Segregation Map
I got excited when I discovered this map from 1938. It is a hand drawn map of Southwest DC, much of which really doesn't exist anymore. What it shows are negro and white commerical and residential areas as well as black occupied alley dwellings.
Demographic info is so cool.
I find it facinating because it further chips away at the ideas I had about Southern segregation. I always imagined it as very distinct, blacks on one side of town, whites on another and you won't find one in the other's neighborhood. My own (on again/ off again) study of Truxton Circle and this map shows a little mixture. The brown represents Afro-American street facing residences, black for black alley dwellings, and the yellow for white street facing residents. There are a few all yellow blocks, but there are plenty of yellow and black blocks, and yellow/ black/ brown blocks. The blue os commerical space.
Labels: history, other neighborhoods
Grass 'looks' greener on the Georgetown side
I wanted to quickly mention it before it went stale in my head. Georgetown Metropolitan has some
stats on Georgetown crime. I found it interesting because everyso often people compare Shaw (or where ever they are in DC) to Georgetown, making it out to be some crime-free wonderland. It ain't. If you want low crime get your butt to Palisades. Which I forget where exactly that is, and I bet some of you never heard of it.
The most interesting thing is Georgetown has more theft from autos and more burglaries per 1,000 residents than Dupont and Columbia Heights. What Georgetown is low in, are those crimes where one encounters the criminal.
Labels: crime, other neighborhoods
Historic house in LeDroit
Yesterday I wandered over to 3rd Street NW to admire the history. Please note this house, the chain link fence, the history! Some folks know the significance of this house, which currently is a private home from all indications. So please do not harass the occupants. Up until a few days ago I had passed the house on a few occasions without noting its importance. Then one day I was cleaning off my desk at work and there was this brochure for the National Archives' Regional Archives- Southeast Region in Morrow, GA. As objects of interest they had on the brochure national registration cards for notables who at the time probably weren't that notable when they filled out the card. Of the five cards there are the names and then current addresses for
Huey Long, Jr.,
George Herman Ruth, James E. Carter, and Harry Houdini. And also some
guy named Ed who lived on 3rd Street.
----
The house was one of several homes occupied by Edward Kennedy Ellington, also known as Duke Ellington. He was 19 when living at the house pictured.
Labels: historic districts, history, other neighborhoods
When tranny hookers attack
From the Shaw Neighborhood Yahoo Group via the GLLU Newsletter (gllunewsletter@ gllu.org):
On 5/25/09, at approximately 2:30 a.m., members of the First District responded to a call for an assault in the area of the 600 block of K Street, N.W. According to the victim, he walked in the area confront the prostitutes in his neighborhood. As he was admonishing them, one of the women, who the victim described as a male-to-female Transgender individual, grabbed him between his legs and made sexual advances towards him. The suspect fled the scene prior to the officer's arrival, however her identity is known. The victim was not injured.
I had thought the development round there had removed some of the gals from the area, I guessed wrong. But then again I'm not over there at 2AM. The lesson here is keep a safe distance from the working girls, they fight back.
Labels: crime, glbt, other neighborhoods
Lunch options in Penn Quarter
Dear Wagamama,
How dare you make me wait until 2010 for tasty ramen.
Love,
Mari
I thought I took a picture but apparently, no. Yesterday I spotted signage on 418 7th Street stating that the noodle chain I fell in love with in London will be coming in 2010. Better yet, it will be close enough and priced about right to make a regular lunch spot.
Labels: development, food/dining, other neighborhoods
Ridge Street, again
Once again no body entered my contest. When you realize how easy it was you'll kick yourself. It was:
Here's the question, what is the address of a Ridge Street NW house that is still standing today but in 1940 was listed as "old and in poor condition" or "poor condition"?
473 Ridge Street NW is up for sale for $379K. In 1940 it's assessed value was $1,557, and described as "1 2 story frame, 4 rooms; no improvements; very old and in poor condition."
