Reinlein then resided at 1424 9th Street, NW, near the intersection of P Street, where he owned a pharmacy close by — across the intersection at 1501 9th Street (now a vacant lot). His young business was successful, and he had recently opened a branch at 9th and Florida Avenue, just a few blocks north. In the early afternoon of March 11, 1887, Reinlein accidentally drank a lethal shot of cincture of aconite, believing it to be a shot of whiskey. His dying moments were reported in grisly detail the following day in the Washington Post. Oddly, nobody seemed to question why a druggist was drinking whiskey on the job in the first place.

According to the federal census, Paul Reinlein was born Paulus Reinlein about 1830 in Germany, the son of Anton and Runigunda Reinlein. He arrived in the United States along with his parents on July 20, 1837 aboard the Constitution, which had sailed from Bremen about a week prior. They first located in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Paul and his wife Anna moved to Washington, DC in 1875. They first resided at 1428 6th Street, NW, today the site of the Kennedy Playground, where they were enumerated in the 1880 census. This was the second marriage for Anna, and the couple lived there with two children from her previous marriage — daughter Emma Fishback and son C.B. Fishback, who was noted as working as a newspaper correspondent. Anna Reinlein died in 1885.

At 1:55 pm on March 12, 1887, Reinlein called out for his store clerk, Theodore Melson, and exclaimed “I have taken an ounce and a half of tincture of aconite. Get me the hot water off the stove, so I can take some ipecac, and then get a doctor quickly, for God’s sake.” Aconite is an herbal or homeopathic medicine that is still used for nerve pain, headache, rheumatism, and to treat cold and flu symptoms, as well as fever, severe anxiety, and even nervous excitement. It is derived from the aconite plant, and just 100 drops is enough for a lethal dose.

Reinlein’s clerk ran south down 9th Street and brought back Dr. S.S. Stearns, a good friend of the druggist. In the meantime, a neighbor ventured into the store, and asked Reinlein how he felt. He replied “Shut up — I’m going to tell the doctor all about it.” Reinlein kept his whiskey in the same sort of bottle that the aconite was kept in, with a different label. He had poured a shot of what he thought was whiskey about 1:50 that afternoon, and replaced the bottle.

Stearns related that he “did not experience any unusual feeling immediately, and resumed his work. Five minutes later, he felt a queer sensation in his stomach and with a sudden fear grasped the bottle and turned it around so that he could see the label. He felt numb all over when he saw the word aconite on the bottle; he knew that his chances for life after that length of time [five minutes] were very faint, but he determined to fight for life as long as he could.”

Dr. Stearns described to a Post reporter the rather shocking and gruesome details that followed: “I never saw a man appear as cool on the very threshold of death. As soon as he saw me, he held out his hand and said just as calmly as I am talking to you now, ‘Doctor, I have taken an ounce and a half of aconite and I can’t throw it up. Five minutes ago I took enough powered ipecac to make twenty men vomit, and I have drank a quart of hot water with no better effect.’ ” Stearns gave him “as big a dose of sulfate of zinc as he could swallow, and also a large cup of hot water” and sent the clerk to retrieve a stomach pump.

Stearns conveyed that he “made every effort to make him vomit, for I knew, and he knew as well, that was his only chance for life . . . the poor fellow thoroughly realized his perilous condition and made a gallant fight for life…not one man in one hundred could have battled with death ten minutes after taking such a large quantity of aconite.” Reinlein then directed Stearns to give him mustard in hot water, which also had no effect.

Stearns then stated that “he grabbed my arm convulsively, and bending his face close to mine, with a look that I will remember as long as I live, said “For God’s sake, Doctor, give me something that will make me throw up — don’t you know that I am dying before your eyes?” Stearns then had Reinlein ingest a tablespoon of pulverized alum in hot water, and he cried out “Thank God! Thank God, Doctor!” and vomited, but only a little bit, and both men lost all hope. It was 2:40 pm.

Fifteen minutes later, Reinlein rejected the insertion of a stomach pump that had arrived, saying “It’s no use Doctor. I feel that I am dying.” Stearns recalled that “from that minute, he sank rapidly. He didn’t seem to suffer but just grew weaker and weaker, his pulse beating feebler and feebler, until two minutes after three, when he threw up his hands and cried out wildly, “Give me something to hold on to.” The next moment he stiffened himself out straight and died a few seconds later in a rigid spasm.”

An editorial in the Washington Post two days later, on March 13, 1887, called for new laws that would create several safeguards against such accidental deaths. They included proper labeling, pointing out that all medicines then had similar labels all in Latin which made it easy to confuse arsenic for alcohol, for example, and a stopper in bottles of poison that would stall their opening enough for a good look at the label.

The editorial also advocated raised lettering on lethal bottles for easy identification when handled in the dark or in low lighting conditions, and separating poisons from harmless medicines in the store itself, with heavy fines issued for any violators. All of these remedies would ensure “carrying on a business which is of such vital importance to the community at large that it cannot admit of guess work.”

The Coalition points out that “[w]hile many residents struggle with rising costs of food, fuel, and other necessities, the budget as proposed by the Mayor and [recently] marked up by the DC Council . . . includes NO new funding for the Local Rent Supplement Program, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or the Fresh Food Opportunity Bank. In addition, funding for the Housing Production Trust Fund has declined by $30 million due to falling deed taxes.”

