This Month
4 Trains! Glorious
Trains!
7 Tu r k e y, Hogshead,
Pasteles and Pie:
Celebrating the New
Year Ethnic Style
10 Of Dreidels and
Christmas Stockings:
Tradition Blending
on the Hill
11 The Hill circa
1800: Time Tr a v e l
14 True Faith:
S t o re f ront Churc h e s
18 History in the
Making: The
Supremes
D e p a rt m e n t s
Vo i c e M a i l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Ask Judith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 0
Spencer Says . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 2
Business Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 3
Business Serv i c e s. . . . . . .2 7
D o w n L o a d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 9
Capital Kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 7
Kids’ Sport s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 0
Kids’ Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . .4 1
H o ro s c o p e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 2
Community Calendar . . .4 2
C l a s s i f i e d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 5
Vol. 2 No. 9 December 15 2000
o f
T h e
H i l l
G et ready C a p i t o l
H i l l , th e h o l i d a y s
a repulling i n to th e
s t a t i o n !
A n t i q u e&
Con t e m p o r a ry
L E A S I N G A N D S A L E S
A n t i q u e&
Con t e m p o r a ry
L E A S I N G A N D S A L E S
Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
S a t u rday 10am-2pm
709 12th Stre e t , SE
on Capitol Hill
F ree off-street parking
Convenient to Eastern
Market Metro
202.547.3030
w w w. a n t i q u e l e a s i n g. c o m
Monday-Friday 9am-5pm
S a t u rday 10am-2pm
709 12th Stre e t , SE
on Capitol Hill
F ree off-street parking
Convenient to Eastern
Market Metro
202.547.3030
w w w. a n t i q u e l e a s i n g. c o m
Tom & Alice sold over 1 million dollars in Real Esta te each month
this year! They have the insider’s secrets to showcasing and marke ting
pro p e rties pro p e r ly! Curious about your home’s value in th i s
m a r ket? Call or email Tom & Alice for a qucik EQUITY CH E CK !
Tom & Alice Fa i s o n
A S S O C I A T E B R O K E R S , G R I
REMAX Capital Re a l to r s
call 202.255.5554 or email
FA I S O N @ Re a l to r. c o m
Your neighborhood furn i t u re sourc e
for leasing—for buying.
IS Y O U R H O M E R E A D Y
F O R T H E H O L I D AY S?
We can help! House calls made.
Happy Holidays and Thank You
to the Over 100 Happy Capitol Hill
Buyers and SellersWe Have
Worked with this Year!
hoods! Well, got THAT off my
chest!
CELESTE MCCAL L
To the Editor:
To paraphrase a line I heard in an Al
Pacino movie, no one thinks about the
cops until they need them.
I think maybe it would be nice during
this holiday season (and anytime, for
that matter) to let our substation
police, our Capitol Hill police, and our
fire department know that we thank
them and appreciate their being there
for us.
The peace and safety we take for
granted is, in a large part, due to their
presence. Can the Voice give them a
thanks?
Sincerely,
M A RY ANN SUST
Mary Ann’s Voice, we think, speaks for
all of us.
To the Editor:
Duncan Spencer has let the 10,000-
pound gorilla out of the closet in his
column (Voice of the Hill, November 17,
2000), acknowledging (finally) that no
one is making a fortune managing
Eastern Market.
Only a very rudimentary understanding
of economics is needed to lead one
to this conclusion.
Getting in new (and as Spencer suggests)
more expensive management
will only lead to losing the Eastern
Market we have known so long, to the
“genuine Rolex watches, sunglasses
and tee shirt” vendors, as the current
lower margin retailers are forced out by
the higher costs of doing usiness. After
all, someone is going to have to pay
the new, expensive management costs.
Ellen Opper-Weiner would be well
advised to say “none of the above” to
the new proposals, and move to dismantle
her organization, and the
EMPDC as well, in the interests of preserving
Eastern Market.
One could just give Glasgow and
Harrod five-year contracts, require
them to have (say) semi-annual neighborhood
meetings to solicit input, and
be evaluated on their performance at
the end of the contract. That would
provide incentive for them to improve
services, just as we already have seen
improvements from both of them as a
result of changes threatened.
I am sure they would rise to the
challenge.
KARL K. KINDEL
To the Editor:
I’ve followed
with great interest
your extensive
coverage of
the on-going
process of selecting
a new Market
Manager for Eastern Market.
I’m very impressed with the depth of
reporting, and the fact that you have
reproduced the complete proposals online.
I believe that you are providing a
great service to the entire Capitol Hill
community and the supporters and
patrons of the Market, all of whom are
vitally interested in it’s future.
As you know, the City Office of
Property Management, with the advice
of the Eastern Market Community
Advisory Committee (EMCAC), will
soon select one of these offers as the
new Market Manager. Thanks to your
coverage, and several recent meetings,
the community at-large is now well
informed of the three very different
approaches to the future of the Market.
It seems to me that the Voice could
provide an additional service to
this process by conducting a survey, as
you have done in the past (e.g. Fresh
fields).
Although I notice that your
Webmaster has already established a
“discussion” file, would you consider
setting up and highlighting an on-line
survey—with comments—which would
allow your readers and the Communityat-
Large to indicate its preference
among the Market Management proposals.
This information could be VERY helpful
to the City, and the EMCAC, as they
work through the selection process.
Since this selection is so
imminent, your timely consideration of
this idea is appreciated.
Thanks again for your reporting on
this issue.
MIKE BERMAN
While we appreciated Mike Berman’s
request for an on-line survey, such
things can be tricky to put together on
the spur of the moment. Better, we rea -
soned, to keep it to a discussion. For
many many more opinions on the
Eastern Market management propos -
als, check the “Hill Talk” area at
www.voiceofthehill.com.
To the Editor:
While enjoying the cur rent edition of
The Voice I came across Judith Capen’s
contribution and the following state -
ment,”My husband Robert heard a
www.voiceofthehill.com 3
Vo i cem a i l
The Voice of the Hill is published and
distributed monthly to Capitol Hill
residence and business locations.
The focus is on the community and
includes contiguous neighborhoods
from Gallaudet University to the
Navy Yard and from the Capitol to
the Stadium Armory Complex.
Publication and distribution is the
third Friday of each month.
Advertising deadline is the first of
the month preceding publication.
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Washington DC 20003
Editorial: 242 Kentucky Ave., SE
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bruce@voiceofthehill.com
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adele@voiceofthehill.com
Staff
Stephanie Cavanaugh,
Editor
Bruce Robey
WebMaster
Adele Robey
Graphic Design and Production
Gene Miller, Church Editor
Larry Kaufer, Sports Editor
Patty Curran, Kids’ News Editor
Sarah Godfrey Intern
Phoenix Graphics, Inc.
T/A Voice of the Hill
and Stephanie Cavanaugh
Publishers
Community Action Group:
Distribution
Contributing Writers
Judith Capen
Shirley Cochrane
Alan Donovan
Kristen Hartke
Memberships
Printing & Graphic Communication
Association
Printing Industry of America
Capitol Hill Association of
Merchants and Professionals
Art Directors Club of Metropolitan
Washington
Barracks Row Business Alliance
Independent Free Papers of America
H Street Merchants Association
VOICE o f
T h e
H i l l
Celeste McCall
Duncan Spencer
Michael Wilkenson
This issue’s Download section includes
an article that was recently posted to
www.voiceofthehill.com on redesigning
the Eastern Market Metro Plaza to
make it a more inviting place—with a
request for suggestions from readers
on how this might be accomplished.
Web-reader Lori Shepard, whose letter
appears below, was the first to com -
ment. Next month we hope to bring you
many more.
To the Editor:
A suggestion I have is to sell bricks for
the Plaza.
Local businesses and residents could
purchase bricks with inscriptions on
them, similar to the ones in front of the
MCI Center. They could be memorials
to people who have passed on, or tributes
to the living.
Benches could also be inscribed with
nameplates for people to purchase—
also as a tribute to someone or with a
business name on it.
Area residents might keep the park
cleaner if they have something they
purchased around. It might endear
them to it. Make it worth the effort. A
park that uses people’s money is more
likely to be kept up by those people.
Thank you for listening to a suggestion
from a new resident of SE.
LORI SHEPA R D
To the Editor:
I just came back from my daily walk
and, as usual, continued to wage my
war against litter, picking up empty
potato chip bags near Hine Jr. High,
and worse—all those tacky flyers. The
usual culprits are Today’s Pizza
and Al’s Pizza, and I feel bad confronting
the individuals distributing the
flyers because they are often poor,
homeless persons.
Today, however, the distributor was a
young, well-dressed, middle-class
woman. I asked her to please not
stick flyers around, and she responded,
“This is a service. “ I said something
like: “Well, if you want to do a service,
please don’t litter,” and I told her that I
would pick up and discard her leaflets,
which I did.
I saved one. Here’s what it said, in
part: “Get rid of clutter, simplify your
life...” It then went on to urge letting
her help in organizing closets, drawers
and cabinets, etc… and suggested
donating items to charity.
I think the latter is a great idea of
course, but found it rather ironic that
someone would litter in the name of
eliminating clutter.
Oh yes, the phone number on the
flyer is not a Hill number. Wish people
would clutter up their OWN neighbor- (continued on page 36)
4 www.voiceofthehill.com
We’d woken up earlythis chill
Saturday,
All bundled and hatted we went on our way.
How lovely, crooned Avie.
Woof woof, barked our pup.
The gray sky was parting, the sun almost up.
But poor Eastern Market seemed caught in despair.
A malaise hovered darkly,
foul wind in the air
The celery was limp, and the shrimp failed to glisten,
even the breads seemed pale, and unrisen
The folks trudged by sadly, infected with gloom.
Why a breeze off Blue Plains would have lightened
the mood.
What’s up? muttered Avie.
Woof, woof, growled the Pup.
It’s nearly Thanksgiving, you’d think they’d cheer up.
Perhaps, I told Avie, from the suburbs they’ve come,
where such moods are common, ’til lifted by rum
So sad, sighed my wife.
The pup wagged his agreement.
And we trundled off quickly,
in search of appeasement
As we wandered Northeast there arose a faint clatter.
We glanced at each other,
wondering what was the matter
The sounds we were hearing tolled a delicate knell.
Like the hammers of pixies, or fairies, or elves.
A sweet silvery rhythm,
enchanting as bells.
So off to the Stationour booted feet
flew,
for in that Hill corner no gloom was in view.
The sun sparkled brightly, the air smelled so
sweet—
we’d visions of gingerbread and other fine treats
Tying the pup to a holly trimmed rail,
we entered the station,
pilgrims after a grail
Then in the West Hall we came to a stop.
Our hearts thudded sprightly—
and it wasn’t the shops.
A huge wooden platform came into our view,
where busy elves worked with cotton and glue.
They’d made snow covered meadows,
an iced lake in the trees.
And up on the mountain,
happy people with skies
It’s The Train, sighed dear Avie.
—Poem by Stephanie Cavanaugh, inspired by Alan Donovan’s prose.
www.voiceofthehill.com 5
BY ALAN DONOVAN
“The Train” is,
of course, the Christmas train in the
West Hall of Union Station.
A fixture since the Station’s glorious
rebirth in 1988, it has been
chugging along, scale mile after scale
mile, every Christmas since, bring -
ing delight to the thousands of people
who visit each holiday season.
And while it began its life manifestly
as a capitalist tool designed to
lure unsuspecting Christmas shoppers
to the Station’s retail stores, it
has long since metamorphosed into
something completely different–a
smile machine.
Yes, “The Train” is guaranteed to
to raise a grin, on even the grimmest
countenance. Go down to the
Station and see for yourself. Stand in
the West Hall and watch the people,
young and old, as they watch the
train (actually, there are three trains,
but who’s counting).
You will see nothing but smiles,
and you will smile too, of that there
is simply no doubt.
(And while you are at it, there
remains the possibility that you will
make the Station merchants smile as
well by actually buying something.)
Who do we have to thank for this
small holiday miracle? An unlikely
set of heroes:
• Mark Long, a one-time sparring
partner to former boxing champion
Marvin Hagler, who’s been building
“The Train” since its beginning
• Styrkar Braathen, of the
Norwegian Museum of Science and
Technology and an avid model train
enthusiast.
It is called “The Train” because
that is what its builders call it. Or, to
some degree, builders is the wrong
word. Mentors spring to mind, or
guardians, or even, rivals.
Their relationship with “The
Train” is more akin to a domineering
father and the prodigal son, though
any attempt to determine which is
which would inevitably end in utter
failure, for they control “The Train”
but “The Train consumes them.
Their lives are now and forever
entwined—and this is all to the better
for us on the Hill, because otherwise
this holiday tradition would
not exist.
Mark and his firm, Visual Arts of
Riverdale, Maryland, built the origi -
nal platform display and has been
maintaining it ever since.
Mark was, in the early 1970s, a
golden gloves boxer and a sparring
partner to former middleweight
champion Marvin Hagler.
Having traveled around the world
as part of Hagler ’s entourage, he
eventually tired of being punched
for a living and took up what had all
along been his life’s passion–visual
presentation—which he roughly
defines as the creative art of window
displays.
Indeed, the holiday season is the
busiest time of the year for Visual
Arts. In addition to “The Train” the
firm is working on Christmas displays
in six other local shopping
malls.
“The Train” is billed by the Station
management as the “largest por table
display in the world of a scale G
model train.” Scale G is 1/32 scale,
or 1/32 life-size. By comparison,
your trusty 1950s Lionel train set was
1/48 scale.
“Portable” is the key word here,
but no one in their right mind,
according to both Mark and Styrkar,
would ever want to move such a display.
