This Month
4 Dust Off The
Welcome Mat—
They’re Comin’ to
Town!
6 Why We Come…and
Why We Stay
8 Was that Really
Robert Prosky?
10 A Generation Ta k e s
Wi n g
12 Cradle to College
on Capitol Hill
16 Neighbors Helping
Neighbors—The
CHAMPS
Foundation
D e p a rt m e n t s
Vo i c e M a i l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
Ask Judith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 8
Spencer Says . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 0
Business Serv i c e s. . . . . . .2 2
Business Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 4
D o w n L o a d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 7
Capital Kids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 4
Kids’ Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . .3 7
Community Calendar . . .3 8
C l a s s i f i e d s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 2
Vol. 2 No. 6 September 22 2000
o f
T h e
H i l l
Sta rting out, growing up,
g o i n gand c o m i n g b a ck to
the Hill
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We had a good crowd, and have
had a good audience all
summer, likely in par t
to your support.
We’ll have the
series next summer
and look forward
to working
with you to show
folks what’s available
in their neighborhood.
Thanks again.
MARK HEGEDUS
To the Webmaster:
My name is Mike Bouchard and I’m one of
the sponsors for the www. D C B O AT N E W S .
com website. That was my thread in your
f o rum [Hill Talk] about the Anacostia
Marina. We are trying to use the website
to gather a group of DC Boaters to stop
this drastic action and have the Park
S e rvice respond in a responsible manner.
If the NPS wants to clean the site up,
and move out the cur rent concessionaire
in a civilized manner, replacing it with
another “Green Marina” working boatyar d
facility, I feel there would be support from
the boating community. Currently the
Park Service has shown that they have
no real plan whatsoever by their actions:
Demanding the complete stop of yar d
operations with just 30 days notice and
with 10 or more large boats in dry dock
under repair. (I rebuilt a 1948 wooden
Ketch at the Anacostia Marina over a 3
year period. Had I been placed under this
deadline I would have lost my boat.)
Tommy Long can be grumpy, and the
yard has been a little on the junk-yard
side, but he has been the concessionaire
for 35 years—as landlord, the Park
Service must assume some of the blame
for the property’s condition. If the NPS
wants to replace Long, they should be
required to give more than 60 days
notice. This is a fully operational boatyard
with long term projects underway, not to
mention 35 years of accumulated equip -
ment (workshops, docks, buildings,
etc...) that have to be removed.
With the website I am trying to stay as
fair as possible in order to maintain contacts
with the NPS and other federal
sources, but it becomes difficult. A
notice was served to the Marina from the
NPS on September 7 that the gates will
be chained shut on the 1st of October. I
think it is outrageous that as citizens we
have no say in what is done with public
property, and as boaters no say about a
public boating facility. I can think of no
place between the source of the
Anacostia and Glen Echo that will be
appointed for another working marina
should this one go away. James Creek
(Ft. McNair) marina used to have a
marine railway, it left when the Park
Service took it over.
MIKE BOUCHARD
Duncan Spencer has more on the boatyard
story in this month’s issue of the Voice.
by Miss B. It can be a frustrating
occupation at times, to meet the
demands of unreasonable or
uncouth customers while fulfilling
the obligations of your work. I
hope that the problem customers
have read Miss B’s article, recognized
themselves and are taking steps to
change their ways. The majority of the
people who enter my bar are friendly,
polite and a joy to serve. I am grateful to
Miss B for pointing out how a few rotten
apples can spoil the fun for the whole barrel.
I and my co-workers look forward
eagerly to her next installment.
Sincerely,
A GRATEFUL BARKEEP
To the Editor:
I enjoyed your article about the “wild”
side of Capitol Hill in the August issue
[Woodchucks, Opossums and Bats, Oh
My!]. Shortly after reading that article I
spotted an opossum clinging to the walnut
tree adjacent to my backyard. It was
about 10 PM and so with little else to do
I observed it for at least a half hour while
it “moseyed” along the top of my neighbor’s
fence, sniffing the air and comporting
itself in a languid manner. It com -
pletely ignored me and continued sniffing
for food when I stepped out onto my back
porch to “chat.”
Thanks for the article.
NAME WITHHELD
To The Editor:
Christopher Koppel (Voicemail, August
18th) has a right to be upset that the
National Council of the Boy Scouts of
America has chosen to exclude openly
gay individuals from serving in leadership
positions within the organization. We also
are upset and we are all active adult leaders
of Troop 500 of Capitol Hill.
The members, parents and supporters
of Troop 500 of Capitol Hill reflect the
diverse backgrounds and values that
characterize the Capitol Hill community.
We prize that diversity as one of the qualities
of our community that enrich our life
here. We work to treat all of our neighbors
as individuals and abhor intolerance
and prejudice, and most certainly are
working hard to pass these values onto
our children.
All of us find it difficult at times to reconcile
our personal views with those of
the leadership of larger organizations to
which we belong. Unfortunately, we find
ourselves in such a situation now. The
personal, civic and outdoor experiences
that scouting has offered our kids have
been outstanding. We continue to believe
that the basic values of scouting are consistent
with those of the Capitol Hill community
at large. We intend to work harder
to demonstrate that in the future.
G A RY BARBOUR, MARK
O’DONNEL L , JOHN PFEIF FER,
MERLE VAN HORNE
To the Webmaster:
Thank you for the scrolling publicity on
the website for the St. Joseph’s recital.
www.voiceofthehill.com 3
Vo i cem a i l
The Voice of the Hill is published and
distributed monthly to Capitol Hill
residence and business locations.
The focus is on the community and
includes contiguous neighborhoods
from Gallaudet University to the
Navy Yard and from the Capitol to
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Publication and distribution is the
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Advertising deadline is the first of
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Stephanie Cavanaugh,
Editor
Bruce Robey
WebMaster
Adele Robey
Graphic Design and Production
Gene Miller, Church Editor
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T/A Voice of the Hill
and Stephanie Cavanaugh
Publishers
Community Action Group:
Distribution
Contributing
Writers
Judith Capen
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Memberships
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VOICE o f
T h e
H i l l
Noah Deutsch
Celeste McCall
Duncan Spencer
To the Editor:
Thanks for the kudos in the August 18,
2000 Voice [On Legos, Teen Movies and
the Restoration Society], but let’s bring
some hard facts to bear on the decline
and fall of the east leg of the inner loop
freeway project. I yapped for years about
the project when in its planning stages,
presenting statement after statement at
District and Congressional hearings. I
prayed a lot, too. The cost of mimeographing
all those statements was borne
by the Capitol Hill Southeast Citizen’s
Association. Mrs. Glickert did most of the
typing. Does that organization still exist?
Its support for my predecessor, Barrow
Lyons, and myself was early and thorough
and unwavering.
The Restoration Society got involved
only late in the game. I feared to ask for
its support because it was at the time
dominated by real estate professionals
who quite openly looked for a ditch along
11th Street to be a clear boundary for
the Hill, making it a more manageable
area for a quick, Foggy Bottom-type
“restoration.” We didn’t have the wor d
“gentrification” then.
There was no federal Department of
Transportation at that time, I don’t think.
The District government consisted of
three commissioners appointed by the
President, one of whom always was an
officer on assignment from the Army
Corps of Engineers. It was he that Dexter
Anderson and I hung in effigy at Eastern
Market on a Sunday when football traffic
to the stadium was at a maximum standstill
on Independence Avenue. It was fun
and predated (inspired?) Martin Luther
King, Jr. and all those later political
demonstrations. The police laughed as
they broke up the crowd. We were pussycats.
The big breakthrough came when May
Craig, a Hill resident and seasoned White
House reporter, brought up the matter at
John F. Kennedy’s first or second nationally
televised news conference. Her ques -
tion was worded in such a way as to
induce guilt for throwing poor people out
of their homes and for disrespecting history.
Knowing Mrs. Kennedy’s penchant
for history, the Washington Post immediately
turned against the east leg where
they previously had been gung ho for it.
The Democratic Central Committee sud -
denly opposed the Freeway too, and took
credit for its demise.
We fought city hall when everyone said
it couldn’t be done. And we won. And all
over the country things have been hysterical
and environmental ever since.
PETER GLICKERT
To the Editor:
I have been a bartender for ten years and
am currently working in a popular bar on
the Hill, much like the author of “Mind
Your Manners,” Miss B. That edition of
your newspaper made the rounds of my
bar until it was in tatters, to the accompaniment
of much laughter, head-shaking,
and fervent agreement. The article was a
delight and a relief to those of us in the
service industry who deal almost daily
with all the characters so skillfully limned
On the cover: L-R, For rest Foster, Victoria
Foster, Nick Marini, Caressa Rice at our
neighborhood soda fountain, Jimmy T’s,
BY KRISTEN HART K E
Every day, on every street,
you see them coming.
On foot and in minivans,
with U-Haul trailers
and moving trucks.
In Maine, they call them
incomers. In Manhattan, they call
them... well, never mind what they
call them. On Capitol Hill, we welcome
them as our neighbors and
invite them over for drinks.
This neighborhood has long been
versed in the art of the welcome.
Every couple of years, we are bombarded
by new Members of
Congress, while every four years
brings a new President, and, every
six years, some new Senators. With
them come the bright faces of new
staff, lobbyists, journalists, and idealists,
and they’re all looking for a
place to live within shouting distance
of the office.
Recently, however, Capitol Hill has
been welcoming an influx of people
who don’t work on the Hill and have
no such intentions for the future.
They just think this is a great place
to live. And those of us who’ve stuck
it out for lo, these many years could -
n’t agree more.
By some standards, Kathleen
Penney and her husband Tim are no
longer newcomers. They moved to
the Hill two years ago from
Sacramento, California, a move
which Kathleen says was “Totally
blind. We had no idea what we were
getting into.” The Penneys lived
with their son Sam, who is now 5
and has a baby sister named Frances,
in an apartment in Virginia while
searching for a house to buy. “My
sister had lived in DC for years,” says
Kathleen, “so she took us for drives
around the city. Capitol Hill caught
our eye immediately. It just seemed
so neighborhoody.”
“Neighborhoody” is a word that
crops up again and again when talking
with our newest neighbors.
Christian Bohmfalk uses it too when
4 www.voiceofthehill.com
D u st off th e
Welcome Mat
Fresh-faces are
flooding the Hill
www.voiceofthehill.com 5
describing his experience moving
here last December from Denton,
Texas, where, frankly, he hadn’t
heard terrific things about living on
the Hill. A journalist who has lived
in Dallas and London, Bohmfalk was
certainly no stranger to city living,
but says he was “a little standoffish
at first” when his future roommates
told him where they were concentrating
their search.
Then he came for a visit and took
a walking tour that led him right
past the house where he now lives
just off Stanton Park: “I had a visual
then of what Capitol Hill looked
like,” says Bohmfalk, “and I liked it.
So when my friends called me in
Texas to say they had found a place
and needed an answer by that night,
I told them to count me in.”
Bohmfalk, like many other newcomers,
has a reverse commute, one
of the hottest trends among today’s
city dwellers. Real estate agent Hugh
Kelly says that many of his clients
are coming to live in the city while
going out to work in Arlington or
Bethesda: “A lot of people are finding
that the traffic out in the suburbs
is so bad that they can actually
have a shorter commute by living in
the city and driving out to
Springfield to go to work.” Kathleen
Penney agrees, saying “We were definitely
trying to eliminate our com -
mute when we were looking at houses,”
and notes that she is now able to
walk to her office near Union Station
while the Hill’s easy access to I-395
makes her husband’s trip out to
Virginia a piece of cake.
For some, however, the move to
the city and to Capitol Hill is really
about, as Barbara Walker puts it, “A
time of life.” Walker and her husband
Don, who moved here just two
months ago from San Antonio,
Texas, are part of another hot trend
that the real estate industry is tracking,
that of so-called “emptynesters”
who are leaving the suburbs
once their children have grown and
settling down in an urban environment.
When Don was given the opportu -
nity to become CEO of a s tart-up
company, Barbara found herself
resistant to the move at the outset.
She and her husband ended up “in
negotiations” and they finally made
a deal that if they moved to
Washington then Barbara could pick
where they’d live. “I’m a museum
person and I love city life and all the
things that has to offer,” says
Barbara. “I knew that if we were
going to make this move that we
would definitely live in the city.”
Years ago, when their children
were young, the Walkers had lived in
Springfield, Virginia. Barbara’s best
friend from Springfield had recently
moved to Capitol Hill and was bub -
bling over with enthusiasm for the
neighborhood. “She walked me
around,” says Barbara, “and then I
looked in Dupont Circle and
Georgetown as well. I really didn’t
like those neighborhoods though—
they were too trafficky, too snooty.
The Hill seemed quiet and like a real
place. I’ve found that my block is
very friendly.”
“Quiet” is another word that
comes up often in conversation with
newcomers. After relocating from
Madison, Wisconsin, Tom Chapman
and his wife Donna Breslin lived for
a year near Dupont Circle before
moving to the Hill a month ago. “It’s
much quieter, not as congested,”
says Chapman, “and there’s a little
more permanence to the feel of the
neighborhood, more family-owned
homes.”
Even Christian Bohmfalk, who
sometimes wishes there were more
Friday-night places in the neighborhood,
says, “I like coming back to a
place that’s quiet after going out in
Adams Morgan or Dupont Circle. I
don’t think I’d really like living near
18th and Columbia.” He laughs, “It ’s
a short cab ride.”
“The lack of businesses and night -
clubs is a plus in my mind,” says
Kathleen Penney. “We looked a lot
in Mt. Pleasant, too, but whenever I
came here to walk around, even in
the middle of the day, it was always
so quiet and pleasant.”
Naturally, though, it is the his toric
character of the neighborhood that
initially attracts people to Capitol
Hill. After living in what Tom
Chapman describes as “a pretty typical
30- or 40-year-old house” in
Wisconsin, he and his wife found
the Victorian houses of the Hill to be
particularly appealing. Kathleen
Penney describes Capitol Hill as having
the “historic feel of a nice old
city,” and Barbara Walker has
thrown herself into renovating her
old house.
“Our intent,” Walker says “was to
come to the Hill and downsize, but
we just couldn’t do it. Now I feel like
I’ve been in jail for the past two
months while the workmen have
been in and out.” Walker’s son, who
lives in San Francisco, was puzzled
enough by this flurry of renovation
to ask “Why did you buy the house if
you were going to change everything?”
Then there is that other obvious
draw: our proximity to the national
museums and monuments. Barbara
Walker enjoys walking down to the
Corcoran Gallery to volunteer her
time and Christian Bohmfalk says, “I
like that when I go for a jog that the
National Mall is my route.”
Of course, Capitol Hill ain’t exactly
Pleasantville, and newcomers
have had to learn something about
street smarts, too.
“It has a safe-enough feel,” says
Bohmfalk. “But it took a while to get
used to the atmosphere, which can
change from block to block. I might
feel really secure on my own block,
but a little less so on a street just a
few blocks away…You think a little
more carefully about going out for a
jog at eight o’clock at night. You
have to be more conscious of your
surroundings.”
Barbara Walker was distressed
when her next-door neighbors
recently had two Japanese maples
completely dug up out of their front
yard in the dead of night—trees that
had been in place for more than a
year. “It’s the kind of thing that can
certainly happen anywhere,I’m
sure,” says Walker, “but it’s definitely
something that you hate to have
happen right under your nose.”
She’s thinking of putting less expen -
sive plants in her own front yard.
For a family with young children,
school is also an issue. The Penneys
were definitely thinking about
school when they were looking to
settle down, and even factored in
private school tuition when consid -
ering how much they could spend
on a house. Now they are happy to
see their son thriving in the Capitol
Hill Cluster School, a District of
Columbia public school. “I’m really
amazed about how committed people
are to public schools here,” says
Kathleen. “One of the things that
attracted us to the neighborhood
was that it seemed to be a really educated
population. People are interested
in education and they seem to
put so much effort into the schools.”
Capitol Hill, too, benefits from
these newcomers in a variety of
ways. Tom Chapman and Donna
Breslin came here with the desire to
get involved, “both socially and culturally.”
Kathleen Penney is cochairing
the Jazz Gala and Auction, a
fundraiser to benefit the School-
Within-School at Peabody. Barbara
Walker is hoping to become involved
with the artistic activities in the
neighborhood once she finishes
working on that house.
The biggest benefit, perhaps, is the
long-term tenor of their conversation.
The Penneys talk about their
next house on Capitol Hill.
Christian Bohmfalk is ready to sign
another lease on his place. The
Walkers’ youngest daughter and her
husband have just moved in with
them for two years and are loving
the neighborhood. These newcomers
are neighbors now and are ready
to welcome the next influx.
Recently a single mother, new to
the neighborhood, was asking for
advice from other parents about
after-school care for her child. After
much discussion of this prog ram
and that, one mother, then another,
and still another, offered to pick up
the newcomer’s daughter after
school. When she seemed bewildered
by—and, understandably, a little
suspicious of—these offers of
help from virtual strangers, one of
the mothers laughed and said, “Oh,
it’s okay. This is Capitol Hill. We take
care of our neighbors around here!”
Freelance writer Kristen Hartke, is a
regular contributor to the Voice of the
Hill
… one of the moth e rs laughed
and said, “Oh, it’s okay. This is
C a p i tol Hill. We ta ke care of our
n e i g h b o rs around here ! ”
6 www.voiceofthehill.com
“Lunch With” column. She’s also
completed her second book, The
Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood, due
to come out in October. (We’ve
peeked at a galley copy, and it’s quite
juicy!) The book took five years to
research and write, and Diana had to
do four rewrites. “I had to cut a lot
out,” she sighs. “As Winston
Churchill said, it was like cutting off
my own fingers and toes.”
McLellan and husband Richard
have lived in their home for 38 years.
They moved to
the Hill in 1962,
renting a succession
of apartments
before
purchasing their
house at Fifth
and Constitution,
NE. “We
moved here in
March 1966,
recalls Dick, a
retired historian
who is “good
with dates.” The
three-story
Victorian dates
from 1888.
Diana was
born and reared
in England as
Diana Dicken
(they dropped
the “s” several
generations
ago), she says.
Early childhood
memories
BY CELESTE MCCAL L
They are your neighbors, and they’ve
lived here awhile. You see them every
d ay: selecting produce at East e rn
Market, picking up clothes at the dry
cleaners, browsing at Trover’s, hurrying
toward the Metro station. Who
are these folks? Where did they come
from and why? And, perhaps most
important, why do you stay?
Diana and Dick McLellan
For a decade, Washington readers
knew her as the “Ear.” But for much
longer, Capitol Hill neighbors have
recognized her as Diana McLellan.
Peddling her sturdy English bike
around the Hill, blond, bubbly
Diana is familiar sight.
But now she’s flopped into a chair
in her cozy living room. The lower
level space is a comfortably cluttered
Victorian vision of sofas, easy chair s
and a handsome Queen Anne music
room chair. Framed family photographs
perch on a side table; a gilt
mirror hangs over the mantel.
Adorning one wall is large oil paint -
ing of Diana’s daughter,Fiona, at the
US Capitol grounds. Diana, who has
studied art, painted it herself.
Nearby is another McLellan work, a
lovely picture of the lavender fields
of Norfolk, England. Across the
room hangs a large kimono, a gif t
from a friend. “I spilled g ravy on the
front so I turned it around,” says
Diana as she brings me a glass of
cool water spiked with Rose’s lime
juice. We switch to Pinot Grigio later
on.
Curled up in her comfy chair,
Diana, a youthful 62, looks relieved
and relaxed. She’s just retired after 15
years with The Washingtonian, where
she delighted readers with her
Post, and then The Washington Times.
She joined Washingtonian in 1985.
Why have the McLellans
remained on the Hill after all these
years? For one thing, they’re able to
walk everywhere; Diana does not
drive and Richard gave up his car
some years ago. They do most of
their shopping nearby: Congress
Market at Fifth and East Capitol
(“They have a great wine selection”),
Eastern Market and Hayden’s liquor
store. Through the decades, the
McLellans have seen businesses
come and go. “We occasionally lose
stores,” Diana says, lamenting the
long-gone A&P on Seventh Street,
NE and Tommy’s grocery at Sixth
and A Streets, NE.
“We love our neighbors,” she
adds, naming several journalists,
embassy personal and just plain
folks. Most are, or were, long-time
residents. She mentions Kathryn
Noel, a next-door neighbor who died
six years ago, in her late nineties.
“She had lived in that house since
World War I,” says Diana. “Which
must mean it’s a very healthy block
indeed.”
“There are so many beautiful
buildings around here,” adds Diana.
“I did a lot of research in the Library
of Congress film library—I could just
plug in my computer—and I
thought I’d gone to Valhalla! Life is
more interesting now,” she muses,
sipping her drink. “I seem to enjoy
things more.”
Kathleen Donner
Kathleen Donner is excited; she’s
about to become a first-time homeowner.
Finally, she is able to purchase
the Victorian townhouse on
Third Street NE she has occupied for
a decade—records claim the house
was built in 1910, but most experts
believe the structure dates back to
the Civil War era.
“I’ve lived here like I owned it,”
she says. “I’ve been very comfortable.”
Kathleen shares the threestory
abode with two cats: Nick and
Henry. Purring, Nick climbs on my
lap as we sip champagne in the elegantly
furnished living room. Henry
settles with his mistress.
Donner, who grew up in West
Virginia, arrived in Washington in
1976 to attend George Washington
University. She later attended law
school but never took the bar exam.
From 1984 to1990 she lived on a
boat—a 55-foot classic mahogany
vessel, manufactured in 1929 by
Vineyard. It was docked at the
Columbia Island Marina in front of
the Pentagon, and Kathleen shared
the cramped quarters with her dog.
“I went from no space to three
floors,” she laughs.
Donner arrived on Capitol Hill
with her former boyfriend, Norris
Blanks, an Australian she met when
include a three-year stint in
Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
where her father, a Royal Air Force
officer, taught Polish soldiers to fly
airplanes. The Dickens moved to the
United States in 1957, when her
father was Defense Attaché for the
RAF.
Richard McLellan’s Hill roots
reach deep; his grandparents lived at
12th and C Streets, NE. Now 66, he
attended Gonzaga High School, “on
the edge of the Hill.” He met Diana
at the Paramount Steak House back
in 1958, when she was dating her
first husband. (During that brief
marriage, Diana lived in Georgetown
and had daughter, Fiona, who now
has three children of her own.)
Diana and Richard were married in
1961.
About that same time, Diana wa s
wo rking at The Washington St a r, peddling
classified ads and “being nice.”
She did a few freelance articles and
eve n t u a l ly inched her way up to th e
p ro m otion department, knock i n g
out direct mail pieces and wri t i n g
and producing radio and TV comm
e rcials. She became a re p o rter in
1969, “doing fe a t u res, interv i ews ,
a rtsy stuff and party cove rage for th e
old wo m e n’s section,” Diana wrote i n
her farewe l lWa s h i n g t o n i a n a rt i c l e .
Then editor Jim Bellows “dragged
me kicking and screaming into gossip.”
He also chose the moniker
“Ear” from a list of names Diana submitted.
When the Star folded in
1982, she took her nationally syndicated
column to The Washington
And What
B rought
You Here ?
Long Time Neighbors
On Why They Came,
and Why They Stay
Dick and Diana McLellan
www.voiceofthehill.com 7
she was chairman of the American
Mental Health Foundation Auction.
“I had read about Norris, who was a
financial backer for the Bombay
Club. I approached him about a
donation, and he asked me out!
(They were together about seven
years but have since parted company.
Norris returned to his native
Australia, leaving behind the lovely
furnishings.)
When the couple decided to share
living quarters, Norris, who had
always wanted to move to the Hill,
sold his home near American
University and approached William
Phillips, who owned the Third Street
house. (He had met Phillips through
Sandy McCall, a neighbor who ran
for the Ward 6 Council seat in 1997
with Donner as his campaign manager.)
“Buying this house is a big thing
to bite off,” says Donner, “but I
wanted to stay on the Hill!” Events
conspired to help her. First, her landlord
offered an excellent price, then
“Harriet Pressler [of ReMax Real
Estate] helped me find a tremendous
broker, William Slosberg, president
of Millennium Mortgage Bankers,
Inc. “When I have a problem, I ask
everybody I know and someone usually
comes up with a solution” she
confides. “In this case, it was
Harriet.”