Their alarm is properly sounded; they have raised an issue of genuine concern and their fear that our city leaders may be failing to deal with these concerns is shared by us as well.

Money is tight; we know that and it is not especially useful for the city’s finance people to remind us of this fact. But what we wonder is why, when they know this, they still do not appear to be aggressively seeking economies in ways that might make it possible not to cut vital programs or fund such programs at inadequate levels. If the citizens who most need help are deprived even more than they have been, down the road the burden on the city’s treasury will be even greater than it is now. Let us not be “penny-wise and pound-foolish” — even if such is a long-standing American tradition.

In times like these, as tax receipts are falling off and the rosy projections of just a couple of years ago now ring hollow, we are especially pained at last month’s revelation by the city’s Inspector General that millions of dollars of Department of Consumer & Regulatory (DCRA) permit fees and fines collected appear to have been systematically evaporating on their way to the city treasury. Worse, apparently there has been for a considerable time no viable system of accounting for either the posting of these funds by DCRA or of their transmittal and posting to the city’s accounts by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

Maybe if somebody could locate all those missing millions then the programs the Coalition singles out as being especially vulnerable might be able to be more adequately funded.

And, of course, there is a vast array of programs and special projects sucking money out from the treasury, each with its own vocal constituencies that make it very difficult for any well-intentioned city council member to resist. And, let’s be honest: If any member of the Council starts sounding off like Senator McCain (famous for his denunciations of “pork barrel” spending), he or she is likely to be shown the door by the voters in the ward. That’s just how it is. (Is this a great country or what?)

But, there are times when council members can loudly say “no” to some of that “pork” and not fear voter ire. That would be when the proposed funding is so beyond the pale that no rational voter will claim a bad thing was done to disallow it. An example that comes to mind — admittedly, fairly bizarre in our view — is the Mayor’s insistence that the Council appropriate $10 million for a contribution to the Ford’s Theater restoration fund. What drives us and others up the wall about this is that Ford’s is a federal historic landmark run by the National Park Service. It’s no more a local historic site than the Jefferson Memorial. Should we be ready to donate to the fund that is sure to be established for the purpose of stabilizing the thing that is slowly sinking into the Tidal Basin just because, like Ford’s, it’s here in the city and DC residents can visit it? What nonsense, of course.

No, that $10 million would be much better used for neighborhood-oriented cultural and educational projects that struggle now to stay afloat and if viable can do much to improve life for so many of our citizens who do not otherwise have easy access to the opportunities of the more affluent.

And, while we are looking to nit-pick expenditures, we have to wonder why the city’s Department of Employment Services, when it recently mailed out letters to all DC employers (our company received more than one, a waste in itself) encouraging participation in the Summer Youth Program they mailed them at the single first class letter rate of forty-one cents each! That’s what individuals pay to mail their own letters. But, why didn’t the agency do as all large businesses do, which is to send the first class mail in bulk for more than a 50 percent savings on each mailed piece? We will admit that in relation to the city’s gargantuan budget this is probably small change indeed, but the failure of agency managers to look at all practical ways to cut costs, when multiplied across the full spectrum of DC government operations makes us believe that it is failures like this compounded umpteen times that are contributing to the overall tightening of available funds for important programs and services.

From the Publisher’s Desk …
WHERE IS ALL THE CITY’S MONEY GOING?

In two dramatic rulings issued on April 23, 2008 by the District of Columbia’s Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) Board, the provisions in two so-called “Voluntary Agreements” between ABC-licensed Mt. Pleasant restaurants and the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Alliance (MPNA) which prohibited two of those licensed establishments from providing live entertainment — including live music — and dancing for the participatory enjoyment of their patrons were struck down.

Located on the main commercial corridor of Mt. Pleasant Street between Irving and Lamont Streets, these two restaurants — Haydee’s and Don Jaime’s — also requested that their Voluntary Agreements with MPNA be replaced with ones developed by Hear Mt. Pleasant, a recently formed and extraordinarily diverse large community organization that strongly supports such First Amendment constitutional rights as freedom of expression, including artistic and musical entertainment like dancing and, especially popular in the neighborhood, mariachi bands.

The Mt. Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) weighed in as well with resolutions strongly supporting the requests of the two restaurant applicants, as did several other community organizations, including the Mt. Pleasant Business Association and the neighborhood’s Main Street organization, leaving MPNA in opposition to all but a limited form of entertainment — live music at a background level performed by no more than three or four musicians on a restricted basis during selected days of the week. MPNA also opposed patron dancing at any time in these two restaurants; MPNA also challenged the charging of any admission or cover charges.

In a nuanced and novel balancing act, the ABC Board declined to replace the MPNA’s Voluntary Agreement with that proposed by Hear Mt. Pleasant’s and the two restaurants. Rather, the Board revised and rewrote the provisions in dispute with language of its own; it then incorporated both the Board’s revised MPNA Voluntary Agreement and the one proposed by Hear Mt. Pleasant into the renewed restaurant liquor licenses for both Haydee’s and Don Jaime’s. In replacing the prohibition on live music with an entertainment endorsement to the license, the ABC Board also dropped the prohibitions in the superseded MPNA Voluntary Agreement prohibition on charging admission or cover charges.

