RSS FeedPhoto Of The Week: Yet Another Use For The AAM/NPG Steps
We’ve seen the American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery steps facing east on 7th Street NW take on many functions including cafeteria, snack bar, library, gossip corner, resting place, people watching perch, bullhorn podium (not too much thank goodness) and smooching spot. This is the first time we’ve seen it used as an office or ‘Net surfing location but if the shoe fits, then wear it!
Wrecking Ball No More (475 H St NW) *updated*
UPDATE (evening of July 16): We found the CCC flickr photostream updated as recently as today with lots of interior shots here and here. This forum is reporting the opening date “should be by next Tuesday (July 21).”
The brown wrap is off the windows portending a not too distant opening for the Chinatown Coffee Company (CCC) at 475 H Street, NW. The coffee bar is installed and tables and chairs litter the inside. We’re really glad the name Wrecking Ball Coffee got the proverbial wrecking ball – our sources tell us this DC opening is three to four weeks away, barring any unforseen circumstances which arise from time to time in the restaurant/food service industry [tic]. And so the Penn Quarter/Chinatown’s retail expansion continues despite the economic doldrums. Logo close up is after the jump…
NASA Holds Press Conference At Newseum Tomorrow
It’s great to see that the Newseum will be hosting a press conference of historic significance. Here are the details of the Thursday, July 16th event:
NASA will hold a media briefing at 11 a.m. EDT on Thursday, July 16, at the Newseum in Washington to release greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk.
The release will feature 15 key moments from Neil Armstrong’s and Buzz Aldrin’s historic moonwalk using what is believed to be the best available broadcast-format copies of the lunar excursion, some of which had been locked away for nearly 40 years. The initial video released Thursday is part of a comprehensive Apollo 11 moonwalk restoration project expected to be completed by the fall.
The Newseum is located at 555 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. The news conference will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency’s Internet homepage.
Participants in the briefing will be:
— Richard Nafzger, team lead and Goddard engineer
— Stan Lebar, former Westinghouse Electric program manager
— Mike Inchalik, president of Lowry Digital, Burbank, Calif.
The Nut Bar, 10 Months Later
Just over 10 months ago the 5th street Safeway opened to much fanfare, including numerous mentions on this blog. It was an exciting time for all of us; no longer would downtown residents have to rely on CVS for day to day groceries.
But one of the premier sections of the 5th street Safeway, the nut bar, appears out of place to our eyes (premier if you go by its prime location in the store). After 10 months of shopping at this Safeway we’ve never seen anyone waiting to purchase nuts at the bar. In fact after the excitement of the first month wore off (the out-of-town executives left & the number of employees on duty dropped) we’ve never noticed an employee even working the nut bar.
Most of our grocery shopping is weekend mornings or weekdays just after work, so maybe we’re missing the nut bar rush. Assuming the nut bar has turned out to be a failed experiment, wouldn’t it be great if Safeway would reevaluate the use of that space? Now that it’s almost a year since the opening, maybe Safeway could reevaluate the layout of other sections too (I’m looking at you, yogurt isle).
Do any of our readers frequent the nut bar? Have any ideas for a better way to use the nut bar space?