The house pictured is 425 Ridge Street. In 1940 for 425-425 1/2 Ridge Street the assessed value was $3,732. The description read as follows, "2 2 story bricks, divided into 2 3-room apartments or flats each; no improvements except inside water; old and in poor condition." The monthly rental for it was $70 and it held 4 families, a total of 19 persons.
So seriously the only Ridge Street houses NOT described as being old and in poor or terrible condition were, 413, 457, 475, 458, 438, 440, 442, and 444. 458 was a blacksmith's shop and garage, so it wouldn't have mattered.
Ref- RG 302 P-1, Folder Sq. 512 & 513.
Labels: history, other neighborhoods
Starting a Rumor- Angelina Jolie @ 7th and PA NW
There have been cars blocking one land of traffic since I came into work and many are still there. On my way to
Momiji I saw what I guess are catering trucks or vague vendors with snacks and coffee outside the Starbucks. When I asked a friend what was the commotion he said that Angelina Jolie is filming something at the Navy Memorial.
CAN ANYONE CONFIRM?
The only thing I can confirm is there is a film crew, and a big crowd at the Archives Navy Memorial metro station.
Labels: drama, other neighborhoods
Historic Preservation & Sex: Never underestimate the power of spite
As reported in the Sunday Washington Post, the owner of a hunting and fishing store in Old Town Alexandria wanted to expand, was told by the city he couldn't, so he rented the space to a shop specializing in lingerie and 'martial aids'. The then owner of the hunting & fishing shop, Michael Zarlenga, according to the Post did work with city historic preservation staff and a staff member of the Alexandria Board of Architectural Review in developing his plans for expansion of the sporting store. When the plans came up for the Board of Architectural Review to review in 2007, they rejected it The Board staff member Zarlenga was working with decided that the changes would cause an "unreasonable loss of [the] historic fabric." The Board chairman said that the changes would have changed the roof structure.
What makes me feel badly for Zarlenga is that he was supposedly working with city staff and taking their advice and the city just strung him along. Any way the city of Alexandria was mean and made him cry. He closed his store, and until this year it was vacant. And this is where the spite comes in....
Zarlenga rented his space to an adult store, and is thinking of selling the property to them. The owners of the adult store have several other locations in NoVa and was able to get into Old Town because unlike other landlords, Zarlenga was willing to rent to them. The city of Alexandria has received complaints about the store's presence. However, in the long run this may be much ado about nothing. The Pleasure Place, a similar establishment, in DC has two locations, both in historic districts. In addition Zarlenga has another Alexandria property, I'm not sure if it is a part of Old Town, that he's leaving derelict and apparently patching up with duct tape. So with the adult store and the vacant property, that seems like spite.
+++++++
For clarification I am not supporting spite, nor supporting stringing people along.
Labels: drama, historic districts, other neighborhoods
Constructing a Courtyard Marriott
The hotel over by the New York Avenue Metro station is coming along and seems to be going at a pretty good pace. As you can see there are windows. Windows that can peer into the souls of the ATF workers across the way.... or not.
Waiting hotel visitors, once the joint opens, is the Sisters Pizza and Mussels, the 5 Guys, Pound Coffee, and Heidi's Deli. Hopefully success on NoMa's 2nd St NE, will trickle some smaller scale development (think 14th St Shaw not 14th St Columbia Heights) over on to North Cap.
Labels: development, other neighborhoods
iWant
Dear Apple,
Forget Georgetown. The parking is lousy and there is no metro station. When my Mac mini needs a fixin' or whatever, I don't want to bring it on the bus or haul it on my bike. I could, but I don't want to.
When Georgetown rejects you for the umteenth or whenever you're tired of submitting design proposals
you know won't fly with the ANC and the Historic Preservation people, come to the land of the Green line. Columbia Heights, U Street, Gallery Place and Penn Quarter would love to have you. Yes, these areas have historic districts, but they also like business. And the thing with Gallery Place, it's still called Chinatown so you'd have to put Chinese characters on your signage. That shouldn't be a problem since a lot of what you have comes from China anyway.
