RSS FeedMidday Music
A hat tip goes to Columbo for alerting us to the Friday evening jazzfests that take place in the National Sculpture Garden in front of the big fountain. Solo or with a group of friends, it’s a never miss recipe for a good time and the atmosphere matches that of a lively central square in a small European town.
For those midday mavens, there is also a jazz option called Live! on Woodrow Wilson Plaza that happens in front of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center at 13th St and Pennsylvania Ave. Every weekday during the summer from 12 Noon to 1:30 pm, a musical act offers up their sounds for the lunchtime crowd and tourists who got lost trying to find the Mall. With this summer being relatively mild so far, never understimate the appeal of standing outside during the day jiving to some music, shades on and a cool beverage in hand. The concert schedule can be found here [PDF].
Penn Quarter Building Permit Update
07/17/07
750 9TH ST NW
EXTERIOR RENOVATIONS TO VICTOR BUILDING PER PLANS. NEW CANOPY PROJECTIONS AND PAVERS PER PLAT.
750 NINTH ST, LLC, A DELAWARE
07/20/07
927 F ST NW
$300,000.00
ALTERATION OF INTERIOR FLOORS WALLS, CEILINGS, HVAC, PLUMBING, ELECTRICAL, AND HOODS AS PER PLANS.
C3FLIX LLC
07/20/07
702 H ST NW
TO PLACE CRANE ON SOUTHSIDE OF H ST NW BETWEEN 8TH AND 7TH ST NW TO HOIST MATERIALS FROM 7AM TO 7PM SATURDAY AND
DOUGLAS DEVELOPMENT
Ring Ma Bell
Have you walked by this “office” building at 1200 H Street (left picture) or 722 12th Street (right picture) and wondered what on earth Verizon does in there? Maybe you’ve peeked in and realized there is no receptionist, much less signs of life?
There are few clues as to what is inside the building but they are there…such as the sign on the front door that says “Colocation Entrance” or this sign still on the chain link fence referring to C & P vehicles.
What is C & P, you ask? Locals will know that Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone, the local phone company founded in 1883, was part of the Ma Bell system when the US telephone monopoly break up took place in 1984 and C & P morphed into Bell Atlantic along with a few other local phone companies. Add NYNEX and GTE to Bell Atlantic in the mid-90s and Verizon was born in 2000 (we’ve glossed over some of the merger details to keep it short but all you antitrust attorneys (and we know the PQ has some!) can get the diagram here).
This building is the central office (or “CO”) for much of downtown Washington DC including the Penn Quarter and it’s where all your landline phone and DSL lines end up. The only people you should see going in and out are Verizon and other phone/network companies’ service personnel. We thought you’d like to know.
When The Lights, Go Up, In The City
We noticed crews today out replacing arm and light on the old (taller) street lights, with a more decorative arm & light. This replacement has been going on for some time, many lights in our downtown streets have already been replaced. In the photo above crews are replacing the light at the SW corner of 12th & E, while another crew has just completed the switch at the NE corner.
Apologies that this blogger couldn’t get a better close up on the new street lights. The full size photo above shows the completed NE corner light a little bit better.
The photo above shows the old style lights that came down. This bloggers thinks these new lights look much nicer in our neighborhood than the old ones. Workers could not confirm if all the older lights would eventually be replaced.