“I think this is the best street on
the Hill,” Kathleen says. “It’s a short
walk to the Red Line [Union
Station], and not too far from the
Blue Line [Capitol South]. I’m close
to the Capitol, Supreme Court and
Hart Senate Office Building. And I
can sit on my porch and watch people
go by.... Since I’ve lived here, I
wouldn’t live anywhere else! You
have the feeling of a small
town, plus being two blocks
from the Capitol! You can’t
beat that combination. In the
most powerful city on earth, I
can practically toss a stone
into the Supreme Court!”
Best of all is the “million
dollar view” from the roof.
From there, the Capitol dome,
the Library of Congress and
other landmarks stretch
before her. “I drag everyone
up here unless they have a
doctor’s certificate,” Donner
laughs. “At sunset the sky is
red, and you see the light on
the Capitol when Congress is
in session.”
Not that it’s all Disneyland:
“Parking is miserable; that’s
why I gave up my car,” she
says. “I don’t need it. I take
cabs and Metro, and I can rent
a car on weekends.” Crime is a
minor issue: She used to never
lock her door, but that practice
changed when she found
an intruder crouched in her
dining room.
Kathleen is now working for
Mayor Anthony Williams on the
Youth Summit, planned for late
October. Previously, she was artistic
director for the Mayor’s Millennium
Washington. She’s also an accomplished
artist. Curiously, this ability
came out when Blanks, a hypnotherapist,
gave her a post-hypnotic
suggestion that she could paint and
sculpt. “He brought out my hidden
talent.” Within five days, she was
copying an enormous Cézanne still
life, which now hangs in her living
room. She also accepts commissions
to do children’s portraits. Several
paintings depicting Norris’ young
daughter adorn the dining area.
“I love the sounds and sights of
the city,” says Donner. “I’d never
dream of living anywhere else. You’d
have to drag me away!”
Jerry and Shirley Rosenberg
It’s a long journey from a shtetl in
Russia to Capitol Hill, something
Jerry and Shirley Rosenberg have
never taken for granted. For the past
quarter century, the couple (“we’ve
been married forever!”) have dwelled
in a three-story townhouse near
Fourth and Independence Avenue,
SE.
The adventure began near the turn
of the last century, when the
Rosenberg and Sirota (Shirley’s maiden
name) families fled Russian
pogroms and immigrated to the
United States. Jerry and Shirley met
and married in Brooklyn, and later
came to Washington where Jerry, an
engineer, accepted a position with
the Bureau of Standards.
The couple settled in an apar tment
near Columbia Heights, but
moved to the Maryland suburbs
when their two children—Jonathan
and Hindy—arrived. In Silver Spring,
they purchased their first house for
$16,300. Later, they moved to
Bethesda.
But once their offspring left home,
the couple yearned to resume city
life. “I was working at the
Smithsonian, for an esoteric section
dealing with population concerns,”
recalls Shirley, over coffee in her
upstairs home office, where she
writes and edits. “A colleague, who
moonlighted in real estate, knew we
were from the big city and didn’t
care for life in the suburbs. He said to
me, ‘I bet you would like Capitol
Hill.’ At first we were worried
because of rumors of crime, but we
fell in love with the Hill as soon as
we set foot here. It reminded us of
parts of Brooklyn. We decided, crime
be damned, we’ll just be careful!”
Buying the house was the easy
part. Once they moved in, they realized
their work had just begun. “It
was one of two houses built by
Abraham Lincoln’s secretary, right
after the Civil War,” says Shirley.
More recently, it had been a
Georgetown University Law School
fraternity—and it showed. “We
couldn’t strip a set of doors because
they were full of dart holes,” she
says, adding that the third level bore
a charred area where the kids had
built a fire in the middle of the floor.
There was also plenty of water
damage: One wall was oozing water
and, in various place, leaks had been
plastered over to hide them.
Furthermore, the house had no closets,
so they had to ins tall their own.
In the 19th century, people used
armoires. (The frat brothers, no
doubt, just used the floor.)
To fix all this, the Rosenberg’ s
brought in an architect, Milt
Shinberg, whose name is visible on
the downstairs bathroom wall—
which is artistically wallpapered
with Shinberg’s blueprints. He gave
the house a contemporary feel, with
a sunken living room and modern
furnishings, not at all Victorian.
“We love city life,” says Shirley.
“We don’t have to get in our car to
buy a can of tuna fish. I like our
neighbors; they are friendly but no t
intrusive. And they have interesting
jobs.”
Jerry also has praise for the
Metropolitan and Capitol Hill police
departments. He finds it easy to get
temporary parking permits for visitors,
and there’s almost always a
space for the couple’s single car.
“And, if we have a problem, the
police are at our door in 10 minutes,”
he adds.
“Trash collection is improving,
even though we have to bring our
garbage out front because the truc ks
are too big to get through the alley
in back. Metro, which didn’t exist
when we moved here in 1975, is a
bonus,” adds Jerry, who could walk
to his job at NASA, in Southwest.
(Now retired, he heads up NASA’s
alumni association.)
The Rosenbergs’ few complaints
about the neighborhood
deal with shopping. For
years they maintained a
kosher home. (Jerry,
whose father was a rabbi,
grew up Orthodox.) But,
as there are no kosher
stores anywhere near
Capitol Hill, such strict
observance became
“overwhelming.” Still,
the Rosenbergs adhere to
Jewish dietary laws as
much as possible,
eschewing pork and
shellfish and never mixing
meat and diary prod -
ucts.
The other Hill gripe: “I
wish all the vendors at
Eastern Market would
put prices on their
items,” says Shirley.
“There’s not a day
when I’m not thankful,”
says Shirley. “To live on
the Hill is extraordinary, considering
that our parents lived in a house
with dirt floors and a thatched roof.
What we appreciate is the freedom,
more so than the streets being paved
with gold. Especially voting, which
is still an extraordinary declaration.
I’m amazed at how far we have come
in just one generation. We were born
patriotic. When we walk around the
US Capitol and the Supreme Court,
we’re overcome.”
Freelance writer, Celeste McCall, is a
regular contributor to the Voiceof the
Hill.
Kathleen Donner
The Rosenbergs
8 www.voiceofthehill.com
show his range: Azdak in Caucasian
Chalk Circle, Dr. Stockman in An
Enemy of the People, Sir Toby Belch in
Twelfth Night, Grandpa in You Can’t
Take it With You and Willy Loman in
“Death of a Salesman. Five years ago,
BY STEPHANIE DEUTSCH
Robert Prosky says that when people
recognize him in hardware stores,
it’s usually because they remember
him as Sgt. Jablonski from TV’s “Hill
Street Blues” or as Robin Williams’
boss in the movie “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
Or else, he says, they think maybe
they bought a car from him in
Minneapolis.
A fan once told him “You look just
like yourself!” There is indeed an
everyman quality to Prosky’s looks—
his medium height and solid build,
wide, deeply creased face and white
hair—that has allowed him to play
everything from parts in silly sitcoms
to memorable performances of
Shakespeare, Brecht and Mamet.
In his forty-plus year career, Bob
Prosky has done “just about everything
an American actor can do” he
says. The commercials “paid for the
diapers for my sons” and the 23 seasons
as part of Arena S tage’s resident
company allowed him to lead a stable
life with his wife, Ida, and their
three boys here on Capitol Hill.
Prosky sees this as a real luxur y,
since so many actors live with con -
stant rejection, poor housing and a
closed circle of friends. An actor has
to create another human being and
it’s hard to do if he himself is not living
a full life. “I live in a community
and in a family, and that life enric hes
my work and my art,” he says.
The Proskys bought their first
house on Capitol Hill in 1961. Bob
had come to Washington to work at
Arena Stage, which was the fir st theater
to win a Ford Foundation g rant
for actors. As regional theaters were
flourishing across the country, Arena
formed a resident company with
actors assured of work for whole seasons.
“In those days you had no
understudies,” Prosky remembers
with a chuckle. “You had to be able
to get to the theater no matter
what.” He and Ida found someone
“crazy enough to give an actor a
mortgage,” put $1,000 down, and
bought their first house at 5th and E
SE. “I could walk to Arena from
there if I had to.”
Prosky played several parts each
season at Arena, a challenge that
stretched him and helped him g row
as an actor. His favorite roles there
American theater company to tour
the Soviet Union with two classic
American plays, Our Town and Inherit
the Wind. Performing his roles of the
Stage Manager in Our Town and
Matthew Brady in Inherit the Wind
on the stage at the Moscow Ar t
Theatre, where Stanislavsky and
Chekhov developed the style of acting
that so profoundly influenced
Americans, was a thrill for the actor.
The Russian reaction to the plays
was “tremendous” and their respect
for actors and the dramatic arts palpable.
On his return, Prosky says, “it
took my wife a couple of weeks
to get the great hero artist back to
earth.”
It’s hard for an American actor to
resist the lure of the movies, though.
Prosky says the versatility that is
such an asset in a resident stage company
is less in demand in movies
where directors can go out and find
just the type the want. Still, he has
appeared in thirty-five major motion
pictures and in 1997 the American
Film Institute at the Kennedy Center
ran a retrospective of them, such
films as Thief with James Caan, The
Natural with Robert Redford (in
which, according to his friend and
Hill neighbor Tom Kelly, Bob’s brief
appearance as the manager stole the
show), Broadcast News with William
Hurt and Albert Brooks and two
films written by David Mamet,
ThingsChange and Hoffa.
Prosky worked with Mamet in the
theater too, appearing on Broadway
in Glengary Glen Ross, the gritty play
about Chicago real estate salesmen
that won the actor a Tony Award
nomination in 1984, and won
Mamet a Pulitizer Prize the same
year. Bob won a second Tony nomination
for his work in Lee Blessing’s
A Walk in the Woods and returned
with that show to the Soviet Union.
The recognition Prosky earned
with Glengary Glen Ross led to television
and his well-known part in the
series Hill Street Blues. For three years,
in the mid 80s, Prosky played
Sergeant Jablonski.The character
was written as an Irish cop, but
Prosky made him Polish. “I did
research by talking to an uncle who
was a desk sergeant,” he explains.
Growing up in Philadelphia, an
only child in a big extended Polish
on a return visit to the theater, he
played the old furniture dealer in
Arthur Miller’s The Price. His performance
won him a Helen Hayes
award.
In 1972 Arena was the fir st
P ro f i l e
Yes, Yo u’ve Seen
Him Befo re, That’s
R o b e rt Pro s k y
www.voiceofthehill.com 9
family, Prosky was surrounded by
shopkeepers and factory workers.
No one went into the arts. Even
after happening into the part of the
Stage Manager in a high school production
of Our Town, Bob didn’t
think of acting as a possible career.
He majored in economics at Temple
University, then joined the Air Force
as the war in Korea began. His
father’s sudden death brought him
back to Philadelphia with a hardship
discharge to run the family grocery
store.
He took some parts in community
theater but was trying to concentrate
on business when he won a tel -
evision talent search.The prize was a
role in a play at the Bucks County
Playhouse working with Ezra Stone
and playing Walter Matthau’s brother.
Stone encouraged Prosky to get
training and helped him win a competitive
audition to the American
Theatre Wing in New York.
Although his work has taken him
all over the country and abroad,
Robert Prosky is still very much at
home on Capitol Hill. For a time he
owned a place in Los Angeles and
thought of moving there. “I finally
decided I didn’t really like California,”
Prosky admits, “though it
has had an effect on me.” His current
Capitol Hill house is quite typi -
cal of the neighborhood—except for
the swimming pool.
The actor says, his sons loved
growing up on Capitol Hill. They all
now live in cities and harbor, “a deep
prejudice against suburbia.” The
boys went to Capitol Hill Day
School, the Parkmont School and to
High School at Gonzaga. They spent
their summers in Cape May, New
Jersey, where Bob bought an old
house, “a Victorian monstrosity” as
he calls it, so they would have somewhere
to “roam and run and swim.”
His oldest son, Stefan, is a microbi -
ologist who is also pursuing an inter -
est in computer art. The younger
boys, John and Andrew, are both
actors who Prosky says “would kill”
for the kind of stable employment
he had for so many years at
Arena. This fall John will appear in a
3-part episode of “The Practice” and
Andy will be in a production of
“Inherit the Wind” at Ford’s Theatre
with James Whitmore. Also in that
cast will be his father.
Bob Prosky says he’s looking forward
to being in a play again, even
though he quips that he’s “getting
up there.” So far, he says, “nothing
has stopped me from working, for
which I am quite thankful.” Asked if
he has more trouble now learning
his lines, he says, “that part of the
work has always been like ditch digging,
but I can still do it.”
Stephanie Deutsch is a Capitol Hillbased
writer and frequent contributor to
the Voice of the Hill
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Prosky
researched his
Hill Street Blues
role by talking to
an uncle who
was a police
desk sergeant.
10 www.voiceofthehill.com
“It’s funny, going back home
now,” says Gillian Black, “there’s
this smallness to the old neighbor -
hood, like a familiarity.” Gillian used
to babysit me and my brother more
than ten years ago, when my family
lived on ‘C’ street southeast. On
this mid-summer day, we’re sitting
inside a trendy SoHo café. He offer s
a reflective smile (aside from a telltale
earring or two he looks just
the same as I remembered), “I
always feel possessive about the
Hill when I go back, like ‘hey,
this is my neighborhood!’
Although, you know, in some
ways it isn’t anymore, but in
other ways it always will be.”
These days, home for Gillian
Black is SoHo, a fashionable
neighborhood in downtown
Manhattan, but his parents
still live in the house in
which he was raised on East
Capitol Street. He is 27, a producer
at an internet advertising
company in New York
and well traveled. He has
lived in Capetown, South
Africa and most recently
Vancouver. But the topic
of our conversation this
afternoon is the old
neighborhood. “Capitol
Hill is an insular
environment,”
he says,
“I’ve kept
in touch
with my
friends
from the
Hill, and
not so
much with
my friends
from high
school.”
Indeed, he
is still close
with two of his neighborhood pals,
Russell Agle and Kristin Bedford,
both of whom live and work in New
York. “Places like St. Mark’s, the
BY NOAH LEON DEUTSCH
The streets of Park Slope in Brooklyn
are lined with venerable brownstones
and tall, leafy trees. Children
swarm everywhere, leaping over the
uneven sidewalks, their shriek s
echoing off the
façades of empty schoolhouses.
They don’t notice me as I pass
through their summer mischief.
But I notice them, and their games
make me think for a moment
about my childhood and the
place in which I grew up, a neighborhood
not unlike this one. I
loved growing up on Capitol Hill.
Could I grow to love this neighborhood?
It is a fine day in midsummer,
I am 22-years-old, and I am hunting
for an apartment.
impression. In fifth grade Ben’s bicycle
was stolen from school. By the
time he got home his friends’ par -
ents had all heard about it and
phoned his mother, “That’s the Hill
for you,” he explains. “It’s like ‘This
is our neighborhood and we look out
for our neighbors.” For Ben, the posi -
tive aspects of a swift parental
response to a troubling incident far
outweighed the negative of having
his bike lifted as he looked back with
the perspective that only comes with
age.
If there is a difficult time for kids
who grow up and go to school on
Capitol Hill, it is moving on to high
school. “High school was a difficult
transition,” says Gittenstein, “When
I left the neighborhood for school, I
discovered that I didn’t know anybody.
When I did make friends I certainly
didn’t know their parents very
well. Nobody walked home from
Georgetown Day.”
Holly O’Donnell, who’s now 25,
echos Ben’s comments. She went to
Peabody Elementary School, then
Burgundy Farms, and finally Maret.
“It was a shock for me when I went
to Maret. I remember telling one girl
that I lived on Capitol Hill. Her
immediate reaction was, ‘People live
down by the monuments?’ It wasn’t
always easy, but now I am so glad
that I grew up here.”
O’Donnell graduated from Brown
three years ago but decided to come
back to the Hill. She works for the
Department of Education, and lives
in the house in which she grew up.
“I really realized that my experiences
were unique when I came back here
after school,” she says,” I realized
how much I enjoyed being from
somewhere different.”
What made the Hill different?
O’Donnell describes simple pleasures
that might be found in any
small town, “Soccer on the Hill. I
remember playing Soccer on the Hill
and it was like an incredibly diverse
group of kids. It’s something my
friends from high school didn’t
experience. The Eastern Market, of
Eastern Market, these are places I still
go whenever I’m home.” He pauses.
“I think growing up on the Hill has
made me put more emphasis on
community as I make my home elsewhere.”
What I notice in talking with
Gillian is the same thing that I have
noticed in my own thoughts while
apartment hunting in Brooklyn: the
community leaves its mark on the
people who grow up there. Being
raised on the Hill affects the way we,
as young people, approach our adult
lives, “The Hill is a special place,”
Black says, “It’s an Oasis, a small
town in the middle of a big city. I
think when you grow up in a place
like that you naturally seek out other
special and unique places.”
The young people I know who
were raised on the Hill are proud of
where they grew up because of its
uniqueness. My closest friend from
the neighborhood, Ben Gittenstein,
lived on the corner of seventh and
East Capitol but went to high school
in Northwest, “My classmates in
high school, they never understood
where I came from,” he tells me,
“they all lived in Northwest, Chevy
Chase, Bethesda. They could never
grasp the environment. Capitol Hill
was more urban, a little more g ritty.”
Ben recalls walking or riding his
bike home from Capitol Hill Day
School every afternoon with his
friends. The ritual left an impression
on him: One by one, kids would peel
off and head for their respective
houses. The journey home from
school introduced them to the simple
landscape of the neighborhood:
the parks, corner stores, busy streets
and those less traveled. Valuable
knowledge for any child, in any
neighborhood. Yet Ben and his
friends would also pass by remarkable
landmarks of national significance:
the Capitol, the Library of
Congress. This daily ritual reinforced
the physical uniqueness of this community.
The very neighborliness of the
neighborhood also left a powerful
A Generation Ta kes Wi n g
To Park Slope, Capetown, and Home Again
Author Noah Deutsch then (above at
left with his family) and now.
www.voiceofthehill.com 11
course. The Natatorium,” she laughs,
“I’m trying to bring back the popularity
of the Natatorium.”
Of course, there are some pleas -
ures that can be found nowhere else
in the world but here on the Hill.
The uniqueness of the neighborhood,
the fact that there is truly no
place like it in DC, is something that
requires some perspective to appreciate.
Katy Kelly grew up on
Constitution Avenue, and her parents
still live there. But twelve years
ago she moved to Chevy Chase
where she and her husband are raising
their two girls. Kelly has fond
memories of her childhood, “Oh, we
would play pick-up soccer on the
Library of Congress Lawn and the
Capitol Lawn” she tells me.
“Sometimes we’d go to the Senate
and photograph senators. It was like
a playground.” Kids have no sense of
politics or the inner workings of the
government. To them, these hallowed
institutions are little more
than grandiose amusement parks
that offer the tantalizing prospect of
fantasy.
When I press Katy about the differences
she sees raising kids in
Northwest she confides, “My kids
don’t have that appreciation of
the historical Washington
and that’s a shame. It was
really a luxury for us and we didn’t
realize it. My kids won’t work at
Grubb’s like my sisters and I all did.
The Hill experiences you have growing
up are experiences that you
don’t get anywhere else.”
These days, it is precisely this
sense of uniqueness and community
that is attracting young families back
to Capitol Hill to raise kids. Back
when I was growing up, it was not
unusual for a family to uproot and
relocate to the suburbs once their
kids reached a certain age. There
were negative perceptions of the
public schools, and a fearfulness
(largely unfounded) about crime in
the neighborhood. Now many people
perceive a change.
“We do get the sense that more
and more families are choosing to
move here and to stay here,” says
Geoffrey Brown, who moved to the
Hill with his wife Suzanne five years
ago. The couple is now raising two
young children. Brown should
know. He will soon become president
of the Little Scholars Child
Development Center at the Library
of Congress, in addition to his job as
assistant to a senator. “I sense a baby
boom going on on the Hill,” he tells
me. “The wait list at the daycare center
has increased dramatically.”
I ask the Browns what they find
most appealing about Capitol Hill as
a place to raise their children, a 3-
year-old son and a 3-month-old
daughter. “There are a lot of families
here,” says Suzanne, “my husband
can walk to work. Having things
close by, it’s important. We found a
nice community here. That closeness
is worth more than a big house
with a big yard and a pool.”
“Our kids will have a sense of
independence,” says Geoffrey. “I
think that’s important.”
Something in Geoffrey Brown’s
words struck me. Independence. It
was interesting to hear him say that
word about his kids, who are still
too young to even understand it.
Only now am I truly coming to
know the meaning of the word, as
I begin to search for a place to call
my home. I think that I am better
prepared to handle that challenge
because of where I grew up. The
Hill community is independent.
It’s like an island in the midst of
a larger urban sea. People do
“live down by the
monuments,”
thank you very
much.
At the same
time, the word
community
connotes a
measure of
dependence, for
in a community
people come to
depend on their
friends and neighbors
for support and strength.
People on the Hill count on each
other to maintain the ebullience of
the neighborhood and support one
another in times of need. As mem -
bers of such a community we all
have a responsibility to perpetuate
those things that make it a special
place. Without this feeling, Capitol
Hill would cease to be, indeed it
would never have become, the
neighborhood I love.
Noah Leon Deutsch is the son of
Stephanie and David Deutsch
(Stephanie profiles Bob Prosky in this
issue of the Voice).
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Gillian Black…then and now.
12 www.voiceofthehill.com
The Oehler-O’Donnell
Urban Quintet
Susan Oehler and Mark O’Donnell
can tell you all about raising kids on
the Hill—from cradle to college.
Their five children range in age from
Emily, an 18-year-old who just began
her freshman year at Cornell, to
Fiona, who’s 22-months-old and
takes part in the playgroup run by
the Capitol Hill Nursery Co-op. In
between are John, a junior at
Gonzaga College High School, Luke,
an eighth grader at Stuart-Hobson
Middle School, and Dora, who’s in
the first grade at the Watkins
Campus of the Capitol Hill Cluster
Schools.
Susan and Mark both hail from
the suburbs but moved to the Hill as
young marrieds because they wanted
“a different kind of experience—an
urban experience,” says Susan. Mark
was at Catholic Law School at the
time, so it was a convenient area. As
their family grew, the couple simply
moved to bigger apartments in the
same building in the 1300 block of
Massachusetts Ave., SE, until eventually
they bought the whole house in
1988.
They landed on a good block.
“We’re the last block of Mass. Ave. in
the historic district. We have St.
Monica’s church there, and more
green space than most blocks,” says
Susan. But there was a time when
the couple wondered whether they
could send their kids to the public
schools.
“Growing up in the area, both
Mark and I were used to hearing so
many bad things about DC Public
Schools,” says Susan. But people
who were at the forefront of a movement
to improve those schools surrounded
them. “My neighbors, like
Mary Mattioli-Donovan, Cathy
Pfeiffer, and Sharon Raimo took a
communal view of the neighborhood
and just demanded that the
schools be improved.”
The work of these women (and so
many others) resulted in the creation
of the Capitol Hill Cluster
Schools. Two of the O’Donnell chil -
dren are Cluster School grads and
two more are currently enrolled.
“Our children have had very good
educational experiences in the pub -
lic schools,” says Susan. Her two oldest
were accepted into very competitive
high schools—Sidwell Friends
and Gonzaga—and, as mentioned
previously, Emily is attending Ivy
League Cornell.
Susan allows that parent involvement
is key to making the public
schools work for your children: “You
have to stay active and be an advocate
for your child.”
The benefits of urban living for
the O’Donnell family are numerous.
They like the fact that it ’s not a real
car-driven area; the kids walk to and
from school when they’re old
enough, or bike, and often take the
bus and Metro.
Susan delights in living in the old
federal city. “Sometimes I think how
amazing it is that we’re living here in
L’Enfant’s original city—that we’re
enjoying and living the benefits of
his planning.” Luke has a real love
of architecture, nurtured by his participation
in Stuart-Hobson’s City
Vision program, and Susan’s sure it
stems from being surrounded by
such magnificent buildings.
They also appreciate the diversity
of the Hill’s population, though
Susan says, “I worry about the housing
prices going up again…We’ve
lost some older neighbors who were
in rental properties. Now, with plans
for some expensive condominiums
going into Bryant School, I don’t
know how that’s going to change
the neighborhood.”
Despite being real city-dwellers,
the O’Donnell kids are no strangers
to nature. The family station wagon
is notorious for the two canoes usually
slung atop it, trappings of a fam -
From C r a d l e to
C o l l e g e o n
C a p i tol Hill
BY PAT TY CURRAN Many long-time residents
know Capitol
Hill is a great place
to raise a family.