Mark says “You almost have to
rebuild it every year—it’s like asking
Styrkar to take down the model train
set in his backyard once a year and
rebuild it” (Styrkar immediately
shakes his head and grunts “Nay,
nay, nay....).
“You can’t imagine, just looking at
‘The Train’ what it takes to set it up,”
Mark emphatically states. “And it
would be hard to explain it, because
the explanation wouldn’t do it justice.
Some people that I’ve hired
over the years to work on The Train
have moved out of state, changed
their names, and joined the witness
protection program so I wouldn’t
track them down and drag them
back to put it up the next year.”
He notes that presenting “The
Train” each year requires a massive
amount of tedious work. Visual Arts
is responsible for setting up the plat -
form and the scenery (which
requires more than 200 man/person
hours alone), laying down the track,
and making the necessary electrical
connections.
It takes several days just to install
the basic platform, which measures
44’ x 16’ and is hauled into the
Station each year via three 24-foot
long trucks. Work usually begins a
week or so before Thanksgiving and
continues right through the morning
after Thanksgiving, when “The
Train” is officially unveiled.
And each year, at least person—
almost always male—strikes up a
conversation during construction
and claims to have, or have had, at
one time in his life, a “larger” display.
“Train envy,” Mark calls it.
But despite everything, Mark’s
love and pride shows through: “I like
doing the train….” And he even
cracks a small smile.
The Norwegian connection to
“The Train” and Union Station
began four years ago, when His
Excellency the Ambassador of
Norway, Tom Vraalsen, arrived in
Washington, fresh from a term as
the Ambassador of Norway to
England. There, he began a tradition
of presenting an annual Christmas
tree to the City of London.
Once in Washington, he looked
for an opportunity to extend this
seasonal cooperation, and discovered
a willing partner in Union
Station.
From a simple beginning, with the
donation of an annual Christmas
tree, the relationship between the
Embassy and the Station quickly
6 www.voiceofthehill.com
children. Mark proclaims, “After 5
kids, she wants to keep him down in
the cellar as much as possible! You
know those winter nights in Norway
are quite long. So, she’s happy that
he has something else to focus upon
(go play with your trains, dear,
please–it’s all right—go play with
your trains).”
Mark hints that if Styrkar lived in
Washington, they would most likely
go into a partnership and erect trains
in other malls: “It sure beats a Sant a
Claus with flapping arms.”
This, even though he maintains
an ambivalence about “The Train,”
and a distaste for all things connected
with model railroading.
But he does understand the marketing
value and drawing power of
such displays, but only if done properly
and with the necessary resources
being committed.
He recalls that the Philadelphia
Zoo approached him some years ago
with just such an idea, a year-round
train to greet visitors.
But, with neither any clear com -
mitment, nor the guarantee of the
necessary resources, he told the Zoo
marketing executives: “You’re crazy.
You don’t know the headache you’re
gonna take on here. I don’t know if
there are any tall skyscrapers in
Philly, but you’ll be jumping off
them after the fir st year. So the Zoo
operations people said, ‘well, maybe
we had better rethink this.’ And I
said, ‘you might think that wild animals
are difficult, but it’s nothing
like the craziness that goes with
trains.’ Those people, marketing people,
they are a breed by themselves—
it must be something in the water
they drink.”
And with that, the two got back to
work.
The day after Thanksgiving every
piece was in place, and “The Train”
was ready for the official opening.
With a fanfare, the switch was
thrown, and throngs of smiling chil -
dren, as well as adults, crowded
around.
Meanwhile, Styrkar Braathen hovered,
ensuring that everything is
once and for all in order.
Happily, he said, “It works.
Everything is OK. The job is done.”
Until next year, that is, when the
tradition will continue.
“The Train” rolls on each day
through January 1, from 10 AM – 7
PM; Sundays from Noon till 6 PM).
Alan Donovan is a Capitol Hill free -
lance writer.
grew to include “The Train” as part
of “A Norwegian Christmas at Union
Station.”
(The original train, which was featured
from 1988–1996, sits in a warehouse
in Camp Springs, patiently
waiting for its next assignment.
Mark claims he visits it on occasion
and talks to it).
In recent years, the union has
expanded to such partners as The
Smithsonian and The Kennedy
Center, and now includes the
Metropolitan Police Department,
the United States Marine Corps, and
the Toys for Tots Foundation (local
residents and visitors are encouraged
to drop off toys at the Norwegian
information booth at the Station).
Styrkar Braathen was recruited to
reconstruct the display to present a
typical Norwegian village. After
Mark and his crew have completed
the presentation base, Styrkar flies in
from Norway to apply the final
touch to the surroundings. All of
the buildings, the trains, the boats,
and the trolls are lovingly built by
his hand or procured in Norway.
Styrkar is an avid model railroader
who maintains an extensive permanent
model train setup, even larger
than the Station’s, in his garden outside
of Oslo. His wife seems to be
remarkably tolerant of his hobby,
which he admits, “Can be expensive,
at least at first.”
Mark Long has another explanation
–Styrkar, who appears to be
around 40 or so, already has five
What holiday setting is complete with -
out at least a small train chugging
through the poinsettias? Editor-in-chief
Stephanie Cavanaugh’s table arrangement
features part of husband Greg’s
prized collection of trains.
www.voiceofthehill.com 7
There’ll also be heaping bowls of
collard greens (signifying money)
and sometimes Hoppin’ John, a tasty
mixture of those black-eyed peas and
rice, enlivened with a splash of vinegar.
The piece de resistance, however,
is always Minnie’s sweet potato soufflé
(see recipe, below).
All that for a potluck party!
Will’s guests will contribute dishes
reflecting their own traditional
favorites, like the Hill’s Polish-
American friend who brings sauerkraut
and pork, another good luck
charm, and neighbor Kathleen
McAuliffe, who always makes a
chicken and rice casserole, “which
everyone loves.”
“We get a great mix of people,”
says Will, who’s chatting with me
BY CELESTE MCCAL L
Move over, Adams Morgan.
For decades, that vibrant, nor thwest
neighborhood has been
Washington’s numero uno for ethnic
diversity. But giving it a run for its
pasteles, schnitzel and spanakopita is
our own Capitol Hill.
And we don’t just mean restaurants
—our residents claim myriad
backgrounds, which translates to
rich holiday traditions…and memories.
We taste but four of many:
Will Hill
“Christmas is just a quiet day at
home,” says ANC6B Commissioner
Will Hill, who lives near 13th and
Pennsylvania in a house he shares
with mama “Minnie” Hill and 12-
year old Chihuahua, Rosita. “Then I
get ready for New Year’s.”
Since the 1970s, Hill, a former
printing company owner who’s now
with the United States Senate, has
been hosting a New Year’s Day open
house for his friends—old and new.
And that means plenty of preparation.
Will always serves up both roast
turkey and ham, along with black
eyed peas flavored with ham hocks
and seasoned with paprika, tomato
paste, barbecue sauce and hot sauce,
or as he puts it, “A dash of this and a
dash of that.”
Black eyed peas, Will tells me, are
supposed to bring good luck—some
say the peas originated in Africa and
were brought to the New World by
slaves.
Minnie Hill’s Sweet Potato Soufflé
3 pounds sweet potatoes, cooked
112 cups sugar
113 cups water
1 small can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
34 stick butter or margarine
Grated nutmeg
Cornstarch mixed with water
Peel and slice sweet potatoes and
arrange in buttered baking dish. In
saucepan, combine sugar and water.
Boil slowly for 4 to 5 minutes to
form syrup. Add evaporated milk
and boil 2 minutes more. Mix cor nstarch
with a little water and add it
to the syrup, then add vanilla and
butter. Sprinkle nutmeg and then
pour sauce over sliced potatoes. Bake
casserole at 350° until sauce is
cooked down and potatoes are
browned. Serves 6 to 8.
Clotilde Benitez
San Juan born, Clotilde Benitez, has
called Capitol Hill home for more
than a decade. The management
consultant and graduate of Yale
University Law School, is also a marvelous
hostess and cook—her papa,
Jaime Benitez, served as Resident
Commissioner of the Commonwealth
of Puerto Rico from 1973 to
1977, which meant a lot of enter taining.
Clotilde has just completed a comprehensive
cookbook on the cuisine
of the Spanish Antilles that includes
recipes from Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic and Cuba,
which captures many fond memories
of the holiday season “down
home.”
On a chilly November evening, a
far cry from her warm sunny home -
land, she reminisces over a glass of
wine at the Bluestone Café: “For el
fin de año, we’d get dressed to the
nines—cocktail dresses for women,
black tie for men.” Many women
dressed in yellow, she tells me. It ’s a
color that is said to bring good luck.
“But before going out for the
evening,” she says, “we always had
champagne with our parents. Then
we’d visit as many as a half dozen
homes, which were beautifully decorated
–elaborately elegant! There
would always be music, and people
loved the old romantic songs, like
the 1920s Aquello Ojos Verdes—Those
Green Eyes!”
Eventually, the adult partygoers
(the young people would often head
off to nightclubs) would end up at
one last home for a gala dinner.
The centerpiece for the lavish buffet
was usually pernil al horno (roast
pork), served with arroz con gandules
(rice with pigeon peas), queso blanco
(white cheese), pasteles (little
dumplings filled with pork, bananas
and raisins and seasoned with
achiote, (the deep red seeds of the
anatto tree). Then, at midnight,
over coffee at Bread and Chocolate.
“Old and young, different races and
cultures. Out-of-towners plan their
trips around my party. We’ve gotten
new neighbors, and I include them.
People who have moved away come
back year after year. And some people
who are always invited respond
before they even get their invitations.
Last year we had more than
100—the biggest crowd yet.”
The Hill’s holiday cooking reflects
traditions that date back to Will’s
childhood on a farm outside
Culpepper, Virginia in the
Shenandoah Valley.
In the old days, Minnie Hill always
baked plenty of special holiday
desserts. Family favorites were peach
or apple cobbler, rice or bread pud -
ding and something called “poor
man’s pie,” a confection of biscuit
dough layered with apple sauce and
sprinkled with cinnamon, nutmeg
and cloves.
And, says Will, “We always had
black eyed peas and greens on New
Year’s, which we served with hogs
head.” Will used to prepare this deli -
cacy for his own parties—but it got
to be too much of a hassle. “Besides,”
he tells me, “hogs head is
very greasy.”
While the loss of some long-ago
traditions and folklore might be
missed, others are best left by the
wayside, this chestnut for example:
“When I was growing up,” recalls
Will, “people believed that if the
first person to cross the threshold of
the home on January the first was a
man, the family would enjoy good
luck all year long!”
Tu rkey, Hogs Head,
Pa steles and Pie
E thnic Celebrations on
C a p i tol Hill
Will Hill,adding a dash of this and a
dash of that for the New Year.
8 www.voiceofthehill.com
Restaurateur Bill Kadavias
came el brindis —the toast—usually
with champagne.
With dinner over, Clotilde says,
the revelry resumed: “People played
music while singing, dancing and
even reciting poetry! Around two or
three AM, the young people
returned from nightclubbing, and
the party began all over again!
Around sunup, someone would
serve coffee or hot chocolate with
pastries. Then folks straggled on
home to sleep it off before resuming
the festivities on New Year’s Day.”
But the real culmination of the
holiday season, says Clotilde, was
Vispera or El Dia De Los Tres Reyes
Magos, the Feast of the Three Kings,
which is celebrated January 6.
The night before, children filled
shoeboxes with fresh grass for the
camels. “Oh yes, and apples for the
kings themselves—they have to eat
too,” Clotilde giggles. “The Magi
came in during the night, helped
themselves to their treats and lef t
presents in return.”
Pernil al Horno
Clotilde Benitez
1 pork leg (6-7 pounds)
1 clove garlic
4 peppercorns
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons olive oil
3 teaspoons salt
Grind garlic, peppercorns, and
oregano together. Combine with
olive oil and salt. Rub meat with
mixture and refrigerate until roasting
time (not overnight). Preheat
oven at 350°F. Place meat, fat side
up, on oven rack and roast 35 min -
utes per pound. Serves 6
Bill Kavadias
The Washington area counts 80,000
Greek Americans—a population that
fills the five Greek-Orthodox
churches in our area. And what rich
holiday traditions they contribute!
Among these Hellenic transplants
are Capitol Hill restaurateurs, Bill
Kavadias and his wife Ifinia, who live
in Potomac, and Bill’s brother
Gabriel and his spouse Koula, resi -
dents of Olney.
For 35 years, the Kavadias brothers
have operated Taverna the Greek
Islands on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The restaurant started out as a modest
little eatery, called the A&K, featuring
shish-kabobs rotating in the
window, wine served in plastic cups,
and heaps of spanakopita plunked on
paper plates.
Then, in 1976, came expansion—
and the birth of the white tablecloth
Taverna we know today.
The Kavadias family comes from
the Ionian island of Kefalonia, and
“Mr. Bill,” as he’s affectionately
called by friends and associates,
takes a mid-afternoon break after the
lunchtime rush to describes his holiday
customs—which, after more
than three decades in the United
States, have acquired some distinctly
American flourishes.
Upon returning from church on
Christmas Day, the family sits down
to a turkey dinner. But instead of
cornbread and sage, the gobbler is
stuffed with a savory mixture of rice,
pine nuts, and raisins, and seasoned
with nutmeg, ginger and cloves.
No candied yams here—a typical
Greek Christmas dinner includes
oregano and lemon-scented roast
potatoes, with Greek salad in lieu of
American cranberry sauce.
Only the desserts may vary, says
Kavadias, whose mother often made
rizogalo (literally rice-milk), a rich
pudding made with rice, milk and
eggs and spiked with cinnamon and
sometimes cloves.
