Contruction at the Convention Center, originally uploaded by DCist Rob. There hasn’t been much construction on ground-level retail spaces on the north end of the Washington Convention Center although several businesses had announced plans to open. Recently I walked by and saw this construction at a space where a jeweler is planning to open, and […]
Bulletproof Glass and Shaw Development
I recently stumbled across this NPR story about bulletproof glass (Via Frozen Tropics) in two liquor stores in my neighborhood – Modern Liquors just down the street at 9th and M, and Best-In Liquor which has re-invented themselves with an expanded wine selection and no glass thanks to the booming development on their stretch of […]
Inward Looking Places
This is the sort of topic I suspect has been written about elsewhere, just nowhere I can find through some preliminary Googling. Like many urban neighborhoods, my neighborhood of Shaw has been gentrifying slowly for a number of years after experiencing heavy disinvestment in the 1950s and 60s. That means many blocks contain not only […]
Another Museum on the Mall?
I just blogged over at DCist about the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture that is currently in the planning stages. In addition to what I am sure will be plenty of controversy about the museum’s content, I anticipate a showdown between museum supporters and the uptight planning wonks in the city […]
Maine Trip
This weekend I took a trip up to Maine to visit my family and relax a bit. On Friday after coming in just after a major snowstorm left almost a foot of snow in the area, I went to Portland to have dinner with my parents and meet up with my friend wells for a […]
Learning From the Maine State Museum
Taking inspiration from the Maine State Museum in Augusta, Maine, local D.C. blogger Richard Layman argued recently city leaders should seek to combine the failed city museum, downtown branch of the public library, and D.C. archives into one structure. I think the proposal sounds like a good idea. A shared facility could help each save […]
Good Urbanism In Downtown Detroit
When I was in Michigan last week on vacation I took a trip to downtown Detroit with my girlfriend Libby to go ice skating at Campus Martius Park and dine in Mexicantown in the city’s Southwest side. Campus Martius park re-opened in 2004 after undergoing a major upgrade to coincide with the recent opening of […]