But while some couples
start their families on the Hill, once
their children reach school age they
relocate to the suburbs or other parts of
the city. But that could be changing.
The waiting lists at area schools are growing,
our sidewalks are clogged with
strollers, and just last March,
Washingtonian magazine named Capitol
Hill as one of their “best places to live.” It
seems family life on the Hill has
been reinvigorated. I talked with two
families about raising children on the
Hill—one who committed to the area
quite a while ago and one who has gone
to considerable lengths to ensure that
their kids grow up on Capitol Hill.
www.voiceofthehill.com 13
ily active in Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts. Mark has been in leadership
positions in Boy Scout Troop 500 for
years, and Emily has participated in
Girl Scouts. “Scouting has been a
really great way to get the kids out of
the city and into nature,” says Susan.
In addition to scouting, the
O’Donnells participate in Soccer On
The Hill and there’s been anywhere
between one and three O’Donnell
children competing on the Cheverly
Swim & Racquet Club’s swim team
since Emily, the oldest, turned six.
Susan says one of the benefits of programs
like these is that they offer
Hill kids an opportunity to continue
friendships established in parks,
playgroups, and preschools even if
the kids go separate ways once they
reach school age.
Asked what, if anything, the Hill is
missing, Susan decries the absence of
quality public libraries, especially
those of the caliber children need
when they reach high school. She
envies the vast, new facilities in
northern Virginia, where she has
family, but also concedes that the
Hill branch libraries do a good job
for the smaller set.
What keeps the O’Donnells on
Capitol Hill? “The great beauty and
the real sense of community—we
feel very connected to the people
here. We feel very lucky to live here,”
says Susan.
Keeping Up with the
Johnsons
The “C” word comes up often when
talking with Amy and Kim Johnson.
They’re active members of the
Washington Community Fellowship
church, where one of their daugh -
ters attends the Cornerstone
Community School. Amy runs a
tutorial and mentoring program
called the Neighborhood Learning
Center whose mission is to ser ve kids
in the community from kindergarten
to 12th grade. And if you ask
the Johnsons why they are raising a
family on Capitol Hill, their answer
is that they love—you guessed it—
the community.
Amy has been on Capitol Hill
since she landed here as a college
intern in the early eighties. She met
her husband, Annapolis native Kim,
at church and they have three
adorable daughters: Erica, 7, Olivia,
5, and Angela, 3. The Johnsons have
lived all over the Northeast side of
Capitol Hill, from a “delightful but
noisy” house on 15th Street near
Miner Elementary to various locations
around Lincoln Park. There
were good things about all those
places, they say, but they feel most at
home in Stanton Park where they
currently live. “It’s much quieter and
more family-oriented—the kids can
play out on the sidewalk and there’s
lots of families just around the cor -
ner on Lexington Place,” says Amy.
Sure that Stanton Park is the place
for them, the Johnsons started house
hunting about two years ago. “We
were picky in the beginning,” says
Amy. Neither they nor their realtor
could have predicted that Capitol
Hill real estate was on the cusp of an
explosion. “We’d go out with our
realtor every month or so and suddenly,
from one month to the next,
prices had jumped by $20,000—and
then another $20,000 soon after
that,” says Kim. The couple looked
in other communities like Brookland
but, Amy says, “our whole life was
on Capitol Hill.”
Deliverance came when Amy saw
an ad announcing that the DC
Homestead Program was giving away
68 abandoned houses in a lotter y.
She’d seen such ads before, but this
time several properties in Lincoln
and Stanton Parks were listed. “Our
phone started ringing off the hook
with our friends saying, ‘You’ve got
to do this!’ Even our realtor encour -
aged us to apply,” says Amy, who
added that she and Kim are not the
fixer-upper types and that she is
challenged to even put together an
Ikea bookcase. (For the record, Kim
says he’s not as bad as all that and
does know what to do with a hammer.)
With a fair amount of trepidation,
the Johnsons applied to the pr ogram,
indicating which properties
were their first, second, and third
choices. Soon they heard they were
approved and assigned a lottery
number. The lottery was held in the
Lincoln Theater on U St. There were
so many people the Johnsons
couldn’t get in the door and were
stuck in a line that snaked complete -
ly around the block. They almost
went home, but then the line started
moving and they got into the building
just as the properties they were
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Two-sevenths of the O’Donnell family:
14-year-old Luke and 6-year-old Dora.
Angela,Mom Amy, Erica,Olivia and Dad Kim: The Johnsons
14 www.voiceofthehill.com
they have architectural plans, and
are weighing bids from local contractors
and shopping for construction
loans. “The program is really set up
to help you succeed in renovating
these houses,” says Kim, so it’s not a
matter of if, but when.
Clearly, the couple is willing to go
to great lengths to make their home
on Capitol Hill. Amy says diversity is
a large part of the reason. “The definition
of a city allows for more diversity,
and that’s very important for us
as an inter-racial couple.” The
Johnsons will send their third child
to the School-Within-A-School
interested in were being distributed.
Their third choice house came up—
but their number didn’t. Same for
their second choice. Their last
chance, the house they wanted
most, was announced—and much to
their shock and surprise, theirs was
the winning number. “I didn’t know
whether to laugh or cry,” says Kim.
“I’m thinking, ‘this house needs to
be gutted! What have I gotten myself
into?!’ ”
For the price of $250, the
Johnsons became the proud owners
of an abandoned house on the 600
block of 5th St. NE. One year later,
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What keeps the O’Donnells on
C a p i tol Hill? “The great beauty and
the real sense of community—we
feel ve ry connected to the people
h e re. We feel ve ry lucky to live
h e re .”
www.voiceofthehill.com 15
Charter at Peabody next fall; Erica’s
an alum and Olivia is cur rently in
her second year there.
“One of the many things we like
about the program at Peabody is its
diversity,” says Amy, who agreed
with Kim on the impor tance of their
children attending school with children
from a variety of socio-economic
backgrounds. But the Johnson’s,
like the Oehler-O’Donnell’s, worry
that this kind of built-in diversity
could be at risk as housing prices on
Capitol Hill continue to escalate and
the inventory of rental properties
shrinks.
Other things the Johnsons love
about raising a family on Capitol
Hill? Amy and Kim have a growing
list: “I love that we can throw the
kids in the wagon and walk to the
fireworks on the Fourth of July. I
love riding our bikes to the Mall to
visit the elephant at Natural His tory
and ride the merry-go-round. We
love to play in Stanton Park and at
the playground at Peabody.”
On a recent visit to her home state
of Indiana, Amy discerned another
benefit of city living. At her sister ’s
suburban house the kids were free to
run around in the big back yard and
play with little adult supervision.
But after awhile, her daughters started
asking Amy and Kim to come outside
and play. “They missed playing
with us. Living in the city means
taking your kids to the park—and
that means you take the time to play
and interact with them more than
you would if you just sent them out
the back door.”
Asked what aspects of family life
could be improved on the Hill, Amy
and Kim both voiced concern that
extracurricular activities for kids—
like dance lessons and art programs
—need to be more affordable.
Kim says he wishes the city had
more recreation centers that subsidized
children’s activities, like the
ones he remembers from his years as
an Arlington resident.
Amy adds that if family life is to
thrive and grow on the Hill, planners
need to develop destinations
that attract people of all ages—not
just teenagers or adults. She’s keeping
her eye on the H Street cor ridor
in hopes that some family-friendly
destinations will crop up as the area
slowly becomes revitalized. That
might take some time, but then, the
Johnsons are here to stay.
Patty Curran is the Voice of the Hill’s
Capital Kid’s Editor
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everywhere, doing what needs to be
done. Talk about cups of sugar and
garden hoses.
The best thing, of course, is to
hear from the recipients. Here is
Elizabeth Nelson, from the Nor th
Lincoln Park Neighborhood
Association:
“Every June, we have a campout
on Kingman Field for kids who otherwise
wouldn’t get to camp out. We
have about 150 kids with adult chaperones
and we set up tents and do
campout stuff. We have arts, crafts,
sack races, relay races, and kickball.
Staff from Kenilworth Aquatic
Gardens come over with microscopes
and some astronomers from
the Capital
Area
Astronomers
bring their
telescopes.
In the
evening, we
“Neighbors helping neighbors” is
how Nicky Cymrot describes the
CHAMPS Community Foundation.
She’s the president of it and has been
for a couple of years. Maybe her
description makes you think of the
time you borrowed a cup of sugar for
a last-minute recipe, or a garden
hose for that transplanted azalea, or
when you dug out your old vaporizer
after your neighbor’s two-year-old
started barking like a seal pup. If so,
you’ve got the spirit all right, but
you’re thinking small. Think larger.
Not giant, but definitely larger.
Nicky will happily tell you that the
Foundation expects to give out
$100,000 in grants this year. They
want to do even more next year.
Who gets the grants? “We’re looking
for groups and organizations
who have the energy and vision to
help the Hill community,” says
Nicky. “We require, of course, a presence
on and commitment to the
Hill, whether through beautification,
literacy programs, the arts, or
children’s projects. Our favorite proposals
are ones that leverage a lot of
community energy and effort.”
Here are some of the people and
projects they’ve supported so far this
year:
• Watkins After School
Enrichment Program.
• Rosetta Brooks, St. Mark’s Dance,
for a program with Brent School
children.
• Stuart Hobson Middle School,
Music Department, for the creation
of an original musical.
• The Shakespeare Theatre,
Southeast Project, for an after school
program.
• Capitol Hill Child Development
Center, for a summer camp program.
• Tyler Elementary School, to pay
expenses for an annual reading
sleepover for 125 children.
• Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, for a
seven-week music program in
Lincoln Park.
There’s always more to projects
than the people and ideas: you’ve
gotta have stuff. Consider the following,
highly concrete items the
Foundation grants have helped provide
this year:
• An air-conditioning unit for the
Capitol Hill Cooperative Nursery
School.
• Tools and plants for the Watkins
Living Schoolyard Project.
• Van rental for summer camp at
The Neighborhood Learning Center.
• A projection system for Films on
the Hill at the Capitol Hill Arts
Workshop.
• Lighting equipment for the St.
Mark’s Players.
• Ten trees for Trees for Capitol
Hill.
This is not even half the list, but
you should be getting the picture by
now: the CHAMPS Foundation is
the Foundation were very trusting of
us. They know us and have confidence
in how we will use the money
they give us.”
Dia Michael is a twenty-year Hill
resident, writer, and mother of
three. When her children started
school, she saw the need for an afterschool
enrichment program. Ms.
Michael, being neither shy nor retiring,
started one. Today, the Watkins
After School Enrichment Program
has between 150 and 200 children
enrolled, with eighteen paid teachers.
They offer classes in everything
from structural engineering to
Shakespeare. “We couldn’t have
done it without the support of the
CHAMPS Community Foundation,”
she says. “Their support meant we
could pay the teachers with minimal
cost to the students’ families, and
paid teachers means accountability.”
She sees more to the g rants than just
money: “The grants from the
Foundation are an acknowledgement
that our program is valuable to
the community as a whole. We knew
we were doing good work, but the
CHAMPS Foundation has made us
bigger by making us part of the fabric
of the community.”
The CHAMPS Foundation was
formed in 1989 as the charitable arm
of the Capitol Hill Association of
Merchants and Professionals. Steve
Cymrot, Nicky’s husband and the
Foundation’s first president, says,
“the organization wanted to expand
its role in the community, just as
other corporations do. The
Foundation was a way to have
CHAMPS perceived as an entity that
cared about the community as a
whole—which happened to be
true—and to encourage businesses
to give.”
The grant budget was originally
funded from a dues checkoff for each
member. They started with $5,000.
“In the early days, when it was just a
business group,” Steve says, “people
really did see the impact.” They also
began to recognize the extent of the
need, and the program kept growing.
Eventually CHAMPS opened the
doors to support from residents—
”civilians” as Steve puts it with his
wry grin. “It was then that we truly
became a community Foundation.”
The Hill community quickly
caught the Foundation spirit: by the
time five years had passed, they had
reached the $100,000 mark in total
awards, and as many residents as
business people were serving on the
board of directors. Contributions
have grown so that now, six years
later, it hopes to award that amount
in a single year.
The CHAMPS Community
Foundation currently administers
two levels of grant. Regular grants of
up to $1,500 are awarded twice each
year: at the end of May and the midhave
a campfire, and roast marshmallows
and have skits—everything
you do when you go on a campout.
And we couldn’t do it without the
financial support of the CHAMPS
Community Foundation. They’re
our major cash donor. Their support
helps us pull everything together.”
Louise Chapman is a Hill resident
who teaches four and five year-olds
at Peabody School: “We had organized
a work day with Hands On DC,
a program that provides volunteers
to do clean-up, painting, landscaping,
and that sort of thing. The
CHAMPS Community Foundation
gave us a mini-grant so we could buy
paintbrushes, polyurethane, and
lunch for
the fifty or
so people
who came to
work that
day. The
people at
N e i g h b o r s
H e l p i n g
N e i g h b o r s
The CHAMPS Foundation
is everywhere, doing
what needs to be done.
BY GENE MIL LER
www.voiceofthehill.com 17
dle of November. The deadline for
applying for November 2000 grants
is October 13. (See sidebar.)
The second kind of grant is a minigrant
of up to $250. The Foundation
awards these at any time, and with
little red tape. Mini-grants are sometimes
used to help facilitate other,
larger projects. As often, they’re used
for mini-needs, which can sometimes
be as hard to finance as a new
van. In the past, the Foundation has
paid for orange hats for a senior citizen
patrol, supplies for community
garden projects, even books for students
when the public school system
has been tardy with shipments.
The largest of the Foundation’s
grants is the annual Arnold Keller, Jr.
Award. Named for Dr. Arnold Keller,
pastor emeritus at Lutheran Church
of the Reformation. This award is for
$7,500 and was made, this past year,
to the Friends of Tyler School to help
them with the purchase of a property
for their permanent home.
The Foundation, of course, has to
bring money in to be able to give it
away, and here is how they do it.
Each year, they host a black-tie
dinner at the Folger Shakespeare
Library to honor three people who
have made Capitol Hill a better place
to live and work. This year’s recipients
of the Capitol Hill Community
Achievement Award were Bruce
Brennan, Robbi Scharfe, and
Michael Kahn. The dinner, which
sells out almost before the invitations
go in the mail, brings in $60-
70,000.
There is also a mail subscription
drive in the fall, coordinated this
year by board member Susan
Eubank. “Giving to the CHAMPS
Community Foundation,” she says,
“provides a terrific opportunity to
support activities across the Hill
with one check.”
A point of particular pride is that
the Foundation uses all of its monies
for grants. “Not one dollar of any
contribution is used for overhead, “
says Nicky. “Every dollar given is
returned to the community in
grants. There are no salaries, and all
of the modest administrative
expenses of the Foundation are paid
for by CHAMPS members.”
“Board members volunteer their
time,” adds Stephanie Deutsch, a
member of the board who administers
the grant-processing end of
things. [Yes, this is the same
Stephanie Deutsch who interviews
Bob Prosky in this issue]. “We get
anywhere from forty to fifty applications
for regular grants each session
and reviewing them takes a lot of
time. Although we often know the
groups who are applying and what
they are doing, we still phone or visit
to make sure we have a good idea of
what a project looks like. The hardest
part is saying ‘No.’”
Indeed, if any words can sum up
the energy, dedication and resourcefulness
of the CHAMPS Foundation’s
board and supporters, it is that last
sentence: The hardest part is saying
“No.”
Gene Miller is the Voice of the Hill’s
Religion editor
Let Thom put a S O L D
sign on your house.
Thom Burn s Thom Burn s
Serving Capitol Hill for 22 years and counting.
202 547-5805 Office
202 543-5616 Home REALTYPROS
If you want to get on the CHAMPS Foundation
mailing list in time for the October 2000 subscription
drive, call Nicky Cymrot at 544-1925
or Steve Daniels at 544-0495.
If you want to apply for a CHAMPS
Community Foundation grant for your organization,
please call Stephanie Deutsch at 547-
8624 for an application. The deadline for the
Fall awards is October 13, 2000.
Awards of mini-grants are made throughout
the year and may be applied for at any time.
Contact Stephanie Deutsch at 547-8624.
Grant proposals for the next Arnold Keller
Award are due January 5, 2001. Further information
on the nominating process is also
available from Stephanie Deutsch at 547-8624.
Dear Judith:
We want to put down brick in our back yard. We
know you hate brick, but do you have any suggestions?
D O R O T H Y
Dear Dorothy:
I don’t hate brick: I have used it with great pleasure
on a number of buildings! I just hate it as a default
material, (when in doubt make it brick), and its
abuse: like when it’s used to embed parts of our historic
fences, installed over our historic concrete
front walks, and set on top of historic cast iron
stairs. There are many appropriate uses for brick,
and ways to use it well. A stroll in our neighborhood
will illustrate good and bad applications!
Now, for your backyard. I think brick paving for
back yards is a very appropriate use of brick. We
know very little about what our backyards were like
in the nineteenth century but suspect, from what
we know about the nineteenth century generally,
that they were service yards, possibly with coal
stored in them.
They would have been used for laundry and possibly
other heavy-duty outdoor activities in warm
weather: slaughtering pigs, rendering fat. Just kidding
about the pigs and fat. We were, however, an
urban neighborhood that included slaughterhouses,
but not in our backyards.
A few of our older houses would have included an
outhouse, but by the time most of our houses were
built, in the 1880s and 90s, they were built with
indoor plumbing. The people who lived in our
houses in the nineteenth century did little bar-bcueing
on gas grills or dining alfresco.
What the above means is that we, today, use our
backyards very differently from how they were used
in the nineteenth century, so it is appropriate for us
to use them in ways convenient to us.
Had our nineteenth century predecessors paved
their back service yards, I suspect they would probably
have used brick.
You have several installation choices. You can
put down that anti-weed fabric, then four inches or
so of sand, then lay the brick in a pattern of your
choice. You should lay out your paving so that you
have a very small slope away from your house. I like
this method because the assembly is permeable:
some part of the rain that falls on your yard will end
up in the aquifer instead of Blue Plains.
The disadvantage is that tree roots and freezethaw
action will likely heave parts of the paving in
time. But the heaved parts are relatively easy to fix.
You pick up the bricks in the uneven area, hack savagely
at the intruding roots, re-establish grades, and
re-lay the brick.
The more expensive, less env i ro n m e n ta l ly
friendly, and more permanent method is to cast a
concrete slab to lay your brick on. Or, if you have a
concrete slab in your backyard, you can just lay
brick over the slab. I would still lay the bricks loose
and dust sand into the joints.
You didn’t ask for advice on the layout, but I’m
going to give it to you anyway. Ninety-eight out of
a hundred people lay out their backyards as a paved
area in the middle with narrow bands of planting
around the three sides not occupied by the house.
So here we are, living in narrow row houses creating
outdoor patios that are not even the full width of
the lot.
I say, “Think about it first!” You could create an
outdoor room with plants becoming some of the
furniture. Just brick the entire yard and then lift up
18 www.voiceofthehill.com
Ask Judith
sections wher ever you choose to plant trees, topiary,
shrubs, or whatever you want. You could plant
a real future shade tree in the middle of the space,
brick the rest and eventually have a green canopy to
eat or loll under.
www.voiceofthehill.com 19
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If you really want to preserve planting space, why
restrict yourself to narrow strips? Why not give
yourself a real area to plant at the back…?
Judith Capen, AIA, practicing restoration architect, is
the author of many of the Capitol Hill Restoration
Society’s award-winning guidelines for work on Capitol
Hill homes.
BY DUNCAN SPENCER There’s a vicious little water fight going on
at the river edge of Capitol Hill. The US
Park Service is attempting to shut down
the city’s only large marina on M Street SE
in the name of all the nice things we
want—clean water, no pollution, safety, etc. etc.
Boat owners, of course, are up in arms. They have
no place to go with their boats. The Anacostia
Marina, run for the past 16 years under contract
with the Park Service, has been their standby. No
other place in the city can repair a blown out diesel
marine engine, replace a prop shaft, replank a bottom,
or refasten a hull.
Phil Yunger, an Anacostia River boat owner, has
organized a rump group to fight the ouster, and he’s
gained support from at least two important wateroriented
members of Congress, Reps. Robert W.
Ney (R-Ohio) and Randy (Duke) Cunningham (RCalif.)
The Park Service, in the person of John Hale,
superintendent of National Capital Parks East, has
decreed that the narrow strip of land between the
grimy CSX railway right of way and the river, the
place now occupied by Anacostia Marina’s sheds,
concrete apron, engine repair shop, office and parts
storage area, is a “park,” and all the machinery,
welding tanks, grinders, and painting gear are a
menace to “park visitors.”
Hale, who with his predecessors has allowed the
Anacostia Marina to operate for decades, has now
decided the place is unsafe and in violation. All
boats out by the end of September, he has decreed.
No more wo rk to be underta ken. They’ve eve n
broadcast plans to weld a barrier across the 50-ton
boatlift, effectively trapping those luckless boats
which are still under repair onshore.
The fight has reached to Mayor Tony Williams’
office, and the Mayor, a well-known lover of the
Anacostia River, heard conflicting stories during
meetings this month.
Ney, deputy whip of the House and a boat owner
himself (though not at the Anacostia Marina) has
asked a 180-day cool off and negotiation period.
What Hale wants after 16 years, is “cleanup.”
How long will it take? Spokesperson Janet Braxton
has no idea, except to state the non sequitur that
cleanup cannot occur if the boatyard remains open.
But put that all aside, Voice reader. Go down to
the end of M Street yourself and check out how
National Capital Parks East takes care of its own territory
—the west bank of the Anacostia outside the
marina and the three tiny boat clubs which live a
tenuous existence as tenants at NPS sufferance.
You will find a hobo jungle. You will find
u n ch e cked dumping, piles of refuse, a rot t i n g
wilderness of undergrowth, discarded mattresses,
filth and disorder. This is Hale’s “Park.”
This is a place where the first strong northwesterly
gale each fall brings down large limbs fro m
decayed weed trees, untouched for decades. This is
a place where junkies come to shoot up, where
thieves dump cars, where shade tree mechanics
change their oil by slopping it on the ground,
where no cleanup in memory has taken place.
This is their “park,” and it is the shame of the
Park Service clear from 11th Street to the rusty railroad
bridge where an open drain brings unspeakable
refuse including needles, medical waste and
other things directly from DC General Hospital.
Why then, with the open sore which is the west
bank of the Anacostia to deal with, has John Hale
pounced on a Marina, a place where a certain disorder
is nearly impossible to avoid and, given the
nature of the industry, is supposed to occur?
A marina, with its greasy cables and swe a t y
mechanics and pounding of metal and whine of
gears is no arboretum, no botanical garden. It is
what it is, a place where difficult work is done far
from white shirts and the air conditioned, golfcourse-
view offices of National Capital Parks East
headquarters at Hains Point.
The Park Service has feuded for years with the
operator of the Marina, Tom Long, a stubborn oldstyle
marina operator and a man who hates paperwork
and regulations. He’s clashed often with NPS,
but he’s adapted to new ways, installing pollution
shields under wo rk areas, ri g o ro u s ly preve n t i n g
“point source” pollution, and getting rid of many
of the hopeless wrecks that a transient DC population
parks at his yard and then abandons.
Long’s marina is messy, but it’s an oasis of order
and safety beside Hale’s jungle and dump s i t e
“ p a rk.” And as to pollution, the idea that th e
Marina is dirtying the waters of the Anacostia is a
huge joke — the filth comes from 19 combined
sewer/storm drain outfalls six feet in diameter that
Congress has been unwilling to replace because of
the large cost. The outfalls remain outside the law
in defiance of the 1972 Clean Water Act under a
consent decree.
What is the Park Service response? Hale this summer
ordered WASA, the Washington Area Sewer
Authority, to spend thousands replacing the signs
marking these outfalls to match the brown and
white colors NPS prefers on its signs. What do the
signs say? “Warning. Pollution may occur.”
But there’s more. The Park Service is nervous,
insiders say, because developers are eyeing nearby
p ri vate pro p e rt y, like the Wa s h i n g ton Gas Co.
acreage on M Street where an office and hotel complex
is now under construction. Developers were
told their leasehold was next to a park. N ow they
have seen the “Park” and they wonder what NPS
has been doing for the past decades. They wonder
why the west bank is a dumpsite.