New Year’s Eve in the old country,
Mr. Bill explains, was not the rowdy
scene it is here. Instead, Greek s
attend midnight Mass to thank God
for the past year and to welcome in
the new.
The next morning, children
receive presents, and then the family
sits down to a feast. Typical New
Year’s Day fare, says Mr. Bill, is
gournopoulo (roast suckling pig)
stuffed with rice, garlic, onion and
chopped liver: “The liver goes well
with the stuffing, as long as it
doesn’t overwhelm the rice.”
“After dinner,” he continues,
“when everyone is having espresso
in the living room, we bring out a
sweet bread, called tzoureki.”
Mr. Bill describes how the husband
and wife together cut a cross
into the bread before slicing it. The
first piece goes to the house, the second
to the ikons (saints’ images),
third to the husband, fourth to the
wife, and subsequent slices to the
children. A gold coin is buried in the
bread, and whoever gets the coin is
assured of good luck all year.
Arni Spanaki (Lamb with
Spinach)
Bill Kavadias
212 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into
10 to 12 pieces
8 to 10 bunches fresh spinach
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 to 3 cups hot water
12 cup olive oil
12 cup vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tablespoons yogurt, drained
(garnish)
12 cup onions, finely chopped
Place spinach leaves in a bowl of
cold water, add a teaspoon salt and
let soak for 15 minutes. This will
remove grit. Rinse spinach well and
place in clean water. Set aside to
drain.
Heat oil in saucepan and sauté
onions. Add meat and cook, turning
frequently, until brown on all sides.
Add tomato puree, dissolved in a cup
hot water. Add remaining hot water
(more if needed) enough to cover
meat. Lower heat to medium and
simmer about one hour.
Meanwhile, cut spinach leaves in
half. About 20 minutes before meat
is done, add spinach to mixture. Add
lemon juice and simmer 20 minutes
more until sauce is quite thick. Serve
with white rice pilaf and garnish
with yogurt and chopped onions.
Serves 8 to 10.
Angela Solima Simmons
Angela Simmons’s living room is
sunny, even on this late November
day. We cozy up, sipping espresso
from dainty china cups, as she
remembers childhood holidays in
southern Italy.
Angela was reared in Corsenza, a
small town in the region of Calabria,
which is ‘way south, in the Italian
“boot heel.” But growing up, she
often visited relatives in Naples,
where she keeps a second home that
she visits regularly.
Angela came to the United States
in 1960 to do research at Columbia
University, where she met her late
husband, Tom. When the couple
moved to Washington, they settled
on Capitol Hill, and raised their now
37-year-old son, Marco—who today
teaches deep sea diving in the
Caribbean.
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fax: 202-547-2608
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www.voiceofthehill.com 9
southern Europe).
The main courses
would be followed
by several very sweet
desserts—reflecting
Arab and other
Middle Eastern
influence in southern
Italy. There was
usually turdiddi,
dough spiked with
white wine, fried in
olive oil and dipped
in honey, and inpig -
nolate, noodle
dough formed into
strips, fried and
dusted with sugar
and cinnamon and
rolled in nuts,
raisins and honey—or covered with
multicolored sprinkles.
This mouth-watering fare
appeared on the table like magic.
“When I was a child we had a cook, “
Angela recalls. “I was interested in
food, but usually got chased out of
the kitchen!
Since Angelea’s parents employed
German governesses, some Teutonic
customs crept into their family celebrations:
The children received presents
on Christmas Eve and erected a
tree, like they do in German house -
holds.
But the centerpiece was always a
local tradition, a crèche, a custom
that dates back to the 13th centur y
with St. Francis of Assisi. At midnight,
the family’s youngest child
placed the baby Jesus in the manger,
and the crèche stayed up until
Epiphany, January 6, when the
Three Kings brought presents to the
infant.
Like Christmas Eve, New Year’s
Eve was also a Catholic fast day.
Translation: more fish followed by
festive and sugary desserts: Naspro,
or marzipan (almond paste), which
was brightly colored, formed into
shapes, and then coated with a sugary
glaze; and maybe cassatina, small
versions of cassata, Sicilian sponge
cake layered with ricotta and chocolate
frosting. “The sponge cake, pan
di spagna, was soft and very light,”
Angela says. “The traditional formula
was simple: one egg to one tablespoon
flour.”
“Our family’s New Year’s Eve celebration
was fairly sedate, “ Simmons
says. “We would usually just have a
glass of champagne at midnight. But
the younger people would go out.
There was also a custom of hurling
old dishes off the roof top at midnight
(which supposedly symbolized
forgetting bad things from the pas t
year), but we didn’t do that,” she
hastens to add.
We don’t recommend it on
Capitol Hill, either.
Pasta with Bread Crumbs
and Garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound dried pasta
1/3 cup fresh bread crumbs
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium bunch fresh parsley,
minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Warm oil on low heat in cast iron
skillet. Add breadcrumbs and garlic
and stir continuously, until slightly
browned. (If the mixture becomes
too dry, add more oil). Meanwhile,
bring a pot of salted water to boil. As
soon as it starts to boil add a drop of
oil and pasta. Cook to taste, and
drain. Return pasta to pot and add
the sauce. Mix thoroughly and
sprinkle with the chopped parsley
and grated pecorino. Serves 4.
Celeste McCall is a regular contributor
to the Voice of the Hill.
In Catholic countries like Italy,
Angela says, Christmas Eve was a day
of fast and abstinence; meaning
adults could not eat meat or snack
between meals (though Neopolitan
youngsters were known to snatch
bites of deep-fried anchovies being
readied for dinner).
The evening meal always consisted
of seafood—starting with
spaghetti with anchovies and breadcrumbs
(pasta con alici), and followed
by anguille stufate (baked eels) or baccala
(salt cod, a staple throughout
Old and young, different races and
cultures…Out-of-towners plan their
trips around my party. We’ve gotten
new neighbors, and I include them.
People who have moved away come
back year after year. And some people
who are always invited respond before
they even get their invitations.
—WILL HILL
10 www.voiceofthehill.com
BY KRISTEN HART K E
Cindy and John Von Kannon will
observe this holiday season as they
always do, with a decorated
Christmas tree and a menorah filled
with colorful candles. Their daughter
Rachel, who is in kindergarten at
St. Peter’s Interparish School, will
light the candles of the menorah
with her mother and carefully repeat
the prayers during the eight nights
of Hanukkah; on Christmas, she’ll
attend a Catholic mass with her
father and little brother Jack.
Rachel understands at a young age
what many other Capitol Hill children
do: that her parents each
observe different religious traditions
and that they must all respect each
other’s beliefs.
Cindy Von Kannon says, “Rachel’s
very aware of the fact that I’m Jewish
and that she and her father and
brother are Catholic. Sometimes I go
to church with them at Christmas,
so that the whole family can be
together, but it’s really more of a distraction
to them that I’m there,
since I never go to church with them
any other time.”
The Von Kannons decided, as
other mixed-religion families do, to
give their children the formal struc -
ture of one religion while exposing
them to the religious and cultural
traditions of both parents.
Cindy thinks that the parent who
is more interested in religion is the
one who will ultimately make the
decision about which religion will
provide the structure: “I was not
raised in a very religious family. We
didn’t belong to a temple, we weren’t
bat mitzvahed, although we did
observe the high holidays. John was
raised Methodist but converted to
Catholicism, and he wanted to take
the kids to church and give them
that background.”
A few blocks away, Fran Ewart will
be decorating a tree and polishing a
menorah as well, but the traditions
have a slightly different meaning
since she and her husband Shad are
raising their two sons Jewish.
“Shad was not really raised with a
strong religious background,” says
Fran. “For him, Christmas is more of
a tradition than a religious holiday.
We spend Christmas with his parents
every year, and the boys get the
whole holiday thing.” This year,
with Hanukkah and Christmas overlapping,
Fran worries that they’ll
miss out on some of Hanukkah, saying,
“Shad says to bring a menorah
to his parents’ house in Memphis,
because they would love to celebrate
with us, but it would be just one
more thing to pack.”
For many Hill families, the con -
cern about these overlapping holidays
is the overload of gifts they may
bring. Keeping it low-key seems to be
paramount and Jewish parents are
quick to
point out
that
Hanukkah
is not the
most
important
of Jewish
holidays—
gifts are meant to be small.
Mindi Farber DeAnda, a mother of
three who is also raising her children
Jewish, says, “The kids get small toys
or books during Hanukkah. They
may get bigger gifts at Christmas
from my husband’s family.”
Since Mindi’s husband, Roberto, is
originally from Mexico, their children
get to enjoy Mexican traditions
as part of their Christmas celebration.
“Roberto’s family celebrates on
Christmas Eve,” says Mindi. “It’s
really a big deal, because there’s a big
meal and all the gifts are opened
then. Christmas Day itself is quiet by
comparison.”
Fran Ewart also sticks with small
gifts for Hanukkah, adding that she
and Shad give each boy one larger
gift at Christmas, knowing that
they’ll get plenty more from their
grandparents.
“The funniest thing was,” says
Fran, “that I asked my older son Max
what we should get Shad for a
Hanukkah present and he said “Why
should we get anything for Daddy?
He’s not Jewish.” Fran laughs,
“Apparently it hadn’t occurred to
Max that he’s not Christian and he
still gets Christmas presents.”
Growing up on Capitol Hill,
Santha Siegel learned fir st-hand
about the complications of having
Jewish and Christian parents—and is
still sorting it out now as the mother
of four-year-old Marilena.
“When I
was growing
up,” says
Santha, “the
holidays were
a triplewhammy,
because there
was not only
Hanukkah and Christmas, but also
my birthday, which is December
23rd. When I became a teenager, I
would get one big gift, like a ring or
other jewelry, and that would cover
my birthday and the two holidays.”
Born in the seventies, Santha says
that her parents never really pushed
one religion over another. “My parents
were hippies,” she explains, “so
they weren’t really into religion.
Holidays were more of a cultural tradition.
Some years we celebrated
Hanukkah, other years we celebrated
Christmas, and sometimes we celebrated
both.”
For Santha, th e re was anoth e r
complication, because not only is her
m other Jewish, but her father is
black, so her parents were trying to
help Santha cope with a lot of different
societal pressures.
“I think that, in many ways, my
parents were maybe trying not to
make a big deal during the holidays
because I already had one big difference
between myself and my
friends,” says Santha. “They taught
me that spirituality was impor tant,
but I don’t think they wanted to add
religion into the mix.”
As an adult and a single parent,
Santha has decided to observe
Judaism, saying, “Religion binds
people together. I want Marilena to
have a sense of place, and I feel like
this is a way I can give it to her. She
can take her religion with her wher -
ever she goes in life.”
Santha and Marilena recently
moved out of Santha’s Capitol Hill
childhood home but will be there to
celebrate Hanukkah with Santha’s
mother, Elizabeth Teferra. “We do
latkes and the whole thing,” says
Santha, “then we’ll go to my father’s
house on Christmas so that Marilena
can celebrate with him and his family.”
The children of Virginia Spatz and
Cary O’Brien will send Christmas
gifts to their cousins this year, but as
Virginia observes: “They participate
in Christmas as if they are visitors to
another person’s holiday.”
Tracy, age 10, and brother Avery,
age 7, are being raised Jewish by
Virginia, who was herself raised
Christian but converted to Judaism
several years ago.
Says Virginia of her husband, “He
was raised in a New England
Congregational tradition, and
Christmas is a really big deal. Every
year he puts those little electric candles
up in the windows and some
greenery, just like his mother always
did.”
Daughter Tracy says that she likes
Christmas because it was important
to her grandmother and thinks that
it’s a nice way to remember her.
Because other holidays, like
Succoth, have much more importance
within the Jewish tradition,
Virginia puts less energy into celebrating
Hanukkah. “We’ll probably
participate in a Hanukkah service
with the Hill Havurah and the kids
will get a few small gifts,” she says.
Virginia says that a children’s
book, “Elijah’s Angels” by Michael
Rosen, was very helpful when the
children were younger, because it
examined how a Jewish child could
participate in a different religious
celebration while still being true to
himself.
“Tracy asked a lot of questions as
she got older,” says Virginia. “She
wanted to know “Why don’t we
believe in Jesus?” and “How can we
celebrate with others?” She’s had to
learn how to be joyful with o ther
people about their holidays without
having to believe in the same ideas.”
As the child of parents with differing
religious beliefs, Tracy has
learned to take the best of two
worlds and bring them together, and
believes that it’s good for families to
decide upon traditions so that there
are no more arguments about how
or what to observe.
Most importantly, she’s learned
the real essence of all traditions,
whether religious or cultural, saying,
“Traditions are good containers for
memories.”
Amen!
Kristen Hartke is a regular contributor
to the Voice of the Hill
H e y, Mom, There ’ s
a Dreidel in my
S t o c k i n g !
H ow two - religion households
cope with the holiday season
www.voiceofthehill.com 11
roundish and has a sort of rumpled
flatness on the top with bumps
around the perimeter. Beyond that
edge, it drops off towards Goose
Creek to the north, the Anacostia to
the east/southeast, and the swamps
of Buzzard’s Point to the south.
Jenkins Hill is what the bluff on the
western edge of the biscuit was
called in 1800, and that’s where the
Capitol sits today.
The Eastern Market Metro, where
we’re now standing, is just southwest
of center on Hawkins’ map.
Pennsylvania Avenue, stretched
out before you, was hardly more
than a heavily used cart path back
then. You see no houses or buildings
of any kind to the nor th side.
