Vol. 3 No. 9 January 2002
o f
T h e
H i l l
This Month
4 Neighborhood
History: Overbeck
Tape Four
9 Community
Commitment: Gary
and M’El Abrecht
11 Serving and
Protecting at
Eighth and I
14 The Universal
Language of Music:
Gershwin in the
H o n d u r a s
16 Michael To l a y d o :
A c t o r, Dire c t o r,
Teacher
17 The Year 2001: A
Look Back
19 Ringing in the New
Year Close to Home
D e p a rt m e n t s
Vo i c e M a i l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
O p i n i o n. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 0
Ask Judith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 1
The Business Beat . . . . . . . . .2 3
D o w n L o a d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 5
Business Serv i c e s. . . . . . . . . .3 1
Home Design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 2
Eye on the Hill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 4
Winter Reading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 7
B a rracks Row. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 8
Capital Kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 0
Kids’ Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 1
H o ro s c o p e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 2
Community Calendar . . . . . .4 2
Ask an Off i c i a l. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 6
Taking time…
time to look b a c k
in order to look
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jobs then others – are frustrated
as we are when it comes to criminals.
They arrest them, and the system
puts them back on the street.
2) Thanks to the rights of criminals
and the “racial profiling,” police cannot
do their job. I have experienced teens in my
street being disrespectful to officers and
getting investigated for alleged abuse.
3) Citizens expect the police to resolve
all problems, but very few show up at meetings
and get involved. I have personally written
nice and nasty e-mails, letters and spent
hours on the phone with detectives, lieutenants,
and received phone calls from the
5th District Commander (Ms. Green), who
was interested in finding out about the
crime situation on my block.
4) Can meetings be more effective?
Absolutely, but to get to know the officers
and to make them responsible for crimes
has proven effective. Back during the spring
of this year, people complained about the
situation in front of “’N a Minute” (13th and
D NE). The presence of the officers was
quite visible, and things got better for a
while. When things get better, officers get
involved in other PSAs, and we have to reinforce
the need of their presence in our PSA.
But are people willing to make a long-term,
frustrating and boring (at times) commitment?
My experience is that with the
exception of a few dedicated citizens, the
majority “can’t find the time” or feel “There
are other more important issues.” In my
PSA (511), there are three ANC commissioners;
yet, beside myself, I have seen only
commissioner, Nelson, attending one meeting
(last year) and never saw Commissioner
McIntire. This is quite interesting, because
both SMDs have quite few problems. Both
commissioners, however, are politically
involved, and maybe they can create
changes at higher level. Meanwhile, it is up
to the citizens to find a way to be heard.
5) Stop “justifying” crime. Many liberal
hearts (all the Democrats in Capitol Hill are
going to be upset with me) continue to
blame society for the poor single mother
who cannot control her children. Every
woman knows how to prevent pregnancy,
and poverty is not one of the main problems
in Capitol Hill.
Sadly, I like D.C., but the city and the
whole system is exhausting me—maybe the
best solution is to move.
MARINA MARTIN November 28
Pets on Dope? You Heard it Here
First
Dear Neighbors,
We are increasingly alarmed by tragic stories
indicating that many cats and dogs in
our area are hooked on illegal narcotics.
Apparently some pets get started when they
find the drugs in the house or on the street.
Others, however, get hooked when owners
give them drugs in the misguided belief that
humans should not have all the fun.
Some of us on Capitol Hill want to start a
Pets On Dope chapter, patterned after the
pioneering group in San Diego. Pets On
Dope is like a 12-step program, but, of
course, it recognizes that most pets cannot
count that high. We do hope, though, that
many pets believe in a higher power and can
lick drugs and go on to live productive lives.
Still, almost every day we see dogs and
cats that are CLEARLY under the influence
of powerful narcotic drugs, and in some
cases the owners don’t seem to know
what’s going on.
It is such a shame. We would like to know if
others would be interested in working with a
Pets On Dope group, and
perhaps we could hold
an organizational
meeting after the
holidays. We must
wipe out this
scourge!
E D I T H Dec. 7
This is one of the nuttiest notions I’ve ever
heard. The idea that pets can come across
enough drugs on the street or around the
house to become hapless addicts is crazy.
And what pet owner would pay or consort
with dangerous drug dealers to keep a pet
strung out? Who’s been smoking what
around here?
ANONYMOUS Dec. 8
There was a dog walking down C Street
tonight that had to be on something. It was
weaving and staggering. But what are you
supposed to do? People weave and stagger
down C Street all the time.
ANONYMOUS Dec. 12
Fighting Back Against Crime: More
Points to Ponder
In our community, most people are good,
law-abiding people, but a few jerk-criminals
live among us. Three things need to happen.
1.) MPD has to get AGGRESSIVE; 2.) People
have to “rat” on the bad guys; if you know
someone committed a crime, tell MPD; 3).
Citizens need to take VIGILANTE CRIME
PREVENTION. It would not be a bad thing for
a few muggers to get their butts kicked by
some angry citizen vigilantes.
ANONYMOUS Dec. 17
How are the angry citizen vigilantes going
to get their hands on a few muggers — or
even one mugger? And who will these angry
citizen vigilantes be? The strangest phenom -
enon of Capitol Hill life is how accepting residents
are in their role as crime victims.
Most don’t do anything. Frequently, you
enounter people who didn’t even call the
police.
ANONYMOUS Dec. 17
The Legacy of Finley’s
Dear Editor:
After 41 years, Finley's Boxing Gym has
closed its doors.
Located in the heart of Capitol Hill in NE
Washington, the gym has produced such
great champions as: Bob Foster, light heavy -
weight; Johnny Gant, Jr. and Dar ryl Tyson,
welterweights; Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson,
bantamweight; and 2000 Olympian Clarence
Vinson. In addition, the first African-
American ring announcer, Henr y
"Discombobulating" Jones; along with train -
ers, the late Bobby Brown, Jimmy Cooper,
Henry Thomas, Ham Johnson, Chris Ray,
Mark "Bo" Johnson and Cleveland Burgess,
got their starts there.
Mr. Jim Finley, you have made this area
proud to be a part of you. Your sense of
humor and your warm smile made us a part
of you. So many people have climbed up and
down the stairs-not to become a fighter, but
to become a part of you. You have truly
given the shirt off your back to save our
youth of today and yesterday with great
pride and respect. The gym has become a
household name around the world because
of you.
CHRIS RAY, Assistant
www.voiceofthehill.com 3
Vo i cem a i l
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VOICE o f
T h e
H i l l
Sarah Godfrey
Linda Norton
Mark Segraves
Gwydion Suilebhan
During the past month, more people than
ever have contributed their thoughts and
concerns to “Hill Talk Discussion” on The
Voice of the Hill ’s website. The following ar e
just a few of the hundreds of comments our
readers have posted on the site.
What the Hill Needs Now…
Note: This letter is a part of a discussion
chain that focused on what businesses
Capitol Hill needs.
I really like the idea of Olsson’s. It could be
really good with a spot down near the Navy
Yard w/ them offering coffee [and other
items].
Men’s shoe store...hmm. We have a
Payless Shoe and a Foot Locker. We lost a
footwear store next to the 24-hour store 7-
11. Can more shoe stores make money on
8th? I don’t know. Perhaps someone has
some ideas on this, because there is a gap
in the shoe products being offered on 8th.
I’ve mentioned Capitol Hill to Trader Joe’s
myself. I think high rents might be the problem.
Can anyone think of a low-rent place
with a lot of space?
The Gap, I have to admit, despite it being a
chain, I would like. Which building could
they use now?
A record store would be nice too. With
eBay, I wonder how well used CD stores do
now. I think the one in Georgetown closed.
Perhaps Olsson’s could offer at least new
CD’s.
A furniture store...interesting. There is a
new one on Pennsylvania Ave. now on the
CVS side of the block. There is also a really
nice (in my opinion) new home decoration
store with some furniture next to the bike
shop on 8th.
Ann Taylor...that would be interesting. I like
it. A children’s clothing store and other
clothing stores (consignment?) would be
nice too!
A movie house? Hmm...we did have one a
few years ago. Where to put it? Ideas?
How about another Mail Boxes, Etc.-type
store? Opinions?
A nice Sunday/Saturday brunch type
place with an awning and tables and chairs
out front? (it’s a stretch, I know — “Do you
want a panhandler with that muffin?”)
Aside from shopping—- I am hoping with
all the change coming on 8th Street and the
Navy Yard in the next few years that I will
easily be riding a bike path down 8th and
4th and 11th Streets to the Navy Yard
waterfront, to the SW waterfront, the 14th
Street Bridge, and then VA.
If a bike path like this does become available,
nice bike racks that are functional
(that allow the locking of the frame and
both tires) would be useful. Perhaps they
could be located at Eastern Market and
along 8th Street. A good bike path could
decrease the number of cars coming into
the District for all the Navy Yard employees.
Perhaps a place to keep bikes during the
work hours is also needed within the Navy
Yard to encourage this behavior.
FRANK NICKERSON Dec. 10
Regarding Crime: Some Points to
Ponder
Crime in Capitol Hill is not something new
and it is not openly discussed. All of us who
were around for the past 10 years (or
longer) have experienced (directly or indirectly)
some form of crime in our neighborhood.
The points of this simple story are:
1) MPD officers – some better at their
4 www.voiceofthehill.com
Navy Yard. We just simply don’t
know it.
Now, with the closing of the chapter
of the war with England, the
country had to come to g rips with
the fact that it had lost most of its
fleet, or certainly most of its fleet
that was in progress of being built,
and it got busy and started building
things again—the boat houses and
the ships.
Franzén: The buildings down here
at the Navy Yard were mostly wood?
Overbeck: Yes.
Franzén: So they were burned.
Overbeck: Yes. These were the
working buildings, for the most part.
The ones that are up along M Street
that back up close to that wall that
date from this period were brick.
They were residences, and for the
most part they were two-story and
rather simple—similar to the ones
that we had talked about elsewhere
in the Navy Yard area.
There were two striking things
about the Navy Yard at that particular
time. One was the Latrobe gate,
which Benjamin Latrobe had
designed to be the entry portal, and
there are still pieces standing. It has
been encapsulated and expanded,
but if you look hard enough and
Franzén: This is the beginning of
Tape 4. We are continuing our conversation
about the Navy Yard.
Where we left off was in the midst of
a discussion about what happened
here during the War of 1812, which
in this case is 1814.
Overbeck: The written records are
not the official written records, but
among the records that we do have
is the report by Mordecai Booth, one
of the men who was assigned to the
Yard as a civilian and who was sent
out to do reconnoitering to see
where the Brits were and what was
going on. Even his record is filled
with both the joy and the sadness,
the excitement, of what he was
doing and the sadness of what he
was doing; the bewilderment of
what kinds of instructions were
being given; and where people were
fleeing and which people were doing
various and sundry things on behalf
of the federal government.
We have not found anything comparable
by any of the people who
lived near the Yard or, as far as that’s
concerned, almost anybody else in
town. There are a few diary entries
by some of the elite who lived in
Georgetown and in Northwest near
the President’s house, but not in the
general run-of-the-mill populace.
One of the reasons this may be
true is that so many of these people
actually were born in the British
Isles. Most of them by this time had
American citizenship but they may
have had mixed feelings as well, and
they may not have known what the
long-term outcome would be, and
not want to have things on paper
that could be traced to them. So we
simply do not have good information
about it.
There is a myth that runs around
that a number of the British soldiers
recuperated at the former home of
William Mayn Duncanson, which
we now know as Friendship House.
But we have no real information to
that effect.
We do know that many of the
neighbors closer to the Capitol took
in people who had been hurt,
dressed their wounds, et cetera. So it
is not even unlikely or unheard of
that that happened down by the
now—maybe in perpetuity—but it
was the first public statue ever erected
in the city, and it was right down
there at the Navy Yard. It is a lovely
thing, still gets damaged, but they
still work on it.
At any rate, those were the two
main things that we would have
noticed as being different along M
Street, because the wall was put up.
And it’s a nice little brick wall, probably
about eight feet high—and you
can see the backs of houses. And
that is exactly what you would have
seen. That part of it hasn’t changed
that much. The scale and mass and
material of the larger buildings
beyond that wall are the things that
are different at this point from what
they were at the beginning of the
Yard.
Now, as we go through trying to
sort out the Navy Yard and its
impact on the Washington area, certainly
on Capitol Hill, it becomes
both more difficult and less difficult.
In the first place, the city began to
get its city directories published—in,
I believe, 1822. At about the same
time, flawed though it is, there is an
1819 tax book and a more appropriately
less flawed 1824 tax book, both
of which show improvements on
property and property values—and
owners.
So by taking the city director y,
incomplete as its addresses are—say,
“such and such, L and 15th by the
Navy Yard,” or whatever—and coordinating
that with the information
in the tax book, we can pr etty much
flesh out a definable Navy Yard community
by 1822 so that we know
that that community essentially
began between 3rd and 4th Street
Southeast, went up as far as
Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast, and
went as far east as 14th Street
Southeast. Now that is not to say it ’s
filled in completely, because it certainly
is not. It’s still higgledy-piggledy,
buildings of various and
sundry magnitudes, scales, materials
and so on, strewn across a landscape,
some having absolutely no relationship
to the others, and some being
nice little row houses of two or three
in a group and having similar ornamentation.
know what you’re looking for, you
can still see part of the original
Benjamin Latrobe gate at the corner
of 8th and M. Something that is not
there now is the first public statue
ever erected in the City of
Washington.