20 www.voiceofthehill.com
Spencer Says
Eggs-traordinary
Capons • Turkeys •
Ducks • Cornish Hens
Eggs-traordinary
Capons • Turkeys •
Ducks • Cornish Hens
Mel, Sr. Mel, Jr.
MARKET POULTRY
Eastern Market
225 7th St., SE 202-543-7470
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Shame of the Park Serv i c e
In “Park” from Hell Boaters Get the Blame
Yunger and oth e rs familiar with the fight say NPS
wants only trees and grass on its terri to ry, not people,
certa i n ly not boats, certa i n ly not repair facilities.
Trees are so much easier to deal with. Yu n g e r
s ays the Pa rk Service will sta rt with the Marina, and
then boot the th ree boat clubs. They want th e
wa t e rf ront of the Anacostia to look like the wa t e rf
ront of the Poto m a c — b a re of people, a clipped st ri p
w i th a water view best seen from commuters’ cars .
T h a t’s the Pa rk Service ideal, say the boat ow n e rs .
Carl Cole, a member of Mayor Williams’ environmental
council and a long-time west bank observer
says this is typical of NPS behavior. “It’s the arrogance
of the Pa rk Serv i c e ,” he says, “ru n n i n g
roughshod.”
Across the river on the east bank’s Anacostia
River Park, NPS simply closes the park down when
c rowds come out in the summer to enjoy th e
evening cool. The same way th ey closed dow n
Hains’ Point, claiming they couldn’t control the
crowds. It’s the same syndrome. It’s public servants
becoming masters over the people who pay their
salaries and whom they are sworn to serve. The
National Park Service should rename itself. Perhaps
National Park Kingdom.
Duncan Spencer is a regular columnist for the Voice of
the Hill and the Hill newspapers. His views are occa -
sionally shared by one or another of the publishers.
Spencer invites you to rant back to:
Zcspencer9@aol.com
www.voiceofthehill.com 21
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22 www.voiceofthehill.com
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Actual exchange, September 15, 2000.
“How long have you worked here?” I ask Trudy
Saleh
Trudy chirps, “Two years.”
“Oh more than that, Tru d y,” says co-wo rke r
Connie Shade
“Well, four years,” corrects Trudy
Connie prods again, “didn’t you come about
when I did?”
Trudy pauses, then marvels, “Eight years?”
Time flies, as they say.
Most of Linda McMullen’s employees have been
with her for a very long time, and most started out
as—and re m a i n — c u sto m e rs. To this day, Tru d y
says, “Unless there’s something specific I need, I
don’t shop anywhere else.”
That, Connie adds, is the trick to shopping at
Clothes Encounters (…of a second kind). You can’t
have anything specific in mind. “Come in with an
open mind, and go away happy,” she tells me.
“There’s a lot of synchronicity happening here.”
Teacher, Barbara Dodson, is one of five or six customers
in the small shop on Market Row this gusty,
sunny Friday afternoon. She’s tiny, maybe a size 2,
and is flicking briskly through a mixed rack of sale
c l othes: pants, jackets, and dresses, like a bird
scratching for new plumage.
How often does Barbara shop here? “OH!” she
laughs, “at least twice a week, and always on the
weekends. I find everything here that I’d find in
Hecht’s, and some things that are better. One day I
buy a long skirt, another day a short one. I buy
whatever I see that strikes me, not that I need it. I
just gotta have it.”
Crystal Atkins, a sleek
looking re a l tor who
works just up the block
at Remax, says a lot of
the women in her office shop here regularly. She’s
on the prowl for a “good deal. Top designer stuff.”
I ask if she’s seen the white jersey Gucci gown
that’s hanging on the wall, the one with the cutout
at the waist and the g-string with the gold sideclasp
that’s supposed to peek through. Liz Hurley
and several other major bodies have been photographed
in that little number. And here it is,
never worn, and priced at $300.
Yes, Cr ystal says, she’s been eyeing it, and also a
few things from Versace. “I’m looking for a real
good bargain,” she says, sidling past to continue her
hunt.
Some women make a bee line for Bloomies and
Nordstrom when they have one of those days when
a reminder is needed, demanded, of butterfly lives
unlived, and untapped possibilities. Others head
for Clothes Encounters, where they can try on a
new personality for a song, not a mint.
So many lives are hinted at in the little shop on
Market Row: Garments that whisper of inaugural
balls and ski slopes, conference tables and seraglios.
In the real wo rld, the serious wo rld, the wo rl d
w h e re you “need to find something specific,”
Clothes Encounters’ customers would peel off for
their natural habitats, some heading to Saks, others
to J.C. Penny.
Here, however, they’re just girls playing dress-up.
The congresswoman twirls in the red silk dress, and
the college girl claps, “it’s beautiful!” The college
girl tries a power suit, and the congresswoman joins
the search for the right blouse to wear under it.
Connie Shade finds it all endlessly fascinating.
She’s here part time, like all of the employees. In her
other life she’s a writer (we published one of her
poems in the July
issue) and an editor.
S h e ’s hooked on
watching and listening
to the customers.
Connie says, “I particularly
enjoy helping
women st ret ch
their identities, so to
speak—when th ey
t ry on what th ey
might consider outrageous,
or not in
their usual mode
of dressing, only to
find that th ey love
the feeling it give s
them.”
Maybe it’s the close confines of the store, but it’s
a place, says Linda McMullan, “where people drop
their clothes, and pieces of their lives.” She can’t
account for how the atmosphere evo lved: “I’ve
a l ways said, if I had gone to business school I
wouldn’t have known how to do it.”
T h e re ’s no clever sto ry about how the sto re
b e gan, Linda laments. In 1979, she was fre s h ly
divorced, the mother of a young daughter, and had
a BA in English, “so, what do you do?” She was
brainstorming with her neighbor, Jack Kelly, “a
consignment and thrift store scrounger, and she
said ‘let’s open a store,’ and I said ‘great!’”
They opened in the little building on 7th Street,
which is now occupied by Fairy Godmother, and
the store did well from day one. Jack, though, was
too restless a spirit to deal with the lulls of retailing.
Two months later she sold her share of the store to
Linda, and moved to Texas. The two are still friends.
In fact Linda’s pup, Molly, was once Jack’s.
A few years after she opened, Linda moved to 311
7th Street, now the home of Silk Road. In 1980, she
m oved again, to her present location, dire c t ly
across the street from Eastern Market’s North Hall.
Linda has a few consignment rules. She doesn’t
accept vintage clothing, though there’s a Mamie
Eisenhower moment now hanging on the rack that
she “couldn ’t resist taking.” The tag says it ’s from
“ Pe re l u c c i ,” once the Hill’s “the most elega n t
store,” which stood for years at this same spot. She
also turns away things that were “really inexpensive
originally, like a pair of ten dollar shoes.” With
everything’s priced at 1/3 of the original price, and
then a 50/50 split between the store and the consigner,
“there would be nothing left.”
All of the clothing at Clothes Encounters is
cleaned, pressed, in season and in style. The labels
range from the Gap and French Curve, to Talbot’s,
Ann Taylor and DKNY. There are also accessories
like bags and hats, shoes and jewelry.
24 www.voiceofthehill.com
Business Bits
Tre a s u re Hunts and Butterfly Lives
Then there’s the stuff to sigh for, or at least I do.
Washington, we probably don’t need to remind
you, is not known for being a particularly high-style
town. So where does Clothes Encounters get such
things as the recently arrived thigh-high, red suede
boots from mega-trendy designer Manolo Blahnik?
(Lord knows what they originally cost. A quick flip
through the latest Vogue shows a pair of Blahnik
pumps for $465.) Linda’s priced the size nine boots
at $175.
And who let go of those gold Maud Fri z o n ,
“Dolly Dimple” sling-backs that would turn anyone
into Bette Midler? Or that fabulous fox chubby
that Linda has priced at $1200? (I’m thinking it
would be good over the Gucci and start debating
between the Manolos and the Frizons. I do that in
here—until I remember that the highpoint of my
month is the ANC6B meeting.)
Linda says a lot of the designer stuff started showing
up when a customer moved to New York and
mentioned the store to someone connected with
the Today Show. Then Clothes Encounters was mentioned
in an article about cleverly named businesses
that landed on the front page of the Wall Street
Journal. The result, says Linda, “is that we must
have ten or twenty people from New York who send
stuff regularly, and we get boxes from all over the
country, all month long.” One lady from Canada
drives things down when she comes to visit her son
in Rockville. “She has great clothes,” Linda croons.
Other great pieces ar rive from customers who’ve
moved overseas, or spend a lot of time traveling.
“There’s a woman in England,” says Linda, “and a
woman in the foreign service who sends wonderful
things from Spain. And people travel all over—dedicated
shoppers who bring things from such a variety
of stores. That’s what’s so much fun about it. ”
Everything moves fast, so fast that many of the
shop’s customers, like Barbara Dodson, come in
several times a week. “Lunch hours are always hopping,”
says Linda, “people walk up from the Library
of Congress, others just jump in the car and come
from the suburbs.”
“The flea market has made business phenomenal
on weekends, but this place is always busy. I don’t
need to belong to a health club, we’re all pooped at
the end of the day.”Linda scoffs at the oft-heard
gripe that it’s hard to do business except on weekends
this far out on the Hill: “Dottie’s been here forever,
and the salon, As You Like It, has been here for
years.” I mention the shop As Time Goes By, which
sold a mix of funky vintage clothing, whimsical
jewelry and gifts. The store closed twelve or so years
ago, just weeks after owner, Susan Lynn, opened a
second location, Wake Up Little Susie, in Adams
Morgan. When I asked Susan why she closed, she
told me that a woman might come into the Capitol
Hill shop three days in a r ow, look at the same pair
of $30 ear rings, and mumble, “where would I wear
these.” In Adams Morgan women bop into the
shop, shriek, “These are fabulous!” and dance out
with three pair in ten minutes. Susan implied that
we’re boring and…cheap.
“That was in the 80’s,” says Linda, “when it was
probably true. Now, with all the changes in the
Hill…we’re selling houses for a million dollars! I
can’t imagine businesses not doing well. It’s changing
like mad.”
The business climate is so good, in fact, that she
fears that soon “the diversity of the Hill will be lost.
I would hate to see only chains come in. I love being
here, the ma and pa craziness. And people know
each other. Isn’t that a nice way to have a business?”
Clothes Encounters (…of a Second Kind)
202 7th Street, SE
Tuesday-Friday, 11-7, Saturday 10-6, Sunday 12-5
Closed Monday
546-4004
The Latest Last Word on Sherrill’s. It’s been a merry
chase, but finally we have it from the various horses:
The southwest corner of 3rd and Pennsylvania
Avenue will soon boast a … Starbucks.
I cannot believe that actually sounds good. But
after last month’s threat of another (agggh) CVS…
Maurice Kreindler of CapHillLLC, the new owner
of 235 and 237 Pennsylvania, which is now the
home of Christine the Psychic and Frenchies Dry
Cleaners, has leased the entire building to the java
house. It’s expected that they’ll be creating a twolevel
coffeteria like neighbor Xando. No sidewalk
café is yet planned, though surely that can’t be far
behind. Also no word on what might be planned
for the third floor of the building.
Starbucks should be open by early spring.
Kreindler who bought the corner property and
the Sherrill’s Bakery building last month for, we
u n d e rstand, $1.5 million, has already sold th e
building that was Sherrill’s to a limited partnership
called Penn Capital. Joel Martin of Pru d e n t i a l
Preferred Properties, who brokered the deal along
with David S. Crowley of Randall H. Hagner, says a
Ritz Camera will soon replace the bakery.
Crowley, who is handling the leasing, says Penn
C a p i tal, “is a limited part n e rship comp rised of
long-time local DC professionals.” They’re spending
“large sums of money” to improve the property
and restore it to its original grandeur.” The upper
floors will be a mix of office and residential use—
with the top floor rental apartment enjoying, the
realtor promises, “a beautiful view of the Capitol
dome.”
Capitol Hill Suites Puts on the Ritz. Capitol Hill
Suites, the little hotel at the corner of 2nd and C
Streets, SE has just had a facelift. She looks gorgeous.
The lobby walls are still hung with photos of the
many members of Congress who’ve called the place
home for a night, or a month, but that’s about the
only thing that hasn’t changed. Chocolate brown
leather sofas and velvet drapes give the room a
warm, clubby feel, and plushy new carpeting muffles
your steps.
Upstairs, 152 guest rooms boast mellow wood
sleigh beds, pin stripes and ambient lighting that
won’t send guests back under the covers after a hard
day’s night.
General Manager, Laura Schofield, calls it a “pott
e ry barn / retail look,” which when tra n s l a t e d
means the new décor has nothing to do with “no
surprises” and everything to do with stylish comforts.
Each of the rooms is blessed with such indulgences
as data ports at the desks, sybaritic baths,
and kitchenettes equipped with refrigerators and
microwave ovens.
Though the hotel does not have a health club,
g u e sts are entitled to use the facilities at th e
Washington Sports Club just a block away.
The glamorous, and very engaging, Schofield,
was raised in a family of hoteliers. Born in England,
s h e ’s lived in fine hotels in Africa, Jamaica,
Barbados and St. Lucia. Befo re taking over at
C a p i tol Hill Suites she spent four ye a rs at th e
Watergate Hotel, followed by a stint at the Westin
Fairfax, home of the famed Joc key Club.
Laura’s not just managing the Suites for big kahuna
parent company, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
(which also owns the Sheraton chain and the St.
Regis). She is also managing the recently acquired,
and also redecorated, Capitol Hill Club, just a few
blocks away on 1st Street, SE. Guests can take breakfast,
lunch and dinner at the private club, a nice
bonus. “How much more of a DC experience can
you have than dining with your congressman,”
quips the GM.
Owning the Capitol Hill Club is handy on another
score. The spacious facility has room for receptions
and meetings of up to 350—supplementing
the smaller meeting spaces that are available at the
hotel.
H e re ’s the real good news: the hotel offe rs
“neighborhood rates” that begin at just $89 per
night—making it a great place to stash the in-laws
www.voiceofthehill.com 25
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Cat House on 11th Street. The mottled gray cat
with the apricot highlights and a teardrop-blaze of
white on her chest wandered into Gingko Gardens
the last Tuesday in August, barefoot and pregnant.
Garden center owner, Mark Holler (who adopted
a stray pup just last month), fed the half-starved
kitty and fixed her a bed. A week later she gave birth
to 5 little fuzz balls, 3 black and 2 marmalade.
Mama cat—who’s now called Tuesday, for the day
she was found—recovered quickly. The next day
she was up and around and looking, we must say,
very svelte.
If you know who Tuesday belongs to, please call
Mark at 543-5172. He’s been asking around the
neighborhood, but no one’s claimed her yet. Mark
says, “she’s the sweetest little kitten,” and he’ll keep
her if no one steps forward. He does want to find
homes for the babies, however.
Go have a cuddle—and, while you’re at it, pick up
some perennials at 20% off. Gingko Gardens, 911
11th St., SE.
Dying to Open a Shop on the Hill? Construction continues
apace on the building adjacent to th e
Bluestone Café at 325 7th Street, SE. Says Scott
Hammer of Stanton Development, which is handling
the renovations and leasing, the space should
be completed and ready for tenants by October 1st.
The second floor of the bri ck st ru c t u re has
already been leased by hair stylist, Evan Pehrson.
Pehrson gained fame during his association with
the RPM Salon and is currently snapping his scissors
at As You Like It, down the block at 218 7th
Street. The new clip joint will bear the rather grand
moniker, Randolph Cree, Ltd.
Downstairs is presently tenantless but Hammer
says, “three or four restaurants and several retailers
have been approached. All of them would add to
the attraction of the corner and all of us would benefit
from their presence.” What we won’t be seeing
is another real estate office, or a dry cleaner, though
both have been clamoring for the space. “We’ve
told them it’s not the use we’re looking for. The
community wants more retail.”
Hammer, by the way, wants to put to bed a rumor
th a t’s picking up steam around Market Row :
Stanton Development has not purchased the building
at 214 7th Street that is now home to Dottie’s
Boutique and the sports uniform shop. He admits
the partners recently toured the space, but insists,
“they were just looking.”
Market Row’s More Bazaar Than Ever. Americanb
o rn Ve n et ta Khattab and her husband
Mohammed met four years ago at Eastern Market
where she was selling beaded jewelry, and he was
displaying delicate perfume bottles from his native
Egypt. In one month, they were wed.
Since then the duo opened the Oasis Café in Falls
Church, which has become a Mecca of sorts for
Mohammed’s countrymen and others that have
developed a taste for Egyptian fruit drinks and fruit
smokes—apricot, green apple and other fruit flavo
red tobaccos that are puffed th rough exot i c
shisha water pipes.
Now they’ve returned to Market Row to open
Khan El-Khalili at 321 7th Street, SE. The little shop
is crammed with treasures culled from frequent
t rips to Cairo and the ancient Khan El-Khalili
Bazaar, which was once know as the Turkish Bazaar
and dates back to 1382.
A Pharaoh’s ransom of jewelry fills a display case:
b road, bejeweled necklaces, silver bra c e l ets and
heavy key rings that can be customized from a
choice of pendants. Distinctively bubbled mouth
blown glassware in amber, turquoise and royal blue
d a n gles from the ceiling and lines the shelve s .
Other shelves and surfaces hold chess sets and picture
frames, leather desk accessories and hassocks,
myst e ri o u s ly scented oils, perfume bottles and
intricately painted translucent papyrus.
Venetta says they choose from only the best of
the artisans, still the pieces are bargains by our stand
a rds—a magnificent ebony wood ch e st, inlaid
with a mosaic of mother-of-pearl and lined with red
velvet is the most expensive piece in the shop at
$750. The least expensive items are colorful bookmarks
for just $2.
Khan El-Khalili, 321 7th St., SE. 543-5295.
T h a t ’s Team Wo rk . The customer sat for a few
moments at Banana Café, and then said he was
going to wait outside for the rest of his luncheon
party. This was just as the husband of the woman at
the adjacent table mentioned to his wife that she
shouldn’t leave her purse lying about so carelessly.
She picked it up, and immediately noticed that her
wallet was missing. The restaurant’s owner, Jorge
Z a m o rano, sprinted out after the thief, as did
D awn, the manager, and Ro b e rt, another sta f f
member. They flagged a patrol car, says Jorge, “and
suddenly cops were coming from everywhere. They
were working in a team, it was very impressive.” The
felon was caught a few blocks away with the customer’s
wallet and another he’d lifted earlier in the
day. The wallet was returned, and the customers
we re treated to lunch. Jorge asked for a public
forum to say, “the cops were wonderful, wonderful.”
Banana Café, 500 8th St., SE. 543-5906.
Kisses to Mike Horwath. From Jan Camarata of
Judiciary Express Travel, which recently moved to a
new home at 710 L Street, SE. The townhouse,
smack in the midst of the redeveloping area down
by the Navy Yard, was “barely habitable,” when she
moved in August 11. Mike, the owner of District
Lock, came racing over to secure the joint, she tells
me. The $55,000 renovation is now about complete
and Jan and company are ready to talk turkey with
all comers—correction: talk about going to Turkey
w i th all comers. The hot t e st fall deal is a
Mediterranean cruise from Athens to Mikanos to
Istanbul. You can reach Jan (who can also book a
honeymoon in New Paltz if you prefer) at, 547-
3007.
Business Bits is written by Voice Editor-in-Chief,
Stephanie Cavanaugh
www.voiceofthehill.com 27
d o w nL o a d
SPNA Moves to Block Amoco
Neighborhood Organization Files for Landmark
Status
September 20: In a move to stop Amoco from razing
buildings on a prime chunk of H Street, NE real
estate and erecting a giant, state of the art truck
stop, the Stanton Park Neighborhood Association
(SPNA) has filed an application to designate one of
the buildings in the row a landmark of the District
of Columbia.
SPNA is claiming that 316 H Street, NE is, “the
only remaining example of a 19th century wood
frame store and dwelling on the corridor.” They
also say that the building, built between 1857 and
1874, was remodeled in 1947 by Schreier, Patterson
and Worland, a multi-award winning architectural
firm, and was featured in a Washington Star article in
1950.
The DC Preservation League is said to be reviewing
the application for their “potential co-sponsorship
with SPNA.”
“Too many potentially eligible historic buildings
are being demolished along H Street, NE, and many
others are being destroyed by neglect,” says Drur y
Tallant, Chair of the SPNA. “We need to take action
now before we lose too much of H Streets character
a l to g eth e r, and befo re demolition has a seri o u s
effect on the residential neighborhoods adjoining
H Street—especially those that form the northern
boundaries of the Capitol Hill Historic District.”
For more SPNA news, check in at www.voiceofthehill.
com. The Association’s newsletter is now
on line.
Neighbors on Holladay
Apartment House Plan Revisited
September 19: Holladay Corporation, the developer
that’s planning a townhouse and apartment building
complex at the Medlink Hospital site on
Massachusetts Avenue, NE, has made considerable
changes to the design of the apartment portion of
the project since their last pre s e n tation to th e
n e i g h b o rhood in July. The developer pre s e n t e d
new dr awings and took questions from neighbors
at a meeting convened by the Capitol Hill
Restoration Society (CHRS) at St. James Church on
Monday, September 18.
While there’s been little opposition to the townhouses
that would go up in the parking lot to the
west of the hospital’s 7th Street entrance, the apartment
building has come under fire for its size,
design, and limited garage parking.
R i ta Bamberger, a partner with Holladay
Corporation, said at the meeting, “We feel we’ve
made an honest attempt to address the pro blems…
The height of the building has been scaled
back from 72 feet to 69 feet, and steps down even
further to 51 feet on the 8th Street side,” where it is
adjacent to the St. James Chur ch rectory.
They’ve also eliminated a car turnaround at the
M a s s a ch u s etts Avenue entry, moved the ga ra g e
entrance to 7th Street, brought the building closer
to the sidewalk, and decreased the number of units
by ten, to 230. Parking, she said, remains at one
space per unit, “three times what is required under
zoning.”
Eric Colbert, the project’s architect, said that he
has eliminated most of the curb cuts, “which were
also an issue…and we’ll be preserving mature trees
wherever possible.” The new design, with its rusticated
base and top floor setbacks is a look, added
Colbert, “that’s very consistent with the neighborhood.
People will drive by the building and think
it’s been there for a very long time.”
Despite the modifications, few residents seemed
satisfied.
One hot issue was the developer’s plan to eliminate
the 1928 section of the hospital. Colbert said
that Emily Eig, a histo ric consultant hired by
Holladay, advised that the section was an “addition
to a previous structure that no longer exists and is
no longer a contributing structure.” Colbert also
noted that “the piece is severely compromised,”
and that Steve Calcott of the Historic Preservation
Review Board (HPRB) was “comfortable with razing
the building.”
Nancy Simpson, one of the leaders of a new
n e i g h b o rhood group called the Capitol Hill
Coalition for Sensible Development, argued that
“HPRB does consider it a contributing structure, as
does the Capitol Hill Restoration Society, and we
have 600 signatures on a petition asking that it be
considered.”
Nancy Met z g e r, chair of the CHRS Histo ri c
District committee, reached the morning after the
meeting, commented that some on her committee
“felt stronger than others, but most felt it was contributing.
The committee wants it restored to the
plan—unless [Holladay Corporation] can successfully
argue financial hardship, special merit or that
it is not a contributing structure.” That argument
will need to be made to HPRB and the Mayor’s
Agent dealing with historic preservation.
Even hotter a button at the meeting was, as one
man put it, “parking, parking, parking.”
There’s no question that parking is already tight
in the neighborhood, and many residents feel that
an apartment house of this size will aggravate the
problem. Though there is one garage space per
apartment, the concern is that each apartment will
have more than one tenant, and each tenant will
possess a car. And then there are guests, which will
be foraging for spaces on the street.
The developers agreed to give “further study” to
several suggestions, including keeping 240 garage
spaces, even though the number of apartments has
been reduced to 230, and providing additional surface
parking at the rear of the apartment house, in
an area that had been intended as “green space” for
tenants. They also said they would consider eliminating
a rent rebate for people without cars.
T h ey would not, howeve r, consider building
another parking level under the building. That, said
B a m b e r g e r, “is an extre m e ly expensive pro p o s ition.”
