Support Local Businesses in Mt. Pleasant

This announcement comes from the Mt. Pleasant Main Street association:

Come celebrate Mt. Pleasant and Local Businesses at Haydee's
Tuesday, July 22
6 - 11 pm

Haydee's (at 3102 Mt. Pleasant Street NW) is generously donating a
percent of all proceeds to support Mt Pleasant Main Street. So come
eat and drink and bring all your friends and neighbors. No cover
charge.

For more information visit www.mtpmainstreet.org. Mount Pleasant Main
Street is a volunteer-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Park Triangle Dust Bowl to Continue for at least Another Year

On Wednesday, Mayor Adrian Fenty held a press conference in gravel pitch in front of the Park Triangle apartment building announcing the start of the Columbia Heights Public Realm Plan. This plan has been in the works for quite some time and is a frequently topic of debate on the neighborhood listservs.

While it is great to hear that a planning process has finally been implemented, and the vision for the project sounds great. Are we ready for another round of construction and road work at an already busy intersection? For the dust bowl that is the triangle of land in front of Rita’s, Julia’s Empanadas, ect. to be that way for another year is ridiculous. Same goes for the road work involved in the project. New sidewalks for Park Road, overall improvements for 14th between Columbia Rd. and Newton St., among others will be not be seen until mid-2010.

No matter what field you are in, large-scale projects take time to plan, but is this a sensible time line? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Firetrucks at DC USA

BREAKING.

The Heights Patio--Fire trucks arrive at DC USA this evening and those in the retail complex were told to leave. Situation is developing.

Quick Thoughts

-         Went to Five Guys last week and it was good, obviously.

-         Construction on The Children's Place at DC USA has started. The kids clothing store is located next to Staples.

-         The paper is off the windows at Kenyon Cleaners and a sewing machine is set up.

-         Red Rocks celebrated its one-year anniversary over the weekend.

-         Columbia Heights chicken?!

Reflections on the Fourth

On Friday evening, I continued my Fourth of July tradition of cringing at the cheesiness of "A Capitol Fourth" on WETA, watching the official fireworks from afar, and then seeing the neighborhood show from the Wonderland's beer garden. This year, I watched the Mall fireworks from Cardozo High School, a first, and there was a much bigger crowd than I expected. Like myself, the amount of people seemed to surprise MPD, too, as they did little to stop traffic on 13^th or Clifton streets until after the fireworks ended. However, any driver who thought taking 13^th Street north- or south-bound would be a good idea during the fireworks clearly does not know the area. The neighborhood fireworks were not as plentiful as previous years, but I think the rain played a role in that. However, there were still "oohs and aahs" late into the evening. So much that at one point I couldn't see across the Kenyon and 11^th intersection for a good 5 minutes. 

Five Guys is Alive? Is it?

Rumor has it Five Guys should be open right about now. Any initial reports?

Music and Art Blooms on 11th Street

Leaving the Wonderland early Sunday morning, your bloggers came across a site that I exclaimed as "fantastic" about 50 times in a row. The vacant building next to the Wonderland on 11^th Street was transformed into Bloombar, which its website describes as "Spontaneous, underground music, art and inspiration." The small gallery and performance space is a great fit for the 11^th Street corridor, and I can't wait to see what it becomes.

The Caribbean Meets Georgia Avenue

While Barack Obama was busy working out at our local gym, The Heights Life was enjoying a day in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean Carnival Parade took place on Saturday. We grabbed some grass on one of the street islands and waited about an hour and a half for the sounds of the Caribbean islands to come our way.

It was pretty wild. Photos and pictures are below. We didn't make it to the festival, but opted for brunch at Domku.

The highlight of the parade for this blogger was the Fenty Smart Car, natch. The mayor was throwing green beads about, and every other political candidate in the parade was doing the same and hoping they'd be mistaken for Fenty.

"Get 'yer dishes, knives, and blenders here!"

Additional signage for Bed Bath & Beyond at DC USA was being installed
on Friday evening. Now everyone heading north of 14th Street will know
where you can get your kitchen needs.

Listserv post of the day

And a sincere one, at that.

CHEESE & YOGURT NOW at 14& U Farmers Market Saturday June 21

Posted by: "robinjeffs" 

Thu Jun 19, 2008 6:22 pm (PDT)

PLEASE COME OUT AND MEET THE CHEESEMAKER on Saturday! FREE SAMPLES!

It has taken more than a year, but we will now have wonderful yogurt, fresh cheeses, aged
cheeses and blue cheese dips at the market. Quark and Ricotta and Fresh Cream Cheese,
Cheddars and 11 varieties of aged hard cheeses. Come sample on Saturday.

Yes, it's true. Farmstead CHEESE AND YOGURT ARRIVE THIS WEEK AT 14 & U FARMERS MARKET! Hurrah! Come and Try them. I promised the cheesemaker , Melanie, that she would meet a huge crowd of U Streeters who were hungry for cheese.

*My favorite yogurt--
*11 different hard cheese-- cheddars and Fetas and Wallabies and Vermeer
*Fresh German style or Central European soft curd cheese (Quark)
*Fresh Ricotta and Italian Style Pressed Ricotta
*Fresh Cream Cheese with herbs

Rain or Shine

Listserv Post of the Day: Help Find A Cat

The Heights Life loves animals, so when I saw this message my heart went out to the cat owners.

Keep your eyes open for Artemis:

Smallish, orange/golden and white colored short hair cat. No collar. ID is a black marking in the middle of her lower lip. If you find
Artemis please call George Ripley at 202-XXX-XXXX. Thank you.

Update: The cat was found!

Target to sell beer and wine?

From Jimmy D:
"1) an alcohol licence request posted on the front of DCUSA main doors with Target as the named requester. No idea what it means exactly. Maybe Target wants to sell beer and wine? I have never heard of that before. Hmm."

In April, Target's request for an alcohol license was discussed at the ANC 1A meeting. Reports from that meeting are available from DCist and DC North. Target's website, though, thinks wine is already available at the store. While The Heights Life is a big fan of d'vines, making beer and wine available at Target will make summer party planning that much easier. And Target's wine cube is supposed to be pretty good.

If anyone has an update on Target's alcohol license, please post it in the comments below.

Five Guys Looking Good

The butcher paper is off the windows at Five Guys showing that construction is nearing completion. Tables and chairs are stacked in the dining room; the Coca Cola dispenser is primed to start pouring fizzy goodness; and the griddle is ready to go. The burger joint looks to be on-schedule for an early-July opening, as announced a few months ago.

Columbia Heights Shoe Shopping: A Rant in 200 Words

In the two months that the inexpensive shoe triumvirate of Target, Marshalls, and Payless has been in operation at DCUSA, I should have purchased at least three pairs of cute, cheap perfect-for-summer shoes by now. Except, in fact, it’s been the exact opposite:

• While the Columbia Heights Payless has a lot of shoes in my size (something that the Metro Center and Adams Morgan stores do not), their summer styles just don’t suit me this year. Or they don’t have the shoe I want in stock. Where is this shoe, Payless?!
• Marshalls' shoe department continues to surprise me, but between May and August black heels are the last thing I want to buy. Give me embellished sandals!
• This weekend Target’s shoe department was full of empty shelves because they removed all the shoe boxes, with the exception of anything by Converse. A call to Target as to why they no longer use shoe boxes was not answered, but it certainly doesn’t help an already quiet corner of the store. Also, has anyone else noticed this Target rarely puts its shoes on sale or clearance? I used to have the best luck getting good deals at the Potomac Yards Target, but not yet at Columbia Heights.