Franzén: At that gate?
Overbeck: At that gate. Earlier
than that, as a matter of fact,
because it was the memorial statue
to the men who lost their lives in
Tripoli. It was a beautiful marble
statue, and the statue “wandered.” It
was at the Navy Yard first, and rightly
so, because officers had paid out
of their own pockets the entire cost
of having the marble statue created.
It was damaged by the British—a finger
broken off here and something
else there. It moved from one place
to another in the Capitol, on the
grounds, including a very small cir -
cular pond that made it look like this
very lovely monument arising out of
a duck pond.
Once the Naval Academy was
built, it was decided the appropriate
home for the Tripoli monument was
over in Annapolis, and that is where
the monument still is today. But it is
basically our monument. They think
it is theirs. They can have it for right
T H E O V E R B E C K T A P E S
A N O R A L H I S T O R Y O F C A P I T O L H I L L • P A R T I V
In February and March of last year, I had the bittersweet pleasure of taperecording
a series of interviews with one of Capitol Hill’s great treasures,
Ruth Ann Overbeck, as she lay dying of cancer. A meticulous historian with a
passion for historic preservation, she had spent more than 30 years
researching our neighborhood’s past, with intentions of some day writing its
definitive histor y. Our interviews were an attempt to capture some of that
knowledge for posterity.
In the first three installments (see The Voice of the Hill for September,
November and December), Ruth Ann described some of the Hill’s early settlers,
the division and development of land as the new federal city came into
being, and the critical role of the Navy Yard as the fledgling community’s economic
base. Now, in installment four, we continue our discussion of what
happened here during the War of 1812, along with early 19th Century community
development, the neighborhood’s original public market (preceding
Eastern Market), and an early developer’s attempt to build an all-white suburb
in what is now Anacostia.
To honor Ruth Ann and to carry on her work, the CHAMPS Community
Foundation decided last spring to establish the Ruth Ann Overbeck Capitol
Hill History Project. With more than 60 volunteers already signed up, the
project involves tape recording oral history interviews with longtime neighborhood
residents and former residents, building “a permanent, accessible,
ongoing record of the people, places and events that have shaped our community.”
We’re also launching a Ruth Ann Overbeck Lecture Series, starting with a
presentation on “Theodore Roosevelt’s Washington” on Feb. 5 by Capitol Hill
authors Edmund and Sylvia Morris. For reservations and further information,
please e-mail McMahons@his.com or phone (202) 543-4544.
J O H N F R A N Z É N
www.voiceofthehill.com 5
But it does give us a much better
understanding of the mixed nature
of the community, the fact that the
Marine band, when Thomas
Jefferson called over the Italians to
play in it, actually was integrated
with a different type of foreigner,
that we had free blacks who owned
land, free blacks who rented land,
that we had women who owned
their own property, that we had families,
and we had a neighborhood.
We know that between 1804 and
1810 we had a new building for
Christ Church, the oldest chartered
church in the Federal city of the
District of Columbia; not older than
a couple of churches in Georgetown
or out in Rock Creek parish, but in
the Federal city, Christ Church
Episcopal is the oldest chartered
church, chartered in 1790. But it met
in a tobacco barn, owned by
Catholic Mr. Carroll, for years.
Mr. Prout gave them land, gave
them a lot, and said: Okay, if you
will build a church on this lot within
two years, it is your lot for free.
Interestingly enough, what
William Prout did was to draw the
community closer to 8th Street,
because Daniel Carroll’s tobacco
barn had been down close to G and
3rd, and the Christ Church property
that Prout gave was in the 600 block
of G Street, two blocks away from
8th.
You got people coming into that
neighborhood, bringing them more
into a focus on the Navy Yard community,
rather than the community
at the end of South Capitol Street,
running down the hill from the
Capitol.
He then made an offer in 1810 to
the Methodists, and they moved
from the tobacco barn they had
been occupying since when the
Episcopalians left to a site on 5th
Street between E and G—again, a
move closer to 8th. You had the
Market between 6th and 7th and K
and L. That had been set aside as a
reservation very early on, intended
to be a support for that particular
neighborhood. But it was built.
Mr. Prout was very busily selling
or leasing as many of his lots as he
could in that central core. The connector
street that more or less made
an easy way to get from closer to the
Capitol to the Navy Yard at that
point was Virginia Avenue. Along
Virginia Avenue, Mr. Smallwood,
who was a ship builder in the private
sector, a lumber merchant, and one
of the wealthiest men in that end of
town, lived.
Dr. Frederick May, who was an
MD, lived along Virginia Avenue. Dr.
Frederick May was crucial to the
neighborhood, not only for his ministration
to the rest of the population,
but it was he who could sign
the birth certificates and certify that
a child of color had been born free.
Freedom was a condition that came
with the mother. It didn’t make any
difference what your father was. If
your mother was a slave, you were a
slave. So Dr. May had numerous documents
in the deed books saying
that he certified that this child was
born of such and such a mother
whom he knew to be free on such
and such a date of the birth. He was
also very involved with the library.
There was a volunteer fire brigade
located at approximately 8th Street
and L on the far side. You had the
Masonic Order, which had established
itself about 1805, on 7th
Street Southeast.
So, as you can see, as we get more
and more into time, we get this con -
centration of population. And the
streets and the neighborhood, even
though we don’t see that much of it
now because so much demolition
has gone on down there to accom -
modate things like the Ar thur
Capper public housing and the new
Marine barracks that were built in
the 1960s, the concentration of
those houses and shops were in that
neighborhood.
Franzén: A lot of it was wiped out
by the freeway, I suppose.
Overbeck: And then you take the
freeway, which took out most of
Virginia Avenue.
Franzén: Can we go back to something
that you just mentioned that
tickled my interest. You said that
Thomas Jefferson imported Italians
to play in the Marine band?
Overbeck: Oh, yes. Thomas
Jefferson loved music. He was thoroughly
disgusted with the fact that
he could not, as President, have the
kind of music he wanted in
Washington. So he sent off to Italy
and offered to hire [musicians to]
put into uniform, into this prestigious,
august “President’s Own”—
and the President’s Own has been
called the President’s Own ever since
Thomas Jefferson, because it was his
band. It played what he wanted it to
play, it played when he wanted it to
play. It moved to the White House to
do its function there. It’s really a
great story.
Now, we do know that the initial
set of Italians had a lot of problems.
There are some records down at the
National Archives that indicate that
the American band members got so
ticked at them that they kicked
them out and wouldn’t let them live
in the barracks. So these poor
Italians were trying their best—
speaking very little English, probably
—to find housing and so on. And
there are some pathetic words to the
effect that the only place they had
been able to find to sleep was
between the kitchen floor and the
basement of some of the neighbor s
that were around the barracks.
Franzén: Between the kitchen floor
...
Overbeck: And the basement. So
that would have been in the crawl
space. That’s where they slept. They
had no housing. They had been
kicked out by the American Marines!
Franzén:Were they inducted into
the Marine Corps? Did they wear
uniforms and so forth?
Overbeck: They had their uniforms
and they were paid as band
members. How much more than
that, I really don’t know. We can
probably look that up before we go
to finished product, but I don’t
know. There is a whole series of cryptic
notes about these poor men who
were having to survive this way.
However, these people have direct
descendents who persist on the 8th
Street corridor and the Navy Yard
community properties for at least
the next 150 years, until well after
World War II. There were still
Prosperi’s, there were the Rapetti’s.
There were still all these wonderful
people. Many of them left the
Marine band and went on to teach
music or set up shoe cobbling shops
or do other things, because obviously
there are only so many people
who can be in the Marine band.
They believed in having families.
And they had wonderful bakeries.
They were the largest of the mos t
unusual groups of immigrants we
have.
Prior to that on Capitol Hill—and
not necessarily part of the Navy Yard
story, but something we will want to
pick up later—is the fact that we had
two young men brought to Capitol
Hill, whose mothers had been
Indians, as in subcontinent Indian,
and their fathers were English. They
came and they were our most
notable “differents” in terms of our
population. They lived up near the
Capitol. We’ll talk about them later.
We have never been “all one” anything.
As much as some people have
said, well, it’s been an all-white community,
it’s been an all-black community,
it’s been an all-this community,
all-that community—hang it
up! It never really happened.
Certainly in 1804 or 1805 we had the
Italians. And before that we had
everybody else from the British Isles
and all the people of color, shades of
color, from every color of the rainbow,
practically. And then by the
1840s, we began getting this raft of
Germans and Irishmen. They took
up residence along the Navy Yard
corridor and established their bakeries,
their saloons and their shops,
and went right on doing their thing.
There was a Taltaville down there.
Franzén: A what?
Overbeck: Taltaville.
Now, as we watch the out-migration
pattern of some of the population
—there are only so many jobs
available down there, there is only
so much money there. When you
have that kind of situation, the people
move out. The next generation,
the kids, go somewhere else to make
their money.
One of the Taltavilles went downtown
and ended up in a saloon
downtown, helping to run the
saloon, and was there when John
Wilkes Booth came in and did his
dastardly drinking to go kill
President Lincoln.
So, from the beginning of the
Navy Yard you see what an enormous
impact that population had as
it spread, going different places and
doing different, weird and wonderful
things.
Now along in here, as well, you
had your civilians and you had your
military officers and you had your
military men, who actually were not
the people who were building the
ships and building the guns.
One of these was the Spieden family.
He was a purser, and he had a
young wife. She had a mother and
father. They had children. And her
stories from the 1830s reveal some of
how difficult it must have been, even
with this clutch of people nearby.
She rented a house as he was going
off on one of his assignments, and
she talks about what she had to do
to shop for a new rug, and how the
rug was put together in pieces
because that was the cheapest way to
buy it—pieces of rugs, and you
sewed them together to fit the room.
That was a pretty standard operation.
She borrowed a piano from
someone who didn’t need it anymore,
for their children, because she
had children who wanted to learn to
play the piano. Officers didn’t make
much money. She didn’t live on the
post or the base. And she was really
eking out, with all of this extended
family, a way of life.
Now, what I found to be extraordinarily
interesting, in this era of prepublic
transportation and of eking
out, was the fact that people who
went downtown from the Navy Yard
to visit friends in the heart of the
city generally spent the night. There
are several reasons for that. It was
under-populated along the way. Gas
lights were not universal, by any
means, because we didn’t even really
have gas lights back then. We had
just regular street lights, like the “old
lamp lighter” lights, and ...
Franzén: There was no gas system.
Overbeck: Yes. So it would have
been dark. You would have been subject
to whatever the vagaries were of
the street. If you were a woman coming
back by yourself, or even a small
group of people, you could be set
upon, I suppose. You could lose your
way, because not all the streets were
cut all the way through, by any
means.
6 www.voiceofthehill.com
So as best as I can figure out, your
social activities took place in the
daytime at a point in time when you
had either the time and the leisure
to get to the event the night before
and sleep over, or you had time to
get there in the middle of the day
and leave when it was still daylight.
But the 10 o’clock hops remain
popular for at least 20 years. So that
hopping around, doing the wonderful
reels and all of the energetic
dances of that day, occurred not on a
day that we would have been accustomed
to having as a festive day at
all. It wouldn’t have been on
Saturday. And of course, in that
time, for the most part, Sunday was
still church.
Now, there is another factor—the
six-day work week. So if you work a
full day Saturday and you come over
to the Hill on Sunday afternoon,
maybe you get the half day off on
Monday, or three quarters of a day
off on Monday, to do your frivolity.
At any rate, that was the kind of
schedule that you had for these
entertainments. Other entertainments
tended to be going to church
at the Capitol or at one of the local
churches.
Franzén: Did you say at the
Capitol?
Overbeck: They had church services
at the Capitol on Sunday mor n-
Now, this may explain the “10
a.m. hop,” and I think we talked
about this in the last session.
Franzén: We talked about it but we
did not have the recorder going. So
let’s talk about the hop.
Overbeck: All right. People familiar
with the military life know that
rather informal dances are called
hops. And the first time I read an ad
in the National Intelligencer for a 10
a.m. Monday hop at the Marine barracks,
I was very surprised. I assumed
that “hops” were Saturday evening,
less than formal events.
But if you think about Mrs.
Spieden and her concerns about her
friends and so on, who went downtown
and stayed overnight just for a
visit, and you think about the fact
that you would have had on not just
fancier clothes, but you would have
had nice clothes on in the evening,
and you would have been way out
here at 8th and G at the Marine barracks
at a hop or down at the Navy
Yard, but particularly at the Marine
barracks for a hop, and the hop
might have shut down at 11 or 12
o’clock or later in the night after
plenty of festive board and lots of,
we assume, rum and punch, and you
think about getting back down to
the center of the city or all the way
to Georgetown, it takes on a different
perspective.
is 1819, and very little street light
was there—it calls to wonder just
what he was really seeing.
Now, what you have to know is
that the only way to advance was for
the person ahead of you to be kic ked
out, or leave, or die. And there were a
number of men who tried one thing
and another to get the better of their
predecessor, or the person in line
ahead of them. It hasn’t really
hanged much.
A full court-martial was held. And
I think people were just simply tired
of this man, because they did courtmartial
him on the basis of conduct
unbecoming to a gentleman and an
officer, and got rid of him.
As a historian, one of the things I
find to be the most interesting at
this point in time is that the Marines
have been collecting images of every
single commandant, and they have
all but one. And the man whom
they don’t have is that one. One of
our dear generals said: “Fine. Find a
descendant, paint the descendant,
and put the man in the line!”