One woman, an apartment dweller who lives a
few blocks away, agreed that parking is difficult, but
in strolls around the neighborhood, and through
the alleys, she has noticed that “people are using
their ga rages for sto ra g e ,” while their cars are
parked out on the street. She suggested that if people
would park in their garages, it would free up
plenty of spaces.
Councilmember Sharon Ambrose noted that illegal
units in single-family dwellings are also aggravating
the issue. The city, she said, is going to
“begin cracking down…Some of the houses around
here have 2 or 3 units with 2 or 3 staffers.”
Colbert said that there is a requirement that “any
garage with more than 50 spaces requires a parking
study,” and the results of that study will be shared
with the community. The Department of Public
Works will also be doing a parking analysis at the
request of Nancy Simpson’s coalition. And CHRS
president, Brian Furness, said that a community
meeting to discuss parking and traffic flow around
the apartment house is now being planned.
Though it dominated the evening, parking eventually
began to seem like a red herring, obscuring a
greater fear: Change in the neighborhood.
As one woman said, “we don’t want a big huge
Connecticut Avenue-type building in our little tiny
neighborhood.” Another woman, a 25-year resident,
said she hopes to retire here and doesn’t want
to see a change that will force her to “carry groceries
8 or10 blocks.”
Ambrose was asked about zoning changes that
could stop the project. Zoning changes can be
done, she replied, “but it takes time.” She also
reminded the crowd that when zoning was looked
at a few years ago, people said of this location, “Gee
it would be nice to have townhouses, or an apartment
house with a Fresh Fields in the basement.”
Bamberger and Colbert were repeatedly asked if
they could downsize the building still more. “A
smaller building is not financially viable,”
Bamberger responded. “Dr. Shin has put a value on
this property, and the number of units respond to
his concern.” She also cautioned, “ If [the building
is] down zoned, it will never be developed for residential
use. The economics will provide an incentive
to keep it a hospital.”
C o l b e rt then reminded residents that 600
employees used to work in this portion of the hosp
i ta l — m a ny more people than will live in th e
apartments.
The opposition inspired one young woman, a
renter, to say, “I’m feeling a little put upon. This
l ove ly design is being slammed. Wo u l d n’t yo u
rather have this, and more people who’ll love to live
on the Hill, and shop at Eastern Market and support
the businesses?”
The Reve rend Rich a rd Downing of St. James
C h u rch was one of a handful of list e n e rs th a t
praised the developer’s modifications. Still, he was
concerned that “the building would diminish the
sun coming into the ch u rch during morn i n g
mass.”
The developers assured him that it wouldn’t.
28 www.voiceofthehill.com
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Sept. 9-Oct. 31, 2000
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The Historic Preservation Review Board will take
up the apartment building plans during th e i r
September 28th session.
Putting a Lid On It
The Eastern Market Metro Gets a Hat
September 19: The Eastern Market Metro entrance
is about to go under cover. Over the next few weeks,
a temporary roof will be constructed to shield the
e s c a l a to rs that are now undergoing extensive
repairs. Sometime in the next five years that roof
will be replaced by a permanent canopy—a distinctive
design, we’re told, that will be shared by most
of the other stations in the subway system.
It’s all part of a $130 million, five-year program
called MetroWorks, which will rehabilitate escalators
in 51 of Metro’s 78 stations, says Ray Feldmann,
Director of Media Relations for the Washington
M et ro p o l i tan Area Tra n s p o rtation Au th o ri t y
(WMATA).
Feldmann says that of the $130 million set aside
for the project, $27 million is reserved for canopies.
These will protect the escalators from “the number
one factor affecting reliability: exposure to th e
weather.” Rain, sleet, ice and snow create all sorts of
mechanical problems, “which is one of the reasons
why on any given day 9 to 10 percent of our escalators
are out of service,” he says.
The work at Eastern Market will take three to four
months. “We literally rip each escalator apart and
replace each piece,” he tells us. Also scheduled for
makeovers are the Capitol South and Navy Yard stations.
Union Station’s escalators are already under a
roof.
The permanent canopies are still being designed,
Feldmann says, but “what we’ll probably end up
with is one signature, or main design, that we hope
to use in the majority of the canopies that we
install.”
We should be seeing something fairly soon,
maybe even next month. Feldmann says Metro
“hopes to go out on the street with a Request for
Proposal for building this year.” They’re working
with the DC Fine Arts Commission, “to get their
blessing…[and] making an effort to reach out for
community support.”
WMATA has already met with the Capitol Hill
Association of Merchants and Pro fe s s i o n a l s
( CHAMPS), and the Capitol Hill Re sto ra t i o n
S o c i et y’s Histo ric Dist rict Committee. They are
planning to give a presentation at an ANC6B meeting
later this fall.
Red Cross Blood Drive
Be a Hometown Hero
September 19: St. Peter’s Parish is sponsoring a Red
Cross Blood Drive, on Sunday, October 8, from 10
AM until 3 PM, in the Parish Hall. The area’s blood
supplies are dangerously low—many surgeries have
been postponed due to the lack of available blood.
Who can donate? People 17 years or older, in good
health, and weighing at least 110 pounds, may give
blood. To set up your life-saving appointment, call
Lynn Freeman at St. Peter’s Rectory at 202-547-
1430, weekdays. If you’re not sure if you can donate,
or you have other questions about blood donation,
please call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE.
Big Doings on 15th Street, SE
Board of Child Care Purchases Little People’s
Paradise
September 6: The Board of Child Care (BCC) has
just purchased the long abandoned Little People’s
Paradise building in the 300 block of 15th Street, SE.
Tom Cursio, CEO of the Baltimore based non-profit,
says the old center will soon be razed and
replaced with a 17,000 square foot two story building
that will house the organization’s DC administ
ra t i ve offices along with a day care center fo r
neighborhood youngsters. The budget for the project
is close to $2 million.
The BCC, which has been around since 1874 and
is affiliated with the Methodist Church, has been
providing foster care services to children in DC for
more than 30 years. Local operations are now run
f rom offices in the Allbright United Meth o d i st
Church at 411 Rittenhouse Street, NW, a space that,
Cursio says, the organization has simply outgrown.
Though the BCC has group homes at its 29 acre
Baltimore campus, Capitol Hill will not have a residential
component. Sue Pascal, the Director of DC
Operations, says that all of the local children they
s e rve are placed in fo ster homes in DC and
M a ryland. “This is st ri c t ly our administ ra t i ve
offices and a community day care center.”
That day care center, explains Tom Cursio, will
have room for between 75 and 90 children, a certified
staff, and will “meet community needs—both
those that are part of the special needs population,
and those that can afford private services.” Sue
Pascal adds that they’re projecting that the center
will be able to accommodate 2 to 5-year-olds, not
infants.
Reve rend Emily Guth rie of the Capitol Hill
Group Ministry, an agency that provides a host of
family services to the community, is full of kudos
for the agency and its employees: “We love Sue
Pascal…she’s really good, really dedicated. We’ve
worked with the Board of Childcare’s staff in various
capacities over the past four years and found
them to be extremely supportive and dedicated.
They are welcome collaborators—and we look forward
to increased communication and collaboration
to serve the children and families of Capitol
Hill.”
ANC6B Commissioner, Tom Wells, who is also
the executive director of the Consortium for Child
Welfare and a candidate for DC School Board, is
very pleased about the BCC’s plans. “This is good
for the neighborhood,” he says. “It’s an exciting use
for an area where new offices have not been going
in. We’re getting rid of a long empty building and
replacing it with useful activity…and they’re bringing
in workers who will shop and eat in our neighborhood.”
Chuck Burger of Pardoe Real Estate, who negotiated
the sale, completely agrees. The realtor feels
this will be a real turning point for this long troubled
commercial pocket.
Construction of the offices and the day care center
are about a year and a half away, with work
expected to begin next spring. Cursio is now meeting
with his architect to create a building “that will
match what is more common in the community.
We plan to make it very attractive.” The Baltimore
campus, he says, just went through a $20 million
renovation that has “won numerous awards for its
architectural design.”
The BCC is more than open to meeting with Hilldwellers
about their plans. Sue Pascal says she has
already been in touch with ANC6B to schedule a
p re s e n tation, and will also be contacting oth e r
organizations.
Says Cursio, “We’re going to be good community
neighbors.”
To read more about the Board of Childcare, check
their website: www.boardofchildcare.org
Eakin/Youngentaub Shows Off Plans
for the Bryan School
S e ptember 14: Eakin/Yo u n g e n taub Associates
( E YA), the deve l o p e rs who are planning a new
townhouse and condo project on the site of the
Bryan School at 13th and Independence Avenue,
SE, presented drawings and heard comments and
s u g g e stions at a community meeting on
We d n e s d ay, September 13. To by Millman, EYA’s
Director of Acquisitions and Development, called it
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Other Settlement Locations
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Columbia, MD Camp Springs, MD
Rockville, MD Annapolis, MD
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Across from the
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a “kick-off meeting, just to make sure everyone
agrees on our direction.”
EYA will be applying for a review by the DC
Zoning Commission later this month. A concept
review by the Historic Preservation Review Board is
already scheduled for October 26. The review and
permitting process is expected to take about 18
m o n ths, but after that, const ruction will move
along swiftly. Millman says they “build fast. At the
rate of ten houses per month.”
Plans now include retaining the circa 19 0 8
s chool building and conve rting each of the 30
classrooms into one bedroom loft-style condominiums.
Millman says the rooms have “13 to 14 foot
ceilings, with huge windows and an enorm o u s
amount of light. They’re pretty spectacular. The
goal is to keep the spaces as open and light-filled as
possible.” Surface parking for 33 cars will be provided
for the apartments. Prices will start at about
$250,000.
EYA is also proposing to build 43 townhouses,
priced at “somewhere over $300,000.” Some would
replace the 1950’s wing of the school building and
front on Independence Avenue, others would face
South Carolina Avenue. The rest would fill the
existing central parking area, face onto a pocket
park, and be reached via a new through street running
between Independence and South Carolina.
Each of the homes would have three stories, front
ga rdens and a roof deck. Most would include
attached 2-car garages reachable from rear alleys.
Millman says the façades of the townhouses are
designed to fit in with existing neighborh o o d
homes. On Independence Avenue, houses would
have octagonal bays similar to adjacent dwellings.
On South Carolina, they’d have front porches that
e cho the neighbors. Interior court ya rd houses
would have a mix of flat and bay fronts, “all with
some architectural articulation to them.”
Though the exteriors of these homes are being
designed to mesh with the style of Capitol Hill, the
overall concept is not dissimilar to another EYA
project that is now going up in southwest called
Capitol Square (for a “virtual tour” of the Capitol
Square development, go to: http://www.eya.com/
toolpages/cs_fr.html)
Not surprisingly, parking was a big issue with
some of the neighbors. With 124 spaces for 73 units
and only 7 spaces reserved for guests, several resi -
dents complained that a big party or two on the
same evening could make already tight street parking
extremely difficult.
Millman responded that EYA will be doing a
parking study. In previous projects, he said, the
ratio of parking spaces to units has been adequate,
“but I’m not going to tell you there won’t occasionally
be circumstances…”
Councilmember Ambrose said she thinks “Tobey
will be very sensitive to the parking issue.” She also
reminded the group that many of the pri va t e
homes in the area have basement apart m e n t s .
“This is a city neighborhood,” she said. “We don’t
have a law that you must provide parking for every
unit, never mind additional people…” Then she
joked, “ But I’ll introduce legislation if you want.”
Navy Yard Shuttle to Begin
in January 2000
Buses Would Ferry Folks to Eastern Market—and
Lunch!
September 13: The Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority (WMATA) has budgeted $163,000
to sta rt a shuttle service that will connect th e
Washington Navy Yard with the Eastern Market
Metro station at 8th and Pennsylvania Ave., SE and
the Navy Yard station at 1st and M Street, SE. The
service will begin in January 2001.
Though the shuttle is primarily intended to make
it faster and easier for Navy Yard employees to reach
Metro and the Hill’s shops and restaurants, the
general public can also use the buses.
In a presentation at the September ANC6B meeting,
David Erion, Bus Operations Specialist at
WMATA, said that service between the Metro stations
and the Navy Yard will be provided every 6
minutes during the morning and evening “peak
periods”: 6 to 9AM and 3 to 6PM. During the “offpeak”
hours of 9AM to 3PM buses will run every 15
minutes.
The shuttle will cost $1.10, the same as regular
bus fare, and stop at all bus stops along the route. It
has not yet been decided if the buses will make a
continuous loop between the Navy Yard and the
subway stations, or if two separate routes will be
devised. The ANC Commissioners seemed to prefer
the loop, and asked WMATA to consider including
the senior citizen public housing off M Street, SE in
the circuit.
The route and the hours of operation that were
presented at the ANC meeting were worked out
b et ween WMATA and Navy officials who are
preparing for a full-scale invasion of new workers
come the turn of the year. In January 2001, five
thousand employees will begin moving from rented
office space, mainly in Crystal City, to the federally
owned Washington Navy Yard. Two hundred
people will be arriving every week between January
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and July. When the move is complete, the current
Navy Yard population will have nearly doubled to
10,500.
John Imparato, who is spearheading the Navy
Yard move, said in an interview the morning after
the ANC meeting that the Navy had two main
interests when negotiating with WMATA for the
shuttle service: encouraging the use of public transportation,
and making it easier for personnel to
reach Capitol Hill’s shops and restaurants.
For numerous reasons, including environmental
concerns, the 66-acre N avy Yard will have far fewer
parking spaces than employees. Imparato expects
the convenience of the shuttle, and a new federally
directed subsidy of up to $65 per month for public
transportation (a subsidy that applies to all federal
employees in the National Capital Region effective
October 1) will convince Navy Yard employees, old
and new, to dry dock their private wheels.
As for access to the Hill’s commercial areas, the
shuttle will be a toss of a bone to the about-to-bemoved
who’ve grown spoiled by the shopping and
dining bounty in the Crystal City Underground.
The Navy is renovating one of the buildings in the
yard for a few restaurants, a food court and some
small-scale retail, like a florist and a dry cleaner, but
in no way will the facility reproduce the array of
dining and shopping options the workers are accustomed
to. Imparato hopes the shuttle service will be
used at lunch and after work to ferry workers to the
8th Street and Eastern Market commercial areas.
An added inducement for mid-day use is a little
known change in Metro’s bus transfer policy: As
long as a transfer is used within two hours of issue,
travelers can take a return trip for free. That means
the ro u n d - t rip fare from the Navy Ya rd to th e
Eastern Market area would be a bargain 55 cents.
That lunchtime usage was something Commissioner
Ken Jarboe expressed doubts about at the
ANC meeting. He noted that Navy employees are
only given a half hour for lunch, hardly enough
time to eat, never mind wait for a bus that only runs
every 15 minutes. Jarboe felt it wouldn’t be a fair
trial, and might affect future shuttle funding.
Imparato responds: “Let me put it this way, the
way the civil service is designed, most of us officially
have a half hour, but there’s some flexibility…
they can work things out with their supervisors.”
They’ll juggle hours for events like promotions and
birthdays, “in fact, most of the time their supervisors
are going with them.”
All 10,000 Navy Yard workers won’t be coming up
to the Hill every day, for lunch but, John says,
“maybe 50 will.”
C o m m i s s i o n e rs also qu e stioned the status of
talks with DC Jitney, a company that provides jitney
service in Atlantic City and began negotiating
with Metro last year for approval of service within
the District. One of the routes DC Jitney proposed,
was to ta ke ri d e rs from Union Station to
Pennsylvania Avenue, Eastern Market and the Navy
Yard from early morning until midnight or later.
David Erion said he “hasn’t heard anything on
the status [of the jitney]. To my knowledge no
stance has been taken.”
(The Voice placed a call to DC Jitney’s attorney in
Philadelphia, but he was out of his office. If there’s
news, it will be posted to www.voiceofthehill.com.)
Commissioner Tommy Wells asked if WMATA
might add Union Station, and Metro’s Red Line, to
the shuttle route. Erion replied, “not at this time.
We’re just connecting the closest stations.”
Easier access to Union Station is a concern for
Imparato. “We have people who take MARK, VRE
and Amtra k. These trains all end up at Un i o n
Station, and people can’t get here without two connections.”
He is now trying to arrange a direct shuttle
from Union Station to the Navy Yard.
Navy Yard employees who find they need to
work past the 6PM cut-off for shuttle service were a
c o n c e rn for Commissioner John Bra n s c o m b .
“They’re stuck one time,” he said, “and they’re
through.”
Imparato was dismissive: “There may be a few
people after 6 who wish there was a bus, but not
enough to justify [Metro providing] one.” For those
who’d rather not walk alone, there’s “a provision
with security that we can provide an escort if they
feel uncomfortable—not that that has ever been
needed.”
There will be no public hearings on the shuttle
service, and the budget does not allow for much
flexibility. David Erion says, however, that public
input will be considered. He can be reached at
WMATA, 962-1266.
Washington Navy Yard Waterfront
Festival
Check Out the Tall Ships, Saturday, October 7
September 8: If you’ve never had occasion to visit
the Washington Navy Yard, we’ll give you one: the
Navy’s Fall Waterfront Festival.
On Saturday, October 7 from 10AM to 4PM, visitors
can climb aboard the “tall ship” Californian, a
full-scale re - c reation of the revenue brig C.W.
Lawrence which was built in Washington in 1848.
They can also tour the ketch Mabel Stevens, which
participated in OpSail 2 000, and check out Capitol
Hill’s very own destroyer, the USS Barry, which is
permanently moored at the Navy Yard.
Sheila Brennan, the Director of Education at the
Navy Museum, says, “This isn’t a huge festival, but
it will be a nice family day to get out on the water.”
Besides the ship tours, activities will include tours
of the Navy Museum’s Korean War exhibit, a drill
competition by area high school students that are
enrolled in the Navy’s ROTC, music from the US
Navy’s brass quintet, and sea chanteys from “Ships
Company 1800,” a group of historic re-enactors.
Come with an appetite: There will be a cookout
with hamburgers and hot dogs— with profits going
to the Combined Federal Campaign.
7-11 Pay Phone Vetoed, Zoning
Cases Approved
ANC6B Rolls into Fall
September 13. “I will lay down my body in front of
the installation trucks before I allow this to happen,”
said ANC6B Commissioner Tommy Wells at
the commission’s September 12th meeting. “If he
l ays his body down, I’ll be right behind him,”
vowed Ken Jarboe. In rapid succession the rest of
the commission agreed to ta ke the issue of
installing 2 new outside payphones at the 7-11 on
8th Street, SE—lying down.
It’s both funny and not. It took several years for
ANC Executive Director Gottlieb Simon, working
with Margot Kelly of the Barracks Row Business
Alliance (BBA), to remove a pair of pay phones from
that corn e r. Those phones, which had been
installed by previous tenant, the One Stop food
shop, rapidly became a public nuisance, attracting
loiterers and nefarious dealings. One Stop got a fee
from the phone company for every call made, and
kicked up a fuss about the removal.
So when Bell-Atlantic submitted a re qu e st to
install phones on that corner again, the commiss
i o n e rs we re unanimously opposed—as was, of
course, the BBA, whose current president, Cissy
Webb, waited through the lengthy ANC meeting to
deliver her board of director’s nay statement.
Said Commissioner Will Hill, “if they want a pay
phone, they can put it inside the store and they can
reap the problems that a pay phone presents.”
In other actions: Zoning variances were approved
for a number of building projects including a
re qu e st by Maurice Kreindler of Capitol Hill
Investors, for a variance to enable construction of
c o m m e rcial space on the vacant lot th ey ow n
between Last Stop for Jeans and Popeye’s.
www.voiceofthehill.com 31
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To read more about this meeting, check in at
www.voiceofthehill.com.
Market Five Gallery, Round Four?
Five? Six?
And the Festival’s Cancelled Too
September 19: The latest news in the continuing
saga of John Harrod and the Market Five Gallery at
the north end of Eastern Market is that there will be
a status hearing on who’s running what on October
13. In the meantime the arts impresario continues
to manage the gallery and collect fees from the outdoor
vendors.
Last month we wrote that Harrod, who’d been
evicted from the Gallery for non-payment of rent at
the end of May, had filed a lawsuit against the city
and Office of Property Management chief, Andrew
Reece, for “wrongful interference with business,”
and “breach of contract.” A Temporary Restraining
Order was then issued by DC Civil Court Judge
Bayly.
The city then filed its own suit in landlord-tenant
court; going after the $9,000 the gallery manager
owes in back rent. The court has since ordered
Harrod to pay the city $300 per month rent.
M e a nwhile, the ambitious wingding that th e
Eastern Market Community Advisory Committee
(EMCAC) was planning in celebration of the 195th
b i rth d ay of the Market has been cancelled—or
maybe just put off. The festival, which was supposed
to take place in early October, may be moved
to spring. Stay tuned.
“Call Boxes” Front and Center at Next
Preservation Café
New Series Begins, September 27
Au g u st 28: From the Capitol Hill Re sto ra t i o n
S o c i ety: “The Capitol Hill Re sto ration Societ y’s
(CHRS) popular Preservation Café series will begin
its second year on Wednesday, September 27, at
6:30 PM at Christ Church, 620 G St. SE. The topic
for the fall kick-off will be the history of the old
police and fire “call boxes” and the new project to
rehabilitate those on Capitol Hill.”
On the panel for the evening’s discussion will be
Nancy Metzger, chair of the CHRS Historic District
Committee and Capitol Hill Coordinator of the
citywide project, and Paul Williams, of DC Heritage
To u rism Coalition Project Coord i n a to r, will be
among the speakers.
The 13th Annual First District Police
Awards Banquet
Police, Residents and Local Businesses to be
Recognized
September 18: The First District Police will be recognizing
outstanding contributions by officers, residents
of the community and local businesses at the
13th Annual Awards Banquet on Friday, October 13
in the Officer’s Club at Bolling Air Force Base.
Tickets for the banquet, which are available to all
s u p p o rt e rs, are $30 and must be purchased by
October 9. For tickets or information contact: Capt.
Dreher 727-4609, Lt. Weedon 727-1415, Lt. Kishter,
or Skip Coburn 483-1925.
The following officers will be receiving awards for
outstanding service: Master Patrol Officer Jeffrey
Clay (PSA 103), Officer Wayne Stancil (PSA 106),
Officer Thomas Jones (PSA 108), Officer Thomas
Farley (PSA 109), Officer Christopher Cruser (PSA
111), Officer Darnell Benton (PSA 112), Sergeant of
the Ye a r, Phillip Pa rke r, Master Pa t rol Officer,
Michael Bland, Detective of the Year, Mike Fulton,
Manager of the Year, Lieutenant Kevin Anderson,
Station House Officer of the Year, Rita A. Hunt,
Rookie of the Year, D. Melissa Bracey, and Master
Patrol Officer Gwendolyn E. Mapp, who will receive
this ye a r’s Charles Cephas Community Serv i c e
Award.
Residents that are being recognized for outstanding
community work are: Rob and Aubrey Nevitt
(PSA 109), Larry Molumby (PSA 108), Leo Pinson
(PSA 106), John Obre (PSA 103), and Will Hill (PSA
112).
Businesses and public officials being recognized
for their support and interaction with the police
include: United Wholesalers, Fra g e r’s Hard wa re ,
M o rris Britt of the Capital Plaza Business
Association, Councilmember Sharon Ambrose, and
the Kentucky Avenue Safeway.
“Super Tuesdays” at the SE Library
Top Authors, Up Close and Personal
BY SARA GODFREY
S e ptember 12. The SE Libra ry’s new “Super
Tuesday” book discussions are off to a lively—if intimate
—start. The series, which began in August and
features authors discussing their latest releases, has
not yet been mobbed like similar talks at Politics
and Prose booksto re and other popular litera ry
breeding grounds. The small size definitely ensures
hearing and being heard, but if audience energy
and interest is any indication, “Super Tuesdays”
will soon be packed with eager participants.
At a recent talk, just a handful of readers gathered
around the fireplace, the cozy focal point of the
library’s main room, to hear wryly amusing British
author and journalist, Adrian Wooldridge, discuss
his latest book, A Future Perfect: The Challenge and
Hidden Promise of Globalization, which he co-wrote
with John Micklethwait.