Also dropped from these Voluntary Agreements were restrictions dealing with how Haydee’s and Don Jaime’s could sell their businesses — reflecting an earlier MPNA effort to “encourage” sales to non-liquor serving successor establishments or to deny successor businesses from obtaining ABC licenses, resulting, MPNA hoped, in a smaller number of ABC-licensed establishments in the neighborhood. While an earlier ABC Board found reasons for such provisions 10 or 11 ago (and in another MPNA Voluntary Agreement as late as March of 2007), the current Board does not. The vast majority of witnesses who testified both for and against the applicants noted the marked improvements in “peace, order, and quiet” in the neighborhood, with far less calls being made for police action against crime, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct than in the past.

Orders in the ABC Board’s Rulings

Hours of operation for live entertainment, music, and dancing were the battleground through which the Board marched forcefully to forge compromises among Mt. Pleasant’s competing forces. The applicants’ initial requests for an entertainment endorsement during standard ABC hours of operation were withdrawn and in their place the applicants requested midnight closing be allowed Sunday through Thursday nights and 1:30 a.m. on on the weekends. MPNA’s compromise proposal “was for live entertainment to be allowed Tuesday through Thursday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to midnight; it did not allow for dancing at any time nor for an admission or cover charge or live entertainment on Sunday and Monday.

Several protestant groups of five or more persons offered a third compromise which tracked the language of recent MPNA voluntary agreements with Marx Café, Tonic, and Radius, which allow live music “consisting of no more than 3 musicians, and [which] shall be performed at a volume level that allows patrons to talk at a conversational level.” This background music can be performed at Sunday brunch between Noon and 3 p.m. and “on special occasions no more than twelve (12) times per year between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.”

The Board found the entertainment hours proposed by MPNA and the protestant groups to be too restrictive and those of the applicants and Hear Mt. Pleasant to be too late at night. The Board, therefore, crafted compromise language by which approved hours for music and dancing at Haydee’s and Don Jaime’s to be until 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; until midnight on Thursday; and until 1 a.m. on the weekend, with admission or cover charges allowed every day of the week.

The Board took note in its written order of “the testimony provided . . .  by Mr. [Todd] Pheiffer — of Pheiffer’s Hardware and Vice President of the Mt. Pleasant Business Association — that Mt. Pleasant businesses need more flexibility and [voluntary agreements] should not be overly restrictive.” The Board also emphasized its receipt of the ANC’s position, stating that it “took into account the position of ANC 1D in granting the applicants’ requests to have live entertainment, dancing, and a cover charge.”

Dueling press releases from MPNA and Hear Mt. Pleasant followed immediately upon the Board’s announcement and issuance of the orders in its April 23rd rulings. While both press releases understandably emphasized different issues and highlighted those upon which they perceived and claimed success, their respective headings and bold-faced content are revealing of what the respective organizations see as most important.

MPNA’s headline read, “MPNA Voluntary Agreements Remain in Effect and Not Terminated.” The first two paragraphs simply repeat this statement, with the second page providing an explanatory quote from MPNA’s President Laurie Collins that it “supports live entertainment and the ABC Board made a decision that balanced the needs of all parties involved. It is MPNA’s hope that these provisions will reduce the chances of these restaurants morphing into night clubs.”

Claudia Schlosberg’s press release for Hear Mt. Pleasant was headlined “Music and Dancing Return to Mt. Pleasant.” In the body of the release, Schlosberg noted the ABC Board’s actions on both the MPNA and Hear Mt. Pleasant Voluntary Agreements, asserting “a major victory to the groups and residents who have been working to return live music and dancing to the neighborhood: Don Jaime’s and Haydee’s Restaurants will be able to have music and dancing seven days a week.”

Saturday, May 3 was a beautiful sunny spring day, perfect for work in the garden. Instead, Lynn Coffin, President of the Cardozo-Shaw Neighborhood Association (CSNA), joined by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, DC Chamber of Commerce Director of Visitor Affairs. Robert “Mo” Rouse, and others were out on the triangular plot of ground at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and S and 11th Streets planting three new cherry trees and replacing two others, all having been donated by the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

While the tree planting work was going on, just south on Vermont Avenue a contingent of residents joined forces to make a success of the organized spring planting, weeding and mulching work along the length of the median strip that once was a barren concrete lane divider but, thanks to the city’s transportation department having responded to CSNA’s earlier entreaties to dig it up and create a dirt-filled trench along its length, is now a visual treat.

Kalorama Village, Inc., an aging-in-place organization for the residents of Sheridan-Kalorama, Kalorama Triangle and contiguous areas, will be formally launched on May 20 at a reception to be held 5 to 7 p.m. in the Coe meeting room of 2101 Connecticut Avenue. The festivities will include presentations by Tibby Ford, President of Kalorama Village, Inc., Craig Goodman of Manage On My Own, and Deborah Peeples of IONA Senior Services, both of which organizations will offer services to members of Kalorama Village, Inc. Neighborhood residents interested in becoming members will have an opportunity to sign up and to express interest in obtaining volunteer assistance or to volunteer their services.