Which, as a historian, makes my toes
curl. But, at any rate, we had that
kind of behavior.
On the other hand, the Marines
had to attend church every Sunday
morning. They marched formally
from the barracks down G Street to
Christ Church, went up to the mezzanine,
the gallery, got themselves in
and stayed there and behaved and
went to church. Tat little church was
the closest thing we had to a national
church. Until very recently it had,
and may still, a pew reserved for the
President every Sunday morning. It
was the official church of the
Marines and it was just, really, a very
traditional British type of attitude
toward a church.
Now, some of the other rabblerousing
that we had that went on
was much more in the nature of a
street brawl, whether it was the Irish
or the Germans or people who had
too much liquor and so on. We had
our share of people to make sure that
those things didn’t happen too
often.
We even had branding very early
on, on Capitol Hill.
Franzén: Branding?
Overbeck: One man who was
caught stealing had the hand that
had done the stealing branded.
Punishment sort of fit the crime, but
[it was] a little bit distasteful I think
for some of us.
The strangest thing of all was the
debtors’ prison. If you were in debt
you were put in prison. You could be
visited and you could do negotiations
and you could do this, that and
the other, but how in the world they
expected you to work your way out
and get money, other than just trading
off pieces of paper with the people
who came to visit you, is beyond
my comprehension. So the debtors’
ings, in the Capitol building, different
denominations, and they would
announce them in the newspaper.
Franzén: Simply because there
were not enough existing church
structures to accommodate them?
Overbeck: I’m not sure that’s it.
You had Christ Church—which is a
sizable church. And the Methodist
church. By the 1820s Daniel Carroll
had gotten around to building the
first St. Peter’s. You had a
Presbyterian church and a Baptist
church here on the Hill. And you
certainly had plenty of churches
downtown. I think it was rather that
this may have been a situation
where preachers of substantial merit
or of political clout were invited to
come and give their oration [in] the
Capitol. People would go to that.
Another entertainment form for
those who didn’t have to work was
to go and listen to the Capitol in session
itself, but that was a very short
session. For the most part, it began
after fall harvest and ended before
spring planting, because we were an
agrarian country. These men went
home to be with the people they
knew needed to see them during the
crop time and harvest time. And
many of them themselves had their
own farms.
Now, we have some very checkered
histories of behavior on Capitol
Hill. Probably the most bizarre was
the cashiering of the only commandant
of the Marine Corps ever to be
drummed out of the service.
Franzén: Let’s hear about that.
Overbeck: It was 1819, and there
had been marital trouble in the commandant’s
house for several years.
Franzén: This is Commandant
who?
Overbeck: I think it’s Gage. The
commandant’s wife evidently had
left town. Now, there are reputed
houses of ill-repute all over Capitol
Hill. One of the fir st things a cab
driver will tell you when you come
to the Hill—or used to tell you—was
who used to go visit which madam
where. They thought this was something
we all wanted to hear. In the
meantime, we find out enough on
our own, particularly with some of
our congressmen’s behavior.
Anyway, this particular commandant
was supposedly spied in his
night shirt and his night cap, with
his lantern in hand, banging on the
door of the local doxy, wanting in at
two or three o’clock in the morning,
with her retort to him to go home. It
was late, she was tired, and she didn’t
want anything to do with him.
Interestingly enough, this was
reported by a man who lived on G
Street, almost to 11th. If you think
about G Street between 8th and 9th,
which is where the commandant’s
house is, and this is almost to 11th
Street, the person who alleged ha ving
seen them—and remember this
Overbeck Project Launches History Lectures With a
Look at TR’s Washington
On Tuesday evening, Feb. 5, the Ruth
Ann Overbeck Capitol Hill History
Project launches a new Lecture Series
with a presentation on “Theodore
Roosevelt’s Washington” by Capitol
Hill authors Edmund and Sylvia
Morris. The event is free, but seating is
limited and a reservation is required.
Edmund Morris’ new book Theodore Rex has been receiving rave reviews,
as did his first volume of this biography, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.
Edmund’s wife Sylvia is an outstanding author too, best known perhaps
for her 1980 biography of TR’s wife Edith Kermit Roosevelt. Together
they’ll present a picture of our city as it stood a century ago, when the
Roosevelts made their mark here.
The setting for the event will also be a special treat. The Overbeck
Lectures will be held in the Naval Lodge Hall at 330 Pennsylvania Avenue
S.E. This unimposing building at the corner of Fourth and Pennsylvania
contains, on its fourth floor, a wonderfully ornate and well-preserved 1895
Masonic temple in the Egyptian Revival style. Don’t miss this opportunity
to enjoy one of Capitol Hill’s secret architectural treasures.
Again, this lecture is free of charge, but seating is limited and a reservation
is required. Please make your reservation now. For reservations email
info@CapitolHillHistory.org, or phone the CHAMPS Community
Foundatin at 544-1845. Please provide your name, phone number and
email address
Also, please watch for details of subsequent Overbeck Lectures for 2002,
including a presentation on April 9 by Barbara Franco, president of the
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
The lecture series is made possible in part by a generous contribution of
$2,500 from the Kiplinger Foundation. Those who attend will also be
asked to make a donation if they can.
The Overbeck Project is sponsored by the CHAMPS Community
Foundation. Its volunteers collect oral histories and other information for
posterity from longtime residents and former residents of Capitol Hill.
www.voiceofthehill.com 7
prison tended to be—it waxed and
waned, somewhat full and somewhat
empty.
Franzén: Was that prison separate
from the prison where you’d put a
thief?
Overbeck: Yes.
Franzén: And where was that?
Overbeck: It was out here close to
the Congressional Cemetery.
Franzén: At this point in the city’s
history, who was enforcing the law?
Was it enforced by Federal police?
Was there a District of Columbia
police force? Was it the Marines?
Overbeck: By 1804 we had virtually
everything in place we needed for
the city to operate as a city, including
the courts. Up until about 1804,
all of our court proceedings
stemmed from Maryland, because
we really didn’t have an organized
court system locally.
We had aldermen, we had commissioners,
we had overseers of the
poor. We had weights and measures
officers who went around to the
public market to be sure you didn’t
have your thumb on the scale and
that your scale actually was a correct
weighing scale. We had street sweepers.
So we had all of these things in
place by about 1804. So, on paper, it
looked pretty good. It is just what
got done and what didn’t get done
and how much got done and who
was here to get it done and who all
the people were to do it—that was
not always consistent. And that held
true for every ward of the city. For
the most part, the 6th Ward is the
ward that contained the Navy Yard.
We had elections. We had, of
course, no women involved at all in
any of these capacities. But Dr.
Frederick May was an official physician
for the city—physician to the
poor, if need be. And perhaps he also
was one of the persons who certified
who was dead, because there was not
an official mortician or a coroner at
that point.
There is a whole series of the
annual reports of the workings of
the city government. That doesn’t
mean that all of them got recorded.
It just means that those were the
ones that they felt were significant
enough to be recorded. So, we actually
operated as a city.
Now, as time goes on, this little
crescent that goes from 3rd, between
3rd and 4th and Pennsylvania
Avenue up to 14th, begins to fill up
more, and in its filling up it begins
to move northward. There are still
plenty of blank spaces, but there was
only so much room down by the
Navy Yard itself, and only so much
room right there at the Marines
itself.
So, by the 1840s you began to have
construction in a fairly serious way
up in the blocks between G and E
and then on up into E and D. Those
had been much less intensely developed
early on, except close to the
Navy Yard.
Franzén: And during this time, 8th
Street itself was the main commer -
cial corridor?
Overbeck: It was still the main
commercial corridor. You have to
give consideration, however, to the
fact that the Market was over
between 6th and 7th and K and L.
There was a strip of commercially
used properties on the east side of
7th that probably pertained mostly
to the kinds of activities that were
going on in the Market. But we do
know that they were being used
commercially.
Franzén: And can we assume that
market looked something like
Eastern Market?
Overbeck: No.
Franzén: What did it look like?
Overbeck: We’re not sure. The
market floor plan is basically Ushaped
with one leg of the U being
longer than the other. We know
there was a rehabilitation and extension
of the extension of the market
in 1823.
Franzén: It was first established
when?
Overbeck: In 1805.
Franzén: And then extended in
1823.
Overbeck: We do not know if this
initial effort at the market was exactly
the same as the initial effort at the
Center Market downtown, which
was simply a covered shed where
people could drive up and trade
under a shed or near a shed. More
will be forthcoming in the archeology
digs that are associated with it at
this point. We do know, to our utter
amazement, that there was a beautiful
brick floor under one of the U
legs of the market, because we found
it in December 1999. Beautiful brick,
handsomely laid, extensive, not too
wide. Probably no more than, perhaps,
10 or 12 feet wide. Certainly as
long as 30 feet. And it was built at
grade.
Franzén: Not very big.
Overbeck: No, no, wouldn’t need
to be. You didn’t have that many
people. It followed the grade, not
built up on any kind of platform. It
simply sloped as the land sloped
down on the Marine [?] ter race,
which is what it was built on—the
first of the Marine ter races that
comes back out of the Anacostia
River above water. We know that
market was active until at least the
middle of the Civil War and probably
afterward. We know that people
who had stalls there reflected the
same mixed population of the Navy
Yard community. And the reason we
know that is that there’s a tax book,
and we even have records of some of
the African-Americans having stalls
in the market sufficient that they
paid taxes.
8 www.voiceofthehill.com
How many—maybe five sheep, I
don’t know. It depended on what
they thought were going to be the
number of people who would buy, or
who had ordered, perhaps, meat for
a given day.
Franzén: They would have been
slaughtered at the market, in that
area?
Overbeck: They could have been.
We’re not really sure about that. We
know that there were some slaughter
butchers just across the bridge. They
would not have been within the confines
of Union Town that we talked
about, but they could have been
fresh killed, fresh dressed, and then
brought on over. It was a lot easier to
get them to walk there than it was to
have enough carts to bring carcasses.
Now, the Navy Yard persisted as a
working Navy Yard, and it changed
functions over time very g radually.
As shipbuilding became more
sophisticated, as steam ships came
in, as drafts required for boats
became deeper, the Anacostia
became less and less suited. And so
the function of the Navy Yard began
to change. This starts in the 1840s,
because you have steam ships coming
up and down the Anacostia
River. The sparks out of one of whose
smokestacks even quite literally set
fire to one of the bridges and burned
it down. For about the next hundred
years, there were snags of it still in
the water to the point where it was
labeled on the navigation maps as
“The Old Burnt Bridge.”
So life begins to change. And as
life begins to change, the skills that
are needed at the Navy Yard also
begin to change. They are more
machinist in orientation. And we
also get a wonderful man named
Dalgren [Dahlgren?], who was a
champion designer of armaments,
particularly of ones that were little
mines and really sophisticated bottleneck-
types of cannon that could
be moved around and rolled around
on ship deck. Dalgren began to make
big waves there.
This is before the Civil War, and
not long before the Civil War. So,
the function by the Civil War was
already changing to one of arma -
So you have a very diverse, long,
continuous history of this mixed
population. Butchers—lots of them.
People must have eaten an enormous
amount of meat. Bakers—not
many. Dry goods merchants would
have had things like lentils, peas,
wheat and corn, dried corn, that sort
of thing. Now, by that point, the
United States had not yet begun to
use canned goods. So we would have
not found anything in the nature of
cash and carry, where you dash in
and pick up one can of peas to finish
out dinner. You would be doing serious
marketing.
One of the things we do know is
that there were several contests, as it
were, political action efforts in the
newspapers, to try to differentiate
between market days for different
markets. Because it was felt that by
having the same market day for
Center Market, for the market that
was up on East Capitol Street right in
front of the Capitol, and for the market
down at the Navy Yard, was
counterproductive because people
didn’t go from market to market. In a
way that makes no sense at all
because people weren’t going to walk
from the Navy Yard to Center Market
to go shopping.
Now, if what they were talking
about was who was coming to supply,
who the vendors were, that is a
different issue. But that is really
never the main issue in any of the
articles. The main issue is: Who is
there shopping on what days?
Franzén: So that market would
have been open how many days a
week?
Overbeck: Usually it seems, just in
general, judging from different
sources, that they were open at leas t
three to five days a week, and probably
more in the three-days-a-week
range.
In the first place, you had to
depend on your vendor to come in
f rom the country, and that usually
meant coming, fairly ard u o u s ly, fro m
a c ross the ri ve r. We know that people
d rove their herds down what is now
M a rtin Luther King Avenue from as
far away as Oxen Hill, across that little
low bridge and bring them ove r.
Well, they got fooled. They didn’t.
We know that property now as the
historic district of Anacostia. Its
name, when it was platted, and the
name that persisted for years was
Union Town.
And with that, we set a tone for
the beginning of the end of the antebellum
era on Capitol Hill, and the
Navy Yard in particular, and the
beginning for the Civil War to start
in 1860.
Perhaps one of the most interesting
aspects of the whole concept of
Union Town is the fact that, following
the Civil War, even with the hostilities
and the acrimony and the
emancipation, there still were not
enough people of middle-class white
background, non-Irish, who wanted
to buy in Union Town. And the
biggest house in Union Town, the
one that Van Hook had designed for
himself, ended up being bought by
an ex-slave, famous orator, our first
African-American appointee to a foreign
post, Frederick Douglass. It is
now a national landmark as
Frederick Douglass’ last home.
Franzén: And explain just a little
more about why they weren’t able to
fill it. Was it that there just wasn’t
enough demand for that many workers,
with those skills, coming in from
the North?