Wooldridge, whose work in support of globalization
hasn’t won him any popularity contest s ,
expressed his delight in being able to address an
audience who, unlike Wo rld Trade orga n i z a t i o n
protesters in Seattle, did not throw trash at him.
there’s a deadline at work, you got negative feedback
—and your first reaction is to eat a one pound
bag of M&Ms? You’re not really hungry. The desire
is triggered by a negative emotion. If you can stop
and intervene before you buy that bag, you can
transform the situation—and not eat it”
The M&M’s, in this case, are not a solace, they’re
a punishment, one of many items on a lengthy list
of foods we’ve made taboo in our quest for unholy
thinness. What if, however, we began to look at
M&Ms in the same way we view…broccoli. Who
gorges on broccoli?
Let’s stop demonizing the M&M! And chocolate
cake, French fries, Krispy Kremes, milk shakes and
all those other sinful goodies too. Jeanine says:
“You can have whatever you want, whenever you
want, and however much you want. The key is: How
much do you really want?”
In the classes she gives th e re ’s a homewo rk
assignment: eat whatever you want for the first
week. “That scares people,” she tells me. “People
think the body is so hedonistic that it will devour
you if you let it—it will go out of control and be
your downfall. That’s the fear behind dieting. ‘If I
don’t control my body, it will control me.’”
What typically happens, she says, is that people
go wild for a few days, or even a few weeks, but once
they realize that those taboo foods are no longer
forbidden, th ey lose their allure. The th o u g h t
occurs, “I’m not cr aving chocolate cake today. All I
want is a big bowl of green beans.”
Could this be true?
Jeanine mentions that va rious studies have
shown that if you send an unadulterated little kid
to a buffet every day she’ll pick what her body
needs. Sometimes all she’ll eat is a cracker, sometimes
she’ll put together strange combinations, but
over time her diet will be fairly well balanced.
Why things go so frequently out of whack is what
Jeanine has made a career out of. She’s a researcher,
teacher, and consultant with a doctorate in experim
e n tal psychology from the Un i ve rsity of
Vermont. She is also the Executive Director of the
Eating Disorders Coalition for Research Policy and
Action, which she describes as “a non-profit organization
that works at the federal level to educate
members of Congress and federal agencies about
the growing public health threat that eating disorders
pose.”
Millions are suffe ring from anorexia, bulimia and
the yoyo dieting that alternates binges on fo r b i d d e n
foods with sta rvation. “We used to think it was a ri ch
white girl th i n g ,” she says. “Now it’s affecting boys ,
A f rican American woman, and poorer people.”
In a nutshell: Wo o l d ridge and Mick l eth wa i t
espouse the view that those who consider globalization
“the McDonaldsation” of the world, and
fear that the worst of American culture is being
exported, are going overboard. Their arguments, he
says in the book, “always seem to involve a shutt
e red textile facto ry in South Carolina, never a
young African child sitting at a computer: always
the Lion King, or the Spice Girls, never th e
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.”
The diverse group that gathered to hear him were
Capitol Hill residents of all ages and races. Some
were very familiar with the issues and the book
itself, as evidenced by their well-considered questions.
Others were accidental tourists who’d run in
to grab a Grisham and found themselves drawn
i n to the discussion by Wo o l d ri d g e ’s ch a rm i n g
British accent and the comfortable high-backed
chairs. Library regular, David Graves, belonged to
the latter group. He happened to be wandering
through the stacks on the night of the event, and
couldn’t resist joining in.
Despite definitely differing opinions, the discussion
remained civilized from start to finish—no
one felt compelled to start slinging the Chex mix
provided by librarian Dave Gantt, the man behind
the Tuesday talks.
The SE Library “Super Tuesday” book discussions
are held every Tuesday at the SE Library and will
cover a wide range of works. All talks are at 7:30 PM,
at the SE Library, 7th and D Sts., SE. For more information
see the Voice community calendar or contact
librarian Dave Gantt at 698-3377.
Happy Birthday to You, and Your
Model T Too
September 6. And you thought using a cell phone
while negotiating the Beltway was tough. Try using
a hand crank to operate your windshield wiper
(that is singular) while switching lanes.
Actually Karl Schwengel’s 70th birthday present
to himself won’t be zipping around any of the capital
city’s fast tracks. The new owner of the 1923
Ford Model T Huc kster wagon says it “cruises nicely
at 35 miles per hour.” With his pedal to the
metal, the only place he’d risk a speeding ticket
would be an alley.
Karl admits his new baby cost a few thousand
times the original $265 sticker price, but it’s fully
loaded with wood-spoked wheels, brakes that rely
on leg power, not hydraulics, a couple of coal oil
powered lamps up front, and another in the rear,
and that hand-twitched wiper.
Says Schwengel, the Model T “is something I’ve
wanted forever. I used to drive my father crazy asking
for one.”
Quips neighbor and sidewalk superi n t e n d e n t ,
Jim Broderick, “and it only took him 70 years to get
one.”
Zen and Chocolate
On Having Your Cake and Eating it Too
S e ptember 8: Yo ga Queen-of-the-Hill Ka m a ks h i
Hart puts out a newsletter every six weeks or so listing
various upcoming class offerings, costs, special
lectures, and newsie bits. I was cramming my face
with potato chips while catching up with the latest
when I came across a couple of workshops she has
scheduled called “The Zen Diet: Love Your Body
and All Else Will Follow,” to be taught later this fall
by Jeanine Cogan, PhD.
What whim made me call Kamakshi, I do not
know, since my instant equation was yoga + Zen +
diet + love your body = a lecture on the joys of
tofu—a substance that is one of my aversions in
chief. But call I did, and K set me up for a briefing by
Jeanine, which I then delayed and put off until it
became too embarrassing. Finally, I phoned her.
Surprise all ye beefeaters. The Zen Diet has nothing
to do with what you eat, and everything to do
with understanding your attitude towards eating.
And Jeanine Cogan, who is on chapter 7 of a book
she is writing on the subject, is a delight to listen to.
H ave you eve r, she says, “had this re s p o n s e :
32 www.voiceofthehill.com
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The problem can be fairly blamed on the media:
the TV shows, movies, and magazines where the
beautiful live in lands where a size 4 is considered a
butterball. Though in recent years we may have
made room for beauty that comes in different skin
colors and allows for more variously shaped features,
the body that carries that fine head is still and
invariably sapling thin.
H a p p i ly, of late, th e re has grown a budding
groundswell of opposition to this imagery. Some
are taking action with guerilla tactics: Jeanine mentions
a “great campaign in San Francisco, where
people slap up stickers that say “Feed Me” whenever
they see an ad with a thin model on it.”
Jeanine is fighting back with her Zen diet—a
“Western/Buddhist” approach that has been years
in the making, and is rooted in her own struggles
with diet and body image.
The 36-year-old author and teacher says she went
on her first diet when she was 12, and suffering
from nothing more than baby fat. She was following
in the footsteps of her mother, a chronic dieter.
“In college it got bad. I was so into watching my
weight and trying to attain the perfect body that I
was bulimic for two years.”
Stumbling across a book called Feeding the Hungry
Heart, by Geneen Roth, “was a savior for me. It was
the beginning of my journey out of body hatred.”
Part of that journey was to “get away from my own
feeling that to be successful you must be thin, a lesson
I’d learned all too well. Part of my recovery was
an increasing awareness that I needn’t engage in
this. I can be strong and powerful in other ways.”
Recovery took a year, and led to graduate studies,
and tossing her scale. She guesses that at 5’7” she
n ow weighs a svelte 125 to 13 0 — c u ri o u s ly, th e
same weight she fought against for ten years. “The
monster of body hatred is that you can’t tell who
has it by their we i g h t ,” she says. One wo m a n
Jeanine has worked with “is thin, very thin” and
has suffered for years.
Though her work has been focused on psychology
and body image since graduate school, it wasn ’t
until four ye a rs ago, when she began st u d y i n g
Buddhism, that solutions finally began to click into
place. The Zen Diet marries traditional Western
psychology with Buddhist philosophy and various
practices like meditation and breathing techniques.
The Western piece employs traditional “cognitive
behavioral approaches and understanding the
dynamics of binging behavior.”
What the Buddhist aspect supplies is “gentleness
—which we need so much in our culture, our
society…Rather than evaluating ourselves as fatally
f l awed and in need of imp rovement as is th e
We st e rn dogma grounded in comp etition and
a c c o mplishment, Buddhist psychology suggest s
that we are perfect just the way we are we only need
to look deeply and see it.
Jeanine Cogan will be holding two workshops at
the DancingHeart Yoga Center at 221 5th Street, NE
on Sunday, November 19 and Sunday, December
10, from 11AM to 3PM. She says that if there is
enough interest, she’ll put together a class. Call her
at 543-3842 or e-mail jcogan5573@aol.com.
The Download section of the Voice of the Hill is just a
taste of the news that has been posted to www.voice -
ofthehill.com over the last few weeks—articles and
newsbites gathered from our web writing that we
thought worth repeating in the paper. The date at the
beginning of each article is when that piece first
appeared on the website.
Unless otherwise noted, all Download articles are
written by Voice Editor-in-Chief, Stephanie
Cavanaugh.
Chaos in the Afternoon
Parents Scrambling for After School Care
BY SARA GODFREY
September—all around the city, children equipped
with fresh pencils and notebooks trudge back to
s chool and parents bre a the a collective sigh of
relief. Unfortunately, many Capitol Hill parents are
still waiting to exhale.
The Capitol Hill Baptist Church announced the
dissolution of its popular after-care program just
days before school began, leaving parents scrambling
to find care for their children between the
hours of 3 and 6PM. Especially hard hit are the parents
of children in the Capitol Hill Cluster Schools,
since both St. Peter’s Interparish and Capitol Hill
Day School run their own after-care programs.
The after-care program was run by the Capitol
Hill Child Development Center, which also operated
a full-day preschool for two- to four-year-olds in
the same church. Both programs were without a
home when the church decided to take back the
space the program was subletting.
Reorganization of the after-school enrichment
programs at the Peabody and the Watkins Cluster
School Campuses is also adding to parental anxiety.
M a ny parents expressed concern because th e
Peabody program has had staffing problems, and
the Watkins program has yet to begin.
Dia Michaels, director of the enrichment program
at Watkins, said that the program has never,
in its histo ry, sta rted during the first week of
school. A new program, Science, Arts, Education,
Sports and Enrichment (SEASE), a hybrid of two
c l u ster school pro grams available last ye a r, will
begin in October.
SEASE will welcome a new dire c tor and will
incorporate elements from the defunct enrichment
p ro gram fo rm e rly sponsored at Watkins by th e
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW). CHAW will
m a i n tain ties with this pro gram, but in a less
prominent, advisory role. Michaels said that SEASE
will offer enri chment activities comp a rable to
those offered last year, but at a more economical
price.
Jennifer Smith, principal of both Peabody and
Watkins schools, added her assurance that both the
after school program at Peabody, and the SEASE
program at Watkins will continue.
Meanwhile the popular after-school classes held
on site at CHAW are nearing capacity and they have
been struggling to accommodate the overflow of
children from the disbanded program at the Baptist
Church.
Julia Ro b ey, pro gram assistant for CH AW,
remarked that registration for fall is “through the
roof.” Although CHAW has an abundance of space
and instructors willing to teach additional classes,
limited tra n s p o rtation is the main obstacle to
expansion of their after-school classes. Robey said
the wo rkshop is looking into ways to expand
s ch o o l - to - CH AW tra n s p o rt so th ey might serve
even more of the community’s children.
Even with programs like SEASE and CHAW firmly
in place, parents may still find themselves coming
up short of the full three hours of coverage
many need for their children until they’re home
from work. While the CHAW and SEASE programs
are held after-school, they are not true after-care
p ro grams. Both are designed to supplement a
child’s school experience rather than baby-sit.
CH AW offe rs a va ri ety of classes in the art s ,
which means children’s schedules change often. It
is quite costly to sign one’s child up for enough
classes to fill the daily 3-6 PM gap.
SEASE is an enrichment prog ram offering special
programs and field trips, but has age limitations
and thrives on parent involvement. The shortage of
c o mp re h e n s i ve, qu a l i t y, aft e r- s chool care fo r
Capitol Hill children is undeniable.
Don Denton, president of Pardoe Real Estate,
notes that the Hill is filled with long-time residents,
such as himself, who are just starting families and
have small children. Denton says that one need
only look around the various parks filled with children
on any given day to notice the trend. In reference
to the need for after-care programs on the Hill,
Denton comments, “Demand is not simply growing,
but exploding.”
Leslie Leahy, president of the Cluster School PTA,
sees this demand as a golden business opportunity
for after-care program operators. Leahy, who has
explored several options to address the problem,
notes the special concerns of parents of very young
children. Although CHAW and the SEASE programs
offer exciting curricula and innovative learning
opportunities for many, they do not offer classes
for children under five.
Leahy would like to see parents approach some of
the larger aft e r- c a re prov i d e rs in the city and
encourage them to establish sites on the Hill. She
hopes to address the issue of after-care at both the
Peabody and Watkins Back-to-School nights and
upcoming PTA meetings.
For Capitol Hill parents scrambling to find safe
and enriching places for their children to spend
their after-school hours, a solution can’t come soon
enough.
Sara Godfrey is the Voice of the Hill’s editorial and
production intern.
34 www.voiceofthehill.com
C a p i t a lK i d s
It’s a full house! A rare moment of quiet
at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop’s After
School Program.
Pediatric Center Will Continue to
Serve Hill Kids
BY PAT TY CURRAN
After months of rumor and speculation about its
demise, it now seems the Pediatric Center will not
only continue to operate but will expand its hours
and services.
Heidi Johnson, a pediatric nurse practitioner and
new Hill resident, told the Voice that she and Dr.
Lori Finley will continue to see patients at the office
in the Penn Medical Building at 655 Pennsylvania
Avenue. Dr. Finley, who’s also just moved to the
Hill, begins work on September 18.
Johnson was hired at the Center in May when Dr.
Michele Berman, a co-owner of the practice along
with Dr. Milton Werthman, relocated to Seattle.
After Berman’s departure, Werthman offered to sell
the practice to the pediatricians curre n t ly
employed there, but found no takers. All of the
p hysicians who wo rked under Berman and
Werthman announced plans to leave the practice
with the last of them departing on September 15.
But Johnson, who lives at Fifth and E Sts., SE with
a view of Turtle Park, knew that there was plenty of
demand for pediatric care on Capitol Hill. “We recognize
there’s a need on the Hill and we want to
help,” she said. “We will soon be resuming our
Saturday morning hours, probably from 8 to noon,
and hope to add an hour in the early morning two
or three times a week for walk-ins.”
Although the practice had employed as many as
six doctors between its Hill and Bethesda offices,
Johnson said the Hill office never had more than
two physicians seeing patients at any one time. She
said that she and Dr. Finley may look to add another
pediatrician later in the fall so that they wouldn’t
be on call as often.
Nurse practitioners like Johnson are trained to
see people in primary care. Johnson holds a master’s
degree in nursing focused on primary care
pediatrics and is trained to see children for regular
checkups as well as when they’re mildly or acutely
ill. She’s been a pediatric nurse practitioner for six
years.
Johnson said that Dr. Aziza Alam will be taking
over at the Bethesda office, but added that the
Capitol Hill and Bethesda offices “will probably go
their separate ways,” in the coming months.
Hill Teacher Finishes Bike Ride
Across America
Ninety-seven days after they left the comforts of
their 10 th St., SE home, Hill Pre s chool teach e r
Bonnie Pritchard and her husband Hap accomplished
their goal. The couple rode their bike s
across the country, from Washington to Portland,
Oregon, logging in “exactly 4,404 miles and lots of
fabulous memories,” according to Pritchard.
Her students at the Hill Preschool kept track of
Pritchard’s progress all summer long, posting her
route on a big map of the U.S. and reading her postcards
on the World Wide Web sites set up by her
daughter and nephew.
Despite lots of rain on the East Coast, Pritchard
and husband Hap had only four days of riding in
the rain. “There was not better biking weather to be
had,” she said, adding that they were often surprised
by the chilly mornings in the West and
Midwest.
The hardest part of the trip? Finding good, fresh
food. When they did find good produce, they were
re st ricted from carrying much with them since
their bikes we re already pretty loaded dow n .
Another difficulty was the lack of campgrounds in
the states of Missouri and Kansas. The couple were
following the TransAmerica Trail, which lists city
parks available for camping, and they pitched their
tent more than once in the shadows of a little
league game or playground.
Now that the photos are in the book and husband
Hap is back at work, Pritchard took a moment
to reflect. “It was one of the hardest but most fun
things I’ve ever done. We met the nicest people,”
she said. “Honest and truly, we did not want to
stop—-if we had the time we would have swung
a round and come back on the south e rn tra i l ! ”
There’s always next summer, Bonnie!
The Teddy Bears Are Coming!
Grab your favorite, worn, loved, or even brand new
teddy bear and join children from Capitol Hill and
the surrounding area in the third annual Teddy
Bear Parade to be held Saturday, October 14. This
terrific free event is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club
of Capitol Hill.
Participants must be under ten years of age and
should bring their teddy bear and an adult to register
at 3PM at Eastern Market Metro. There will be
clowns and reading activities for the children to
enjoy before they and Jennifer B. Smith, principal
of Peabody and Watkins Schools, march their bears
down 8th Street to the Marine
Barracks and back.
After the parade, judges will
do their best to select prizewinn
e rs. Categories are: Best
Loved, Look-alikes, Movie Star,
Mobile Bear, and Patriotic Bear.
Children may bring any bear or
stuffed animal, but to be eligible
for a prize they must register
in one of these five categories.
P rizes will be a $50 sav i n g s
bond for the bear selected in
each of the categories.
This is one of the Kiwa n i s
C l u b ’s favo rite activities
because it brings out entire
families. Kiwanis Clubs are
known far and wide for their
devotion to serving the community
and engaging yo u n g
people in club activities. The
C a p i tol Hill Club sponsors
three youth service organizations: the Spingarn Key
Club, the Stuart Hobson Middle School Builders
Club, and the Watkins School K-Kids Club.
Students from these three clubs will be assisting
during the parade. Any questions may be directed
to Jan MacKinnon, at 544 - 0 875, or email at
MJanmb2@ aol.com
Squeaky Wheel Gets the Rumble Strip
Hill children started the school year off in a safer
environment thanks to the persistence of a parent
coalition headed by 3rd St. SE resident Jane McNew
and Brent Elementary’s Forrest Wilson. F resh from
their victory in securing a four-way stop at the
www.voiceofthehill.com 35
cordially invites you to attend our
OPEN HOUSE
Tuesday, October 7, 2000 • 7:30-9p.m.
Prekindergarten-8th Grade Enrollment for Fall 2001
• Field Education • Computer Lab • Spanish and French
• Art/Music/Drama • Physical Education • After School Program
• Summer Camp • Transportation • Founded 1969
Accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
& Association of Independent Maryland Schools
210 South Carolina Avenue, SE • Washington, DC 20003
For additional information or to schedule a visit call
202/547-2244 ext. 120
Visit us at our web site: http://www.chds.org
Capitol Hill Day School
Hap and Bonnie Pritchard celebrate the end of their 4,000+ mile journey
across America with a smooch.
36 www.voiceofthehill.com
NEEDED:
TEACHERS FOR
AFTERSCHOOL
Capitol Hill Location
Hours: M, T, Th, F: 3pm to 6pm
Wed: 12:30 to 6pm
High School Diploma Required
Call 202-544-2658
between 12 noon and 6pm
intersection of 4th and D Sts., SE (see the April issue
of the Voice), the group’s latest accomplishment are
the new rumble strips installed at the intersections
s u rrounding Brent and St. Pet e r’s Interp a ri s h
Schools.
The strips are the first of several traffic-calming
devices McNew says will surface in coming weeks.
“We’ve been promised this stuff forever, but the diffe
rence has been the appointment of Wi l l
DerMinasian as chief of DC’s Bureau of Tra f f i c
Services—he says he’ll do something and he does it!
It’s just totally refreshing!” said McNew.
Progress began after McNew and St. Peter’s principal
Pamela Klobukowski met with DerMinasian
late last spring. In addition to the st rips, a
walk/don’t walk signal will be installed at the intersection
of 3rd and E, crosswalks will be repainted,
and the bus drop off zone in front of Brent will be
boxed in with painted lines. Each of the schools
will get flashing “school zone” signs, and
“SCHOOL” will be painted on the street above the
rumble strips. McNew said another neighborhood
group has been promised a four-way stop at the
intersection of 2nd and E Sts.
To really achieve a safe environment, McNew
stressed that crossing guards are needed in front of
each school. Klobukowski said she has met with a
captain from the Third District substation in the
neighborhood and was told that there were only
two officers available for such duty and that one
would be at St. Peter’s on mornings when court
dates or emergencies did not interfere. McNew said
Ward 6 Council Member Sharon Ambrose has been
helpful in all the safety efforts and is working to get
a guard for Brent.
Now McNew and her neighbors are turning their
attention to Providence and Folger Parks. She said
the landscape architect for the Architect of the
C a p i tol, which ove rsees the fe d e ra l ly ow n e d
Providence Park, has promised to fill in the holes
that pose hazards to children who use the field for
baseball and soccer games. She asks neighborhood
dog owners to make sure their dogs don’t re-dig the
holes. As for Folger Park, managed by the US Park
Service, McNew says it needs “adequate lighting,
new sidewalks and benches, and a new
center square—the old one is crumbling
badly.”
Beware Park Rangers: that squeaking
you hear is no mouse—and it ’s not going
away!
Let us help you brag about your kids! Please
send news from your school, or news about
your children, to Patty Curran, Voice of the
Hill Kids Section Editor, 1371 A St., NE,
Washington, DC 20002, or via e-mail to
pdtki@erols.com. The deadline for submis -
sions is the last Friday of the month prior to
publication.
Capital GRANDkids…Rachel and Teddy
Pugh, grandchildren of Alice Wilson of
Antique and Contemporary Leasing .
Exhibits:
The Chemical Science Center at the Capital
Children’s Museum
The Chemical Science Center at the Capital Children’s
Museum is a great place to introduce kids to the mysteries
of science. In the lab, children can investigate
whether an “empty” or blown-up balloon is heavier,
what conducts electricity, whether hot water is lighter
or heavier than cold water, and why 10 + 10 does not
always equal 20. The power of air pressure will be
demonstrated as soda cans crumble, balloons blow up
inside flasks, and iced tea brews, all without human
help. Interactive demonstrations happen every day.
After the demonstrations, children 6 and older can do
experiments in the lab as long as an adult accompanies
them.
Saturday, September 23
“The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale.” LAST DAY
to see this great exhibit in the Library of Congress,
Jefferson Building.
Mexican Pottery Demonstration: Learn about the
many techniques used to create Mexican pottery. 11
AM and 3 PM. Also today, a Pottery Workshop:
Children paint and decorate their own pottery. Space
limited, register at the front desk. 3 PM. Capitol
Children’s Museum. 800 Third St., NE. 675-4133
At the NE Librar y, 7th and Maryland, 698-3299:
Films: 3-10 year olds can watch filmstrips based on
children’s literature. 11:30 AM. Games Day: 7-14 year
olds can play Scrabble, checkers, Monopoly and more!
2-4 PM.
Sunday, September 24
Scienterrific Sunday at the Children’s Museum. Lear n
about the important fire cycle and how fires can be
beneficial to the environment. Ages 4-7: 11 AM and 2
PM. Ages 8 and up: 12PM and 3 PM. Also: Taste of
Hispania: Try foods and drinks that are popular in
Hispanic countries 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. 800
Third St., NE. 675-4133. Admission.
Monday, September 25
Toddler Art Time: Color, doodle and draw at the
library! Ages 2-6. 10:30 AM. NE Library. 7th and
Maryland, NE. 698-3299.
Tuesday, September 26
Toddler Story Time: Stories, songs, films and more.
Ages 3-5. 10 AM. NE Library. 7th and Maryland, NE
698-3299.
For the Dino-Freaks: Peter Kranz, author of
“Dinosaurs In Maryland,” discusses “Dinosaurs in
DC!” 7:30 PM. SE Librar y. Free. 7th and D Sts., SE.
Ward 6 Democrat’s School Board Candidate Forum.
Community Info beginning at 6 PM; Forum begins at
7PM. Hine Junior High School, 8th and PA Ave., SE.
Wednesday, September 27
DCPS Facilities Dialogue. Parents help DCPS officials
assess school priorities. Time, location, TBA.