Among the types of services Kalorama Village plans to offer are health care, in-home assistance, shopping, social activities, assistance with home repairs (electricians, plumbers, etc.) and pet care and sitting. Dues are $50 a year for individuals and $75 a year for families. (Ed. Note: This undertaking was the subject of a Community Forum submission last fall, “Kalorama Develops Aging In Place Project,” The InTowner, September 2007, page 3; also in the Current & Back Issues Archive at http://www.intowner.com.)

Kalorama village was incorporated as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation last July. During the intervening 10 months the Steering Committee consulted with already-established neighborhood associations (Beacon Hill Village in Boston and Capitol Hill Village in DC), coordinated with adjacent neighborhoods (Dupont Circle, Woodley Park, Cleveland Park, and West End), and interviewed potential service providers. In addition, several of the founding members attended a workshop sponsored by AARP in May of 2007.

Thanks to AARP DC, a survey was sent out to all AARP members in the area in February. This survey is also available on-line at www.kaloramavillage.org. The website contains further information on the goals and purposes of the organization, as well as the types of services it hopes to offer, either directly or through providers like Manage On My Own and Iona Senior Services.

*The writers, residents of the Kalorama area for over 30 years, are among those during the past year who worked to establish Kalorama Village, Inc. Other organizers included David Bender, Marie Drissel, Ann Gardner, Ruth Gramlich, Jeanne Hansell, Lynne Horning, Sherman Katz and Mariquita Mullan.

Many Washington homeowners of houses built around the turn of the 20th century are told by real estate agents and some historians that their houses were likely built by Harry Wardman, and many are advertised as such in local newspapers. While Wardman is responsible for several thousand homes, most of the other prevalent builders of the era have largely gone unnoticed, although collectively they built far more Washington town houses than Wardman could ever imagine. One such individual was Francis Blundon.

Blundon was born in Loudoun County, Virginia on April 14, 1867. The son of contractor John V. and Fannie (Nolan) Blundon, Francis was educated in the public schools, and served as an apprentice and journeyman in carpentry for about eight years thereafter. He then started independent work as a builder in 1892, erecting approximately 700 houses in Washington during the first 10 years of his career alone. His successful commercial ventures included building the Virginia Flats for Joseph R. Portner, one of the first apartment houses in the city. Many of his projects were done in partnership with his brother, Joseph A. Blundon who lived in the Blundon family house at 3219 O Street in Georgetown.

On January 5, 1893, Blundon married Mamie Schenable, who had been born in August of 1873 in Virginia. They had two sons together — Francis Edward, born January 31, 1894, and Victor Sylvester, born February 7, 1896, both of whom eventually became salesmen in their father’s real estate business.

Some examples of Blundon’s developments in Washington include the seven homes from 1408 to 1420 Hopkins Place, NW built in 1896, six homes between 2817 and 2827 13th Street, NW, and 1228-1230 Harvard Street, NW built in 1904, and three at 2019-35 13th Street, NW, built in 1911.

The Blundon family lived in his own designed and built house at 100 W Street, NW, pictured here about 1902. In June of that year, he sold the adjoining four houses for an impressive $23,000. The Blundon family had moved there from a house located close-by at 67 S Street, NW. His brother Robert, a salesman in the real estate business joined them at the house in 1910, according to the census. That year, Blundon had a live-in African-American chauffeur named Frank R. Payner, age 23, and a live-in African-American cook named Hattie Clement, then age 30. The house is now owned by the Soul Saving Center Church of God.

Early in his career, Blundon maintained an office at 1220 G Street, NW, and joined with partners Abin G. Belt and Robert Lee O’Brien in a construction firm coined Blundon, O’Brian & Belt, Inc., specializing in “real estate, loans, and insurance.” At the time, Belt resided at 3117 13th Street, NW and O’Brian at 439 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. In 1894, he partnered with builder John W. Brashears as “Blundon & Brashears” to build the houses located between 1202 and 1218 T Street, NW, designed by Richard E. Crump. He also partnered with architect William Allard and William Freeman in several building projects.

Passenger lists from the 1920s indicate that Blundon and his wife enjoyed steamship vacations, such as a trip to Bermuda in 1926. The Blundons and their two grown, yet unmarried, sons moved to a 50-acre farm at 10000 Georgia Avenue in Forest Glen, Maryland by 1918, where they continued to reside together until after 1930. It was once part of the Getty farm, and is where the Finmark Americana condominium building stands today. Francis Blundon died in 1939.

While a law student, former DC Councilmember Vincent Orange lived in the former Blundon House at 100 W Street, and the only change to the exterior since its original construction has been the former rear porch being filled in with a garage built towards the alley.

Although there’s not much swimming going on along Rhode Island Avenue at Scott Circle, Nage restaurant — the DC city cousin of one of Rehoboth Beach’s fav hangouts — may get you yearning for the water, but it will also cause you to celebrate the stomach. One chef and a new menu later, Nage has become a hip, cool, and out-there gastronomic treat. (Note: The French word “nage” translates as “swim.”). 

Although Nage is not brand new — it first opened two years ago — it didn’t really click with local foodies in the beginning, despite its bustling beach popularity and reputation elsewhere. It may have been the menu, or it may have been the ho-hum service. But since then, Nage and its menu have come a long way, baby. A long way. 