In the distance is the highest
point of Hawkins’ failed biscuit—a
patch a few feet higher than Jenkins
Hill that was dreamed of as a commons.
This will one day become
Lincoln Park, but now there is only
the unkemptness of neglected pastures
and fields stretching all the
way to the Bladensburg Road
(Maryland Avenue).
Neither Congressman nor clerk
lives out there yet; only rabbits and
pheasants, who prefer these scrubby,
half-ruined meadows to the deeper
woodlands.
Now turn to the southeast, and
look along the pounded-down dirt
of Pennsylvania Avenue as it runs
down the slight grade toward the
Anacostia. The Commissioners of
the District of Columbia are still tr ying
to engage someone to remove all
the tree stumps from L’Enfant’s
broad right-of-way.
Every morning, slaves come across
the Anacostia and trudge up this
lumpy dirt road to do their unheralded
work of building our monument
to freedom, the U.S. Capitol.
When it rains, the avenue is a slop
hole: long, narrow, cold, and deep.
BY GENE MI LLER Suppose that on one
bracing December
afternoon, you were to
step off the top of the
escalator at the Eastern
Market Metro and find
yourself transported back two hundred
years into the Capitol Hill of
1800. What would you see? Busy
streets? Buildings? Neighbors hurrying
along on errands?
Well, bluntly, none of the above.
The Capitol Hill of 1800 was,
along with the rest of Washington,
still mostly lines on paper. When
First Lady Abigail Adams arrived in
November of that year, she described
Washington as a “wilderness city.”
She was being kind.
In a letter to his wife,
Congressman Albert Gallatin said
that the area around the new Capitol
had “...seven or eight boardinghouses,
one tailor, one shoemaker, one
printer, a washing woman, a grocery
shop, a pamphet [sic] and stationery
shop, a small drygoods shop, and an
oyster house....”
That’s it. Sounds like just the place
to make laws and do business.
Don Hawkins, a local architect
and historical cartographer, has created
a map of the Washington that
greeted the First Lady, her husband
John, and the rest of the fledgling
federal government.
Clearly, Abigail and Albert were
right: the Capitol Hill of 1800 was
mostly wide-open space, crossed by a
few avenues-to-be, with a small cluster
of buildings around the Capitol
itself and hardly more than a dozen
buildings across the rest of the entire
Hill.
Hawkins’ map makes a fine guide
for our trip.
Topographically, he describes
Capitol Hill as a “failed biscuit”: it ’s
where Benjamin Latrobe will soon
build a fine gate, which will be
named after him.
The Navy Yard was established at
St. Thomas Bay rather than on the
main stem of the Potomac because
there is a deeper channel closer to
the shore than was available over on
the Tiber Creek side. The Anacostia
is somewhat sheltered, and so was
more protected from ice and ice floes
in the winter.
It’s not yet cold enough for there
to be ice on the rivers, but it’s cold
all the same. You’ll want to keep
walking.
From the front of the Navy Yard,
turn to the west and walk down and
across the creek that feeds into St.
Thomas Bay.
If you continue along, you’ll arrive
at Barry’s Wharf, one of
Washington’s commercial docks.
There’s some bustle here. Sandstone
blocks are arriving from down the
Potomac and are being trundled up
New Jersey Avenue to build the
Capitol.
From the wharf, you can see on
down the river toward Buzzard’s
Point, so named because of the buzzards
that habitually roost there, and
to the Potomac beyond.
You can also see the landing for
the ferry to Anacostia, which docks
at the foot of South Capitol Street.
There are a few buildings around
Barry’s Wharf: maybe a half dozen at
most. The rest of what will be
Southwest Washington is grass and
marsh that floods regularly.
Thank goodness it’s December:
the godawful bugs, flies, and mosquitoes
have been beaten back until
next year—though the spring shad
runs on both rivers are still ter rific.
Now turn away from Barry’s
Wharf, back toward the northwest.
Just before you is a gentle ridge
topped with a dirt road: New Jersey
Avenue. Let’s follow this path a spell.
L’Enfant’s plan found a fortuitous
lay of land in running the avenue
along this ridge. He knew that the
view from the top would be much in
demand, but found that someone
beat him to it: one Daniel Car roll,
whose family owned the tract of
land that included Jenkins Hill.
While the Carroll’s sold most of
their land to the government when
the District of Columbia was created,
they kept a piece along the New
Jersey Avenue ridge. They built a fine
manor here and called it
Duddington. It was Capitol Hill’s
premier private residence for a while.
It was also the downfall of Pier re
L’Enfant.
When L’Enfant’s engineers came
along to lay out New Jersey Avenue,
they found that one wall of
Duddington stuck out a full seven
feet onto the avenue’s right of way.
L’Enfant was full of stuff and vine-
People complain that it takes hours
to get from Georgetown to Capitol
Hill after a hard rain.
You turn up your collar against the
cold December air.
The large building that’s just a few
hundred feet in front of you stands
alone on the avenue, but looks warm
and inviting. It’s Tunnicliff’s Hotel
and Tavern, built around 1796 on
the southwest corner of what will be
9th and Pennsylvania. It’s the grandest
hotel on Capitol Hill in 1800, and
probably the largest commercial
building as well.
What there is of Washington high
society—the entire population of the
District of Columbia still numbered
well under 10,000—makes the scene
at Tunnicliff’s. The Washington
Dancing Assembly held its annual
bash here in December of 1796.
President John Adams stayed here
when he visited the nascent Capital
City in June of 1800—the White
House wasn’t yet habitable.
Such a glorious past wasn’t
enough to preserve Tunnicliff’s: it
went to seed over the years and was
razed and replaced by a service station
in 1931.
Turn away from Tunnicliff’s and
look due south, across the river to
the hills of Anacostia. The road in
front of you is a pretty heavily used
cart-path that leads to St. Thomas
Bay and the newly established Navy
Yard.
Let’s wander down for a look.
Like the rest of Capitol Hill, the
Navy Yard isn’t very much of anything
—yet. There’s little here besides
stacks of lumber and a few wooden
buildings surrounded by a high
wooden fence. It’s not exactly a beehive
of activity, as there are few men
assigned here, but you can see the
ribs of a few vessels being built.
Several Marines are already on guard
at the entrance to the Yard—the spot
TR A M P I N G A FA I L E D BI S C U I T
A Trip Back in Ti m e
12 www.voiceofthehill.com
www.voiceofthehill.com 13
District of Columbia are falling all
over each other in search of space to
work. They won’t have enough for
almost two hundred more years.
Ah, but the view westward from
the brow of Jenkins Hill is admirable.
L’Enfant chose well in siting the
Capitol building here, even though
it now overlooks mostly the swamp
at the mouth of Tiber Creek. In the
distance, you can see the walls of
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, which
isn’t quite ready to be lived in yet.
It’s time to go home. Your feet are
getting cold and your warm, dry
house in the twentieth century is
calling. You head back along
Pennsylvania Avenue, passing the
second largest stand of scrub oak
remaining on the Hill, which lies
between Third and Sixth Streets.
One last stop at Tunnicliff’s: you’ll
want a memorable belt of rum
before you make the leap forward in
time. Your throat burning and the
rum’s warm hospitality spreading to
your limbs, you return to your starting
point near Eighth and
Pennsylvania. You pause, and then
step...out of the way of the 36
Metrobus. Welcome home.
Gene Miller is the Voice of the Hill’s
Religion Editor—and a local hist o ry buff .
gar: he ordered his engineers to
knock the wall down. They did so
without notice or compensation to
the Carroll’s, who were, shall we say,
miffed.
Daniel Carroll wrote to President
George Washington and demanded
justice and reparations. George was
not pleased that his architect had
been so high-handed. The United
States Treasury found itself obliged
to pay out $4,000 in damages and a
stern reprimand was issued to
L’Enfant. It was the beginning of the
end of his career as planner and
architect for the District of
Columbia.
The Carroll’s then rebuilt
Duddington along New Jersey and
Second St., SE. That mansion is now
long gone. Only a street name,
“Duddington Place,” remains.
If you head northward along New
Jersey Avenue, you’ll finally arrive
on the grounds of the Capitol
Building itself. Of course, the build -
ing is, like the rest of the neighborhood,
barely there. Only two floors
of the Senate wing are ready for
occupancy; the third floor is still
under construction.
The Senate, the House, the
Supreme Court, the Library of
Congress, plus the Courts for the
private parties • celebrations • special events
2 Quail 2 Quail
666 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20003 • 202 547-2100
Mon-Fri 9-7 • Sat 9-5
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To our friends
and neighbors on
Capitol Hill
Thanks for helping make
our first year successful beyond
all of our expectations.
We wish you the happiest
of holidays and health,
success and great photos
in the new year.
14 www.voiceofthehill.com
H ave Fa i t h
The st re n g th of the sto re f ront ch u rch
Can’t nobody do me like Jesus
Can’t nobody do me like the Lord
Can’t nobody do me like Jesus
He’s my friend
[refrain, Devotional Song]
This photo of the Charity Full Gospel Holiness Church, across the bridge from Capitol Hill in Anacostia, was a turning
point in a photographic series of Washington’s storefront churches that I had begun some months earlier.
I had been photographing these churches mostly for aesthetic reasons, and occasionally because a phrase painted,
or sign posted, struck me as particularly interesting or amusing; I had never seen or heard the words “Can’t nobody
do me like Jesus” anywhere before.
Then I showed the image to a friend who said, “Oh yes! That’s a song we sing in church!”
With that, I realized how naive my approach to the project had been.
Since then, I’ve been looking at these small buildings with a great deal more respect and admiration, not only for
their physical endurance in spite of hard times and hard neighborhoods, but for the spiritual and emotional strength
they impart during those times, in those neighborhoods.
BY MICHAEL WILKENSON
www.voiceofthehill.com 15
At the New Mt. Zion Church all are welcome.
The Sunday service was to start at 11AM, but few people were there when
we three strangers–one of us white–ar rived. Most of the people had known
each other for generations, but they embraced we newcomers with no second
thought.
At about 11:30, Pastor Eva Mae Ross said, “Let us begin,” and her beautiful
voice soared in song.
Still, people kept arriving, including a series of musicians, each adding a
new layer of sound to the music: the drummer, the bassist, the guitarist. In
the crowd other instruments chimed in: a washboard, tambourines, stomping
feet.
As each song ended, a cong regant would rise and give testimony. One
thanked Jesus for his health, another for giving him the strength to wake
up each morning. They thanked God for the most basic things.
It near brought me to tears.
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1115 Pennsylvania Ave., SE • Washington, DC 20003 • 202-543-6157
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-7pm• Saturday: 7am-6:55pm • Sunday: 8am-5pm
Montessori School at Watkins School for classroom improvements • Peabody Early Childhood
Education Center for classroom equipment • Watkins After School Enrichment Program for financial
aid • Eastern High School Choir for February concert on Capitol Hill • Stanton Park Neighborhood
Association for college scholarship program • Hine Junior High School, 8th and 9th grade clinometer
project • Capitol Hill Day School and Hine Junior High School 7th grade partnership program • Stuart-
Hobson WIM Afterschool BUZZ news magazine course for computer support • St.Mark’s Dance Studio
for ballet training for Brent School children • Hine Junior High School f or improvement of writing
skills through Web site publication • Hine Junior High School for National Spelling Bee preparation
program • Hine Junior High School for Video Newsroom project • Hine Junior High School for “Sister
to Sister”program • St Peter’s Interparish School for new track and basketball uniforms • Capitol Hill
Cooperative Playschool for classroom dividers • Friends of Tyler School for general program support
• Folger Shakespeare Library for Shakespeare in the schools program • Cornerstone Community
/school to support language arts curriculum • Gary Burke’s Camp Aware Program for Potomac
Gardens youth • Watkins After School Enrichment Program,for ongoing support • START – Summer
Time And Reading Together for summer reading program • Rosetta Brooks, St Marks Dance, for program
for Brent School children • Capitol Hill Cooperative Nursery School for air conditioning unit for
school • Stuart Hobson Middle School,Music Dept,for creation of original musical • Watkins Living
Schoolyard Project,for tools and plants for ongoing program • Hine Junior High School,for internet
research • Hine Junior School,for special education project on internet • Hine Junior School,for local
history research and writing project and field trips • Capitol Hill Child Development Center, for summer
camp program • Friends of Tyler School,for support of “Camp Cool”academic summer camp •
The Shakespeare Theatre, Southeast Project,for afterschool program • The Shakespeare Theatre, Text
Alive!,for Eastern High School project • KidSafe, ongoing program support • Friends of Tyler School,
help maintain playing fields at Tyler School • Arthur Capper Resident Council,for summer program
for children • • SOCIAL SERVICES • Capitol Hill Group Ministry, for summer jobs program • Friends
of the Northeast Library, to support neighborhood group working to renovate new meeting space in
library • Food & Friends, to support delivery of food and meals to home-bound AIDS patients •
Church of the Brethren Soup Kitchen,for program support • • NEIGHBORHOOD BEAUTIFICATION •
Earth Day Partnership, for maintenance of 8th Street tree boxes • Friends of Lincoln Park,towards
renovation of play area • Capitol Gateway Neighborhood Beautification Committee, for plants and
other neighborhood projects • St. Peter’s Interparish School,to support volunteer grounds enhancement
project • Trees for Capitol Hill,for 10 street trees • • ARTS • Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, for
software for registration and administration • Theater Alliance, for purchase of lighting equipment
for black box theater • Capitol Hill Chorale, for general support for concert season • Capitol Hill Arts
Workshop, for 7 week music program in Lincoln Park • St.Mark’s Players, for lighting equipment •
Capitol Hill Choral Society Children’s Chorus, ongoing support • Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Films on
the Hill,for projection systemSPECIAL AWARDS • The 2000 Arnold Keller, Jr.,award to the Friends of
Tyler School (FOTS) • • The Joyce Garrett Award to the Eastern High School Choir for the Joyce
Garrett College Scholarship Fund for choir members • The Veola Jackson Award to the Watkins After
School Enrichment Program • • An award grant to the Southeast Project of the Shakespeare Theatre,
in honor of Michael Kahn • • An award grant to the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, in honor of Bruce
Brennan • An award grant to children’s reading programs, in honor of Robbi Scharfe
The CHAMPS Community
Fo u n d a t i o n “neighbors helping neighbors”
• exists to support the efforts of non-profit and other
neighborhood groups working to sustain and improve
the quality of life for all of us who live and work in the
Capitol Hill community.
