by Gary Thompson During the Civil War, the critical defensive perimeter surrounding Washington passed through the Forest Hills neighborhood. After the outbreak of the war in 1861, and especially in the wake of the Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861), the Union Army constructed what would become one of the most formidable defensive systems […]
The “Shop-Local Workout,” Holiday 2024 edition
Put your best walking shoes and a large backpack by the door. It’s time for our annual holiday tradition: the “Shop-Local Workout.” In 2012, our editor-in-chief told us about some of her favorite walks and some of her favorite stops. And every year since, we have published a new version of the multi-neighborhood shopping-and-walking tour, […]
Business in Brief: A Van Ness celebration “treasure” map, a restaurant homecoming, and who’s the Chevy Chase cheeseburger champ?
Van Ness Main Street, partners, and sponsors are throwing a big, 12-hour neighborhood party on Saturday, September 14th. The events list on the “Celebrate Van Ness Main Street” Eventbrite page has been expanding for weeks, and now you can see it mapped out below. 1) 10 am – 12 pm. Clean-up at Forest Hills Park. […]
Main Street updates: Van Ness’s busy calendar, Cleveland Park’s night market, Chevy Chase’s First Fridays, Tenleytown’s music festival
Local Main Street organizations exist to recruit new businesses and provide day-to-day support for existing ones. This can look like alerting them to grants for storefront upgrades and remodeling, or helping them apply for the typical permits required to operate a business here. It can mean assisting them with promotional tools such as social media. […]
Save the trees! At three local parks, volunteers are doing that and more – by attacking invasive weeds.
One day over Martin Luther King weekend, a few expert Weed Warriors and a large number of less-experienced volunteers gathered in the wooded area behind the Politics and Prose parking lot to pick up trash and free dozens of trees from invasive English ivy. And whether they realized it or not, they played a role […]
Main Street updates: Holiday light competitions, winter markets, and a Santa-themed bar crawl and fundraiser
Small and local businesses have been gearing up for the holidays, and so have our area Main Streets, with events designed to bring people to their commercial corridors for shopping and dining. Van Ness Main Street’s 8th annual Holiday Pop-Up market is Saturday, December 2nd. Shop 30 local vendors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., […]
Main Street updates: Another plug for Art All Night; Appraise “treasures” in Chevy Chase, Spooktacular save-the-date
The Main Street organizations of Van Ness, Cleveland Park and Tenleytown are gearing up for what promises to be a great Art All Night on September 29th and 30th. We’ve written here about what to expect at the Van Ness Art All Night event on Saturday, September 29th, including appearances by WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi and […]
September in the Neighborhood: Ramble, wrangle, sing and play
September, for many of us, means a return to routine after summer adventures. But we don’t have to return to old ruts. Neighborhood groups and institutions have filled our calendar with many opportunities to try something new, make new friends, and in one case: Rejoin an activity beloved by many. We’re talking about the return […]
Grant Road: A historic country lane in Northwest DC’s modern street grid
by Ann Kessler Throughout DC are several streets that run only a few blocks at a time. They don’t fit in the grid of numbered and alphabetical street names, and they’re not the avenues named for the states. These are remnants of roads that were here before the city grew into the District of Columbia […]
The Wilson Pool has reopened, but don’t count on day-to-day availability
The Wilson Aquatic Center is welcoming swimmers for the first time since it closed in February. The DC Department of Parks and Recreation announced on June 9th that the June 12th reopening is a temporary one, and that the pool will be closed for two months this fall and winter for an overhaul of the […]