The décor isn’t much, kind of a beachy-vibrant room that under different management might look like a hotel coffee shop. In fact, Nage is a hotel coffee shop of sorts, located as it is in the lobby of the Marriott Courtyard Embassy Row hotel, a stylish yet affordable destination a couple of blocks east of Connecticut Avenue. It’s just the sort of place where Nage fits in neatly, appealing to the neighborhood locals for walk-ins, but its draw reaches out to the ‘burbs, because anyone who is kitchen savvy will drive miles for a serving of the skinny, hot frites with their truffle butter.

Meals begin pleasantly with the offering of thick, dense, richly-flavored bread slices (all breads are baked in-house) and a hummus spread; forget the butter. But you should follow this cardinal rule: Read the “specials” blackboard before you decide on anything. Although the specials come and go, depending on the chef’s whim and the season, you might find such fare as a sweet potato soup with crème fraiche, candied pecans, and cocoa oil. Cocoa oil? I asked. Made in-house from Dutch cocoa, grape seed oil, and salt, the cocoa oil is a cunning trick the chef has up his sleeve — the oil adds a slightly tart flavor point, a pleasing contrast to the sweet potatoes, candied pecans, and tarragon snips, and it anoints the soup with its own smoothness. 

Other recent lunch (and maybe dinnertime) specials included a crispy pork and shrimp roll with a black bean and corn salsa; warm haricots verts salad with frisée and a bacon vinaigrette; and the unusual version of lasagna made with Portobello mushrooms. While these dishes are not — well, not yet — permanent fixtures on the funky Nage menu, they complement the menu, which pretty much lists permanent fare, though I wonder if the ultimate comfort food, a lobster pot pie, will weather DC’s summer heat. 

Never mind. To date, you can wallow in a luxurious hamburger made from prime rib beef and seasoned with a multiplicity of secret ingredients, including smoked gouda and a lusty mushroom duxelle, which adds a profoundly intriguing taste, juiciness, and texture to the meat. Heaped on a homemade roll, the burger comes with those sinful frites and a ramekin of pleasingly hot mustard. Other possibilities include the Nage BLT with crispy pork belly and a grilled tomato (none of that conventional stuff!), crispy rockfish for larger appetites, and a Cajun meatloaf with roasted garlic mashed potatoes, the ultimate in homey comfort foods. 

Speaking of comfort foods, whatever you do, plan on having a dessert or two. While the sweets selection is short (and sweet), it stars several must-eat dishes, the best of which may well be the artery-clogger, the chocolate butterscotch mousse torte with candied cashews and topped with whipped cream. Not cake-y but smooth as a pound of butter, the chocolate portion resembles fudge, and plays as counterpoint to the butterscotch accent. 

Although more home-spun than high-glam, Nage acquits itself quite well with a menu that is a mix of haute eats and homey fare. The chef’s trick is to mix it up a bit, as you find with its playful menu. Even the baked oysters appetizer, which might have been homespun, is a zany take on Oysters Rockfeller — Nage’s oysters come with spinach, fennel, and Asiago cheese. Then there’s the chef’s take on the classic bouillabaisse, so chock full of flavor and seafood that you’ll sigh with pleasure. Congrats, folks at Nage. You’ve hit a home run. 

Nage / 1600 Rhode Island Ave., NW; (202) 448-8005. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 6:30-10am, 11:30am-2:30pm, 5-10pm; Sat., 7-11am, 5-10pm; Sun., 7am-3pm. Dinner entrée price range: $22-$32.

Sat., Apr. 12 (11am-1pm): The people who volunteer with the Fund for Kalorama Park will be holding their 6th annual BENEFIT LUNCHEON at Perry’s Restaurant (1811 Col. Rd.). Join neighbors and friends of the park for what they promise will be a scrumptious buffet with cash bar, door prizes, and a special silent auction for Stanley Cup playoff box seats donated by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham. The $25 tickets ($10, children between 8 and 12) may be purchased on-line by visiting www.kaloramapark.org or at the door. For more info, send email to leslie.douglas@att.net or call 673-7606.

No Trash or Recycling Service on Emancipation Day

Wed., Apr. 16: There will be NO TRASH AND RECYCLING collection by the Department of Public Works (DPW). As with most all city departments and agencies, the DC government will be closed in observance of Emancipation Day, the city’s own special holiday which commemorates the day in 1862 when President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act by which approximately 3,100 slaves in the District were freed nine months before the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation.

In neighborhoods receiving twice-weekly collections, Monday and Thursday collections will be made Tuesday and Friday, while Tuesday and Friday collections will be made Wednesday and Saturday. Trash and recycling collections in once-a-week collection neighborhoods will “slide” to the next day for the remainder of the week. For more info, call 727-1000. And to view DPW’s trash and recycling holiday schedule for the remainder of the year, visit www.dpw.dc.gov and click on the “Holiday Schedule” link under the “Information” header.

Oliphant Cartoons on View in Woodley Park

Wed., Apr. 16 (9am-7pm): This will be the opening day of an new EXHIBIT to be on view through July 15 at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery (2661 Conn. Ave.) in Woodley Park. Titled “LEADERSHIP: Oliphant Cartoons & Sculpture from the Bush Years,” the show will be a timely display of works by the world-renowned political cartoonist Pat Oliphant whose work makes observations on hot topics such as the war in Iraq, the Bush administration, the race for the presidency, and the genocide in Sudan. Located in the stunning Stamford University Center across from the Woodley Park Metro, weekday gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and 12 noon to 6 p.m. on weekends. Admission free. For more info, call 332-6235.