• representing a unique partnership between the business
and residential communities of the Hill to
strengthen our neighborhood.
We lend a hand to the real heroes of Capitol Hill, those
people who are investing their time and talents toward
making the Hill a better place to be. Help those who are
out there tutoring the children, planting trees in our
school yards, teaching Shakespearean theatre, digging in
our treeboxes.
The CHAMPS Community Foundation. One organization.
One place. One check. So many projects. Your contribution
will mean so much to so many. Please be generous.
You can send in your check to:
The CHAMPS Community Foundation
PO Box 15486
Washington, D.C. 20003-0486
16 www.voiceofthehill.com
400 block
H Street, NE
Pick Up Your Bible,
Throw Down Your
Guns
Good morning, this is God.
I will be handling all of your
problems today. I will NOT
need your help, so have a
good day.
Parents, take time to be
with your children. Teach
them good manners, to be
polite to all, and especially
to be loving kind, and helpful
to every member of the
family and to do everything
well for God’s glory. Read
the bible and pray with
them daily. If you are excited
about God and going to
heaven, they will catch your
enthusiasm.
The family that prays
together stays together.
Got Jesus?
www.voiceofthehill.com 17
Founded 1889
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL BANK
O F W A S H I N G T O N
316 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20003 • 202-546-8000
5228 44th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20015 • 202-966-2688
We were the
“ n e i g h b o rh o od” bank
b e f o re the
n e i g h b o rh o od
had electricity.
Th e re have been a lot of changes in
the neighborhood during the past 112
years. A lot of businesses – and three or
four generations of families – have
b rought their financial matters to us.
The National Capital Bank has become a
landmark in Washington because we still
give our neighbors the personal attention
our founders insisted upon. In fact, 91%
of our customers rank us “Superior” in
overall service – a number a lot of banks
would envy.
So if you’re looking for a mortgage, an
auto loan, or a competitive rate on a CD,
we invite you to visit us. We ’ re not the
biggest bank – but we’re always working
to be the best. Stop in and find out how
we can be a good neighbor for you.
Preacher’s Outreach for People
The Mission Assembly Church of Jesus Christ at 400 13th Street, NE, which
I photographed in July, has since been shuttered. Its leader, Bishop William
McKinney, has moved his church to the Trinidad section of Northeast.
While on Capitol Hill, Bishop McKinney ran a program called Preacher’s
Outreach for People, or POP, reaching out to people at a crossroads
between work and the streets. POP offered job skills training, GED preparation,
and counseling, helping young people with self-esteem, and the
interpersonal skills needed to get–and keep–a job.
Bishop McKinney is now providing these same services from his new
location at 1736 Trinidad Avenue, NE, under the program name Preacher’s
Outreach Adult Education Center. The Assembly can be reached at 202-
399-0300.
Photographer Michael Wilkenson is working on a book about Washington’s storefront
churches.
18 www.voiceofthehill.com
709 8th Street, SE
Washington, DC
202-544-4234
capitolhillbikes@aol.com
We’re open Tuesday—Friday, 11-7
Thursday ’til 9 Closed Monday
Saturday 10-6 Sunday 12-5
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A new bi ke under
the tree ?
A new bi ke under
the tree ?
BY SHIRLEY COCHRANE
When you live one
block from the
Supreme Court you
become blasé about
your history-making
neighbor. When I set out at 9AM to
go from home to my workplace near
Eastern Market, I was pulled by an
invisible rope to Second Street, NE,
where the election drama was being
acted out.
The preceding day had been cold
and rain swept, and without checking
to discover this day’s weather
change, I went out in black padded
waterproof coat and matching hat, a
rat-colored canvas backpack, carrying
a large plastic briefcase full of
student papers, and a loaded shop -
ping bag.
Not considering that I might look
odd and even witch-like on this
balmy blue-sky morning, I tromped
up to Second Street, where traffic
was heavy but controlled.
The police officer in front of the
Supreme Court garage did not stop
me, and I went down the narrow
side path, heading for the action.
Surely there should be bar riers,
H i s t o ry in the Making
Dateline: Capitol Hill.
December 11, 2000
ropes, something, somebody, to stop
me. But no.
There was a short line of people,
one of them was bent and painfully
climbing the steps with a cane. I
glanced to my right, and stationed
on the little side street that runs
between the Supreme Court and
Constitution Avenue, was a battery
of television cameras, grinding away.
My horrified face may well have
been relayed to friends and relatives
in faraway places.
I hurried around to the front of
the Court and had reached one of
the fountains before a policeman
approached and motioned me back.
“Lady, you can’t…” He was pointing
to what I imagined was a security
point, shaking his head.
Well, it had come. I would be
searched. And what would I tell my
students: “Your papers were seized
by the Supreme Court?” In the shopping
bag police would find four pairs
of long johns, several useful gadgets
my husband had given me, some
worn canvas shoes, and similar
items. I sighed, awaiting my fate.
But the officer was gesturing me to
www.voiceofthehill.com 19
another path, which would bring me
out on First Street, between the
Court and the Capitol.
Again I was amazed that there
were no barriers, no searches, no
questions asked. A milling crowd,
though a surprisingly small one,
paraded back and forth, in no particular
order. Too early yet for the big
action.
One tall, bearded man, resolutely
gazing down at his own feet, bore a
sign reading, “Gore Republican.”
How could that be? I wondered.
Then I passed more comprehensible,
“For Bush” and “For Gore” signs,
and a short man wielding a religious
message asking prayers for a peaceful
settlement of the conflict. Amen.
A young girl of about ten bore a
sign reading, “Don’t leave me
behind!” Her parents followed closely.
There was a Santa Claus in full
regalia and several men in Santa
caps. No altercations, no duels with
opposing signs.
Turning left on East Capitol, I saw
another short line and checked out
all the pup tents, thermoses, and
canvas chairs featured on the ear ly
news.
The television crews seemed to be
resting, as were the waiting would-be
audience—swilling coffee, swapping
jokes, some solemn faces, some
laughing ones. But nobody screaming
epithets. Only in America!
A speech was forming in my
head—how lucky we are, all we
divergent people, peacefully waiting
to get into the most powerful court
in the world. How fortunate we are!
Suppose this were…my mind ticked
off all the oppressed capitals of the
world, many unpronounceable. The
old KGB loomed in my imagination,
but there was no comparable horror
here. The urge to share these
thoughts with others was nearly
overwhelming.
And then I thought: a seventyfive-
year-old woman wearing what
could be mistaken for a witch’s costume
and carrying a suspicious looking
black brief case might well be the
most way-out person here.
So I crossed East Capitol. Stopping
briefly to admire the beautifully
refurbished dome of the Jefferson
Building, I then went on my way,
unquestioned.
Writer, poet, teacher, Shirley Cochrane,
lives on Capitol Hill.
1107 Pennsylvania Ave., SE • Washington, DC 20003 • 202-543-0100
Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-4pm• Saturday 7am-4pm • Sunday Closed
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Trimmers
Is Your House Fe e l i n g
Stressed Out?
Who has time to deal with it?
Your home should be a safe haven—a source of
tranquility, not stress.
You don’t have to start all over. Sometimes it takes no
more than a coat of paint or a new angle for the table.
We can work with what you have.
If you own or rent, if you’re selling or buying, if you just
want a new look for the holidays—we can help.
You have your own sense of style. What you don’t have
is time…or energy. Sometimes you don’t have
confidence in your own taste. You need the sources, the
samples, the shopping—another set of eyes and another
pair of legs.
You need someone to demystify the whole process.
You need a home stylist. Call Melinda Williams for a
consultation at 202-546-2289 or email to
myhometherapy@aol.com.
H o m eTh e r a p y H E L P W I T H Y O U R H O U S E I S S U E S
LARRY CHARTIENITZ Pardoe/ERA
(Direct) 202-546-7000 x 228
(Cell) 202-255-3731
E-mail: larrychartienitz@pardoe-capitolhill.com
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For a FREE analysis of your pre s e n t
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20 www.voiceofthehill.com
Ask Judith
Dear Judith.
We have a lot of closet space for a house on Capitol
Hill but we seem to be maxed out. Whenever we
open a door, things fall out. Can you give us some
advice about how to get more storage space?
CHOKED UP CHARL IE
Dear Charlie.
Can I give you some advice?! Of course! And storage
is a totally favorite topic!
I don’t think there’s been a single project in the
last twenty-five years in which a client didn’t list
“more s torage” as a prime need. Just like any task
will expand to fill available time, stuff will expand
to fill all available storage space, and then some. It
doesn’t matter if you live in 600 or 6,000 square
feet: no one has enough storage space. They think.
More storage is possible in almost every situation.
But, like everything in this life, there are tradeoffs.
In renovations the choice is often between big
rooms or big closets.
If you called me and asked for some help with
storage, before beginning design, let alone construction,
I would tell you to go through every closet
and storage area of your house and organize and
prune.
If you can’t manage this yourself, you can pay
someone to help you do it.
Someone who helps people get organized once
told me that she advises clients to get rid of all the
miscellaneous “one-of’s.” For example glassware—a
category that includes Flintstones glasses from the
gas station, big glasses, little glasses, and the last
glass from the last set you bought. If it is really just
too hard to get rid of that plastic O’s cup, she will
take a Polaroid of it to ease the separation anxiety.
Over many years of living in a Capitol Hill row
house, being a principal in a small architectural
firm that tends to accumulate paper at an alarming
rate, moving my parents into a smaller apartment,
cleaning out my in-laws house after they died, and
looking in countless client closets, I have developed
the four L’s of storage, also amenable to interpretation
as commandments. The four L’s are:
• Like with Like
• Logic
• Look and Look
• Lose the Packaging
1. Storing Like with Like:
When someone goes to put something away, the
tendency is to put it where there is space. So, if the
tea drawer is full, they put the new boxes of tea in
the drawer below.
The next time they find the tea drawer full, they
put away some more new boxes of tea in the shelf
over the refrigerator.
Pretty soon they have tea located in three or four
places.
Then when someone comes in looking for Red
Zinger they look where the tea is supposed to be,
the tea drawer, don’t find any, and go and buy
some—even though there’s a full box in the drawer
below, and another one over the refrigerator.
Their first conclusion is that they need more
space to store tea, but the actual situation is that
they need to manage the tea collection better, to get
rid of the slow movers, or to combine those last one
or two bags in a single box.
If you just put things away willy-nilly, instead of
putting like with like, pretty soon you don’t know
where anything is and you have hundreds of boxes
of tea—not to mention light bulbs in every closet
because when you couldn’t find a light bulb the last
four times you looked for one and so you bought
new ones.
Often, you think you need more storage, when
all you really need is to exercise more discipline
when putting things away.
2. Logic:
Select a sensible place to store things, indoctrinate
everyone in your household about where that place
is, then always keep that object there.
The key here is to find a logical place for things.
Illogic provides the crack through which the flood
of chaos will inevitably enter.
If you store the heating pad over the refrigerator,
no one will be able to find it, and inevitably someone
will go out and buy a new one. Before you know
it you will have five heating pads and think you
need more storage space. Actually, you need to realize
the heating pad belongs in the second floor
linen closet on the third shelf from the bottom.
Give those extra heating pads away as Christmas
presents.
3. There are several Look and Look principles, so
they are sub headed:
3a. Don’t open a new one until you are absolutely
sure there isn’t an already open one. (Or, if you
discover lots of partially used boxes of Band-Aids,
take time once in a while to consolidate.)
If, when you can’t find the mayonnaise, to oth
paste, Band-Aids, etc. etc., you open a new box, jar,
or tube, sooner or later your closets, cabinets, and
refrigerator will be so cluttered up with partially
used stuff that you think you need a new closet—or
a second refrigerator.
What you really need to do is consolidate.
Speaking from personal experience with our own
refrigerator: Last weekend we found three open
mayonnaises, two ketchups, three salsas, two Dijon
mustards.
This is not to mention the science experiments in
the back. You can create an astonishing amount of
space just by combining, and throwing away the
fuzzies.
3b. Based on the out-of-sight-out-of-mind principle:
Be sure to store only clearly rememberable things
in out-of-the-way storage places.
It’s ok to keep the suitcases and tent in the top of
the closet that you have to use the ladder to
access—because when you need a suitcase you will
certainly remember it is there.
What you mustn’t put in that closet is the pile of
stuff you’re planning to go through. If it’s out of
sight, it’s out of mind: You’ll never do it.
If you put that box of clothes from your sister-inlaw
that you expect your kid to grow into next year
in the attic, it will probably make vintage pickings
for your grandchildren.
3c. The key operating principle is to label.
As you lovingly pack up your high school memorabilia,
you may think that you’ll always remember
it’s all in the box labeled “lamp shade, living room,”
but you won’t.
You must label every closed box—and it’s even a
good idea to label open containers.