Overbeck: I’m not really sure. We
haven’t done a demographic survey
of the 1850 and 1860 censuses to see
what the ratio was of nativity or
state of origin for the people who
were working at the Navy Yard and
who were in positions that earned
them sufficient money to buy over
there. There certainly would have
been a captive audience for that par -
ticular enclave. It would have been
what would be considered the Navy
Yard community, because the only
bridge over there was the low bridge
at that point.
The population source was very
widely defined. It was still basically a
non-public transportation community,
or even a non-public transportation
city. That meant either
you had to have your own horse,
your own carriage, or your own
shanks mare—be willing to walk
across the bridge in bad weather. If it
was drawn for a ship to go through,
you had to wait.
Franzén: It was a drawbridge?
Overbeck: Yes, it did have a way to
get through for ships that were going
on up to Bladensburg. So my hunch
is that they simply didn’t do a good
job of scouting their market.
Franzén: Did Van Hook lose his
shirt on this deal?
Overbeck: Yes. Hallelujah.
Franzén: That’s a good note on
which to end, and we’ll pick up next
time with the Civil War.
END OF TA PE #4
ments and mines, little floating
mines, rather than focusing so much
on ships. With this, you have a different
kind of people working. You
have people who can read drafts -
man’s drawings. You have people
who can make draftsman’s drawing.
Very precise, machinery-oriented,
detailed technology. This is not
something your average African-
American who was undereducated
was going to be able to follow or to
use. So their mobility becomes very
limited in terms of being able to
move up in the job and so forth.
At the same time we get some people
from the north down here. A
man named Van Hook, among others.
They had been in Baltimore.
Now, segregation by space is not a
Southern tradition, particularly. In
the north, however, segregation by
space had been in place since at least
the 1820s, where there were very
specific areas into which blacks
could move.
Franzén: And places where they
could not.
Overbeck: Precisely. Now, to
appeal to these people who were
involved in the newly emerging
technology of the Navy Yard, the
refocusing of the Navy Yard on the
more technical aspects of armaments,
Van Hook and his buddies
decided to set up a suburb. It was the
first of the suburbs of the District of
Columbia, and it was by restricted
covenant.
Van Hook and his buddies decided
the suburb would be positioned to
appeal to those people whom they
felt would be most likely to purchase,
and that would be the emerging
elite draftsmen, craftsmen,
machinists at the Navy Yard.
This is the 1850s. And the land
they chose is right across the long
bridge on the other side of the
Anacostia River from the Navy Yard,
so it would simply be a walk across
the bridge.
Franzén: This bridge [reached] this
side of the river at what street?
Overbeck: Eleventh. Now, this was
a suburb controlled by restrictive
covenant. The restrictive covenant
said, among other things, that there
would be no land purchased or lived
in by a person of color, there would
be no land lived in or purchased by a
person of Irish descent, that one
could not make soap.
Franzén: Soap?
Overbeck: Noxious. Think about
how you made soap. And there were
a few other things. But lumped in
with soap and people of color and
Irish was your main focus about the
fact this was going to be a controlled,
orderly, all white, all middleclass
community. And they assumed
that they would sell out very quickly
because of the population at the
Navy Yard.
By 1804 we had virtually everything in place we needed for the city to
operate as a city, including the courts.…We had aldermen, we had
commissioners, we had overseers of the poor. We had weights and
measures officers who went around to the public market to be sure you
didn’t have your thumb on the scale and that your scale actually was a
correct weighing scale. We had street sweepers.
www.voiceofthehill.com 9
IF POPULAR WISDOM SAYS
that Washington is guilty of being a
transient city, with all its residents
hailing from somewhere else, then
Capitol Hill has to be the wor st
offender.
With almost every election, it
seems, the moving vans come and
go, and scores of countless new Hill
denizens start exploring Eastern
Market, romping in Lincoln Park,
and strolling around the streets on
Sunday mornings. Folks seem to
have less history in DC than the
newly-opened Starbucks on
Pennsylvania Avenue.
In at least one case, however, popular
wisdom is most decidedly
wrong. With 31 years of living and
working on Capitol Hill under their
belts, Gary and Mary Ellen (M’El)
Abrecht are the exception that
proves the rule—a shining example
of what commitment to one’s community
can mean.
Mary Ellen’s Capitol Hill story
begins, in fact, several generations
ago. Long before she and Gary
moved to the area, her family was
already living on East Capitol Street.
The gracious and generously-sized
house currently under renovation at
8th and East Capitol Streets is Mary
Ellen’s “ancestral home,” as Gary
refers to it, and the Abrechts live
practically in its shadow in a beautiful
row house that used to belong to
her great aunt.
“My story of having these kinds of
roots is unique,” said Mary Ellen.
“But it would be the norm in
Philadelphia or Baltimore.”
Of course, their generations-old
family history isn’t the only thing
that makes the Abrecht family
unique or reveals the depth of their
connection to Capitol Hill. Gary
and Mary Ellen have been deeply
entrenched in the community—
both through their careers and their
after-work commitments—for
decades.
Gary is perhaps best known in the
community for having helped keep
it safe and sound for years. In May of
2000, he retired after eight years as
Chief of the U.S. Capitol Police.
“Chief Abrecht was here during a
period of development for the U.S.
Capitol Police,” said Lieutenant Dan
Nichols, Public Information Officer
for the department, “and he managed
that. He brought us forward a
lot during that time.”
Abrecht’s stint as Chief included
an event that shocked the country
and—long before the events of
September 11—made us all aware
that the symbols of democracy were
always potential targets. The shooting
of Officer Jacob Chestnut and
Special Agent John Gibson in July
1998 by Russell Eugene Weston
“marked my time at the Capitol,”
said Gary.
“He will always be remembered for
the compassionate manner with
which he responded to that situation,”
said Nichols, “and for holding
the department together at a time
when it was difficult for everyone.”
If hindsight has taught him anything
about the experience, it ’s
“how incredibly important it is to
have good people work for you,”
Gary said, and “how long it takes
people to heal. A year later [after the
shooting] there was still trouble I
didn’t expect. They were still healing
when I left.”
Prior to setting up camp at the
Capitol, he served as Deputy Chief
of the Metropolitan Police
Department, where he was responsible
for the 1st District, which
includes Capitol Hill. Along with
several other colleagues, Gary was
instrumental in helping to connect
the officers of the Metropolitan
Police Department with the communities
in which they worked.
“We devised a very early precursor
to the Police Service Area prog ram,”
said Gary. “The idea was to try to get
the officers to take responsibility for
an area.” Given the fact that community
policing has since become
the standard in many urban police
departments across the country, it’s
safe to say his idea was an unqualified
success. Of course, Gary didn’t
stop there; he brought the same
awareness of community along with
him when he left the Metropolitan
Police Department for the U.S.
Capitol Police.
“More than anything else, Chief
Abrecht showed that we had to be
good neighbors— that the U.S.
Capitol Police was part of the larger
Capitol Hill community,” said
Nichols. “His sensitivity stemmed
from the fact that he was a Capitol
Hill resident.”
Abrecht’s retirement has left him
with time to take on a number of
challenges. He’s a non-singing member
of the Capitol Hill Chorale
Board. He’s also a member of the
board of the Capitol Hill Area
Merchants and Professionals
(CHAMPS) Foundation—an organization
that gave him its Community
Achievement Award in 1992. To top
it all off, he is a regular docent at the
Library of Congress, where he
spends one day each week giving
tours to visitors.
“It keeps me mentally active,”
Gary said.
C o m m u n i t y
C o m m i t m e n t
After Over 30 Years On the Hill, Gary and Mary Ellen Abrecht
Continue to Enhance Their Neighborhood
BY GWYDION SUILEBHAN
Gary and M’El Abrecht in front of Christ Church, where they are active members.
10 www.voiceofthehill.com
and injustice, Gary and Mary Ellen
both devote a great deal of time to
their other great calling: Christ
Church, Washington Parish.
They’ve been members ever since
they came to Capitol Hill, having
chosen the church because Mary
Ellen’s great-aunt recommended it
so highly.
“When her husband died, she
decided to make a fresh sta rt socially,”
said Mary Ellen. “People on Capi
tol Hill told her people had more
fun [at Chri st Church]. It re a l ly is a
ve ry sociable place where you get to
k n ow your Capitol Hill neighbors .”
The Abrechts have discovered the
same thing for themselves firsthand:
“It’s our primary social circle, ”
said Gary. They’ve helped to make
sure that new members feel as much
at home as they themselves did
three decades ago. When Chief
Judge King started attending Christ
Church, he recalls, “they really
helped make sure that the welcome
wagon was rolled out.”
Both Gary and Mary Ellen have
taken active roles in the church in
other ways, too. Mary Ellen has
served two terms as Senior Warden
and is currently an alto in the
church choir. Gary has served four
terms as Senior Warden and is also a
liturgist.
M a ry Ellen has also made a care e r
of helping to uphold the law. A Judge
w i th the Superior Court of th e
D i st rict of Columbia, she has sat on
the bench for two ye a rs in civil court ,
f i ve ye a rs in family court, and fo u r
ye a rs in criminal court. She is set to
be ret u rning to civil court in January
2002. Befo re joining the Superi o r
C o u rt, she served both as a law ye r
w i th the U.S. Atto rn ey’s Office fo r
the Dist rict of Columbia and. like her
husband, a police officer.
“She’s always been a hard worker
—consistent, fair, and sensible,”
said Rufus King, Chief Judge of the
Superior Court, who includes Mary
Ellen on “the short list of people [he]
would talk to” about a legal matter
of importance.
When they aren’t fighting crime
Capitol Hill, Gary said, “is that… it’s
become more of a neighborhood.
What a wonderful neighborhood of
people.”
The Abrechts clearly have a
tremendous love of the Hill.
“Small towns aren’t really what
people romanticize them to be,” said
Mary Ellen. “Capitol Hill is. Her e
you can sit on your stoop. Every
Saturday, if we’re in town, we’re
strolling Eastern Market. And there’s
always somebody who throws a
block party.”
Naturally, two people with such a
long history and commitment to
their community have opinions
about what they’d like to see from it,
now and in the future. Mary Ellen
wants to make sure that a good thing
doesn’t go wrong somehow. “I’d like
to make sure,” she said, “that we preserve
the exciting things—the smalltown
nature of the Capitol Hill experience.”
Gary would like for the Hill to
develop a retirement community.
“It’s not well-adapted as a place for
people to retire,” he said.
On the subject of Capitol Hill’s
struggle with the controversial Boys
Town development project on
Pennsylvania Avenue, the sage veterans
of public life and private charity
are somewhat torn.
“I have a mixed view,” said Mary
Ellen, who has years of experience
hearing cases involving troubled
teens. “From an institutional point
of view, knowing how many neglected
youth we have, the city and
indeed this neighborhood needs
more, rather than less, Boys Towntype
facilities. On the other hand,
Boys Town appears to have been a PR
disaster from day one.”
Gary echoed his wife’s sentiments
about the fact that Boys Town officials
haven’t spent much time working
with Capitol Hill residents. “I did
my share of going to community
meetings and dodging the tomatoes,”
he said. He believes that Boys
Town should probably have done
the same.
No matter what changes Capitol
Hill’s future includes, however, its
transient nature isn’t likely to root
the Abrechts out. “There is no o ther
neighborhood,” Gary said, “that
[we] would rather live in.”
The Hill, for its part, is lucky they
feel that way. “They are truly good
neighbors and friends to all in our
great neighborhood,” said Rector
Davis. “They have lived faithfully in
this community through thick and
thin, through joy and sorrow,
through war and peace. It is always
a joy to see them on the Hill.”
Gwydion Suilebhan is a freelance writer
and instructional designer who lives
and works on Capitol Hill. This is his
first contribution to The Voice of the
Hill.
“They are every minister’s ideal
parishioners,” said the Rev. Dr.
Judith Davis, Rector of Christ
Church. “Both Gary and Mary Ellen
have keen problem-solving minds
and have often been such assets in
working out the life of parish proj -
ects and problems. They’re always at
church for worship, funerals, weddings,
potluck dinners, parish cleanup
days, choir, liturgy planning,
business meetings and all. Both of
them have been the pillars of Christ
church that have made my serving
as their rector for the past five years a
joy.”
In addition to his work, Gary is
currently filling the role of Junior
Warden, which makes him responsible
for ensuring that the church
building is in good repair. Mary
Ellen believes he was chosen for the
role primarily because his daughter
Karen was about to be married in the
church.
“They knew that Gary would
make sure the building was fixed
before the wedding,” said Mary
Ellen.
Karen, 23, a history teacher and
“frustrated journalist,” according to
her mother, lives in Chelsea, Mass.,
but held her wedding in her family
church (the reception was celebrated
at Union Station). The Abrechts’
other daughter, Rachel, 19, is a sophomore
at Columbia University,
where she is studying engineering.
Gary and Mary Ellen believe that
growing up on Capitol Hill was of
great benefit to their children.
“[They] considered it an asset,”
said Mary Ellen. “Just at the time
when kids want their independence,
kids on the Hill can have it,” thanks
to the close proximity of the Metro
and Union Station, she pointed out.
In addition, although there weren’t
as many other young people around
as there might have been in the suburbs,
they always had “instant playmates
at Lincoln Park,” said Gary.
Of course, the Abrechts have lived
in Capitol Hill long enough to
remember when their 8th Street area
wasn’t nearly as nice as it is now.
