This Saturday, everyone’s invited to “Celebrate Van Ness Main Street.” From noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 11th, VNMS and its partners and sponsors are organizing activities and entertainment up and down the Main Street’s Connecticut Avenue corridor (with pedicabs so attendees can easily reach points north and south). And there will be food, […]
October in the Neighborhood: Spooky Movie Nights, ‘Celebrate VNMS,’ pollinator plantings, Halloween events
Friday nights are a little spooky this month. Van Ness Main Street and several local sponsors are hosting three Spooky Movie Nights at the UDC amphitheater (next to the Theater of the Arts and the UDC tennis courts). Tickets are free (and linked below) and carryout picnics are encouraged. October 3: Beetlejuice October 10: E.T. […]
Community service and cool jazz: A day at Forest Hills Park
by Marlene Berlin Last Saturday, September 13th, was a lovely day to be out enjoying one of our neighborhood’s most popular gathering places – and cleaning it up. That’s how the day started for volunteers who pitched in at Forest Hills Park and Playground that morning. Then, a few hours later, jazz musicians performed for […]
Main Street updates: Big day out on Sept. 13, and a sneak peak at October events
Do you have weekend plans? Saturday, September 13th has a neighborhood and neighborhood-adjacent lineup of Main Street-sponsored activities that will keep you moving and hobnobbing with friends and neighbors from morning ’til night. 9:30 to 11 a.m. The day begins with coffee and a cleanup at Forest Hills Park. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The […]
District Fringe benefits: Live, independent (and sometimes free) theater at UDC through July 27
Phoenix, Firefly and Flicker. Until July 27th, these are the names of pop-up venues in Van Ness for District Fringe, the new festival celebrating and supporting indie theater. The festival’s ticketed performances are taking place every day except Mondays and Tuesdays at the Phoenix Theater in UDC’s Building 44 (3305 Van Ness Street, follow the […]
Main Street updates: Playground dance party, pop-up market, pollinator garden walks and annual meeting
NEW: The Forest Hills Park dance party will be held on its rain date: Sunday, April 27th. Babies, let’s boogie. If a toddler dance-off sounds like the best thing ever, head over to Forest Hill Park this Saturday, April 26th between 4 and 6 p.m. Van Ness Main Street is hosting a family dance party. […]
April in the neighborhood: Join a bee hunt; the most “Extreme” park cleanups; and a ribbon-cutting for a certain grocery store
Plus a couple of bonus end-of-March events that did not make it into our last roundup of local happenings. Tea time at Peirce Mill: In the early 20th century, Peirce Mill was a tea house. On Saturday, March 29th, Friends of Peirce Mill and the National Park Service are reopening the tea house for the […]
Main Street updates: Small business grants, playground cleanups, Connecticut Avenue plantings and pop-up market preps
Thai Pad and Rosemary Bistro Cafe recently installed new flooring. Muchas Gracias got a new door. And they had help paying for these improvements. In February, Van Ness Main Street gave $20,000 in grants to these and five other businesses. This was in addition to other supports that the organization provides year-round to businesses within […]
Opinion: The arts are key to unlocking Van Ness vibrancy
by Marlene Berlin Van Ness has been the subject of many studies and visioning sessions, including three from the Office of Planning since 2011, the latest being 2016’s Van Ness Commercial District Action Strategy. DDOT, after many years of study and design, released its final concept plan for its Van Ness Commercial Corridor Project in […]
Land use and development experts to study and present recommendations on evolving Van Ness
For two days next week, a panel of eight experts on land use, design and development will study the Connecticut Avenue commercial strip between Albemarle and Tilden Streets. They will consider strategies for enhancing neighborhood vibrancy and making Van Ness a hub of commercial, community and cultural activity. And at the end, the panel will […]