The box at my office that holds drafting tape, box
tape, and clear tape (like with like) is also prominently
labeled TAPE (on both ends since sometimes
it gets returned to the shelf with the label to the
back wall).
All the tax records in our house are labeled by
year so we can throw away whole years without hesitation
—never mind actually find the stuff from
last year.
4. Lose the Packaging: Decant
Packaging takes up space. So many of the things we
buy, especially if you shop at Costco, come bundled
with extra layers of wrapping.
It may be ok to store a package of those little
applesauce cups for the kids’ lunches, but as soon as
you take one out, lose the carton. It’s taking up
more space than the remaining cups.
Then th e re ’s the annoyance facto r: six times
wrestling with the packaging to get out an applesauce
cup vs. just once to take them all out.
I’m sure everyone has noticed the philosophical
inconsistency that arose with numbers 1 and 2
above. Principle number 1, storing like with like
implies centralizing, whereas principle number 2,
logic, implies point of use—logically leading to
decentralization.
Storing six backup tubes of toothpaste in one
place (along with the other bathroom supplies of
shampoo, soap, toilet paper and toothbrushes) can
be really inconvenient if you have several baths,
and yours doesn’t happen to be the central storage
area.
But, consider cleaning supplies.
If you keep duplicates of cleansers and such on
each floor of your house, you can eat up an awful
lot of space, especially if you have a tall house. And
you could find yourself expending a quite pointless
www.voiceofthehill.com 21
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amount of time wondering if you have Windex on
the second floor, or trying to remember to buy
another can of scouring powder for the guest bath.
Bottom line: You have to decide for yourself, but
it must be a conscious decision about point of use
and not just an artifact of willy nilly putting away.
From all of this, you might think that my house
and office environments are spotless. Unfortunately,
my s torage standards are so high that I leave
stuff out until I have a chance to deal with it definitively.
As a result, all the storage in our house and office
that is behind doors, in cabinets and drawers, and
in files is beautifully organized. Logical, labeled,
lovely. But the surfaces of my personal workspaces
are disastrous, piled high with pending…
I hear the deadline calling, so I will give you a
month to work on re-organizing all the storage
space in your house. Once you’ve done that, you
will know if you truly need more storage space—
and I’ll give you some tips on creating it.
Dear Judith
I read last month’s column about pre fe rring penet
rating seal to poly u rethane, but eve ry floori n g
c o mp a ny I talk to advises poly u rethane. What’s up?
ABOUT FED-UP
Dear Fed-Up:
I have given this puzzle a great deal of thought—
because you are absolutely right, and sometimes I
feel like it’s me against the entire world of floor
refinishers. But, think about this:
• Up until less than a decade ago the experts, our
pediatricians, told us to put infants on their stomachs.
They even had reasons for this: in case the
baby spit up, etc. Now, they tell us that Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome has been dra st i c a l ly
reduced by keeping babies on their bac ks or sides.
• When I was a kid, virtually every child (more or
less ro u t i n e ly), had their tonsils and adenoids
removed. Now it’s rare.
• Thirty years ago FHA actually required brick
buildings to be sandblasted to qualify for federal
loans for rehabilitation. Today everyone knows the
dangers of abrasive cleaning to old buildings.
I’m sure you see the direction this is taking: I
think poly u rethane on wood floors will be th e
sandblasting of brick of the nineties. Meanwhile,
all the flooring companies are advocating tonsillectomies,
oh, I mean polyurethane…
For a while I—scoffer at conspiracy th e o ri e s —
thought the unive rsal pre fe rence for poly u reth a n e
on floors by floor re f i n i s h e rs was because th ey knew
th ey would be replacing the entire floor in th re e
sandings—and that th ey would get those th re e
sandings pretty qu i ck because the poly u reth a n e
would get scra t ched, look awful, and th ey’d be
called to sand and sand, and then install a new floor.
Today I was chatting with a contractor and a
flooring guy and they were reminiscing about some
of the floor finishes they have installed.
“Remember the one, some kind of wax, that we
rubbed and rubbed?” one of them said, while making
a circular motion that precisely captured the
effort and tedium of rubbing and rubbing.
The other guy said, “Yeah, and one time we
installed about six coats of some kind of stuff.”
I said, the light dawning, “So that’s why you like
polyurethane? Just brush it on and go?”
“Yup,” he said.
So there you have it! Eyewash. Ease of installation
translating to lower cost for the property-owner.
Polyurethane finishes mean bigger profits for the
installer, and just hope you aren’t the one who has
to replace the entire floor at sanding number three!
Judith Capen, AIA, practicing restoration architect, is
the author of many of the Capitol Hill Restoration
Society’s award-winning guidelines for work on Capitol
Hill homes.
Fo r get the Mall!
this year, shop the
S U N DAY FLEA
MARKET a t
EASTERN MARKET
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22 www.voiceofthehill.com
Spencer Says
BY DUNCAN SPENCER Have we on the Hill become a bunch of
NIMBYs? Short years ago Hill dwellers
proudly curled their lips in a sneer over
the attempts of suburbanites and
d we l l e rs of other city wa rds, nota b ly
Northwest’s Ward 3, to keep unwanted projects out.
“Not in my backyard” became a byword for a
kind of hypocrisy and selfishness that we urbanites
wouldn’t tolerate. But now from several different
angles, Hill groups are fighting developments that
would bring more people to Capitol Hill.
One center of opposition is apartments. The Hill
has almost none of th e m — c o mp a red to oth e r
urban areas. But the plans of Holladay Corp. to
build a big apartment complex on the grounds of
the former Capitol Hill Hospital (Medlink) at 7th
and Massach u s etts Avenue NE has brought th e
NIMBY element out of the woodwork.
Less organized opposition faces another large
apartment-hotel near M Street SE at 4th. There is
even grumbling about the conversion of surplus
schools, Pierce and Lovejoy, into housing units,
and some oppose the building of a new office park/
hotel on so-called Maritime Plaza at 14th and M
Streets SE.
This is not the same thing as the fight over Boys
Town, which plans a campus for delinquents at
14th and Pennsylvania Avenue. This new NIMBY is
about density. The weirdest thing about it is that if
there is one thing the Hill needs, it is more people,
more density.
These new NIMBYs wail about parking. They wa i l
about traffic, th ey wail about noise and trash. But
th ey also wail about a lack of va ri ety in shopping,
n ot enough sto res, not enough re sta u rants, not
enough movie houses (none in fact), not enough
gro c e ries. And th ey are baffled when a desira b l e
reta i l e r, like Fresh Fields, is dubious or hesitant about
coming to the Hill. If th e re is one thing that will
b ring these reta i l e rs to the Hill, it is more people.
A p a rtments and plenty of them is what th e
neighborhood desperately needs. You need only
look at today’s real estate market, where there is literally
nothing to rent (and little enough to buy, for
that matter). Thousands of new people are coming
to Wa s h i n g ton, whomever is inaugurated in
January, and they are all facing a unique problem:
there’s nowhere to live on Capitol Hill.
They’ve heard about Washington, they’re excited
about the city’s turn around, and then they find
that there is no room for them. No room in a city
w h e re the population has gone from nearly
800,000 in 1975 to 520,000 today?
We have been living in a fool’s paradise for so
many years now, while the city lost population,
while we took plentiful free residential parking for
granted, while the tax base eroded and the city
faced financial collapse.
None of these things really touched the Hill,
where so many were employed in the legislative
branch or the law: It didn’t matter because our precious
little village of restored houses was okay. We
toddled off to the Eastern Market for our pricey cutlets
and vegetables and thought ourselves lucky; we
complained about everything the city did, but even
the lousy services and potholes and dying elm trees
were tolerable.
But now the pall is off Wa s h i n g ton, the city is hot ,
and fewer places are hotter than the Hill. Pe o p l e
a c t u a l ly want to live here, and we don’t like it.
Yet contrary to the present mood, more people
will actually improve the Hill in every way. The over
60 abandoned houses in the Historic District will be
bought and either restored or razed, and beautiful
new houses built. When the apartments are built,
they too will be beautiful, and their residents will
add a great deal to the mix, just as the residents of
Penn Quarter at the foot of Capitol Hill in near-
No rth we st have. The large gaps in many
streetscapes, particularly in the East End, may find
houses and (heaven forefend) apartment projects
on them.
In fact it is only density, and the pressure it exerts
on urban areas, which produces the unique kind of
beauty that truly great cities can boast.
Can anyone say that about the opposite of density,
the static suburb?
Wherever there is enough density, wherever the
price of land rises to a certain level per square foot,
only then do the daring and innovative buildings
rise—the towers of Brickell Boulevard in Miami,
Riverside Drive in New York, Park Lane in London,
the North End in Boston, to name a few.
Why do we love the hill towns of Italy, the villages
of Greece, the walled cities of Spain—it’s density,
tightness, compaction, the closeness of these
urban hives that makes them beautiful.
What is fatal to cities—and we must not forget
that this is a city—is to freeze in time and not adapt
to pressure. The genius of great architecture is that
building which expresses its own time and people’s
present needs without looking back, enslaved by
the past.
We have been spoiled by circumstance and are in
danger of becoming spoiled brats who would rather
just say no than take a chance on the future. The
trouble is that Washington’s new people don’t need
to come here. There are plenty of other communities
they could live in—and real estate people are
a l ready saying that Arl i n g ton and South we st
Washington, both relatively rich in apartments, are
the targets of in-comers who can’t find anything on
the Hill.
Get over it, Hill. And lest you think that this
writer is smugly scribbling because his own house is
not near an apartment building—forget it. I have
three apartment buildings on my block.
And there’s still plenty of free parking!
Duncan Spencer is a regular columnist for the Voice of
the Hill and the Hill news p a p e rs. His views are occa -
sionally shared by one or another of the publishers .
Spencer invites you to rant back to: Dcspencer9@aol.com
NIMBY on the Hill:
Dotty About Density
Maids-N-Things
www.maidsnthings.com
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www.voiceofthehill.com 23
Business Bits
BY SARAH GODFREY The October 2000 issue of Vogue magazine
featured a 4-page spread devoted to a hot
new trend—fantasy fingernails. Here were
models sporting eve ry thing from pucehued
talons dripping with rh i n e sto n e s
to — the ultimate in luxe — i ridescent baby blue
leather.
Suddenly, the women’s fashion bible is lauding a
look that less than a year ago would have been dismissed
as, oh my, just too dreadfully gauche.
This fall, the style got the ultimate scratch of
approval: fabulously decorated fingernails adorned
every model that sashayed the Chanel runway.
While Madison Avenue may be embracing fantasy
nail art as le trend du jour, for many women, the
style is hardly new. Witness the ladies at the 14th
Street Saf eway, where they have began pampering
themselves with super manicures long before it
became en vogue.
Pharmacy technician, Sherry David-Wilson, says
she has been decorating her fingernails nails “forever.”
Today, for example, they are coated iridescentpurple-
green and topped with a sprinkle of silvery
glitter.
Unlike many women who rely on acrylic tips to
achieve flamboyant lengths, Sherry’s are the real
thing: 3-stunning inches from base to tip. She does,
h oweve r, protect them from damage with silk
wraps, which provide a littleextra strength.
A do-it-herselfer, Sherry uses a 5-second nail kit
from CVS and silk wrap fabric that she says is available
at any fabric store. Every three weeks or so, she
devotes two hours to rewrapping her nails and filling
in any chips and cracks with a special acrylic
nail filler.
Basic weekly polishing and whimsical decorating
takes about an hour.
If you’re tempted to try it, keep in mind that
Sherry has been doing this for years, which places
her in the semi-pro categor y.
Rookies may want to set aside a weekend—for as
those who’ve attempted even a French manicure
know, anything beyond a coat of “Love That Red”
can be a ticklish business.
If you want to get really wild, realize that the
skills and equipment required may even be beyond
the skills of your usual manicurist. Luckily, we do
have several neighborhood salons where technicians
can—anddo put almost anything on a fingernail.
Tina Godwin of Hair Rage International, on H St.,
NE, says she has definitely noticed a more diverse
group requesting fantasy nail work. “I’ve had a lot
of women coming in lately who are getting nail art
for the first time, which is fun.”
She began doing fantasy nail work as a beauty
school student and has become not only a whiz at
stenciling and airbrushing, but an old mast e r
at hand-painting designs, a process, she says, that
really brings out hercreativity.
Tina tells me her most outrageous bit of daubing
was based on a posterbrought in by a client. Using
h a i r- w i d th brushes, she re n d e red a picture of
a nude woman contorted into a profile of Sigmund
Freud (the poster caption was, by the way, “What’s
on a man’s mind”).
More commonly, women ask for stenciled airbrushed
designs, a process that has become increasi
n gly sophisticated over the last twenty ye a rs
(see, we told you this wasn’t a new trend).
In the early 1980’s, nail technicians used large,
bulky, standard airbrushunits more suited to painting
cars than fingernails. To d ay’s equ i p m e n t
issmaller, and far easier to work with. Paint quality
has also been refined to allow for delicate, very precise
detail.
In addition to airbrushing, customers can choose
from a wide range of ornaments. There are tiny,
intricate nail charms, glitter as fine as fairy dust,
and gems that are ringers for diamonds, rubies and
emeralds.
Techniques may have been refined, but this is
still painstaking, timeconsuming, work.
Unless you have nails like Sherry’s, Tina begins
with the application ofacrylic tips. She glues a thin
acrylic nail over the natural nail and fills any gaps
between them with a pliable acrylic paste. Then she
buffs the nail smooth and files the tip into the
desired shape—square, round or oval—and applies
a coat of polish.
Deck those Digits!
Top left and right: Pharmacy technician Sherry David-
Wilson models her glittery works of art.
