Morning Walk

After a stop at Chinatown Coffee Company this morning (which was TOTALLY empty ... holiday weekend, I guess), we walked to Union Station and back, and this SunTrust Bank building really caught my eye.

The façade appears to be made of a very corrosion-prone sandstone, because it is quite literally wearing away.  You can't see the backside very well from this angle, but it doesn't connect to anything.  I suspect when they built the very modern building behind it they wanted to maximize ground-level window space, so they left the buildings unconnected.  The SunTrust building itself is almost all windows, which makes it very appealing.

We also saw this guy for the first time.

 The Victims of Communism Memorial at the intersections of New Jersey Avenue, Massachusetts Avenue, and G Street NW.  Who knew this thing existed?  We've got a memorial for everything here.  From the website of the memorial foundation, which touts a Glenn Beck [spit] documentary, I don't think this is a non-partisan affair.  To me, having lived through the 80's, this organization seems a bit quaint for its objective of keeping alive the fight against communism.

Here's my chance to play off a quote of Ferris Bueller, quoting John Lennon:

"Not that I condone [commun]ism, or any -ism for that matter. -Ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me.' Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. I'd still have to bum rides off people. "

Historic Penn Quarter

Just discovered the research site of the Historical Society of Washington, DC. The Society allows users to search by a number of parameters for historical documents held by its library. Of particular interest is the ability to search based on a city block. As a bonus, a select few photographs are actually made available online. Including this gem:



According to the Society, this photo depicts "View southeast down Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 6th Street to the (unfinished) Capitol." Which places the cameraman directly in front of my (Newseum) building sometime between 1861 and 1862. Whoa.

UPDATE: Some more fantastic pics of my block:


According to the Society: "North side of 500 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. 1939. National Guard Armory and Atlas Hotel (in the old National Hotel). Weightman's Row, six houses built by Roger Weightman (later mayor of Washington) in 1816, was sold in 1826 to become the National Hotel (managed by John Gadsby), becoming the best in the city, visited by such as Charles Dickens. Enlarged and remodeled in 1844, the hotel's guests included Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay (who died there in 1852), James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Stephens. The hotel was remodeled again in 1857 and had a major fire in 1921, by which time its popularity had signicantly reduced. Bought by the city in 1929, the building was used as the D.C. Armory. (In 1941, it became a World War II Selective Service System office, and was destroyed in 1942.)"


According to the Society: "1860. General view southeast down Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 6th Street past the National Hotel, to the Capitol, dome under construction. Watercolor painting by A. Meyer."


According to the Society: "1923 - 1927. The National Hotel on the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street NW."


According to the Society: "1900 - 1909. National Hotel on the northeast corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street NW; view to Capitol."


According to the Society: "1940 - 1942. Long line of customers around the National Hotel on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 6th Street NW, waiting for D.C. Automobile Tags."


According to the Society: "1961 - 1962. General view southeast down Pennsylvavia Avenue NW from the 600 block. To the Capitol. Includes, in the 500 block, the D.C. Employment Services Building (under construction) and, adjoining, the D.C. Public Library Administrative Office."


According to the Society: "1889. View northeast down Pennsylvania Avenue NW from 6th Street during flood of 1889 (?). To the Capitol."

UPDATE 2: Cleaned up the captions just a bit. Sorry about all the redundancies.

The Rivalry @ Ford's Theatre (Opening Night Performance)

Full disclosure: my wife works for Ford's Theatre. I'll try to be honest here, but this is by no means an unbiased impression.

In a sort of encore of last season's Living Lincoln series, tonight Ford's Theatre opens a full production of The Rivalry: a three-person play centering on the debates between Stephen Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during their Illinois campaign for the U.S. Senate. (The third member of the trio is Douglas's wife, Adele.)

During Living Lincoln, the play was presented on Ford's stage as a reading. Three actors standing before three microphones. The inactive actor retreating slightly for each scene in which he or she did not appear. The austere presentation effectively highlighted the prose of the reknowned oratorial combatants. Such that even without staging, lighting, or costume, the play retained much of its intended effect.

The two strongest performers from the Living Lincoln series - in the roles of Adele and Stephen Douglas - reprise their roles in the full production. I look forward to seeing what each actor - including the new Lincoln - can do with their roles backed by a full production.