Thursday, September 28
Chess Club: 6-14 year olds can make their moves at
the NE Librar y. 4 PM. 7th and Maryland, NE. 698-
3299
Saturday, September 30
Today at the NE Librar y, 7th and Maryland, NE. 698-
3299: Films: 3-10 year-olds can watch filmstrips
based on children’s literature. 11:30 AM. Games: 7-14
year olds can play Scrabble, checkers, Monopoly and
more! 2-4 PM. Readers & Writers Café: 8-14 year olds
can share their favorite books and their own writing. 3
PM.
Sunday, October 1
Build a Pyramid at the Children’s Museum: Create
your very own pyramids using Styrofoam and glue. 11
AM, 1 PM, and 3 PM. 800 Third St., 675-4133
Saturday, October 7
Waterfront Festival. Down by the (Anacostia)
Riverside at the Washington Navy Yard, 3 great ships
a’sailing: Tall ship Californian, ketch Mabel Stevens,
and destroyer USS Bar ry. Activities throughout the
day will include ship tours, music from the US Navy
Band, tours of the Navy Museum’s Korean War exhibit,
and a drill competition. Food will also be available.
The Navy Yard is at the foot of 8th Street, SE. 10AM -
4PM. Free.
Sunday, October 8
At the Capital Children’s Museum: Mexican Pottery
Demonstration: An interactive demonstration of the
techniques used to create many different types of
Mexican pottery. 11 AM and 3 PM. Pottery
Workshop: Children can paint and decorate their own
pottery. 3 PM. Scienterrific Sunday!: Learn how to
separate the dyes in markers and candy; then use
your new found knowledge to grow a chromatography
flower. Ages 4-7: 11 AM and 2 PM. Ages 8 and up: 12
PM and 3 PM. 800 Third St., NE. 675-4133.
Saturday, October 14
Taste of Hispania: Taste food and drink favorites that
originated in Hispanic countries. 11 AM, 1 PM, and 3
PM. Also: Piñata Fiesta! Make your own colorful
piñatas to take home from 12-4 PM. Capital
Children’s Museum. 800 Third St., NE. 675-4133
Tuesday, October 17
CHDS Open House. Come, hear all about the Capitol
Hill Day School. 7:30-9PM. 210 S. Carolina Ave., SE.
547-2244.
Saturday, October 21
Pleasant Lane Fall Fest. Free health screenings, an
arts & crafts workshop, table displays, games, and
activities for children as well as refreshments.
Pleasant Lane Missionary Baptist Church, 501 E
Street, SE, 10AM to 6PM. Proceeds benefit community
outreach programs.
Special Note: CHAW, The Capitol Hill Arts Workshop,
is starting a Friday morning playgroup/co-op. If you’d
like to be involved, please contact the Workshop at
547-6839.
www.voiceofthehill.com 37
PROUDLY SPONSORED BY Jackie
PEACHES AND POOH BEAR
K i d s ’ C a l e n d a r Activities of Particular Interest to Kids and Their Pare n t s
Jackie von Schlegel, CBR, GRI
Capitol Hill and Chesapeake Beach are our neighborhoods, we hope you’ll make them yours.
202-547-5600 (W) • 202-543-4296 (H) • 301-855-6443 (H)
email: jackiev@realtor.com / Licensed in DC, MD and VA
REMAX Capital Properties
38 www.voiceofthehill.com
S TA R RY
DAYS
Your Astrological Guide
to the Pursuit of
Happiness
BY AJAI ©
Got something you want to
do? This calendar makes it
easy! You’ll find swell
nights for romance, and
when to tend to your
money. Want to lose some
weight, or just get your
hair cut? This calendar
tells you when, and it
works for everyone! There
are more Planets in
Astrology then just your
Sun Sign. The pull of all of
the Planets impacts ever y
one of us regardless of our
birthday, and using this
calendar can help us all in
our Pursuit of Happiness.
Friday 9.22.00
Happy Equinox. Cut your
hair
Saturday 9.23.00
Party graciously.
Sunday 9.24.00
Create a photo montage on
world harmony.
Monday 9.25.00
Weigh the food portions
you eat.
Tuesday 9.26.00
Speak up for workers’
rights.
Wednesday 9.27.00
Make a new investment.
Thursday 9.28.00
Write a poem on the bene -
fits to society of marriage.
Friday 9.29.00
How does having a Death
penalty affect the purpose
of Life?
Saturday 9.30.00
Clean behind your stove.
Sunday 10.1.00
Work on your life the way
Tiger Woods works on his
golf game. Sign up for a
course to improve your
Self.
Monday 10.2.00
Exercise your hips.
Tuesday 10.3.00
Did the guys who signed
the Declaration of
Independence all become
rich and famous?
Wednesday 10.4.00
A few jumping-jacks beside
your desk will get rid of
any sluggishness you
might be feeling.
Thursday 10.5.00
Cull the contents of your
closet.
Friday 10.6.00
Have your best friend over
for dinner. Make this
evening ver y, very special.
Saturday 10.7.00
Form an association to
help one family (less-welloff
than your group) with
life’s many challenges.
Sunday 10.8.00
Take an interest in some -
one who seems a little
eccentric.
Monday 10.9.00
There’s a category of
music called World Music.
Give it a listen. Today is
officially Columbus Day.
Tuesday 10.10.00
As you slip into the land of
slumber take the hand of
your love and hold on tight
so that you might dream
together.
Wednesday 10.11.00
Let your Ideals be your
guides for this eve’s activi -
ties.
Thursday 10.12.00
Be sensitive to others
while tuned to your Self.
Friday 10.13.00
Go ahead. Laugh at your -
self.
Saturday 10.14.00
Participate in today’s
parade sponsored by the
Ministry of Silly Walks.
Sunday 10.15.00
Be quiet today, go slow
today. Be sensitive to your
feelings. Journal.
Monday 10.16.00
Let everyone know what
you are thinking. Be clear
as can be. Or just babble
like a brook.
Tuesday 10.17.00
Don’t stay at your desk.
Roam. Ask questions.
Wednesday 10.18.00
Time to go slow again.
Avoid big purchases for the
next several weeks. Read
the small print. Sign up for
a meditation class.
Thursday 10.19.00
Don’t worry. Be happy. Let
go of fear. Contemplate
monumentally-sized works
of art.
Ajai once lived nine years
in a yoga ashram. Now he
lives on Capitol Hill and
teaches yoga and studies
astrology and cats.
Arts Calender:
October 15: Second
Saturday. The Hill’s own
gallery walk greets the
falling leaves with new
shows, music, poetry readings,
performance art, store
and restaurant specials and
discounts, and more. From
5PM-7PM, Saturday,
September 9, at galleries
and other venues in the
Eastern Market area. Check
the Voice website the week
of the event for updates.
Capitol Hill Art League.
“Body Image,” the Ar t
Leagues September show
runs through the 29th. “On
the River” opens October 3
and runs through the 27th.
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop,
545 7th St., SE. October’s
“Gallery Talk” is Thursday,
October 5, from 7:30 to 9PM
at the Workshop. Call 547-
6839 for more info.
EXHIBITS
National Postal
Museum
Recounting the Roosevelt
Presentation Albums,
1903-1905
Three rare, intact presenta -
tion stamp albums from the
Roosevelt administration are
on display at the National
Postal Museum. The presentation
albums were created
during the Roosevelt administration
and given away as
“favors” by the postal ser vice.
Albums contain proof
impressions of US stamps
issued from 1847 to 1903.
Originally costing about $20
to produce, an intact
Roosevelt Presentation
Album can sell for $75,000
or more today. Rarities
Gallery, through Februar y
23, 2001.
Library of Congress:
Closing September 23! The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Follow the yellow brick road
to the 100th anniversar y
exhibition of the Wonderful
Wizard of Oz in the Jefferson
Building of the Library of
Congress. The exhibit
includes over 100 treasures
from the classic 1939 film
including a pair of Dorothy’s
ruby slippers; the scarecrow’s
costume; and the
Cowardly Lion’s mane and
Tail.
There will also be lots of
Oz-related souvenirs and novelties
including plates, figurines,
games, greeting
cards, Christmas ornaments,
music boxes, paper dolls and
coloring books-and clips from
other Oz films — from early
silents to “The Wiz.”
HERBLOCK EXHIBITION
OPENS OCTOBER 11
Herblock’s History:
Political Cartoons from the
Crash to the Millennium
In this election year, as the
spotlight falls on the
Republican and Democratic
party candidates for president,
the Library of Congress
is honoring renowned editori -
al cartoonist Herb Block
(“Herblock”) with a major
exhibition of his original
drawings. The subjects
include all 12 presidents
from Herbert Hoover to Bill
Clinton and the presidential
candidates in the 2000 elec -
tion. The exhibition celebrates
Herblock’s gift to the
Library of Congress of more
than 100 original works,
spanning 70 years of world
history and his distinguished
career. Through February 17,
2001.
Thomas Jefferson Exhibit
Drawing on the extraordinar y
written legacy of Thomas
Jefferson that is held in the
Library’s collections, this
exhibition about the Library’s
very own “founding father”
traces Jefferson’s develop -
ment from his early years in
Virginia to an ever-expanding
role of national and international
influence. It focuses
on the complexities and contradictions
of Thomas
Jefferson, the man, the
myth, the model, and
through letters, documents,
drawings and maps provides
a context for his life and
character.
Such treasures as the
“original Rough draught” of
the Declaration of
Independence in Jefferson’s
hand, the desk on which he
composed the Declaration,
account books from his plantation
at Monticello showing
items purchased from slave
families such as the
Hemingses, and his instructions
to the explorers Lewis
and Clark will be on display.
A highlight of the exhibition,
which will be on view
through October 31, is the
reassembling for the first
time since 1815 of
Jefferson’s library-the 6,487
books that he sold to
Congress when the British
burned the library in the U.S.
Capitol in 1814. 707-4604
By Securing to Authors:
Copyright, Commerce, and
Creativity in America
This exhibition features a
wide range of items that
have been copyrighted in
America, including original
Ken and Barbie dolls, Martin
Luther King, Jr.’s I Have a
Dream speech and the stat -
ue of the “Maltese Falcon”
that was used in the film of
the same name. Exhibition
hours are 8:30 AM to 5 PM,
Monday-Friday. Fourth Floor,
Green/Blue Corridors,
Madison Building. Open
indefinitely
Here to Stay: The Legacy
of George and Ira Gershwin
The George and Ira Gershwin
Room is a permanent exhibi -
tion area for materials from
the Library’s George and Ira
Gershwin Collection, the
world’s preeminent resource
for the documentary legacy
of the Gershwin brothers.
“Here to Stay: The Legacy of
George and Ira Gershwin”
includes George’s piano and
desk, Ira’s typing table and
typewriter, a self-portrait oil
painting of each brother,
handwritten musical manuscripts
and other documents
that chronicle their lives and
careers. An audio-video kiosk
allows visitors to view film
footage and learn more
about the Gershwins and
their music. (George and Ira
Gershwin Room, Northwest
Ground Floor Corridor of the
Jefferson Building, open
indefinitely)
American Treasures of the
Library of Congress
The unprecedented permanent
“American Treasures”
exhibition, made possible by
a grant from the Xerox
Foundation, showcases 240
items that represent the
breadth and depth of the
Library’s American historical
items. Featured in the “Top
Treasures” case this summer
is Thomas Jefferson’s “rough
draft” of the Declaration of
Independence. (Southwest
Gallery and Pavilion of the
Thomas Jefferson Building).
For additional information,
call (202) 707-3834.
Exhibitions at the
Folger Shakespeare
Library, 201 East
Capitol St., SE
A Decade of Collecting
A Decade of Collecting surveys
the highlights of Folger
acquisitions over the last ten
years: printed books from the
incunabula period to Ellen
Terry’s rehearsal copy for
Othello, manuscripts, works
of art on paper, and special
bindings. Included will be an
autographed letter from
Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester, to Queen Elizabeth
I on the subject of the
Armada campaign (1588);
an eyewitness account, printed
in a German newsbook, of
the execution of Mar y,
Queen of Scots (1588); first
editions of Spenser’s
Amoretti and Epithalamion
(1595) and The Shepheardes
Calendar (1579); one of two
complete copies of Sidney’s
Syr P.S. his Astrophel and
Stella (1597?); along with
emblem and festival books,
herbals, maps, engravings;
and a rare etching by
Wenceslaus Hollar (1647).
Also highlighted will be the
“Sieve” portrait of Queen
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Park Cafe
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106 13th St., SE
at the east end of Lincoln Park
Continental & Latin Fare
Mon 6pm-10pm
Tues-Sat noon-3pm &
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Large Wine list
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620 G St., SE ??Eastern Market Metro
(202) 547-9300 ??www.washingtonparish.org
Our fall schedule leaves
time for your other re l i g i o n .
At Christ Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill you
can worship Sunday mornings before kick-off.
Your casual clothes are welcome.
8:15 and 11:00 am worship services
Elizabeth I (1579), one of
the finest executed in her
lifetime, a recent gift to the
Librar y. Through November
25, 2000.
Exhibitions at the
Washington Navy Yard—
8th and M Sts., SE
The Navy in the Forgotten
War: Korea 1950-53
Exhibit commemorates the
50th anniversary of the conflict
in Korea, covering the
themes of naval aviation,
gunfire support, amphibious
operations, minesweeping,
medical support, and
armistice negotiations. A
restored Landing Craft
Vehicle Personnel (LCVP) will
dominate the exhibition.
Navy Museum Annex,
Building 70. Exhibit will
remain on display until 2001.
Events
Friday, September 22
Film: All in the Family: Two’s
a Crowd (Tandem Prod.,
1978), M*A*S*H: Abyssinia,
Henry (20th Century Fox,
1975), The Mary Tyler
Moore Show (MTM Prod.,
1975), The Bob Newhar t
Show: Caged Fur y (MTM
Prod., 1976), and The Carol
Burnett Show: “Went with
the Wind” excerpt (CBS,
1976). Library of Congress.
Pickford Theater. 7 PM.
Reservations may be made
by phone, beginning one
week before any given show.
Call 202-707-5677 during
business hours. Reserved
seats must be claimed at
least 10 minutes before
showtime, after which standbys
will be admitted to
unclaimed seats. All programs
are free, but seating
is limited to 64 seats. The
Mary Pickford Theater is
located on the third floor of
the Madison Building.
• Films on the Hill at the
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
presents: The Lives of a
Bengal Tiger (1935). Gary
Cooper overcomes an evil
Khan, a beautiful Russian
spy, music loving cobras, torture
chambers, and more in
one of the greatest adventure
films ever made.
Nominated for six Oscars.
7:30 PM Reservations suggested.
$5. 545 7th St., SE.
547-6839.
• Author Reynolds Price
opens the 2000-2001
PEN/Faulkner reading series
with a special William
Faulkner birthday reading.
Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 8
PM. 201 East Capitol St.,
SE. Box office: 544-7077.
Saturday, September 23
EXHIBITION CLOSES: Last
day to see “The Wizard of
Oz: An American Fairy Tale.”
Library of Congress. South
Gallery of the Great Hall,
Jefferson Building. Public
contact: 707-4604.
• Temple Micah Open
House. Worship and pray
with us on Sept. 29-30 for
Rosh Hashanah and Oct. 8-9
for Yom Kippur. 2829
Wisconsin Ave., NW. 342-
9175
Tuesday, September 26
Film: Sambizanga (Isabelle
Films, 1972). Library of
Congress. Pickford Theater.
7 PM. See September 22 for
admission info.
• Ward 6 Democrat’s
School Board Candidate
forum. Community Info begin -
ning at 6 PM; Forum begins
at 7PM. Hine Junior High
School
• “Super Tuesday:” Book discussion
group: Peter Kranz,
author of Dinosaurs In
Maryland, discusses
“Dinosaurs in DC!” 7:30 PM.
SE Library. Free. 7th and D
Sts., SE.
Wednesday, September 27
Treasure-Talk: Maricia Battle,
specialist in the Prints and
Photographs Division, talks
about Raymond Loewy’s
designs for the Avanti automobile.
Library of Congress.
SW Gallery of the Jefferson
Building. noon. Free. 707-
9203.
• Reading: Bernard Werber,
French author of the cur rent
bestseller Empire des
Anges, among others, will
read from and discuss his fiction.
Library of Congress,
Pickford Theater, third floor
of the Madison Building.
noon. 707-8485.
• The Capitol Hill
Restoration Society’s popular
Preservation Café begins.
Topic for the fall kick-off will
be the old police and fir e
Call Boxes and the new project
to rehabilitate those on
Capitol Hill. Preservation
Cafes will also be held on
October 25 and November
29. Locations, topics, and
speakers will be announced
at a later date. 6:30 PM.
620 G St. SE. 547-7167.
Thursday, September 28
Library of Congress
Symposium: An all-day symposium
on “The American
Response to the Armenian
Genocide,” will be held in
the Mumford Room, 6th floor
of the Madison Building,
from 9 AM to 5:30 PM. An
introductory talk by Dr. Jay
Winter, Cambridge
University, will be followed
by panel discussions covering
various topics. Call 707-
3302 for more info.
• Film: Village of the Giants
(Embassy Pictures, 1965).
Library of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 7 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
• Books & Beyond: Writer
Theodore Zeldin discusses
his book Conversation: How
Talk Can Change Your Life.
Library of Congrees,
Mumford Room, 6th floor of
the Madison Building, at 7
PM. 707-5221.
Friday, September 29
Film: Zorro, Mark of the Z,
Zorro Springs a Trapand
Zorro Rides Again. Librar y
of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 6:30 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
Saturday, September 30
Celebrating the Arts at
Christ Church + Washington
Parish: a fundraiser featuring
the Christ Church Madrigals,
chocolate and other delectable
desserts by the pastry
chef of the Hay Adams Hotel,
champagne, sparkling cider
and an art show by talented
parishioners. 620 G Street,
SE Capitol Hill (202) 547-
3343. $25 (tickets are avail -
able at the door) www.washingtonparish.
org
Sunday, October 1
Capitol Hill Garden Club.
New members and those
interested in joining are wel -
come to attend the Fall
Garden Party in the garden
and home of Joe Purdy and
Tony Pontorno at 531
Seventh Street, NE. Rain or
shine, do come. 3-5PM
Tuesday, October 3
Film: Tokyo Stor y (Toho,
1953). Library of Congress.
Pickford Theater. 7 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
• “Super Tuesday:” Book discussion
group: Sonsyrea
Tate, author of Little X:
Growing Up in the Nation Of
Islam will discuss her book
as a precursor to the Louis
Farrakhan’s Million Family
March, 7:30 PM. SE Library.
Free. 7th and D Sts., SE.
Thursday, October 5
Film: Toute la Mémoire du
Monde (La Pléiade, 1956)
and Muriel (Argos, 1963).
Library of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 6:30 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
• ANC 6A meeting. J.O.
Wilson Elementary School.
7PM
• The Capitol Hill Ar t
League’s “Gallery Talk.”
7:30 to 9PM at the
Workshop. Free. 545 7th St.,
SE. Call 547-6839 for mor e
info.
Friday, October 6
Film: Peter Gunn: Pecos
Pete, Johnny Staccato:
Murder in Hi-Fi, Mickey and
Friends —Miller Lite and
Mike Hammer: For Sale —
Deathbed, Used. Library of
Congress. Pickford Theater.
7 PM. See September 22 for
admission info.
Saturday, October 7
Waterfront Festival. Down by
the (Anacostia) Riverside at
the Washington Navy Yard, 3
great ships a’sailing: Tall
ship Californian, ketch Mabel
Stevens, and destroyer USS
Barr y. Activities throughout
the day will include ship
tours, music from the US
Navy Band, tours of the Navy
Museum’s Korean War exhibit,
and a drill competition.
Food will also be available.
The Navy Yard is at the foot
of 8th Street, SE. 10AM -
4PM. Free.
• H Street Festival. It’s
party time on H Street
Northeast. Parade starts at
9am, followed by a visit from
the mayor and entertainment
on multiple stages. Vendors
of all types. FREE
Sunday, October 8
EXHIBITION CLOSES: “The
American Treasures” exhibition.
Library of Congress.
Southwest Gallery of the
Jefferson Building, closes
until November 7 for installation
of new items.
Tuesday, October 10
ANC 6B meeting. 921 PA
Ave, SE. 7PM
• Fall Soil Preparation for
Spring Success. The Capitol
Hill Garden Club will discuss
soil additives, compost and
fertilizers, for success in
planting bulbs, azaleas and
rhododendrons, for a beautiful
Spring garden. the Capitol
Hill Baptist Church. Fifth
Street NE between East
Capitol and A Streets NE.
Light refreshments at 7PM.
Program at 7:30 PM sharp.
• Film: Surprise Screening.
Library of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 7 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
Wednesday, October 11
Books & Beyond: Steven V.
Holmes discusses his new
book, Ron Brown: An
Uncommon Life, in a program
sponsored by the Center for
the Book, Library of
Congress, Mumford Room,
6th floor of the Madison
Building, at 1 PM. 707-5221.
• The 2000-2001 season of
free “Concerts from the
Library of Congress” begins
tonight with Carter Brey
(Cello) and Christopher
O’Riley (Piano). Tickets are
available beginning
September 13. Tickets for
last season’s canceled program
will not be honored at
this performance. Tickets
are required for all Library of
Congress concerts and are
Come one, come all!
H Street Festival
Saturday, October 7
All along H Street Northeast!
9am-11am
Parade with drill teams,
bands, antique autos,
floats and more.
11am-12pm
Mayoral Ceremony
1pm
Entertainment! Multiple
stages featuring gospel, hiphop
and oldies. Vendors of
all types will line the street
from 9th to 14th.
Last yea 40,000 people
attended the H Street
Festival, and this years promises
to be bigger and better.
40 www.voiceofthehill.com
709 8th Street, SE
Washington, DC
202-544-4234
capitolhillbikes@aol.com
Save 10% on a full tune-up
through October
Hill Owned & Operated
We’re open Tuesday—Friday, 11-7
Thursday ’til 9 Closed Monday
Saturday 10-6 Sunday 12-5
with Charms of the Night
Sky and Bell Trio. Coolidge
Auditorium. 8 PM. Tickets
available beginning
September 13. See October
11 listing for details.
• The 2000-2001 season of
the Folger Consort opens
with the Fit for a King.
Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 8
PM. 201 East Capitol St.,
SE. Box office:544-7077.
• Lesbian & Gay Chorus in
Concert. “Not What You
Think (NWYT), an a cappella
ensemble of the Capitol Hill
based Lesbian & Gay Chorus
of Washington, DC, will be
appearing in concert at 8
PM, at St. James Episcopal
Church, 222 8th Street NE.
The concert celebrates the
release of the group’s first
CD after almost ten years of
singing together. Tickets
are $10 and will be available
at the door or by calling 202-
546-1549. The concert will
be interpreted for the deaf.
Sunday, October 15
Soccer: MLS Cup. 1:30 PM.
RFK Stadium. Tickets available
through TicketMaster:
432-SEAT.
• Concert: Fit for a King.
Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 2
PM and 5:30 PM. 201 East
Capitol St., SE. Box office:
544-7077.
September 13. See October
11 listing for details.
Friday, October 13
Film: The Thin Man and The
Thin Man: Cat Kicker .
Library of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 7 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
• The 2000-2001 season of
the Folger Consort opens
with the Fit for a King.
Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 8
PM. 201 East Capitol St.,
SE. Box office: 544-7077.
• Concert: Juilliard String
Quartet —2nd performance
Library of Congress. Coolidge
Auditorium. 8 PM. Tickets
available beginning
September 13. See October
11 listing for details.
Saturday, October 14
Second Saturday! Galler y
and Arts Walk around
Eastern Market. Exhibits,
Music, Special Discounts,
Wine and Nibbles. 5-7PM.
Check www.voiceofthehill.
com for details the week
prior to the event.
• Concert: Dave Douglas
available for a nominal
charge of $2 per ticket from
TicketMaster 432-SEAT.
Standby seats might be had
by appearing at the will-call
desk by 6:30 PM on concer t
evenings. All concerts will
be held in the Coolidge
Auditorium, located on the
ground floor of the Thomas
Jefferson Building, 10 1st St,
SE, at 8 p.m.,
Thursday, October 12
Reading: Poet Laureate
Consultant in Poetry Stanley
Kunitz opens the Library of
Congress literary season
with an evening reading in
the Montpelier Room, 6th
floor of the Madison
Building. 6:45 PM. 707-
5394.