Bottom Right: Deborah McIlvain’s whimisical creations
are always a conversation starter at the
Safeway checkout. Above,another Safeway employee,
too shy to be named,displays her creativity.
24 www.voiceofthehill.com
from Through the Grapevine. “It ’s such a nice feeling
to have everyone support each other in order to
make 8th Street ‘the place to be.’”
See for yo u rself. Alvear Studios is open
Wednesday through Sunday, from 11AM to 8PM at
705 8th St., SE. 546-8434.
Finally Open: Through the Grapevine. Floral designer
JK Homer has been just so blooming busy supplying
centerpieces, bouqu ets and other flowe rf u l
stuffs for parties and weddings that it’s been tough
finding time to open the doors of his new gift and
flower shop next door Capitol Video Sales on 8th
Street, SE.
But now the front window’s bedecked for the
holidays and the shop’s shelves are filling with
goodies.
Not expected to remain long is an extraordinary
room divider—a wrought iron 3-panel fo l d i n g
screen that stands about 5 feet tall and holds 36
votive candles, a light way to give dimension to a
room. Also to sigh for are the boxwood topiaries
studded with velvety red roses which, we’re told by
JK’s assistant Mark, are even more spectacular when
draped with little white lights.
On the gift front are tree ornaments made of
crackled mercury glass in shades of orange, blue
and citron green, haunting Wo o d sto ck wind
chimes, baskets, potpourrie, vases, lots of candles,
throw pillows and furniture that brings the garden
indoors. Do not overlook the opalescent “eggs.”
Betcha can’t buy just one.
And this is just the tip of the poinsettia: JK says,
“I can’t unpack the boxes fast enough.” Through the
Grapevine, 514 8th St., SE, 547-5093.
Sam’s Reincarnated. Sam’s Market, that dingy-butloved
mom and pop shop on Lincoln Park is wearing
a new name, the Lincoln Park Market, but that’s
not all. Building owner Jim Simpson says, “you
won’t believe it when you see it.”
E ve ry th i n g ’s been redone, repainted, re f u rbished
—and should be open by press time. And,
there’s new management in place: Mr. Yi, who also
owns the Capitol Supreme Market (which used to
be known as Weisfeld’s), and has built quite the following.
Yi has actually been ready to go for over a month
but delayed the opening until the transfer of the
sto re ’s beer and wine license was comp l et e d — a
transaction that took an interminable amount of
time, according to Simpson.
Do Svidanya Borsht! Bienvenido Tortillas! Last summer
it was a possibility, now it’s a reality. Misha’s
Russian Deli, across from Eastern Market on 7th
Street, SE, is closing. The Russian government, it
seems, made Misha’s wife a job offer that she just
couldn’t refuse.
M oving in, Jose Canales of East e rn Market’s
Canales Deli. The eat-in, take-out, Tortilla Café will
offer Salvadoran and Tex-Mex specialties like fajitas,
paella and yes, tortillas. Canales will be not be making
too many changes to Misha’s sweet little space,
and expects to be open before Christmas.
Read It and Weep. After reading however many
a n gry web-comments about Yes! Gourm et not
accepting personal checks, I finally picked up the
phone and talked the deal over with co-owner and
Hill store manager, Gary Cha.
Yes, it is true that you can pay by check at the
mini-chain’s Connecticut Avenue store. But, Gary
tells me, that store gets but a handful of checks a
Brushing the tops of cookies with slightly beaten
egg white for a clear glaze or beating an egg yolk
with a little water for a darker glaze. If you can’t
decide, beat the whole egg with a little water for a
medium burnish.
Honey! Here’s the Stuff! It’s scarcely noon on December
2, the fir st day of business at Alvear Studios
on 8th Street, SE. The place is still littered with balloons,
wine glasses and a table sprawled with red
and white pistachio nuts from the opening bash
the night before.
Texas native, Christopher Alvear, who owns the
shop along with his Mexico City- b o rn part n e r
Francisco Pliego, hasn’t had time to bre a th — o r
sweep. In the last hour or so he’s sold over $1000
worth of art, handicrafts and home furnishings,
and the customers keep coming in.
Francisco, who was entertaining a few of the
a rt i sts in town for the opening over lunch at
Banana Café, whooshes in, gestures wildly at the
shop walls and screams in charmingly accented
English, “Honeeeey! Where is all the stuff?!”
Christopher laughs, “It’s sold!”
Last night, Christopher tells me, the place was so
packed “you couldn’t walk in the store.” While the
owners just wanted to celebrate, the guests kept
buying. The last lingere rs we re tossed out at
3:30AM, but many returned this morning to snatch
up their trophies.
What sent them fumbling through their wallets
for the plastic?
Superbly detailed handbags, slippers and luggage
in leather and cowskin by smoky voiced art i st
Alexis David (who was one of Francisco’s lunch
partners), buttery Italian leather sofas and chairs
(cubistically comfor table à la Corbusier), great fat
cherubs swinging from the tin ceiling that turn out
to be made of Balsa wood and are as light as paper
airplanes, and organically shaped tables crafted of
hickory, mahogany and walnut by David Hymes
(who’s also hanging about this morning) who says
he “does what the wood tells me to do.”
Then there are paintings, shadow boxes and, for
want of a better word, other wall art, and lots and
lots of accessories, many of them imported from
Mexico.
Christopher says he was particularly pleased at all
the neighboring businesspeople that showed up for
the opening: Jorge Zamorano from Banana Café
came, as did Denise D’Amor and Laurie Morin from
Capitol Hill Bikes, and JK (see next story) Homer
Now comes the fun part: dreaming up a custom
design, going the charm/ rhinestone/glitter route,
or choosing from a wide array of airbrushing stencils
—tropical scenes, geometric shapes, even cartoon
characters. You could also pile it all on, for a
truly grand gesture.
Tina has noticed that even women who hesitate
to have their own nails done,marvel at the intricacy
and beauty of these elaborate treatments.
For the faint of heart (or the wary of boss) she
suggests a way for every customer to get a taste of
the trend: Some of these designscan be put on their
toes! While invisible to the world, such a paint job
isguaranteed to put pep in your step for as long as a
month.
A word of warning: While women with intricate
nail art love the oohs and ahhhs their nails illicit,
they also draw the occasional negative, catty, or just
plain rude comment.
Sherry David-Wilson says, “One of my customers
recently looked at my nails and said, ‘Look at those
things! Those things are weapons!’” Another customer
simply could not believe Sherry’s nails were
natural, “She said, ‘Are those your real nails?’ and
when I told her they were she said, ‘Yeah, they’re
yours because you bought them!’”
And far from being a handicap, as it were, Sherry
maintains that she can do anything—despite the
l e n g th of her nails. “People don’t realize th a t
youuse the tip of your finger, not your nail, to pick
things up. I do my daughters hair...They don’t stop
me from doing things.”
Nor should they stop you. Hey, New Years Eve
approaches, and there is no better time for some
flash. You might even find you want to keep glitteringinto
January. Sure would brighten up flu season
(consider coordinatedKleenex).
Tina Godwin
Hair Rage International
1017 H St., NE
396-1983
Sarah Godfrey is interning with the Voice of the Hill
Sherrill’s Gingerbread II. Capitol Hill Restoration
Society mover, Charlotte Furness, is not one to be
daunted by the likes of White House pastry chef
Ann Amernick, who confessed, a few weeks back,
that she couldn’t figure out just what it was that
gave Sherrill’s gingerbread that certain…shall we
say…lingual resonance.
Charlotte says a soft Molasses Cookie recipe by
food writer Betty Bernard, might take the cake:
Soft Molasses Cookies
3 Cups sifted flour
112 Tsps baking powder
12 Tsp baking soda
12 Tsp ground ginger
12 Tsp ground cinnamon
14 Tsp salt
12 Cup solid vegetable shortening
1 Cup molasses
2 Tbs warm water
1 Egg, beaten
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda,
ginger cinnamon, and salt.
In another bowl, combine shortening, molasses,
water and egg. Add shortening mixture to flour
mixture; mix thoroughly. Let stand about 10 minutes.
Roll out dough on a floured surface, NO THINNER
THAN 1/4 inch. Cut with a cookie cutter. Place
on lightly greased baking sheets. Bake in a preheat -
ed 400° oven about 15 minutes, or until done.
Charlotte adds: For Sherrills-esque glaze try: continued on page 36
www.voiceofthehill.com 25
26 www.voiceofthehill.com
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www.voiceofthehill.com 27
Income Tax Services
Jackson Hewitt Tax Service
8th St., SE 554-8840
Internet Provider Services
DC Access
118 Kentucky Ave, SE 546-5898
www.dcaccess.net — a local ISP
Mason
Michaliga Masonr y
321 C Street, SE
544-4484
Mortgage Lenders
Apex Home Loans
301-474-7100
See our ad on page 18
Jeffrey A. Love, Loan Officer
Federal Funding Mortgage Corp
202-210--7106 jlove@ffmcorp.com
Pet Supplies
Doolittle’s Pet Supply
224 7th St., SE 544-8710
See our ad on page 22
Office Supplies
Capitol Hill Innervision
Art and Office Supplies
701 8th St., SE 544-4664
Photography
Asman Custom Photo Service, Inc
924 Penn. Ave, SE 547-7713
See our ad on page 21
Motophoto
666 PA Ave., SE 547-2100
See our ad on page 13
Picture Framing
Frame of Mine
522 8th St., SE 543-3030
See our ad on page 34
Newman Gallery and Custom Frames
511 11th St., SE 544-7577
See our ad on page 31
Antiques
Antiques on the Hill
701 North Carolina Ave., SE
See our ad on page 28
Astrology
Ajai
Good advice since 1979
543-9053
Attorneys
Davis & Gooch
920 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE 543-3600
Rick Halberstein & Karen Byrne
705 D St., SE 543-1110
Arts Center
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
545 7th St., SE 547-6839
See our ad on page 39
Association
CHAMPS
621 PA Ave., SE 547-7788
Bank
National Capital Bank
316 PA Ave.,SE 546-8000
See our ad on page 17
Bicycles
Capitol Hill Bikes
709 8th St.,SE 544-4234
See our ad on page 18
Books
Capitol Hill Books
657 C Street, SE, 544-1621
Good Used Books Bought & Sold.
Riverby Books
419 E. Capitol St., SE 547-3228
See our ad on page 30
Chimney Cleaning
Winston’s Chimney Service
Washington DC (301)571-8546
See our ad on page 33
Church
Christ Church Washington Parish
620 G St., SE 547-9300
See our ad on page 45
Clothing & Gifts
Art & Soul
225 PA Ave., SE 548-0105
See our ad on page 34
The Village
705 N. Carolina Ave., SE 546-3040
See our ad on page 29
Computer Consultant
Better Computer Solutions
623 N. Carolina Ave., SE 546-8084
See our ad on page 29
Drug Store
Grubbs Care Pharmacy
326 E Capitol SE 543-4400
See our ad on page 6
Electric Repairs
Bob Willett / K&W Electric
301-283-4004
Service work small jobs
Funeral Services
Pinckney-Spangler Funeral Home
524 8th St. NE, 544-7720
A full service funeral home. Traditional burial
or cremation services. Burial or cremation
can be accompanied by a viewing and/or
funeral or memorial service.
Garden and Landscape
Gingko Gardens
911 11th St., SE 543-5172
See our ad on page 9
Frager’s Garden Center
1115 Penna Ave., SE,
543-6157
Ornamental Garden
544-7831
District Cityscapes, Inc
202-544-4886
See our ad on page 28
Hardware
Fragers Hardware
1115 Pennsylvania Ave., SE 543-6157
See our ad on page 15
Health & Fitness
GI Jane
645 Pennsylvania Ave., SE 547-7906
See our ad on page 28
Results the Gym
3rd & G Sts, SE, 234-5678
See our ad on page 25
Home Furnishings
Woven History
311 7th St., SE 543-1705
See our ad on page 49
Home Repair
Handyman on the Hill
Washington DC 206-7185
See our ad on page 32
H&W Contracting, Ltd.
398-7117
Hotel
Capitol Hill Suites
200 C St., SE 543-6000
See our ad on page 23
Business Directory Listings:
Voice of the Hill is including a yellow-pages style directory of businesses and services that cater to the Capitol Hill community.
To be included in the directory businesses must commit to a one-year contract, payable in advance by check, Visa or
Mastercard. The annual fee is $250. Display advertisers on annual contracts will be included in the directory at no additional
charge.
Each business will be given three lines in the directory; two must be used for the company name, address and phone number.
An extra line is available for your name, a description of your business or service, or a direction to see your ad. Additional
lines may be added at an annual cost of $60 per line (per year). If you would like to be included in the next directory, please
fill in the following form and send it, along with your check or payment information, to: The Voice of the Hill, 120 11th St., SE,
Washington, DC 20003. If you have questions please call Bruce Robey at 544-0703.