(The building that houses the Center was the subject of a news story in this newspaper three-and-a-half years ago. See, “Non-Traditional Design OK’d in Woodley Pk. for Stanford Univ. Center,” The InTowner, September 2004, page 1; available at www.intowner.com and clicking the link on the home page for the Current & Back Issues Archive.)

Shaw Main Streets Organizing Neighborhood Clean-up

Sat., Apr. 19 (9am): Shaw Main Streets will be holding its 4th annual neighborhood-wide CLEANUP AND GREENUP event in central Shaw. “Keep Shaw Beautiful Day” will include planting of cherry trees and perennial and annual flowering plants in tree boxes, picking up trash on sidewalks and in alleys, and removing and painting over graffiti. Neighborhood civic associations will focus on their blocks, with supplies provided by event sponsors. Participants should gather at Shaw Middle School (925 Rhode Is. land Ave.) at 9 a.m. and when work is concluded at 1 p.m. enjoy a lunch provided by neighborhood restaurants at the school. For more info., call 265-SHAW or visit www.shawmainstreets.com.

Shaw Main Streets Honors Councilmembers Evans and Brown

At its March 18, 2008 annual meeting Shaw Main Streets, the commercial revitalization and historic preservation organization serving the 7th and 9th Streets commercial corridors, presented its Shaw Champion awards to Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and At-large Councilmember Kwame Brown.

The annual awards, which are voted on by the organization’s board of directors, recognize individuals and institutions that have demonstrated by longtime service or special recent efforts, their commitment to the revitalization of the Shaw neighborhood. Previous recipients have included DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, developer Douglas Jemal, MPD Lt. Michael A. Smith, and Shaw Junior High School.

In presenting the award to Councilmember Evans, Shaw Main Streets noted that Evans “has represented the neighborhood since 1991, has been a longtime advocate for the community, and in 2006, helped change District law to allow restaurants like Shaw’s Vegetate and Queen of Sheba apply for and be granted ABC licenses, despite being the first restaurants within 400 feet of a DCPS school. Evans also successfully championed removing Shaw Middle School from the list of schools to be closed by Chancellor Rhee and Mayor Fenty.”

And, in presenting the award to Councilmember Brown, he “was recognized for his strong support for neighborhood business development and the DC Main Streets program in particular. As the chair of the Council’s Committee on Economic Development, Brown has repeatedly led the effort to provide funding for DC Main Streets, despite successive mayors’ failure to include such funding in their budget submissions. Brown spent several hours in August 2007 touring Shaw Main Streets’ service area and visiting business owners, learning about their challenges and successes and discussing ways that the District government could help support their future growth.”

Georgia Avenue/Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail

Sat., Apr. 19 (12noon-2pm): The Georgia Avenue and Pleasant Plains Heritage Trail working group will be meeting at the Emergence Community Arts Collective (733 Euclid St., NW; tel., 462-2285). Now in its final stage of the initial process, neighbors and other interested persons are invited to have a say in the trail name, theme, icon, route and points that are highlighted between the Shaw and the Petworth Metro Stations. All community stakeholders are welcome to attend. For more info, call Sylvia Robinson at 462-2285. For those unable to attend and who wish to submit comments, send by email to sylvia@ecacollective.org.

14th Street Streetscape Design / Final Public Meeting

Thu., Apr. 24 (6:30-8:30pm): The DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) will be holding the FINAL PUBLIC MEETING in the Reeves Center’s 2nd floor community room (2000 U St.) for the purpose of presenting the summary and recommendations for its 14th Street Transportation & Streetscape Design Study. So far, according to DDOT, comments and feedback from the public have been especially valuable to this study and to the future of the 14th Street corridor. The draft final report is available on the project’s website www.14thStreetStudy.com. For more info, call the project’s manager, Christopher Ziemann, at 671.2555 or send email to christopher.ziemann@dc.gov.

City-Wide FreeFree Guided Walking Tours

Sat. & Sun., Apr. 26 & 27 (11am-5pm): With 80 free, GUIDED WALKING TOURS, Cultural Tourism DC once again will be offering its “WalkingTown, DC Spring Edition” featuring tours throughout the city. The complete tour schedule, including meeting places, times, and tour lengths, is available at www.WalkingTownDC.org). Participants can browse the online schedule, pick their favorites, and join the group at the specified time and place. Bike tours, and some walking tours, require advance reservations, and every tour is free. Professional guides, community leaders, and neighborhood residents lead the tours, and all are donating their time and expertise.

Of special interest to residents of, and visitors to, the neighborhoods specifically covered by this newspaper are the following:

The emerging neighborhood north of Union Station dubbed “NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) is home to landmarks such as the Washington Coliseum (site of the Beatles first US concert in 1967) and the Art Deco warehouse for former department store giant Woodward & Lothrop (”Woodie’s”). With anchors like XM Radio, US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and NPR moving in, this neighborhood is taking a new shape (Saturday 2-3:30 pm).