• Film: Zor ro: The Postponed
Wedding and Zor ro: They
Call Her Annie, Library of
Congress. Pickford Theater.
7 PM. See September 22 for
admission info.
• Juilliard String Quartet. In
concert at the Library of
Congress. Coolidge
Auditorium. 8 PM. Tickets
available beginning
When Your Bicycle Needs Repair…
EXPERIENCE COUNTS!
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RAM Associates, founded by Russell Mawn has been
located on Capitol Hill for over 11 years.
RAM Associates’services include:
• web hosting/development
• ecommerce featuring Intershop
• portal development featuring Live Publish
RAM’s initial specialty, electronic publishing, integrated
Federal Regulatory information in the creation CD’s for
clients around the country.
The need to deliver this same information via the internet
has helped drive RAM’s development of server based
applications. RAM maintains and develops database
driven internet environments for a wide variety of clients.
RAM has development and hosting plans available for
small and large clients.
Call us at 202-543-3635
545 7th St., SE /Washington, DC 20003
Visit www.chaw.org for more information.
202-547-6839
Autumn Listening
Workshop
Wednesday, September
27, 7:30 p.m. $20
Ballroom Dance
Workshop (4 Sessions)
Social Occasion Survival!
Mondays, Oct. 2, 16, 23
& 30
7:15 p.m. $80
Creative Play for
Grown-ups
Saturday, October 7, 10
a.m. - Noon $25
Second Annual
Pumpkin Carving
Workshop
Saturday, October 28,
10 a.m. - Noon
$5 ($10 max per family)
P L U S !
CAPITOL HILL ART
LEAGUE
Now in the Gallery:
BODY IMAGE through Sept. 29
Next: ON THE RIVER
opens October 3
Gallery Talk: October 5, 7:30
p.m. FREE
FILMS ON THE HILL
Gary Cooper in The Lives of
a Bengal Lancer (1935)
Friday, September 22, 7:30 p.m.
$5
Special Double Feature
for Halloween!
Mad Love (1935) and The Raven
(1935)
Friday, October 27, 7:30 p.m. $5
THEATER ALLIANCE
Opening Nov. 3…DO LORD,
REMEMBER ME…a powerful
play based on the WPA interviews
with former slaves.
I N QU I R I N G ? ?
Are you . . .
. . .interested in joining the
Catholic Church?
. . . an adult Catholic seeking
confirmation?
. . .simply wanting to learn what
makes Catholics tick?
ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH,
(2nd & C Streets, NE)
warmly welcomes
“inquirers” to participate in
its adult initiation program!
For more information,call:
Chris Wilson
202-547-0738
Monday, October 16
“Musical Monday on Capitol
Hill.” The Capitol Hill United
Methodist Church music
series features guest artists
from the Washington Opera:
Stephanie Bramble Butler,
mezzo, and Caroline
Widegreen, soprano.
Reception follows program.
7:30 PM. 421 Seward
Square at 7:30 PM. A $10
minimum donation is
requested to benefit the
church music program.
Tuesday, October 17
Film: The Execution of
Private Slovik. Library of
Congress. Pickford Theater.
7 PM. See September 22 for
admission info.
Wednesday, October 18
Film: Bunny Lake Is Missing.
Library of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 7 PM. See
September 22 for admission
info.
Thursday, October 19
• Rare Book Care. Lear n
more about taking care of
precious documents, photographs
and rare books and
talk to the “Book Guys”
about your own “rare books”
at the Library of Congress
fifth annual Preservation
Workshop. Jefferson Building
from 10 AM to 5 PM. 707-
3307.
• Books & Beyond: Estelle
Ellis discusses her new
book, Book Lover’s First Aid
Kit, in the Library of
Congress, Whittall Pavilion,
ground floor of the Jefferson
Building. noon. 707-5221.
• Film: Hamlet (Electronovision
Prod., 1964). Librar y
of Congress. Pickford
Theater. 6 PM. See September
22 for admission info.
Saturday, October 21
Pleasant Lane Fall Fest free
health screenings, an arts &
crafts workshop, table displays,
games, and activities
for children as well as
refreshments. Pleasant Lane
Missionary Baptist Church,
501 E Street, SE, 10AM to
6PM. Proceeds benefit community
outreach programs.
• Best Book Sale on the Hill!
Help the Friends of the
Southeast Library
provide needed services to
their patrons. Hardcovers
$1,large paperbacks 50
cents, regular-sized paperbacks
25 cents. SE Librar y,
across from Eastern Market
Metro, at 7th Street,10-
4PM. Rain or Shine!
Sea Kayak
the Potomac
Experience,Discover,Explore
• Evening, day, and half day trips
• Nature watching
• Instruction
CHARLES AGLE
THE PATHFINDER GROUP
202-546-0269
kayaking@washpathfind.com
Log on and join in!
The Voice has the liveliest
discussions on the Hill.
www.voiceofthehill.com
42 www.voiceofthehill.com
• classifieds • classifieds •
Positions
Teacher
River Park Nursery School,
serving Capitol Hill since
1963, seeks teacher
M-F for morning only pr ogram.
Qual: meet DC ECE
and exper. requirements.
Comp. salary. Metro accessible.
Send resume to A.
Donovan, 1014 NC Ave. SE,
WDC 20003, or
carroo@msn.com. (9/00)
$$$ Experienced
Waiters/Bartenders $$$
Work in one of DC’s best
restaurants. Food, wine and
cocktail knowledge a prerequisite.
Call Ms. Sullivan 202-
543-8030
Help Wanted
Cashiers needed. Frager’s
Hardware. Part time, full
time, salary commensurate
with experience. Computer
skills and previous experience
a plus. Call Nick 202-
543-6157
Nanny Needed
Seeking nanny to care for
one infant part time or two
infants five days a week in a
sharing arrangement.
Beginning in September. Call
Nancy at 202/543-7112 or
Laura at 202/544-0489.
Volunteer Positions
Capitol Hill Arts Workshop
needs volunteers Mon.-Fri.,
2pm-6:30pm to help out with
our After School Arts
Program. Duties include helping
teachers with arts classes,
helping kids get to their
correct classes and helping
out with dismissal procedures
and parent pickup. If
you need community service
hours, or just love children,
please call Julia Robey at
202-547-6839.
Services
Tutoring
Tutoring in English composition,
reading comprehension,
SSAT and SAT verbal, and
French by experienced local
teacher. Call 544-7314.
Windows and More
For Le$$
Your windows will never know
clean until they’re cleaned by
Windows and More. For professional
cleaning and fre e
estimate, call Jesse at 202-
494-5086 or James at 202-
494-5244. New client discount
$15. $125 minimum.
Limit 1 per client.
Electrician
Moran and Son Electricians.
Commercial and residential.
40 years experience. 24-hour
service. 202-251-4433. Fast,
reliable. Call immediately.
Slipcovers
Total Fabrications. Custom
fitted slipcovers for home or
office. Call Michele at 202-
546-5439.
Buy, Sell, Rent
For Rent
Unique 2br/3ba/new renovation
CAC/FP/HWF/WD. On
Corner-lots of windows/light.
1000sf great room w/gourmet
kit, dining area, builtins.
Tons of Storage.
Bedroom w/balcony. Above
Martin’s Market. MUST SEE!
$2500 (202) 548-0356
(9/00)
House for Sale
2812 Cheverly Ave.,
Cheverly. 3 bedrooms, 2
bath. Colonial. Close to
Metro, convenient to the
Hill. New kitchen. 157K. Call
Jock at Long and Foster 301-
262-6900.
Parking Space for Rent
1 space located at 1016
Constitution, NE, for rent.
Call Joe 202-997-1325.
(9/00)
Wanted to Rent
1-2 automobile parking
spaces, off-street, 8am-
5:30pm. Monday-Friday.
E Street, 10th and Penn.
area. Long term rental
desired. Call Peggy
202-546-5722 days.
Classified Ad Placement Form
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City/State/ZIP _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone Number________________________________________________________________________Email_________________________________
Category
h Apartments/Rooms h Auto h Books h Children’s Items h Electronics
h Furniture h Office h Other _______________________________________________________________________________________________
h Personals h Positions hServices hTools
h Website h Newspaper h Both
The web classified ads are a free community service of the Voice of the Hill.
Newspaper ads are $20 for the first 20 words and $.25 per word thereafter. Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
Please describe the item and please be concise, there is a 200 website character limitation (there is no limit to print ads)_______________
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Please enclose payment with order. Mail to Voice of the Hill, 120 11th Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003. Or fax information (credit card payment
only) to 202-547-5133.
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Apartment Needed
New needs dictate ground
floor entry. 1 or 2 BR. Call
543-7825. Capitol Hill. Yes!
Steep Stairs, No!
Space Needed
I am looking for a small
office (approx. 175-225 sq.
ft.) for me to sit and write.
Capitol Hill/Eastern Market
area. Please call Gary at
202-546-1298.
For Rent
1BR English basement apt.
New berber carpet, CAC,
dishwasher, front and back
entrances. Great location, 4
blks from Capitol South
Metro. Pets negotiable.
$1000/mo. with one mo.
deposit. Call 202-546-7878
Beach Vacation/Golf
Reserve for next season or a
fall golf outing. Cher ry Grove
Section, No. Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina. 3BR 2BA
home, 1 block from beach
with dock and channel at
back door. Over 100 golf
courses nearby, and more
mini-golf than you can play.
Rent the Robeys’ beach cot -
tage.…call 202-546-7410 for
rates or www.voiceofthehill/
cricket
Business
Opportunities
Brokers
Nation’s Premiere Benefits
Company, selling a low cost
dental plan, including prescription,
vision, and chir opractic
services. Out -
standing advance commissions
with fantastic continuing
residual income. Brokers
needed (No. Lic) Call Steve
202-452-5944.
A second income!
But no time clock, no boss,
no office, no inventor y. Host
your own internet mall with
more than 1,000 ,merchants
for only $99.95 per year. Go
to www.littlered.bigsmart.
com
Miscellaneous
Couples Needed
Married couples needed for
Bureau of Labor Statistics
study on questionnaire
design. $25 per person.
Flexible scheduling. Call
202-691-7390.
Writing Group
Writers’ Way Workshops.
Creative writing group with
positive feedback. Member
journal. Certified workshop
leader. Sunday afternoons.
547-3506.
Urgent! Clothing
Needed!
Friendship House Clothing
Bank needs clothing donations.
The Clothing Bank provides
over 400 people
throughout the District with
clothing items each month.
Our inventory is critically
low. We are in need of
women’s, men’s and children’s
clothing. We are really
short on men’s pants and
shirts. Donations are accepted
9am-4:30pm, M-F at 417
K Street, SE. Contact Mr.
James Beale at 202-675-
9240/41 (9/00)
Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are needed for
weekend film programs at
the National Gallery of Art.
Duties will include ushering
and crowd control for these
free, well-attended programs.
For more information, please
call 202-842-6271. (9/00)
Books
Want to purchase
Quality used books. Single
volumes or entire library!
Call Steve at Riverby Books
202-544-1925
Books Bought and Sold.
We want what you can give,
we pay what we can afford.
Capitol Hill Books. Capitol
Hill’s only used bookstore
across the street from
Eastern Market. 657 C
Street, SE 202/544-1621
La Strega
Italian Classes
Native Professor offers Private and
Semi-Private Courses
Special Travel Course over two weekends
Call 202 547-9536
email: lastrega@hotmail.com
H o m eTh e r a p y H E L P W I T H Y O U R H O U S E I S S U E S
Take the hassle out of home decorating.
Call 202-546-2289 for a consultation
or email myhometherapy@aol.com
see ad p. 15
1The Capitol Hill Garden
Club’s Fall Garden Party .
531 Seventh Street, NE.
Rain or shine, do come! 3-
5PM
5ANC 6A meeting. J.O.
Wilson Elementary School.
7PM
The Capitol Hill Ar t
League’s “Gallery Talk.”
7:30 to 9PM at the
Workshop. Free. 545 7th
St., SE. 547-6839.
6Sail Away. The Annapolis
Boat Show runs through
the 9th at the Annapolis
Yacht Basin. 410-268-8828
7Today Only! Navy Yar d
Waterfront Festival. Tall
ships, Music and a BBQ,
down by the (Anacostia)
Riverside. 10AM –4PM.
Free.
Taste of Bethesda, 11-4,
301-215-6660
H Street NE Festival
8The Army 10 Miler trots
through the District. 202-
685-3361
A Taste of DC: Two outdoor
stages, live entertainment
and 40 restaurants! 202-
724-5430
Apple Butter Festival,
Berkeley Springs, W. VA.
304-258-3738
9Columbus Day
Yom Kippur
10 ANC 6B meeting. 921 PA
Ave, SE. 7PM
Want a beautiful Spring
garden? The Capitol Hill
Garden Club will get you
started. Capitol Hill Baptist
Church. 5th St. NE, 7PM.
13 Full Moon
Ooooh, Nick & Nora: The
Thin Man and The Thin
Man: Cat Kicker. Free films
at the Library of Congress.
7 PM.
Juilliard String Quartet at
the Library of Congress. 8
PM. Free!
14 Nibble and tipple your way
around the Hill’s art galleries!
Head for Eastern
Market, and look for the yel -
low balloons! 5-7PM.
Lesbian & Gay Chorus presents,
“Not What You Think.”
8 PM, at St. James Episco -
pal Church. $10 at the door.
15 Fit for a King. The Folger
Consort in concert. Folger
Library, Elizabethan Theatre.
2 PM and 5:30 PM. 544-
7077.
Dupont Circle House Tour .
What have they got that we
haven’t got? Find out.
Noon–5. 265-3222
16 529 4th St., SE
Sumptuous villa with every
possible luxury! Designed
for large scale entertaining
yet intimate dining, gorgeous
grounds, in-law suite,
parking…FAB location!
Offered @ $825,000.
17 Film: The Execution of
Private Slovik. Library of
Congress. 7 PM.
18 Celebrate Election Year!
Check out the marvelous
new collection of
Herblock’s political cartoons
at the Library of
Congress
19 The Revolutionary War
ended in 1781
Learn how to care for
your old books and photos
at the 5th Annual
Preservation Workshop at
the Library of Congress.
10 AM to 5 PM.
707-3307.
20 Last call for Timon of
Athens, Shakespeare’s
rarely performed play
closes Sunday.
Shakespeare Theatre.
547-1122
21 Books for a Buck (Or Less).
It’s the Hill’s greatest book
sale! SE Library. 10-4.
Pack that Tailgate: The
International Gold Cup’s at
Great Meadow in the Plains
540-347-2612
22 Marine Corp Marathon,
8:30AM sharp, at the Iwo
Jima Memorial. 703-784-
2225
24 United Nations Da y 25 Capitol Hill Restoration
Society Preservation Café.
For Location, time and
subject, check in at
www.voiceofthehill.com!
26 It’s coming…Better head
over to 8th Street—and
Back Stage—for your
Halloween Gear.
Capitol Hill Art League’ s
October show, “On the
River” closes tonight. See
it at CHAW, 545 7th St.,
SE. 547-6839.
27 Special Halloween
Double Feature! Mad
Love (1935) starring Peter
Lorre at his bug-eyed
best, and The Raven
(1935), starring those
kings of horror: Boris
Karloff and Bela Lugosi.
7:30 at CHAW, 545 7th
St., SE. $5.
28 Jewish Literary Festival.
Books, music and kids
stuff. JCC, 1529 16th St
NW. 518-9400.
29 Day Light Savings Time
Ends
30 408 A Street, SE
Richardson Romanesque
Signature! Approx 5500 sq
ft of elegance and grandeur
in the shadow of the Capitol
on coveted A Street. Offered
at $995,000.
SOLD
31 Halloween
Hill-O-Ween at Easter n
Market: Apple Bobbing,
Face Painting, Pictures,
Tricks, Treat
and lots of
Spooky
stuff. 5PM
23 116 6th Street, NE #302
Approx 1900 sq. ft of sunfilled
joyous living ! Top
floor 2 level unit! Beautiful
wood floors, high ceilings
cac, 2 huge br 2 ba+ 5
blocks to the Capitol! A
rare opportunity in this
market! Offered @
$239,000.
11 Cellist Carter Bray and
Pianist Christopher Riley
open the free “Concerts
from the Library of
Congress” season.
TicketMaster 432-SEAT.
8PM.
2Play Hooky! Catch
“Michael Jordon to the
Max, ” on the giant IMAX
screen at the National Air
and Space Museum. 202-
357-1686.
3It’s Ab Fab! Boogie on out
to the Signature Theatre’s
production of The Rhythm
Club before it heads for the
Great White Way! 703-219-
6500.
EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
12 Annapolis Power Boat
Show. At the Annapolis
Yacht Basin. 410-268-
8828
Poet Laureate Stanley
Kunitz opens the Library
of Congress literary season.
6:45 PM. 707-5394.
The best view on real estate!
Licensed broker in
DC, MD and VA.
PHYLLIS JANE YOUNG
PARDOE Real Estate ERA
Office 202.262.7253 • Home 202.544.4236 •
email: phyllisjaneyoung@realtor.com
4410 6th Street, NE
Wow! Approx. 6450 sq ft
of horticultural heaven! A
gardener’s dream and an
entertainer’s delight!
Gracious informality, original
heart-pine flooring,
high ceilings, fireplaces,
parking…so close-in!
Offered @ $725,000
OCTOBER
116 6th St NE #302
529 4th St. SE
408 A St. SE
410 6th St. NE
605 Pe n n s y l vania Avenue, SE / 202-547-3525 / www. p a rd o e - c a p i t o l h i l l . c o m EQUAL HOUSING
OPPORTUNITY
112 12th Street, SE… Light-Filled! Detached! Victorian!
Just off Lincoln Park w/park views. Stunning 3 bedrooms,
2 large baths w/granite floors. Elegant family room, tablespace
gourmet, kitchen w/exposed brick, lovely formal dining
room. Beautiful heart pine wood floors, high ceilings,
numerous built-ins, 2 fireplaces, full basement, details
galore. Near Eastern Market, the Capitol, Museums & public
transportation. Offered at $499,000. LARRY CHARTIENITZ
(202) 255-3731.
636 D Street, NE…UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES! Huge (4
levels) 1910 porch front with many original details including
chestnut trim, hardwood & pine floors, pocket doors,
fireplace. DECK with parking! 3 BR, 3 BA, in-law suite,
den/family room + 2 enclosed porch/sitting rooms.
$379,500. HAROLD SANDERS (202) 488-4444.
GARAGE PARKING! Brk town home has it all! 2 BR, 2.5
BA + LRDR/FP + BIG KT + Large Patio! New paint, new
carpet, contempo! Let’s Go!! $249K. MARIO CAMERO
(202) 234-2402.
DOUBLE PLAY!! Two flats, each with Fpl, each 1 BR +
Deeeep yard + pkng + East Mkt Metro 3 Blks! $214K.
MARIO CAMERO (202) 234-2402.
FOUR PLAYS! I have two 4BR homes in great locations
priced between $440-500K! One near Union Station, one
near Eastern Market! Please call for details: MARIO
CAMERO (202) 234-2402
409 Ninth Street, NE…Just Listed!! Imposing 3-story with
gleaming floors, two fireplaces, 3 bedrooms, 2 _ baths,
decent patio. Freshly painted, floors re-done. Extremely
pleasant block. At this price, you are well advised to RUN
to check this out NOW!! HUGH KELLY (202) 588-2224.
618 North Carolina Avenue, SE…Just Listed!! Absolutely
primo location across from Eastern Market for 3-unit bldg
w/garage!! Immaculate, sun-filled, apartments. Two-1
bedrooms, one efficiency. Tenants pay all utilities except
water. AND, attached garage for the owner to store the
Maserati!! With sunny, non-basement units in this kind of
location, you can count on a zero vacancy factor!! Just
$349,000. HUGH KELLY (202) 588-2224.
222 Fourth Street, SE…JUST LISTED!! Best “Heart-of-
Hill” location! 900 + square foot one bedroom condo with
EVERYTHING: location, fireplace, big, eat-in dazzling
kitchen, huge living room, big bedroom, private entrance.
At a new price, a great value! $187,000. JOHNSIE WALSH
(202) 253-0074 or HUGH KELLY (202) 588-2224.
#11 D Street, SE…FIRST TIME ON MARKET IN 141
YEARS! Landmark-original 1830 house, now estate pr oportions.
In same family since 1859. Incredible formal
boxwood garden and tranquil east garden room. Includes
original stables, just transformed into a magnificent, sunlit
2-story cottage with two fireplaces, modern kitchen, 2 bathrooms,
CAC. Unique-in-all-the-world location a few hundred
yards from the US House of Representatives.
Realistically priced at 1.2 million. HUGH KELLY (202) 588-
2224.
129 Eleventh Street, NE… Awesome star of previous
House & Garden tours prepped for summer fun in private
POOL! Main house w/unbelievable 47-ft. LR (scene of
September fundraiser attended by the President and Mrs.
C!) 3 BR’s, 3 _ BA’s, DR, gym, stunning master suite.
PLUS possible $3,000 income from 2 other units makes
this breath-taking luxury VERY affordable. You will be
absolutely overwhelmed! $849,000. HUGH KELLY (202)
588-2224.
#34 16th Street, SE…PRISTINE PERFECTION!! Pretty
painted floors, original unpainted woodwork, lovely kitchen,
formal dining room, equal bedrooms, trunk room, enclosed
porch, full basement, front and rear porches, garden!! First
block off East Capitol Street!! BEST BUY BAR NONE!!
$174,000. KATHY DAVISON (202) 546-7000 Ext. 231.
115 9TH STREET, S.E. UNDER CONTRACT. PALACE
PETITE!! Painstakingly Appointed to Please the Most
Particular of Perfectionists. Punctilious attention paid to
every aspect. Paint removed from exterior brick by brick
by owner. Closet inset/shelves roll out for access and cleaning.
Beautiful White Kitchen with Portuguese tile, spice
racks, Built-in custom platform bed, custom Murphy bed.
Living Room with Elegant Fireplace. Patio. $315K. Call
KAREN VOELLM 547-8618.
640 ACKER PLACE, N.E. SOLD. ENJOY THIS SPACIOUS
CONTEMPORARY WITH CLASS. Beautiful Brick Façade
located on Colorful Tree-Lined Street with Great “Old-Time”
Community Charm. Large Living Room. Large
Entertaining Kitchen with Tiled Wet Bar. Two and _ BA. Easy
walk to Union Station, Mass. Ave. Restaurants, Capitol, and
the Mall. $274K. Call KAREN VOELLM 547-8618.
318 14th STREET, N.E. UNDER CONTRACT. CHARMING
TWO BEDROOM HOME WITH ALL THE RIGHT PARTS for
Under $130K. Fireplace, Alarm System, Central Air,
Humidifier, Washer/Dryer, Dishwasher, Off Street Parking,
New Roof, Long Back Yard. Easy access to all that the Hill
offers. $127K. Call KAREN VOELLM 547-8618.
1324 CORBIN PLACE, N.E. SOLD. WOW!! CLASSIC HOME
WITH MUCH ORIGINAL DETAIL REMAINING. Gracious
Living Room with Fireplace. Separate Dining Room. Galley
Kitchen. Two Bedrooms. Wood Floors. Full Size Basement
with Family Room. New Washer/Dryer. New Furnace and
Hot Water Heater. Absolutely Charming Garden Patio.
Front Porch. Priced to Go Now. $151K. Call KAREN
VOELLM 547-8618
644 S. Carolina Ave, SE…RARE & IMPOR TANT AT EASTERNMKT!
After 34 years with same owner, the torch is
being passed on this handsome, unspoiled 3600 sq ft
Victorian. Bay front parlor & library overlook deep front
gardens. Large Sep DR w/pocket doors & mouldings. Big
country kit awaits your Y2K touch! Upper 2 floors offer 6
bedrooms, 2 baths & an office. Connected lower level is a
perfect family suite with bath. Low $500’s. RYALL SMITH
and GRANT GRIFFITH 202-547-3777
1019 CONSTITUTION AVE. NE…Dazzling all new renovation
of a famous Capitol Hill icon: Silver Market!!! Soariung ceiling
hts., wood floors, F/P, 3 BR 2.5 BA (Marble) finished
basement. roof top deck, garden and parking. WOW! Great
prince $475,000. Call 546-7000 Kitty Kaupp KAUPP X 257
OR Avie Donovan X 247
Just p i c t u re yourself in one of
these this f a l l…