrived, in fact. A small store barely bigger than some of PQ’s walk-in-closets, the ladies at Sip of Seattle are just incredibly nice. They’ve been open for more than 12 years in that location, and we hope business is such that they’ll be there as long as they want to serve coffee. Speaking of coffee, even if the coffee wasn’t great (it is) or the service not exceptional (it is), this would still be our favorite place to get espresso because they’ll serve it in a real demitasse (not paper cup) if you’re drinking it there.
Finally, this isn’t a place we visit often, but it’s the one we think would do the best if open on the weekends. The 8th Street Deli & Market. Before you call us out for including two delis, we’re not mentioning this one for their sandwiches (which are not bad, but not as good as the Italian Gourmet Deli). 8th Street Deli & Market gets our nod because they sell beer. Can you imagine the business this place could do with tourists? An extremely visible convenience store just off the National Mall? The number one question we get asked by tourists is “where is Ford’s Theatre?” but right behind that at number two is “where can I pick up a six pack of beer around here?” Of course we can (and do) direct them to a liquor store when it makes sense. But after you’ve been asked that question for the dozenth time at the Navy Memorial you really wish you could point across the street.
Those are three places that we (selfishly) wish were open on the weekends. If you could convince a Penn Quarter business to go from 5 to 7 days a week, which would it be?
DC Link Roundup: Heard In The ‘Hood
Follow PQ Living via Facebook here and Twitter here. Our Flickr tag is pqliving.
Here’s what we were reading last week about neighborhood news in DC. Have neighborhood thoughts? Leave them in the comments!
Penn Quarter – L’Alliance Française is opening a branch on 7th Street NW. C’est bon! [French Twist DC]
Mount Vernon Triangle – An update on retail leasings for CityVista. It looks like there will be a cafe/bakeshop *and* “likely” be a Ray’s Hellburger in two separate retail spots. [The Triangle] & [TBD]
Downtown – A historical look at The Willard hotel. [CityStream]
Judiciary Square – Homeless man has 4,548 friends on Facebook and advocates for the homeless using social media. [WaPo]
Foggy Bottom/West End – The Brickskellar, a venerable beer institution in Washington, is changing hands and getting a new name. You can help name the new joint. [WaPo] & [City’s Best] & [WTOP]
Chinatown – A touching goodbye to a Chinatown resident who passed away after being hit by a cyclist on Massachusetts Avenue. [NPR]