The Temperance Tour starts at the Cogswell Temperance Fountain to recount the Prohibition era in DC. Stops include the Calvary Baptist Church, where the Anti-Saloon League had its national kickoff meeting in 1895 and President Woodrow Wilson’s house in Kalorama. End the tour with a toast to Prohibition at Dupont West’s Brickskeller Saloon (Saturday, 1 pm).

History Before History: The Geologic Saga of Washington, DC visits rock outcrops in Adams Morgan and Rock Creek Park to trace the landscape back 700 million years when it was the bottom of an ancient ocean, the center of a mountain range, and a magma chamber (Saturday and Sunday, 1 pm).

Sponsors who have made possible Cultural Tourism DC’s event include Abdo Development, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, BB&T, BELLArchitects, DC Chamber of Commerce, Forest City, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Pepco.

Cultural Tourism DC is a nonprofit coalition of 185 arts, heritage, cultural, and community organizations throughout the city. With partners in tourism, hospitality, government and business, Cultural Tourism DC promotes local culture and heritage as a tool for economic development. For more info or to request a tour event brochure, call 661-7581 or visit www.CulturalTourismDC.org.

AdamsMorgan MainStreet Doggie Day

Sun., Apr. 27 (11am-5pm): Enjoy a day of fun and festivities for you and your dog. Meet new friends and neighbors, stroll Adams Morgan and show off your pooch and network with other pet owners during the “BowWowPowWow” event being organized by AdamsMorgan MainStreet and to feature program topics for pet owners and vendors with all sorts of products and education. Along with artwork by Marie Reed School children, on the Marie Reed plaza (18th St. at Wyoming Ave.) there will be a wide variety of activities and events being planned will be contests & prizes (best kisser, owner/dog look-alike & many more); dog training and general education; vendor booths (insurance, leashes, clever gifts, portraits & more); K-9 demonstration; special portrait photo of you and your pet; pet adoption opportunities for dogs and cats; learn about dog parks and therapy dogs and whether pet ownership for you. For more info, call the MainStreet office at 232-1960 or send email to ExecDirector@AMMainStreet.org. Also, be sure to visit www.BowWowPowWow.com.

Hinckley Pottery Studio Annual Student Show & Sale

Sun., May 4 (11-5pm): This year it’s the 17th annual Student SHOW AND SALE at Hinckley Pottery Studio (1707 Kalorama Rd.) that will be a “must-see,” featuring over 30 potters who will be, as is true every year, displaying a wide variety of artistic, creatively designed ceramic works that are primarily functional, such as dinnerware and vases, at great prices. Find one-of-a-kind items for Mother’s Day, weddings and house gifts. No charge — just drop by and enjoy the pottery for its own beauty. For more info, call Carol Herwig at (202) 722-4385 or email to geogan69@verizon.net or visit the studio’s website, www.hinckleypottery.com.

F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald to be Subject of Book Talk & Signing

Thu., May 8 (6:30pm): The Cleveland Park Library (Conn. Ave. & Macomb St.) will be hosting Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks, co-editors of Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald who will give a BOOK TALK on “F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby” in the first floor auditorium. A book sale and signing, courtesy of the Trover Shop, will follow the program. For more info, call 282-3080.

National Portrait Gallery Calls for Contest Entries

Mon., Jun. 2: The National Portrait Gallery (F St., bet. 7th & 9th Sts.) has announced its CALL FOR ENTRIES for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition 2009. This national competition was made possible by a generous endowment from a 20-year gallery volunteer docent, Virginia Outwin Boochever.

This will be the first day that submissions will be accepted (and will continue to be received through July 31st). This will be the second installation of the triennial competition and is open to portraits in any visual art medium that has been created after January 1, 2007. Digital submissions may be submitted online at www.portraitcompetition.si.edu.

We reported on the first competition exhibition shortly after the historic, mid-19th century Patent Office building reopened after a six-year restoration (see, “At the Museums,” September 2006, page 17; available in the Current & Back Issues Archive at www.intowner.com). Among other praise, our reviewer referred to the show as a “celebratory exhibition” which presented “competition results [that were] astounding — masterful realist portraits of both the famous and the little known.”

All finalist works will be shown in a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, opening in October 2009. The grand prize is a $25,000 cash award. Additionally, entrants may be featured on “Portrait of an Artist,” an on-line diary that will allow visitors to follow the updates of several artists as the competition unfolds.

For more information, visit www.portraitcompetition.si.edu or www.npg.si.edu.

SELECTED STREET CRIMES

Reported for March 4 – April 1, 2008

Argonne & Harvard: person robbed at gunpoint by 2 others [12:30am, Mon., 3/31]

Belmont, 1800 blk. (alley): person accosted by another & struck in the face whereupon a struggle ensued followed by a stun gun being displayed & then robbed [10am, Mon., 3/31]

Columbia & Kalorama: person’s property snatched by another who came from behind but foiled as a result of a “physical altercation” [9:45pm, Fri., 3/7]

Columbia, 500 blk.: man accosted by 3 others, one of whom pulled a gun & demanded money following which a “physical altercation” led to being robbed [5:15pm, Fri., 3/14]

Columbia, 1700 blk.: property snatched by person from woman’s shirt pocket [5pm, Fri., 3/7]

Columbia, 1800 blk.: person waiting for bus approached by another who snatched several items of property [11:30pm, Fri., 3/14]