They first moved into their house, in
fact, when Mary Ellen’s family asked
them, as a favor, to protect it, the
home having just previously been
vacated by her great-aunt. Their relatives
“were concerned about an
unoccupied house on the Hill,” she
said.
“The tourist books at the time
were saying ‘Never venture west of
7th Street’,” said Mary Ellen. “Practically
every night we heard sirens.”
Naturally, things have changed
quite a bit in the last 30 years—not
merely in Capitol Hill, but on their
small stretch of 8th Street. The elab -
orate restoration project underway
at Mary Ellen’s “ancestral home” is
proof enough of the difference.
“What’s really happened” to
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www.voiceofthehill.com 11
THEY HAVE BEEN A PART
OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD
SINCE BEFORE
THERE WAS A NEIGHBORHOOD.
Since the
first Marines pitched their tents at
8th and I streets in 1801, Marines
have walked the streets of Capitol
Hill. Some, like John Philip Sousa,
spent a significant part of their
lives here and are memorialized
and remembered forever; some, like
Senator Chuck Robb, actor George
C. Scott, and comedian Jonathan
Winters, left the Marines to go on
to fame; others just briefly passed
through on their way to obscurity.
But what they all had in common,
other than being Marines, is that at
one time they all called Capitol Hill
their home.
Through the years, the Marine
barracks and those stationed there
have stood as a symbol of the
Marine Corps and protectors of the
city. While much of the city was
burned during the War of 1812, the
Barracks survived. It was 8th and I
Street Marines who captured John
Brown at Harper’s Ferry in 1859. In
1861, it was these same Marines
who protected the Navy Yard from
Confederate sympathizers and also
reinforced Union Army troops at
Fort Washington on the Potomac.
A hundred years later, it was 8th
and I Street Marines who protected
the Capitol during the riots that
followed the assassination of
Martin Luther King.
The oldest post in the Corps, the
barracks is the home of the United
States Marine Band, known as “The
President’s Own,” the United States
Marine Drum and Bugle Corps,
known as the “Commandant’s
Own,” and the Marine Corps Silent
Drill Platoon, as well as the
Commandant of the Marines. The
majority of the functions performed
by the Marines at 8th and I
are ceremonial. The most widelyknown
function of the barracks to
Hill residents is the Friday Evening
Parade that draws hundreds of
spectators each Friday night from
May through August. In addition to
the parades, the bar racks handles
more than 1,500 ceremonies a year,
ranging from full-honors arrivals at
the White House to four-man Color
Guard appearances.
It is because of these duties that
the Marines (mostly men) stationed
at 8th and I are so carefully
chosen. It is not by chance that
they all seem to look alike. They are
chosen for looks, size, strength and
background. Due to the number of
White House functions, all of the
Marines chosen for ceremonial
duties must have a spotless background.
Likewise, the musicians
must all audition prior to enlistment.
Don’t for a minute think that
these Marines are not combat
ready. They all receive the same
basic training that every Marine
receives. During the Persian Gulf
war, Marines from 8th and I were
deployed to Saudi Arabia in
Operation Desert Storm. They
returned to the barracks with just
one month to prepare for the
parade season and never missed a
beat.
For the majority of the more
1,000 Marines stationed at the barracks,
it is their first posting in the
military outside of basic training
and the first time away from home.
Many of the young Marines spend
just two years here, and then they
are gone. Some, however, are here
longer, and some even make
Capitol Hill their permanent
home.
Two of those Marines who call
the Hill their home are Chief
Warrant Officer Brian Dix, director
of the Drum and Bugle Corp, and
retired General Richard Neal, the
former Assistant Commandant of
the United States Marine Corps.
Both share a love of Country, a love
of the Corps, and a love of Capitol
Hill.
Dix has lived on the Hill since he
was first stationed at the barracks
in 1989. At first he, like all of the
new Marines who are stationed at
the barracks, lived in the bachelor’s
enlisted quarters (BEQ). The towers,
as they are referred to, sit on I Street
next to the freeway. Then, like
many of the Marines, he moved
into a group house with other
Marines here on the Hill. Last year
Dix bought a house.
“It was time for me to plant my
feet firmly on Capitol Hill,” Dix
says. “I wanted to establish myself
as a Hill resident.” Dix, who truly
treasures the history of the neighborhood
as much as he does the
history of the Marines, bought a
house just a few blocks from the
Congressional Cemetery where
Sousa, the 17th Director of the
Marine Band is buried. “I wave to
him every day as I walk to work,”
Dix says.
Dix has another connection to
the Hill. His sister and her husband
live here. Dix’s brother-in-law is
School Board Member Tommy
Wells. “It’s great having Brian as a
brother,” says Wells. “Whenever
my wife needed help moving
before we got married, Brian would
show up with a truckload of
Marines—but the best thing is the
seats he gets us for the Friday night
parades. Because of his rank he can
get us good seat with backs as
opposed to the bleacher seats.” Dix
gets his quid pro quo. “Tommy has
better tools than I do, so anytime I
need something I just borrow it
from him,” he says.
Dix talks with g reat pride about
the things that make the barracks
special. “We are the only post
where all the calls of the day are
played by a live bugler—whether it
be the raising of the colors or chow
call,” Dix says. “So there is a lot of
music here, and that is a wonderful
thing.”
Unlike Dix, General Neal didn’t
find himself on the Hill until the
end of his 35 years as a Marine.
“My wife and I grew to like the Hill
while we were stationed here my
last two years in the Corps,” Neal
says. When Neal retired from the
Marines in 1998, he and his wife of
33 years bought a house on 4th
Street. “It was the first time in 33
years that my wife got to vote on
where we would live,” Neal says.
“I’m glad she prevailed; we’ve really
grown to embrace the neighborhood.”
Like most people on the Hill,
both Dix and Neal find themselves
standing in line at Frager’s on the
weekends or strolling through
Eastern Market. But why don’t we
see more of the Marines interacting
The Marines:
A Consta n t
Neighbor at
8 th and I
Wi th a Rich Histo ry,
the Marine Corp s
Continues to Serve ,
P rotect, and Make
C a p i tol Hill Its Home
BY MARK SEGRAV E S
12 www.voiceofthehill.com
private parties • celebrations • special events
2 Quail 2 Quail
with the community?
The answer is that most of the
Marines don’t have a lot of free
time. They are lucky to have one
day off a week. And many of them
don’t live on the Hill. Once they
are able to move out of the BEQ,
they move to the suburbs where
the rent is less (new recruits take
home about $980 a month). The
military does subsidize housing for
some Marines, but not enough for
the pricey neighborhood that surrounds
the Barracks.
“We could never have afforded
our house on a military salary,”
says Neal, who now works as a consultant
and military analyst. For
General Neal and his wife, the Hill
offers the pleasures of small-town
life and the comforts of a big city.
“We enjoy going to church on
Saturday evening and then wandering
over to 8th Street so my wife
can get her favorite meal,” Neal
says. “And the proximity to airports
is great since I travel so much.”
For many of the Marines, living
in a big city is new to them. “It
takes a while for them to learn their
way around,” says Dix, “but there is
so much for them to see here. I
encourage them to get out and see
the city, see the view from the Old
Post Office clock tower, and to get
involved in the community.”
And many of the Marines do get
involved. Some are involved in Big
Brothers; some tutor school kids or
teach music. There is a story that
gets around about one Marine who
keeps an open account at the 7-11
on 8th Street so that homeless peo -
ple can go in for something to eat.
In a neighborhood that is rich
with history and tradition, the
Marine Barracks is a perfect fit.
“The barracks is the oldest post,
and there is a lot of his tory and tradition
there,” says Neal. “We take
that very seriously; the bar racks is a
showpiece—it’s the part of the
Marines the public gets to see.”
Part of that history and tradition
that the public doesn’t see is the
wreath-laying ceremony each year
The view of the Eighth and I
Barracks looking north from I
Street, SE.
www.voiceofthehill.com 13
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Stylists
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at Congressional Cemetery. Several
of the past Commandants are
buried at the his toric cemetery, and
each year, the Marines have a private
wreath-laying ceremony to
honor them. The most popular bit
of history that the public does get
to view, however, is the Friday
evening parade. The parades date
back to 1957, but didn’t become the
popular event they are today until
President John Kennedy attended
one. Now one needs to make reservations
months in advance to view
one these spectacular events.
The most recent evidence of the
Marines’ dedication to history and
outreach to the community came
just recently, when the Marines
unearthed the floor of the original
Eastern Market at the site of their
new barracks annex being built
near the freeway. The Marines have
(at their own expense) allowed historians
to come in and study the
findings and have even invited the
community to come view the historic
findings.
“The new barracks by the freeway
is a great example of the City
reaching out to the Marines,” says
Neal. “The D.C. Housing Authority
and elected leaders worked hard
with us to make that happen.” The
annex will house more than 350
Marines once it is completed, and
will serve as a rehearsal area for the
bands and a recreational field that
will be available for use by the community.
Since Sept. 11, the Marines may
have become more visible to those
who live here on the Hill. “It ’s
important to the American public
that we are here,” says Dix. “I hope
we bring a cer tain level of comfort
to the neighbors by being here.”
Neal looks at the situation the
City is in now with disappointment.
“I’m disappointed for the
tourists who do come to the City
and find some things off limits,” he
says. “And I’m concerned about
those who don’t come.” Neal also
advocates a stronger voice for D.C.
residents in the decisions being
made. “With all the City provides
the Federal government,” he says,
“we deserve a voice.”
Whatever the future holds for
the city, the one thing that is certain
is that the Marines will continue
to be an intricate part of the fabric
of our neighborhood— and that
every day, rain or shine, when the
flag is raised and lowered at 8th
and I—a Marine will be there,
bugle in hand.
Mark Segraves is both reporter and
advertising director for The Voice of
the Hill.
Warrant Officer Brian J. Dix, Music
Director of “The Commandant’s Own,”
The U.S. Marine Drum and Bugle Corps
14 www.voiceofthehill.com
embassy was actually co-sponsoring
the concert as part of International
Education Week.
Early on Nov. 12, Jeffery boarded a
plane at BWI and was off to
Honduras. When he changed planes
in Miami, he noted, “All the televisions
were off in the airport—and I
overheard someone on a cell phone
saying, ‘Oh God, not again.’ I decided
I didn’t want to know, so I just
headed for the gate and boarded the
plane.”
What had happened that morning
was the American Airlines crash at
Rockaway, just outside New York
City. Unaware of the exact nature of
the tragedy, Jeffery was understandably
flustered, but after an uneventful
flight, he landed in Tegucigalpa.
“There is almost no level land in the
city, so they shaved off the top of a
mountain for the airstrip,” he
recalled. “The plane banks until the
very last moment before touchdown;
drops, and screeches to a halt—on a
very short runway!”
He was met by Sergio and Jimena,
the administrative director of the
orchestra. Jimena and Jeffery’s paths
had actually crossed before—she, a
composer, had studied at UMD and
Catholic University.
Once in Teguc, Jeffery was able to
see first hand a number of aspects of
this Third World country. “Traffic
was horrible,” he recalled. In addition
to the sweltering heat, a sense
of unrest also hangs over the nation.
A jaunt through the market could be
deadly—although he never found
his way there, Jeffery headed to the
open-air market, where, unknown to
him, someone had been stabbed
only the day before.
Jeffery wasted no time in working
with the orchestra. Shortly after his
arrival, he joined with 60 other
musicians jammed into a third-floor
walkup room “that really should
When one thinks of
Gershwin, several
thoughts may come to
mind: among these
may be visions of a jazz
singer belting out “The
Man I Love”; a New
York City street alive with theatergoers;
an evening in a trendy supper
club. One rarely has an instant
image of, let’s say, Honduras.
And neither did Jeffery Watson,
director of the Capitol Hill Arts
Workshop (CHAW). However, after
his experiences of the recent past,
it’s a safe bet that when he listens to
“Rhapsody in Blue,” Honduras will
be one of the first things that comes
to mind.
In mid-November, Jeffery left the
Hill and traveled to Tegucigalpa,
Honduras, to play that classic
Gershwin piece with the Honduran
National Symphony. Jeffery joined
with Sergio Buslje, who had been
there since June on a Fulbright
scholarship, conducting the orchestra
and assisting in the development
of its program. Before he even set
foot on a plane to Teguc (the local
name for the city), Jeffery was struck
by the sheer oddness of the opportunity.
“Playing Gershwin with an
Argentine conductor in Honduras? I
never thought that would happen,”
he laughs. Sergio, who teaches piano
at CHAW, and Jeffery had collaborat -
ed in concert before, when Jeffery
was hired to perform a piece by
Piazzola, an Argentine composer,
with the Pan American Symphony
Orchestra, which Sergio conducts.
Soon, Jeffery found himself preparing
to join Sergio, after the conductor
agreed he should help out the
Honduran orchestra in a piece that
practically none of those musicians
had ever heard before—“Rhapsody
in Blue.” Thanks to the American
Embassy, Jeffery’s arrangements
were made relatively quickly. The
Another unusual experience was a
piano lesson that Jeffery gave to the
orchestra’s pianist. “He wanted to
work on Chopin Ballade In G Minor—
one of my favorite pieces,” he said.
“He spoke almost no English and I
even less Spanish. But we managed
through the language of the music.”
That language helped the orchestra,
and its American visitors, make
beautiful sounds together. “Finding
the common language” in
“Rhapsody in Blue”—written by
Gershwin in order to prove that jazz
could be an “acceptable” genre—was
the common bond among these
musicians from very different backgrounds
and circumstances, Jeffery
noted.