Your Name:_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Company Name: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Business Description: (30 character maximum) ____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Please charge my Mastercard or Visa
Name on Card: _________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Business Serv i c e s
Plumbing & Heating
Leakbusters Plumbing & Remodeling
202 544-5000
Real Estate
Valerie M. Blake
Prudential Carruthers Realtors
5025 Wisconsin Ave, NW 202-362-1348,
x111
www.DCHomeQuest.com
Thom Burns
Coldwell Banker Real Estate
109 8th St. NE 547-5805
Larry C
Pardoe Real Estate
605 PA Ave., SE 546-7000
Tom & Alice Faison
REMAX Real Estate
220 7th St., SE 546-5881
John C. Formant
John C. Formant Real Estate
225 PA Ave., SE 544-3900
Pardoe Real Estate
605 PA Ave., SE 546-7000
See our ad on the back cover
Jackie von Schlegel
REMAX Real Estate
220 7th St., 547-5600
Phyllis Jane Young
Pardoe Real Estate
605 PA Ave., SE 546-7000
John Parker
Pardoe Real Estate
605 PA Ave., SE 546-7000
Real Estate Settlement
Capital Home Title
703 D St., SE Washington DC 544-4300
See our ad on page 32
Congressional Title
650 PA Ave., SE 544-0800
See our ad on page 31
28 www.voiceofthehill.com
Business Serv i c e s
Eastern Market Title
210 7th St., SE 546-3100
See our ad on page 30
Restaurants
2 Quail
322 Massachusetts Ave. NE 543-8030
See our ad on page 13
Banana Café
400 8th St., SE 543-5906
See our ad on page 31
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
327 7th St., SE 546-CAKE
See our ad on page 33
Bluestone Cafe
327 7th St., SE 547-9007
See our ad on page 26
Café Berlin
222 Mass. Ave., NE 543-7656
German American Cuisine
Hawk ’n’ Dove
329 PA Ave., SE 543-3300
See our ad on page 32
Sheridan’s Steak House
713 8th St., SE 546-6955
See our ad on page 9
Stompin’ Grounds
666 Pennsylvanai Ave., SE, 546-5778
See our ad on page 33
Salons
RPM Salon
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Randolph Cree
325 7th St., SE
In early 2001.
Social Services
Capitol Hill Group Ministr y
421 Seward Sq., SE 544-0385
Schools
Capitol Hill Day School
210 S. Carolina Ave., SE 547-2244
Edmond Burke School
2955 Upton St., NW 362-8882
Levine School of Music
2801 Upton St., NW 686-9772
St Peter’s School
422 3rd St., SE 544-1618
Spiritual Advisors
Corrin Bennett
920 G St., SE 543-5825
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Gabrielle Hill
639 E. Capitol SE 544-438
See ad on page 37
Vacation/Travel Consultants
Jan Cammarata
Judiciary Express Travel
7th & Penn SE, 547-3007
Yoga Studio
Dancing Heart Center for Yoga
221 5th St., NE 544-0841
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Barracks Row the Next Pennsylvania
Avenue?
Draft of Economic Study released
December 9. Bolan and Smart, a local real estate
and economic consulting company that is working
with the Barracks Row/MainStreet project, has just
issued the fir st draft (repeat, draft) of their analysis
of 8th Street, SE—the Barracks Row commercial corridor.
The B&S study, funded by a grant from Fannie
Mae, is designed to provide a r etail strategy for the
development of the area, and eventually a brochure
that can be used to court new businesses.
And the consultants feel the street can support a
good bit of new business.
Given the increasing affluence of the residential
area, and the number of office workers—existing
and soon to be arriving—the study suggests the
strip can accommodate 3 to 5 more upscale restaurants,
2 to 3 specialty food shops, 3 to 5 “convenience
retailers, such as a music/CD store,” 2 to 4 specialty
retailers, like an “art supply shop or a fabric
store,” and maybe a small hotel or large bed &
breakfast (10-20 rooms).
And that’s just in the short term.
The report indicates that over the next few years
Barracks Row will be as important a commercial
area as Pennsylvania Avenue between 2nd and 7th
St re ets: “In the near future, 8th St re et will be
restored as a dominant link between the much
expanded Navy Ya rd env i ronment and Capito l
Hill.”
In fact, it seems, the gravest long-term problem
8th Street faces is that there’s not enough space, or
the right kind of space, to satisfy the eve n t u a l
demand—particularly from the new “working population.”
The buildings are small and are, or will be, protected
by the Capitol Hill Historic District. This is
more than problematic for “big box” retailers and
national chains that might operate smaller stores,
but still follow rigid formulas.
Which is probably just fine. I’ve yet to hear anyone
clamoring for a branch of Victoria’s Secret or
the Nature Company.
But what direction should development take?
The businesses are a schizophrenic mix. A check
cashing joint, low-end retailers, a tattoo parlor, a
bunch of fast food outlets, clinics, and various nonprofits
jostle against a collection of fine restaurants
and nightspots like Banana Café, Ellington’s on
8th, and Sheridan’s, a growing collection of upscale
shops and galleries, offices for organizations like
the Shake s p e a re Theatre and nationally know n
landscape architects Oehme and van Sweden, and
the Marine Barracks.
The result, says the report, is that 8th Street is
“confusing” to strangers. Potential customers are
left “not knowing what it is, who it is oriented to, or
whether they belong there...Trying to be ‘all things
to all people,’ presents an image problem.”
What’s needed is a theme, an easily graspable
“center” for the street. B&S suggests that landlords
be guided to “achieve a balanced mix of compatible
uses...to maximize the total appeal of that center to
as wide a population as possible.”
But the population that surrounds 8th Street is
also a schizophrenic mix. Much of the area to the
n o rth of the Fre eway is becoming incre a s i n gly
affluent while to the Freeway’s south there remain
a large number of low-income households. During
the daytime there are thousands of mainly whitecollar
workers at the Navy Yard.
There are also the Marines.
Jill Dowling, Executive Director of the MainStreet
p roject says 1200 Marines are stationed at th e
Barracks at 8th and I. Three hundred live there, and
300 more will arrive when new quarters are completed.
Many are very young, under 21, and make
about $14,000 a year—which might seem low, until
you figure that all their living expenses are paid for
and the income is entirely disposable.
Jill’s office is directly above the tattoo parlor,
which is directly across from the Barracks, so she
can attest to its popularity with the young Marines.
“Saint and Everett,” the brothers that own shop,
tell her, “there are a couple of Marines that sport so
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many tattoos that they’re walking billboards for the
shop.”
Barracks Row needs to continue to serve each of
these populations, says Jill, and the MainSt re et
project needs to be about “community revitalization,”
not just “commercial revival...We have an
o b l i gation to make this rev i talization wo rk fo r
everyone.”
Still, she feels the report is on target. To be successful,
the area needs a theme, a niche to market
and build upon, and restaurants and arts-related
businesses are beginning to emerge as the area’s
dominant influence.
There’s the Shakespeare Theatre offices and the
re h e a rsal hall, the Capitol Hill Arts Wo rks h o p ,
Oxford Academy, and compatible businesses like
Frame of Mine, Through the Gra p evine, Alve a r
Studios, Attitude Exact, and Backstage, the theater
and costume shop.
As businesses turn over, landlords need to be
urged to think about tenants that will contribute to
the attractiveness of the area, not detract from it.
She also agrees with a suggestion made in the
B&S report that landlords try to move clinics, nonp
rofits and other non-retail organizations into
upstairs offices, freeing precious storefront space
for more shops and restaurants.
But what of the lower income residents in the
area that work in some of the existing businesses
and rely on them for services?
Job training is not an area that Bolan and Smart
got into, but it’s an area that Jill Dowling feels is
essential to the success of the MainStreet project.
“It should be a huge part of the program,” she says.
With DC beginning to link with the National Trust
for Historic Preservation to create Main Street projects
in communities all over the city, “This can be a
model...Adams Morgan, for instance, has a similar
mix of rich and poor.”
She is working with a variety of organizations
that provide or have an interest in job training and
placement, including HUD, DC’s Office of
Planning, St ri ve DC, the Capitol Hill Gro u p
Ministry, and Bridges to Friendship, a local nonprofit
that arranged for construction jobs at the
Navy Yard for local residents.
Wi th job training, some people might find
employment in local businesses, and others might
find construction work on Main Street projects that
will soon be springing up in other areas around
town.
“It’s all synergistic,” Dowling says. “If it works,
it’ll be great.”
All I Want...Is a Place to Sit
Considering the Eastern Market Metro Plaza
December 9. Considering the public space around
the 8th Street, SE commercial area is another seg -
ment of the Bar racks Row/MainStreet project—and
that includes taking a look at the Eastern Market
Metro Plaza, the arrival point for many Hill visitors.
Jill Dowling, MainSt re et’s Exe c u t i ve Dire c to r
says, “There’s a sign saying Eastern Market, which is
nowhere in sight.” As for the Capitol, “there’s not
even an arrow.”
She’s also observed that there’s nary a place in
the area to sit down and watch the passing scene.
The benches and “tables” at Eastern Market are cold
and uninviting, and there are no benches at all in
the Metro Plaza. The only other place to sit is on the
concrete steps of the Southeast Librar y.
Jill would like to see seating restored to the Plaza,
so residents and visitors have a pretty place to have
lunch, enjoy a coffee break or just hang out.
I mentioned that up until a few years ago the area
used to be quite the hang out. There were benches
all around the park, some occupied by late sleepers,
“suitcases” stashed underneath. Others functioned
as outdoor sports bars; heckling attractive women
being the primary sport. There was a fine collection
of trash too.
But Pollyanna, pardon, Dowling, feels it needn’t
be that way again. “As a community we need to
reclaim that space.”
If there was a problem with loitering, she tells
me, it was because “there was nothing else happening
that would make people uncomfortable.”
She suggests that “visuals” be added to make the
space more “interesting and defined.”
MainStreet’s Historic Preser vation Committee is
working with the DC Heritage Tourism Coalition
on their “Way Finding” program that is establishing
“Heritage Trails,” walking tours of our neighborhoods
that are delineated by signage, all over
the city. Research will soon begin for the Barracks
Row Trail, and the Metro plaza could be used for a
history kiosk.
Jill, who’s got extensive experience and training
in city planning, also suggests that flower vendors,
coffee carts, and food carts, “non-structurally-tied
commerce,” would attract a variety of people.
Which all sounds very pretty until you consider
what most of our sidewalk stalls look like, including
the sprawl of tables, coolers, boxes and blaring
music to be found just around the corner on 8th
Street.
Dowling counters: “We have to embrace diversity
and not make assumptions. Obv i o u s ly th ey do
enough business that they stay there. But maybe we
can move them closer to the vision. Maybe we
should talk to them about what they do and how to
include them.”
Talk to them? What a clever idea. (There ’s
ABSOLUTELY NO sarcasm implied in that statement,
so don’t go writing nasty letters. Talking to
those whose behavior seems out of step, shall we
say, is something we too rarely do.)
An invitation: With what to do about the Eastern
Metro Plaza still in the dream stage, Jill is gathering
ideas from eve ry w h e re — w h i ch includes yo u .
You’re invited to share that brilliant concept, you
know the one that begins, “Wow, I came out of the
s u bway the other day and I had this amazing
vision...”
E-mail to Stephanie@voiceofthehill.com or snailmail
to the Voice of the Hill editorial office: 242
Kentucky Avenue, SE. If I get enough of a response,
an article will be shaped for a future issue (please
note if you don’t want your name used), and all suggestions
will be passed along to Jill.
District Moves Closer to Renovation
Tax Credit
Mayor Expected to Endorse Package in 2001
December 9. You’ve been watching your window
frames rot away and cursing the day you decided to
buy in the Capitol Hill Historic District. You could
put your kid through a year at Yale for what it costs
to replace all those suckers, and you’re sick and
t i red of plugging the leaks with silly putty, or
marshmallows, or whatever.
Looks like there may some good news coming.
Pat Lally, Chair of the Gove rnment Affairs
Committee of the DC Preservation League (DCPL)
says that the city is getting close to providing hefty
incentives for “low to moderate” income owners of
older homes to fix them up right.
Lally laughs when I raise the window issue. He
says he used to review permits, and “nine times out
of ten they were for windows.” He also dealt with a
lot of “tattle tales,” folks ratting on neighbors doing
repairs and replacements without proper permits.
The problem of inappropriate replacement windows,
says Pat, “is lost on a lot of people. But when
you live in a row house neighborhood, one bad job
ruins the row. A tax break is exactly what people
need to bridge the gap between installing schlocky
vinyl, and restoring their windows.”
It’s an idea, he tells me, that’s going gangbusters
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in the ’burbs where, in many areas, homeowners
can get credits for properly restoring homes that are
just 25-years-old.
Lally and his committee have been exploring the
possibility of providing tax incentives for the past
five years: “Researching existing statutes in various
municipalities like Baltimore, Fairfax and Montgomery
County. As a committee we looked at the
best features and put together a proposal.”
Pat says, “Councilmember Sharon Ambrose fairly
qu i ck ly saw the merits...and dra fted legislation, which
was co-sponsored by most councilmembers, and th e n
i n t roduced over the last two Council sessions.”
The Council’s bill, Lally says, “is very broad...
extending a 25% tax credit on income tax for qualified
renovation costs for buildings 50 years-old or
older.” But he cautions that it probably won’t be
accepted as framed, since the Mayor has a slightly
different plan in mind.
“It is likely,” says Lally, “that in the New Year, the
Mayor will endorse a similar tax credit proposal as
part of a larger housing preservation and development
package that will only involve—accrue to—
buildings in historic districts.”
The Mayor will also attach income limits for eligibility,
probably using HUD’s standards for low
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Rockville, MD Annapolis, MD
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Across from the
Eastern Market Metr o
and moderate income.
While the DCPL and DC’s Historic Preser vation
Division understand that the Mayor wants to give
an incentive for areas like H Street, NE to form historic
districts and protect their fine old properties,
both groups would like to see him expand his plan
to include landmarks, contributing structures and
potentially eligible buildings that are not now protected
by historic districts—and won’t be anytime
soon.
H i sto ric dist ricts in mixed and lower income
areas can work, says Pat. “At Logan Circle they have
a $1 million endowment, a revolving loan that produces
low interest loans for renovations for low and
moderate income people living in the area.”
At a citywide histo r