Fairmont, 1300 blk.: man accosted by 3 others who first punched & then robbed him [5:15pm, Thu., 3/20]

Flagler, 2000 blk.: person accosted by another from behind, pushed to the ground, punched in the face & robbed [9:30pm, Mon., 3/31]

Georgia, 2200 blk.: person robbed at gunpoint by 2 others [4:30pm, Fri., 3/21]

Harvard, 1400 blk. (alley): person accosted by 2 others who struck person on the head who then fell to the ground & was robbed [2:45pm, Fri., 3/28]

Irving, 1300 blk.: person robbed of cash at gunpoint by another who demanded, “Where’s the money at?” [9pm, Mon., 3/3] (incident bears distinct similarity to another that occurred around the corner in the 3000 block of 13th St. 45 minutes earlier, as noted below)

Irving, 1300 blk.: man accosted by 3 others who punched him in his face & robbed him [5:15pm, Sat., 3/15]

Kalorama & Ontario: person robbed at gunpoint by another [1:15am, Tue., 3/18]

Kalorama, 1700 blk.: person robbed by 3 others who acted as if they had guns [12:15am, Fri., 3/28]

N, 1700 blk. (alley): woman walking with 2 others to her car yelled at by man who then threw parts of a broken fire alarm mechanism at her [4:15pm, Tue., 3/18]

New Jersey & Q: person accosted by another & robbed following being grabbed, knocked down to the ground & punched in the face [6:30am, Sat., 3/22]

Ogden, 1400 blk.: person robbed at knifepoint by 2 others [1pm, Sat., 3/29]

Ontario, 2100 blk.: person accosted by another, punched in the face & then robbed at gunpoint [10:15pm, Mon., 3/31]

Q, 1600 blk.: man robbed at gunpoint by another [12mid., Tue., 3/25]

Summit, 1800 blk.: woman about to enter her apartment building accosted by man from behind who placed his arm around her neck & robbed her [5:30pm, Sun., 3/23]

T, unit blk.: person’s property snatched by 2 others [4:15pm, Wed., 3/5]

T, 100 blk.: man robbed of his by another who demanded, “Gimme your bike” & when asked if he was serious, man walked closer & stated, “Gimme your bike or I’ll take it” [9:45pm, Sun., 3/23]

T, 500 blk.: woman’s purse suddenly grabbed & pulled off from her shoulder my man who was walking past her [7:45am, Mon., 3/24]

T, 1400 blk.: woman on way to work accosted by man who came from behind attempting to snatch her purse, then punched her in the face several times, causing her to fall to the ground, whereupon he stole the purse [6:30am, Sat., 3/15]

Twining (Ct.), 2100 blk.: man who had just left club accosted from behind by man who tackled him to the ground & then robbed him [10:15pm, Mon., 3/24]

V, 1000 blk.: 2 persons robbed at gunpoint by 3 others who jumped out of a car that pulled up alongside them [2:30am, Sun., 3/23]

5th & W: woman’s purse snatched by passerby [6:45am, Mon., 3/17]

6th & P: man accosted by 3 others demanding his property & when he refused was punched & robbed [11:30pm, Sat., 3/29]

7th & S: woman waiting at bus stop approached by person who snatched property from her [8:15pm, Fri., 3/7]

7th, 1800 blk.: person’s property snatched by another who came from behind [6:15am, Sat., 3/22]

10th, 1300 blk.: man accosted by 2 others, one of who pointed a long-barrel revolver at his chest, ordered him to the ground & robbed him [10pm, Wed., 3/12]

11th, 3200 blk.: man accosted by 2 others from behind, pushed to the ground, straddled over the chest by one of them & robbed [9:30pm, Fri., 3/21]

11th, 3400 blk.: person accosted by 3 others, struck in the face & robbed [9:30pm, Mon., 3/10]

13th, 2200 blk.: person accosted by 2 others, grabbed, punched in the face & robbed [9:15pm, Sat., 3/15]

13th, 3000 blk.: person robbed of cash at gunpoint by another who demanded, “Where’s the cash at?” [2:15pm, Mon., 3/3]

13th, 3000 blk.: person robbed by 2 others who came from behind, one of whom pointed gun to the neck & demanded, “Give me everything you got” [8:15pm, Mon., 3/3]

13th, 3000 blk. (alley): man robbed of wallet by another who pointed gun to his head & demanded, “Give me your wallet” [8:15pm, Mon., 3/3] (incident bears distinct similarity to another that occurred around the corner in the 1300 block of Irving St. 45 minutes later, as noted above)

16th & Columbia: person accosted by 2 others, grabbed around the neck, struck with an unknown object & robbed [10:30pm, Fri., 3/28]

17th, 1300 blk.: woman walking jostled by person who was walking very closely behind her & then immediately realized that property had been lifted from her [8:45pm, Wed., 3/19]

18th, 1800 blk.: man approached from behind by another who had hand in coat pocket as if he had a gun & who demanded his cell phone whereupon the man fled & was not followed [11:30pm, on., 3/24]

18th, 3200 blk.: woman’s property snatched by person who came from behind [Tue., 4/1]

19th, 2400 blk.: person’s property snatched by 2 persons who came from behind [Mon., 3/31]