“Two-thirds of the orchestra is
under the age of 30,” Jeffery
explains. “There is no higher education
in music, so to speak. The musicians
are educated through the
National Conservatory, roughly the
equivalent of our high schools.”
Once the rehearsals got into full
swing, Jeffery discovered that the
orchestra was beginning to swing, as
well. At the afternoon rehearsal the
day before the concert, Jeffery wrote
in his journal of the trip, “It’s sounding
pretty good—they are playing
like true jazz musicians.” This is no
small feat, since the majority of the
orchestra (as is the case with the
majority of Hondurans) are for the
most part unaware of many of the
elements of what we consider to be
jazz, a uniquely American art form.
Part of Sergio’s goal is to help
expand the repertoire of the
Honduran National Symphony,
which concentrates mainly on works
by Latin American composers.
“The music there is limited,”
Sergio admits. “They have 40 or 50
pieces of music in their librar y. I
brought music along with me
because there is no other place to
buy or rent music in the city. The
closest place to do that is Miami.”
The November trip was actually
Sergio’s fourth opportunity to conduct
in Honduras. In the past, Sergio
led the musicians through works by
Copland, Bernstein and Gershwin.
In preparing them for performance,
he found a number of challenges.
“The hardest thing was explaining to
a Latin American orchestra how to
swing,” he recalls. “On the other
hand, I prefer that orchestra when
we play Latin American works—you
don’t have to explain to them the
rhythms or the syncopations.” In
traditional tango works, Sergio
points out, “Nothing is written
down—you just know what to do.”
As a modern city built on top of a
Colonial city, Teguc was not a
“planned” urban area. “The orchestra
is lucky that they have that
[walkup] building to rehearse in,”
Sergio said. “It only fits the orcheshave
been for 30 people” to rehearse.
Jeffery and Sergio were joined by
Betsy Reveal, a clarinetist, also from
D.C., who joined in Gershwin’s
Teguc debut.
The orchestra in Honduras itself
was established only 10 years ago,
Jeffery points out. Nearly all the
instruments used were donated to
the Hondurans by the Japanese government,
as part of its commitment
to assisting developing nations.
The hall where the concert was
played—-Teatro Nacional Manuel
Bonilla—was a beautiful Colonial
building, ornately decorated with
chandeliers and well-kept. The piano
was a Yamaha concert grand (also
donated by Japan), which is only
played twice, maybe three times, a
year. Therein lay the unusual part of
the performance preparations.
“The day before the concert we
had some time to practice in the
hall,” Jeffery recalls. A technician
who builds violins in Honduras also
tunes pianos, and he dropped by to
prepare the grand for its performance.
Once he began the process of
tuning the piano, he discovered that
moths had laid sacks of eggs under
the keys, and mice had chewed on
the felts and left droppings inside
the piano. The technician removed
the entire keyboard and worked to
clean and tune the instrument.
During his limited “off-time,”
Jeffery experienced the city, discovering
that, in its promotion of the
concert, the embassy had capitalized
on the “American connection.”
Posters publicizing the event were
emblazoned with the Statue of
Liberty—and featured Jeffery’s
name. Seeing that poster in the local
Burger King was a bit “sur real” to
Jeffery, he admitted.
R h a p s o d yin Te g u c
Hill Musician, Conductor Bring
Gershwin to Honduras
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER
“Jazz is the result of the
e n e rgy stored up in America.”
— G e o rge Gershwin
Arts on the Hill
www.voiceofthehill.com 15
tra, but it’s workable. The musicians
are grateful to be working; they don’t
really care about the conditions.”
The packed performance, which
took place the evening of Nov. 15,
went very well, and was wellreceived
by the audience (for whom
the piece was completely new). It is
difficult to sell out a concert, Sergio
admits. “You need more outreach for
the community in order to make
people come there.” Outside of
going to discos or bars, he said, there
isn’t much in the way of entertainment
opportunity in countries such
as Honduras. But money is also a
concern—in the relatively poor
country, tickets for a concert are
roughly $4 per person, and that can
be a deterrent for some.
Among the young members of the
orchestra are those who, in poverty,
used to live under bridges, Sergio
explains. “This is kind of their way
out. It’s a full-time job for them, and
they make maybe $300 a month.
They can afford to live on that.”
In spite of having what we
Americans perceive as hardships,
Honduran musicians are “full of
energy,” Sergio notes. “Sometimes
you’re missing that with professional
orchestras—they have perfect notes
and perfect intonation, but their
level of energy is zip.
“People there aren’t used to concerts,”
he adds. “I always make it a
point to explain the different
themes to them. That way, people
will ‘get’ the music.”
There are other, less subtle, ways
in which Honduran concerts differ
from American productions. On this
trip, Sergio relates, in a small town
outside Teguc, “We were playing
Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto.
Suddenly, two dogs came in, and
they started howling about five
meters away from the stage!” Sergio,
ever the professional, led the orchestra
through the remainder of the
movement, then escorted the howling
hounds out the door.
The canine clamor aside, that con -
cert “was the fir st time anyone in
that town had seen the symphony or
even heard the bassoon,” Sergio said.
“Some small towns are only accessible
by a burro or a horse. There ar e
roads there that are never fixed.”
Returning home to the Hill on
another uneventful flight, Jeffery
took with him memories of a oncein-
a-lifetime “gig.” And it’s given
him a renewed sense of pride in the
type of artist that CHAW attracts and
retains in its quest to provide Hill
residents with artistic opportunities
rarely found elsewhere in the city.
“We want people to be proud of, and
to be aware, that there are some
amazing people there,” he said of
the arts workshop. “My goal is really
for CHAW to be a definitive presence
on the Hill—almost like Eastern
Market.” Indeed, as a center of
music, theatre, dance and the visual
arts for all ages, CHAW is certainly
unique in its mission and its
achievements.
Through teaching piano at the
workshop, Sergio is also proud of the
work CHAW has accomplished. “I
get lots of satisfaction when the kids
are learning to read music,” he says.
“There are some really talented kids
here.”
In addition to his work with
CHAW, Sergio conducts the Pan
American Symphony Orchestra in
Washington, a group of musicians
that concentrates mainly on works
by Latin American and Spanish composers.
The musical community in
Washington, he has discovered, “is
big. The last time we counted, there
were about 50 symphony orchestras
and even more choirs. There’s a huge
variety of everything for every taste,
and there’s lots of competition. I tell
people it’s easy being a Republican
in this town, but being a performer
—it’s not that easy!”
In order to keep the audience
coming back, Sergio relates, “You
have to market your concerts well,
and do something new.” And even
when a group has found a unique
niche, there’s always something else
going on that can draw the audience
away from your performance. The
Pan American Symphony Orchestra
once debuted a Spanish opera in
Washington which had not been
heard since 1916, when it was performed
at the Met. Quite a “hook” to
draw a crowd, right? Well, although
the performance was well-received,
it was scheduled to be per formed the
same night the Three Tenors were in
town.
Situations such as that one aside,
both Jeffery and Sergio are extremely
pleased to be living and working in
D.C. And experiences such as their
Honduran concert will only serve to
enhance their focus on the arts in
this community.
Honduran musicians, Japanese
instruments, a conductor from
Argentina and an American
pianist—all playing what some feel
is the greatest work ever written by
an American composer in a countr y
besieged with political unrest—
somehow, all these elements came
together one special night in
November to create a performance
that those who experienced it won’t
forget too quickly.
Scott Shumaker is the editor of The
Voice of the Hill.
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Paul Cymrot riverby@erols.com Steve Cymrot
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Over 6,456 Books sold
First Annual Un a d ve rtised Sa l e
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Sergio Buslje conducts members of the Honduran National Symphony.
16 www.voiceofthehill.com
His experiences are impressive. For
twenty years, he kept an apartment
in New York City, yet he managed to
work in every state as an actor or a
director or both. Throughout these
experiences, he realized a passion for
teaching. With no prior professional
teaching experience, he was offered
a temporary position at St. Mary’s
College of Maryland. The incentive
for him to accept this offer was that
he would also become the artistic
director for the Maryland Shakespeare
Festival. Tolaydo accepted
with the plan of returning to New
BY COURTNEY BEL L
NOTE: This is the first in a series of
Voice of the Hill articles that highlights
theater professionals on the Hill.
“You can’t teach anyone
something unless they
teach you something.”
Augusto Boal
(Brazilian theater director)
Perhaps this favorite quote of
Michael Tolaydo’s is one that defines
him best. Tolaydo, a Capitol Hill resident
who directs, acts and teaches,
is as complex and diverse as the roles
he plays on stage. A native of Kenya,
Tolaydo said he knew he wanted to
act by the age of eight, when he
played a policeman in Arsenic and
Old Lace. Excluding a brief interest in
becoming a policeman, Tolaydo said
he never considered doing anything
else.
Tolaydo’s extreme commitment to
theater is evidenced by his continuing
education in the field. Though
he admits he has few outside interests
or hobbies, he enthusiastically
expresses his passion for learning.
“The more you learn, the better
actor you are, and the better person
you are,” he said.
After attending prep school in
Kenya, Tolaydo moved to England
for high school and later moved to
the States. He was accepted at the
Royal Academy of Art, but decided
against attending after his father
insisted that he earn a college degree
first. Before completing that degree,
he again applied to several schools
specializing in the dramatic arts.
This time he was accepted at Julliard
and the Academy of Dramatic Art,
where he later earned his diploma.
The variety of theater in D.C. also
keeps things interesting for actors
and audiences. Tolaydo explained
that D.C. is a city where actors can
consistently work instead of waiting
for a “big break,” as many actors do
in L.A. and New York. “Where you
grow is by working,” he said. Yet the
quality of theater here is comparable
to that found on Broadway at a fraction
of the ticket price.
Tolaydo enjoys Capitol Hill for
similar reasons. “There is variety and
diversity, yet we never question that
we’re a community,” he said. It’s a
place he describes as an integral part
of the city and without elitism or
“invisible gates.” He credits the
neighborhood’s kids and the Capitol
Hill Arts Workshop for the strong
presence of the arts in Capitol Hill.
He is enthusiastic about the possibil -
ity of working with the Theater
Alliance sometime in the future.
In many ways, Michael Tolaydo is
similar to the city he describes—
both are evolving and growing by
facing the challenges of an everchanging
environment. In addition
to practicing the craft and technique
involved in theater, Tolaydo regularly
takes advantage of the collaborative
aspect to keep his work fresh.
Some of his strategies include learning
from younger actors, working
with people whom he regards as
being better than he feels he is, and
seeing as many shows as possible.
He also continually explores his
environment. Surprisingly, one of
the first things he does when he gets
to a new city is to go to the mall,
because “it gives you a feel for the
predominant culture.”
One of the only frustrations
Tolaydo expressed with the arts
scene here is the lack of national
funding for the arts. “We define ourselves
through our arts. Our g reatest
strength as a nation is our ability to
debate differences,” he said. “Any
expression you can see, you can
debate.” However, when funding for
the arts gets cut, the arts are less
accessible to the public and less likely
to be seen and debated, he
explained. He went on to say, “Any
community that supports the arts is
doing so because what it understands
is the arts don’t subvert what
you believe in. They experiment
with new ways of looking and seeing
and hearing the world around us.”
By his own modest definition of
being offered two or three projects a
year, Michael Tolaydo is a success.
That this has happened, and continues
to happen, for him is what he
considers to be “an incredible compliment.”
Constantly moving forward,
he always considers his
favorite role to be “the one I’m
doing at that time.”
Hill resident Courtney Bell is a frequent
contributor to The Voice of the Hill.
York after a year. St. Mary’s was so
impressed by his work that they
asked him to stay, and he is now a
full professor, credited with creating
much of the department’s structure
over the years.
In his early days as a teacher,
Tolaydo admitted to spending hundreds
of dollars on books each
semester to prepare himself for classes
—before discovering the college
provided them. In continuing his
quest for education, he attended
American University beginning in
1984, where he earned an MA in literature
two years later. In 1990, he
felt a need to learn more about current
theory for his students, so he
enrolled in Catholic University’s
directing program. He received his
MFA in directing four years later.
He now considers himself a “fulltime
actor/director, where it fits into
my teaching schedule. I’m very for -
tunate to be doing the two things I
love most.”
In 1990, Tolaydo also reluctantly
gave up his apartment in New York,
as he was working and living predominantly
in D.C. Though he
admits the real catalyst to settle in
D.C. was his wife, he offers abundant
praise for the city now, particularly
about its theater scene. “D.C. ’s a
hell of a theater town,” he said.
Tolaydo believes this is largely due to
a diverse and evolving population
and a theater community that constantly
adapts to these interesting
and changing demographics. “These
theaters have a longevity of more
than 10-15 years,” Tolaydo said.
Acting, Dire c t i n g ,
Te a c h i n g :
M i chael To l ay d o
Continues His
G row th
Arts on the Hill
www.voiceofthehill.com 17
At one of the myriad committeeplanning-
strategic-action-task-force
meetings held on the Hill this year,
community activist Ellen Opper-
Weiner, faced with yet another questionable
development project, expressed
a sentiment held by many of
her fellow neighbors: “We shouldn’t
have to pay attention to every single
thing. It’s too exhausting.”
She’s right—Boys Town, DC
General Halfway House, BP Amoco,
waterfront development, the management
of Eastern Market—there
are just too many issues facing Hill
residents and not enough hours in
the day to attend the meetings or
read the reports that address them.
If the neighborhood news of the past
year is a blur, have no fear. The following
run-down of the most newsworthy
stories of 2001 will bring you
up to speed—or at least arm you
with enough knowledge to hold
your head up high at the next ANC
meeting.
January
n This month, The District of
Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA)
presented two proposals for the redevelopment
of the Kentucky Courts
family dwellings. The 45-unit housing
project at Kentucky Avenue and
C Street, SE received a fair amount of
press this year, including Jim Myers’
JulyWashington Post Magazine feature,
Requiem for Kentucky Courts.
Innovative Development Solutions
(IDS) received approval from DCHA
in March to build 20 homes on the
site, which has stood vacant since
1996. The land that once housed
notorious street gangs and provided
a safe haven for pigeons and their
droppings will now hold two-story
condos with selling prices beginning
at $235,000. Still being negotiated is
the number of units to be reser ved
for low-income residents and what
type of financing plan will be available
to these residents. Construction
on the project began in September.
n Although the fight officially began
in 2000, the proposed BP Amoco
mega-station at 2nd and H Streets
remained a hot topic throughout
2001. In December 2000, the Board
of Zoning Appeals (BZA) deferred the
company’s special exception application
and public hearing until March
20th, at which time they slapped on
another postponement until June
19th. Despite these hold-ups, no one
has successfully killed the plan,
whose detractors read like a Capitol
Hill Who’s Who: the D.C. Office of
Planning, neighborhood residents,
Councilwoman Sharon Ambrose,
Advisory Neighborhood
Commission 6A, the Stanton Park
Neighborhood Association and the
Capitol Hill Restoration Society.
Negotiations remain at an impasse.
n The management of Eastern
Market was another hot-button issue
that trickled over from the previous
year. In late December 2000, the
Eastern Market Community
Advisory Committee (EMCAC)
voted to endorse a proposal by the
Eastern Market Joint Venture
(EMJV), a partnership of two local
real estate companies. Although the
EMJV proposal beat out two others
by the narrowest of margins in a vote
of the committee, the EMCAC recommendation
was passed along to
the Office of Property Management
(OPM), who approved the selection
in February. EMJV was set to take
control of the market under an interim
contract on April 1, the date of
lease termination for the current
management, Richard Glasgow’s
Eastern Market Corporation (EMC).
However, on April 1, Glasgow, who
manages the South Hall, Center hall,
and parking lot of the market,
opened shop as usual. Glasgow filed
suit against the city and instructed
tenants to continue paying his
Eastern Market Corporation management
company until a resolution
could be reached. DC Superior
Court ruled against Glasgow and his
EMC and has denied an appeal.
February
n The Navy Yard, on M Street, SE, is
the southernmost tip of the Capitol
Hill neighborhood, making development
along the M Street Cor ridor
another heated issue during 2001.
Over the past year, we have just seen
the beginning of development on
what Council member Sharon
Ambrose has called “the hottest
development area in the city.”
Proposed projects have included the
following: ten office buildings being
constructed and/or renovated; a
Maritime Plaza office/hotel/retail
complex just past the 11th Street
Bridge; a renovation of the old
Washington Post printing plant into
a tech center; a “River Walk” from
Bladensburg to Buzzard’s Point; a
commuter Ferry from Northern VA
to the Navy Yard itself; and an
Anacostia Community Rowing
Center. The rush to develop came
after 4,400 Naval Sea Systems
Command (NAVSEA) employees
began relocating to the Navy Yard in
January of this year, prompting government
contractors and others who
work closely with NAVSEA to start
looking for office space convenient
to their headquarters. In January,
Metro began making concessions for
the influx of workers, and as we all
know, where Metro goes, the rest of
the city follows.
n Boys Town, Boys Town, Boys Town.
Who would have thought that dear
old Father Flanagan’s wish to provide
a safe haven for orphaned boys
would incur the venomous wrath of
Capitol Hill residents? The proposed
home for 40 neglected and abused
teens on Pennsylvania and Potomac
Avenues, SE has inspired countless
meetings, rallies, press conferences,
and, of course, those ubiquitous eyesores
— red and white NO BOYS
TOWN signs. Although the battle
raged throughout 2000, several
interesting developments occurred
this year. In February, ANC commissioner
Kalimah Sabur and Connie
Washington of Boys Town attempted
to hold a hush-hush meeting for
supporters of the project, only to
find the place packed with pundits.
In August, the organization filed a
lawsuit against nearly everyone
involved in the project, including
councilmember Sharon Ambrose,
ANC 6B Commissioner Will Hill,
Ellen Opper-Weiner and many,
many others. In September, the city
granted Boys Town the necessary
permits to begin construction.
March
n In March, Stanton Development
Corporation and Dayton Investments
formed a joint venture to purchase
and renovate the historic Lennox
School at 5th and G Street, SE. The
tentative plan has been to build
apartments in the historic portion of
the school, and to raze the newer
portion, built in the 1960s, and erect
8-12 town homes. Neighbors immediately
sprung into action to make
sure that adequate parking be put in
place, especially since the several
other new ventures in the same
vicinity, including the G Street
Results Gym, were expected to eat up
the few available parking spaces.
April
n April provided a small victory for
some Hill residents: The City
Council Judiciary Committee’s 4-to-
1 rejection of the $10.5 million plan
to make Building 25 on the DC
General campus into a 200-bed pretrial
halfway house through the DC
Department of Corrections. Also
scrapped this month: a proposed
automobile impound lot in the RFK
stadium parking area designed to
take off some of the sting following
the close of the city ’s Brentwood, NE
impound lot.
n Although they unveiled the original
plan in 2000, the Holladay
Corporation revealed an even larger
redevelopment plan for the
Medlink/Capitol Hill Hospital site at
8th and Massachusetts, NE in April.
Holladay’s original plan was to raze
all but the historic section of the
hospital and build 335 rental apar tments
and condos (sound familiar?).
Although cosmetic issues are still
being hashed out, the plan has been
fairly well-received, if only because
the previous proposal for the site was
an out-patient mental health clinic.
As developers and residents continue
to bicker over the number of units
and, of course, the number of parking
spaces, the project is steadily
moving along.
May
n In May, the DCHA scrambled to
complete an application for a Hope
VI development grant from the US
Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) to turn the
Arthur Capper and Carrollsburg
public housing developments into a
mixed-use retail/residential area.
Residents of the housing projects
immediately rallied against displacement
and yet another decrease in
the number of low-income/public
housing units in the city. However,
in October, DCHA received $34.9
2001 in
a Nu t s h el l
In a Turbulent Ye a r,
Some Things Didn’t
C h a n g e … Ve ry Much
BY SARAH GODFREY
18 www.voiceofthehill.com
2002, the film’s tentative release
date.
July
n Back to the Development front…In
July, Hill residents and other interested
parties scrambled to learn
more about Station Place, a gargantuan
new office complex rumored to
be planned for the parking lot adja -
cent to Union Station. Although the
stretch of land, which runs along
2nd Street, NE, from F to H, is out -
side of the historic district, the
Capitol Hill Restoration Society and
Stanton Park neighborhood
Association issued a joint paper containing
preliminary thoughts on the
projects design during this month.
The Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) has already signed
a 14-year lease for roughly half of the
650,000 square foot space, with several
other government agencies eyeing
the rest. Because the city has
been struggling to keep the SEC from
moving its offices to the suburbs,
city residents can expect little sup -
port from city agencies when voicing
concern over design and other
issues. A glimmer of hope came in
September, courtesy of the
Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), a
design review board lead by J. Carter
Brown. The CFA nixed the original
million dollars in HUD funds to
begin the project—the rest of the
money needed will be culled from
private sources.
June
n Not all news in 2001 was as controversial
—in June the Hill received
some bona fide celebrities (we all
know that the Congressmen we regularly
rub elbows with aren’t really
celebrities—with the possible exception
of Fred Davis). On June 22,
Steven Spielberg graced our neighborhood
with his presence as he
filmed a scene from the film
“Minority Report” at the triangular
park at 17th and C Street, SE. The
crew used the Boys and Girls club
across the street from the park as a
staging area. The park used in the
film was given a face-lift prior to
shooting, and Spielberg left the flowers
and trees in place, although some
neighbors wanted the improvements
un-installed after shooting
wrapped—fearing that the new
greenery would simply be neglected
and left to wither and die. Tom
Cruise himself even came out of his
trailer and signed a few autographs
and toured the Boys and Girls club.
You can check out your neighbors’
houses on the silver screen in July
away from the House office build -
ings on C St, SE. Although security
was heavier than it had ever been,
the four miles of course around the
Pentagon did not change.
n Also this month, the Ruth Ann
Overbeck Capitol Hill History Project
recruited 30 volunteers to assist in
the effort to record the recollections
of longtime Hill residents.
Sponsored by CHAMPS, the project
hopes to build a “permanent, acces -
sible, ongoing record of the people,
places and events that have shaped
our community,” according to John
Franzen. The project’s website
www.capitolhillhistory.org should
be up and running soon.
November
n In November, Capitol Hill parents
helped delay new guidelines for outof-
boundary school enrollment. A
D.C. School Board Task Force proposed
changing the several things
about the process that allows schoolaged
children to enroll in schools
outside of their home districts. One
proposed change was switching
from the first-come-first-served
method of out-of-boundary enrollment
to a lottery. The real point of
contention with Hill residents, however,
was the plan to end preferential
treatment of siblings of current students
when applying to out-ofboundary
schools. School Board
member Tommy Wells, who represents
Capitol Hill, stated that he
“will not allow this to take effect his
year,” and promised a period of public
comment before any vote was
taken.
December
n The Hill is an ever-changing area,
not only in terms of residents and
businesses, but in terms of physicality.
First the ANC6B voted unanimously
to support the expansion of
Capitol Hill’s Historic Districtincluding
the area south of the freeway
between 7th and 11th Streets
and making the neighborhood’s new
southern boundary M St., SE. Then,
the city goes and changes our voting
districts on us. Ward 6 will be shaped
a bit differently in 2002, as outlined
in the DC Law 14-027, the “Ward
Redistricting Amendment Act Of
2001.” The new boundaries lop off
portions of Fairlawn and Historic
Anacostia and tack on pieces of
Southwest, Penn Quarter and
Northwest. The new Ward 6 boundaries
take effect January 1, 2002.
Happy New Year!
Editor’s Note: Sarah Godfrey is a regular
contributor to the pages of The Voice of
the Hill, and she deserves praise for so
succinctly and accurately encapsulating
quite a tumultuous year.
design plan, sending Paris-based
developers Louis Dreyfus Property
Group back to the drawing board.
August
n The Barracks Row Main Street project
has been one of the more welcomed
revitalizations of 2001—a
face lift for 8th Street, SE between
Pennsylvania Avenue and the Navy
Yard has been long overdue and
thanks to monies from the Federal
Highways Administration, cosmetic
changes, including new sidewalks,
larger tree boxes, and outdoor furniture,
are being slowly implemented
along the strip. In August, the proj -
ect received a grant from DC
Heritage Tourism to create a
“Heritage Trail” on the Hill—a selfguided
tour of 8th Street, the Federal
City’s oldest commercial corridor.
Hopefully it will soon hold the dis -
tinction of being the “nicest” as well.
Despite community support for the
project, construction dates keep getting
pushed back—July 2002 is the
latest estimate.
n This summer, the district’s Office
of Property Management (OPM)
started exterior and interior repairs
on the Old Naval Mansion located in
the 900 block of Pennsylvania
Avenue, SE. The mansion is still in
search of a tenant, now that it is fairly
certain that the property will not
become the mayor’s mansion.
Friends of the Old Naval Hospital are
working with OPM to ensure that
the building doesn’t end up in the
wrong hands. OPM is currently in
the process of issuing a Request for
Proposal for leasing of the space.
September
n September is the month that
changed everything. 9-11-01 is a date
that will be etched into our minds,
and our hearts, for as long as we live.
With political targets like the
Capitol, the Supreme Court, and
Senate and House office buildings
right in our backyards, we have
endured Anthrax scares, street closings,
and other events that have
impinged on our everyday routines
more than most places in the country.
As with most things, Hill residents
took, and continue to take,
these changes in stride—willing to
tolerate a few inconveniences to
ensure that the need for increased
security and monitoring be met.
October
n Despite the many changes to our
way of life, some things remained the
same. Case in point: the annual
Marine Corps Marathon. This year’s
race took place on October 28th, as
scheduled, despite the events of the
previous month. The only change to
the course was a one-block de tour
designed to keep the 18,000 runners
www.voiceofthehill.com 19
for the rest of the year. Some are
actually quite interesting. If you
want financial success in 2002, eat
plenty of black-eyed peas and collard
greens today—the peas represent
coins, and the greens represent bills.
If your first visitor of the day has red
hair, you’re assured bad luck, but if
the visitor is a stranger with black
hair, well, you’re in for an exciting
year. Be sure to avoid scissors and
knives today so as not to cut out
good fortune.
Since you won’t be using any
sharp utensils, you’ll need a place to
BY SARAH GODFREY
New Year’s Eve is going to be different
this year. Still reeling from the
changes to our collective psyche that
2001 brought, most of us aren’t in
the mood for drunken carousing and
wild partying. Still, we all feel the
need to gather with friends and family
now more than ever. These factors
will probably produce a quieter,
more civilized celebration of the
New Year than we have seen in quite
some time, especially in our particu -
lar neighborhood. Whether venturing
out or staying home, this New
Year’s promises plenty of things to
occupy your night that are festive
and fun, but not overly so.
For those who are in the mood to
venture out and mingle, several local
restaurants are providing New Year’s
package deals.
The Banana Café (500 8th St., SE)
is hosting its fifth New Year’s celebration
this year. The restaurant will
have two separate reservation-only
dinner seatings on December 31st.
The first will be held from 5 until
7:30 p.m. (at $29.95 per person), and
the second will be held beginning at
8 p.m. (at $49.95 per person). The
celebration will include a pre-set
menu, dancing, music, and a complimentary
midnight champagne
toast during the second seating. Also
check with Banana’s sister eatery,
the new Starfish Café, for details on
their New Year’s bash, which is still
in the works.
Tunnicliff’s Tavern (222 7th St., SE)
is throwing a New Year’s celebration
worthy of any gourmand. The
$35.00 per person price includes a
complimentary champagne toast
and a 3-course meal plus dessert.
Each course allows the diner three
wonderful selections to choose from.
Highlights are a Salmon Crab
Spinach Napoleon and Filet Mignon
with Roquefort cheese and rosemary
potatoes—and, of course, decadent
desserts! Reservations are recommended.
Many other local restaurants were
still in the process of planning New
Year’s events at press time. Check
with your favorite Hill haunt if
you’re interested in mixing and mingling
with you neighbors as the calendar
rolls forward – many are offering
special deals in celebration of the
New Year.
If you’ve decided to stay in this
year, your first stop should be the
liquor store. Remember the great
champagne scare of 2000—the widespread
fear that the demand for millennial
bubbly would exceed production,
leaving millions of revelers
with a dry glass when the clock
struck midnight? For 2 002, it’s no
longer a concern. The Hill is littered
with liquor stores fully stocked for
this event, so you have many places
from which to choose your poison.
If you choose to go the private
party route, the only remaining
requirement is vittles. The easiest
option is take-out, and luckily, the
delivery of Chinese food and pizza
goes interrupted on December 31st.
Most restaurants are open for business
that day if you need a quick
nosh before settling in for the night.
Just be sure to eat early to avoid the
crowds. Cooking at home is always
an option, albeit an unattractive one
—it’s a holiday!
Once you have your booze and
your food, there is nothing left to do
but settle in with Dick Clark for his
30th consecutive New Year’s celebration,
which has recently acquired
the unfortunate title “Dick Clark’s
New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” This year—
brace yourselves—it’s a two-parter.
The show starts at 10 p.m. on
WJLA—Channel 7 (ABC) and amazingly
stretches on until 2 a.m.
The first half of the show features
Clark reporting from Times Square
and doing his traditional countdown
to midnight. During this portion,
you can pretty much stare at his lineless
mug without interruption and
marvel at how the man who hosted
“American Bandstand” so many
years ago just refuses to age.
After the ball drops and you toast
and pretend to know the words to
Auld Lang Syne, try to stay awake for
just a little bit of the second half of
Dick’s shindig, featuring musical performances
by Blink 182, Blu Cantrell,
Busta Rhymes, and Barry Manilow,
who holds the record for the most
a p p e a rances on Clark ’s New Ye a r’s
specials.
You will eventually drift off to
sleep, but don’t stay in bed too late
on the first day of 2002—there is
much to do. First, impress your children
by liberally throwing around
the name Busta Rhymes throughout
the day. Convince them you are
broadening your musical horizons
for the New Year.
There are many superstitions that
surround New Year’s Day, as it is
considered the day that sets the tone
eat today—and plenty of local
restaurants are open for business
today. If you’re a football fan, Hawk
and Dove will have the screens set on
the games all day.
After enjoying such a leisurely day,
spend your evening preparing for
the remaining three days of the work
week. Whether your New Year’s celebration
was a fiesta or a flop, take
heart—you have 364 days to plan
next year’s party.
Sarah Godfrey is a frequent contributor
to The Voice of the Hill.
Ringing in theN e w —
With Some Limits A GU I D E TO NE W YE A R’S CE L E B R AT I O N S O N T H E HI L L
20 www.voiceofthehill.com
O p i n i o n
BY SCOTT SHUMAKER
New Year’s resolutions are a bit of a joke, aren’t
they?
For one thing, they’re generally only focused on
the self and do not “spread out” to oth e rs .
Secondly, they aren’t, as they should be, solemn
pledges. We can talk a good talk and claim to
change X,Y, and Z about ourselves, but when it
comes time to walk the walk, we drop these vows
more quickly than if they were hot potatoes.
Self-centeredness is generally not attractive. And
who wants to go back on his or her own words? So
this New Year, let’s just drop this whole resolution
business and talk about a number of ways we can
change our behavior to positively affect one of the
most important aspects of our lives—where we live.
SEVEN RESOLUTIONS TO MAKE OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
BETTER PLACES TO LIVE
1. Shop locally. You can find just about anything
you need within blocks of your home. Don’t believe
me? Wait until the next big snowfall (if, indeed,
there is one in our future). And even when we aren’t
“forced” to stay put, we can all take advantage of
what our local mer chants offer. Do you walk past a
store you’ve never patronized? Stop inside. Look
around. Make it a point to keep your business on
the Hill whenever possible. I can guarantee you’ll
be surprised at what you find.
2. Introduce yourself. Gone are the days of the
“Welcome Wagon.” In these transient times, many
of us may be hard-pressed to name the folks who
live beside us (and sometimes even those living in
the same building as ourselves). You can improve
your neighborhood by making an honest effort to
develop a positive rapport with those who live closest
to you. If you already know your neighbors well,
shift your focus down a few doors.
3. Keep it Clean. Respect your own property.
You’d be amazed at how much better a neighborhood
can look if we all just maintain our homes. No
one’s expecting a “perfect” façade to your home.
No one expects to find Monticello in the middle of
your block. But by making things just a tiny bit
more attractive, we can vastly improve how our
n e i g h b o rhood appears to visito rs and re s i d e n t s .
People want to live on the Hill for a reason. People
stay here for a reason. Keep up the good work.
4. Go to a meeting.There is literally no better way
to discover how your local neighborhood operates
than by attending a municipal meeting. Just attend
one, even if you have no personal agenda. Often,
folks don’t approach officials unless they have a
p roblem. Sometimes th ey air their comp l a i n t s
behind a shroud of anonymity. By knowing exactly
whom to direct your comments to, you’ll be surprised
at how much more weight your opinions will
have.
5. Join a coalition. There are literally dozens of
neighborhood groups around, and chances are you
know at least one or two folks who are a part of
them. Find out more about the organizations that
are focused on things you feel are important. Make
the calls. Go to the meetings. If you find it’s not for
you, that’s okay. Find another cause to support. But
when you catch the “community action” bug,
you’re sure to make a difference.
6. Support the arts. Capitol Hill has a vibrant arts
community that attracts some amazing artisans
and per formers. Make it a point to do at least one
“arty” thing a month. Go to a play. Go to a concert.
Check out an exhibit. And if you have talent, use it.
Take advantage of the arts on the Hill. And, if you
can, make your own art.
7. Stay informed. It is not hard to find out what
issues are important to your neighborhood. One
sure way to keep abreast of these developments is to
keep up with your local media. I encourage everyone
with a concern to alert us to it. And one surefire
way to make your opinions known is to post
them on our website. Write a letter to the editor.
Talk to your neighbors about your concern s .
Chances are, you’ll find a number of other folks
with the exact same concerns as you. When those
concerns are turned into movements, you’d be surprised
how much you can accomplish.
As we go into 2002, we have quite a task ahead of
us. Just putting the events of 2001 into perspective
is a mammoth task. But by making the effort to
improve our quality of life through a focus on our
neighborhoods, the task can become much easier.
Our homes are our refuge, our comfort zone, the
place where everything comes together, the source
of much of our energy.
And by projecting that energy outward, we can
make some resolutions that will be remembered
long after the last strains of “Auld Lang Syne” have
been played.
Scott Shumaker can be reached at editor@
voiceofthehill.com.
I m p roving Life Outside the Front Door
New Year’s Resolutions That Can Make A Diff e re n c e
re d e c o r a t i o n … u s i n g
what you already have!
wendy wigtil
1 1 1 seventh street, s.e.
washington, dc 20003
(202) 546-4532
H a n d y m a n
on the Hill
Masonry Brick & Stone
Concrete Brick Pointing
Carpentry Decks & Fences
Roof Repairs Painting
2 0 2 - 2 06 - 718 5
www.voiceofthehill.com 21
O rch i ds, pap erw h i tes ,
tro p i cal house p lan t s ,
evergre en sh rub s ,
c o p p er fo un tains,
b ird fe e d ers and
se e d, and seas o n e d
firew o o d.
2 02 /54 3 -5172
911 11th St., SE
M o n -S at: 8-6
S un: 9-5
www.ginkgogardens.com
tom is a highly
efficient way to
e x h a u st all
heated air from
a house. So, in
the ’70s, th e
e n e r g y- c o n -
scious installed
glass doors on
their open fireplaces
so th ey
could prov i d e
the fire with
enough air fo r
c o m b u st i o n
while still getting
its radiant heat. Your stove does that. And, it
probably did that just fine until someone messed
with it and screwed it up.
It is sad, but true, that few people can make much
of a living today working on or with the out-of-theordinary.
It may be your situation poses some challenges.
To find someone to work on making it work
again, I would have to do just what I will recommend
you do: hunt around for someone who
k n ows these things and is intere sted in th e m .
While looking in the Old House Journal for push
button light switches, I happened upon an ad for
the Good Time Stove Co., (a family business since
1973, Wo rl d ’s Largest Inve n to ry, Ask for Sara,
the Stove Princess, 1-888-282-7506. [w w w. go o d
t i m e st o ve . c o m]). I would sta rt with the stove
princess. I, myself, am not so good at chasing down
the obscure, but I sit just eight feet away from my
partner, who is a genius at finding people with
The Mystery of the Original Stove
Dear Judith,
Attached is a photo of the original stove in my c.
1890 (?) row house at 437 5th (between D & E), NE.
Unfortunately, it isn’t sealed well and doesn’t draw
well (there is a new 4” flue, put in before we bought
the house, and there might be room for a 5-6”), and
we’ve had a couple of guys look at it and say basically
it’s never going to work. I’d really like to keep
it, both because I like it and I think if it got warm, it
would radiate a nice heat to the room. So I was
thinking that perhaps a gas fireplace insert could be
set inside it (the gas furnace is just below it in the
basement and there is access under the fireplace).
What do you think? Do you have anyone you’d
recommend to do the job?
Thanks,
JOE AMON
Dear Joe:
What a gorgeous stove in a lovely fireplace surround!
You are truly, truly fortunate!
As for, “it’s never going to work”—I wouldn’t
accept that as an answer. If I had that stove and
fireplace, I would make it work, by golly! After all,
rare as they are today, what you have was pretty
standard equipment for late 19th century houses.
They were a vast improvement over open fireplaces
and, just as you suspect, the heat radiated is wond
e rful. That 19 th century appliance solved th e
problems we rediscovered in the post oil-embargo
‘70s. Namely, that an open flue with a fire at its botcurious
expertise so I know it can be done. You put
your Zen hat on, use the Internet, make phone
calls, and think Sherlock Holmes.
Once you find someone who really knows stoves
like yours, you want a diagnosis and recommendations.
Then you can decide about feasibility, cost,
authenticity etc. And, once you have a clear idea of
what needs to be done, you can get a local worker to
do the actual work.
Only then, if I came up with a string of negatives
about feasibility, cost, or whatever, would I consider
a gas conversion.
Best of luck: and you can congratulate yourself
on having something really marvelous.
The Case of the Missing Vertical
Piece
Dear Judith:
The vertical piece on one of my cast iron front steps
is missing. What should I do?
THE STEP PER
Dear Stepper:
You’re in luck! You happen to have one of the historic
riser patterns that is easy to replace. Because it
is basically a flat piece of metal with cut outs, it is
easy to replicate even in these days. I have found
three different cut-out patterns on Capitol Hill: the
two pictured here that I call the tulip and the fleurde-
lys., and one that is simple five-pointed star
inscribed within a circle. (P.S. the “vertical piece” is
Ask Judith
Winter Projects: Heat, Light, and….Iro n
Christine Getlein,LMT
543-0441
Patricia Stocks, LMT
547-7104
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JIM
CARDACI
M O RT G A G E
C O N S U LTA N T
Capitol Hill Resident
and Local Lender
for 11 Years
called the riser, while the horizontal piece you step
on is called the tread.)
Fred Mashak, Capitol Hill ironworker extraordinaire
can help you!
For the rest of us who don’t necessarily have one
of the cut out patterns, replacing missing and broken
pieces on our glorious cast iron front stairs and
stoops is hard e r, but not impossible. When we
bought our much-abused house, its iron stairs and
stoop were intact except for the right hand railing,
missing altogether, replaced by a hideous pierced
brick wall, painted pale green. I love demolition
work, since it requires little skill and few tools, so I
demolished the wall myself. I must confess that I
have occasionally abused D.C. trash collection by
throwing away the odd brick…two cans, two collections
a week, two green bricks per can and eventually
it was all gone! I then proceeded to remove
many layers of paint from our stairs, stoop, and single
remaining railing. Once I hit bare metal, I spraypainted
the whole thing with that re d - o ra n g e
Rustoleum primer. We liked the color so much our
front stairs have been that color ever since. I no
longer believe in spray-painting the final coat, as
the coat is a little too thin and doesn’t hold up well.
Anyway, once our stairs were looking lovely, albeit
one-armed, we lived with them that way for years.
But, one day when Fred was at the house rearrangi