Gallery Place also has a bunch of hipster white earbud pod people walking around with office drones and other people who will buy your stuff. People like tourists from places where there are no Apple stores. People who want to kill time before a game.
So come to the land of the Green line, you'd like it over here.
Labels: business, historic districts, other neighborhoods
Fun with ProQuest:1825 T Street NW
Yes, this is a couple of blocks west of 16th Street, so definately not in Shaw. But I came across a Washington Post article* when looking for Northwest slum housing with no electricity. 1825 T Street was built as negro housing, replacing 5 frame houses that once sat on that spot. It was part of a plan to clear (tear down) slum housing from 16th to Conneticut Avenue. Currently they are condos, and appear to have been condos since the 80s. I thought it was interesting, so thus, I post.
*"Apartments To Replace Slum Area." by Robert P. Jordan. The Washington Post (1877-1954) [Washington, D.C.] 9 Jul 1950,R1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post (1877 - 1992). ProQuest.
Labels: history, houses, other neighborhoods
Sort of Retelling/rewriting History
I'm trudging through Monique M. Taylor's
Harlem: Between heaven and hell which looks at the role of the black middle class and gentrification in Harlem. Harlem, has a special place in AfrAmerican and American cultural history, so there is that attractive and laudable past that attracts middle and upper middle class blacks.
In the first chapter Taylor writes how Harlem came into being via a real estate bust. Speculators bought up properties in Harlem around the turn of the 20th century because the Manhattan subway or street car (I'm not clear which) was coming up to Harlem and well, you know. Too many houses constructed, too high of a price, and then the bubble popped. Sound familiar? In this economic crisis " many landlords were willing to rent properties to blacks. ... Others shrewdly took advantage of white prejudice. The hope was that by placing blacks into certain properties, neighboring whites would vacate their properties and free them up at extremely low prices."[1] Around the mid to late 1910s Harlem became a majority black neighborhood. Then by 1920 notable and influential black organizations had established or relocated themselves in Harlem. Over time the positives that Harlem is known for flourished.
However, while there was this great Harlem Renaissance taking place, the glory outshone the negative side of Harlem. The unemployment, the crowded living conditions, the poverty and segregation. The famous Cotton Club was for white patrons only. The realities of the negatives resulted in large homes being carved up into smaller units to crowd poor people into and when the glitter of Harlem's shine started getting dull a depressing ghetto began to show underneath.
The background is needed to understand the black middle class who come to or returned to Harlem to 'restore it to it's former glory.' As I was reading the stories of the black mid class (let's say buppies for short) fixing up properties I noticed something. They are making the buildings reflect their pre-black neighborhood past, while lauding the Harlem Renaissance period. You mix your time periods long enough they meld into one, so that it is easy to imagine people like us (buppies) living in the grand houses and participating in the Renaissance. No one in the book, so far, has confused the periods, but the thinking seems to skate very close to it.
The book is very interesting in addressing class. But class seems to be too clunky and static a term. Taylor does show in one example how the relationship between buppies and poor blacks goes from we are all one to those sorry so-and-sos. Maybe more about that later.
[1]Taylor, Monique M. Harlem: Between heaven and hell. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, 2002. p. 5
Labels: gentrification, history, other neighborhoods
With Lawyers and Money All Things are Possible
I'm going through zoning cases at the place they pay me and I noticed something funny. Well I notice a lot of odd, "huh?" stuff. For example, I'm trying to figure out what happened to the Salvation Army Headquarters that was supposed to be at the spot where 555 Massachusetts sits now. Around 1990 there was supposed to be a non-profit with shelter (Zoning Commission 90-8M/88-23C). But instead there is something else. Maybe not enough lawyers and money.
Another project was the 7th Street Penn Quarter area with the older facades and the modern high rise behind it. I have read/heard complaints about how the whole facade thing is bad and it's bad for historic preservation. Well looking at the papers, the Historic Preservation people signed off on the project. Yes, there is a signature and everything. Were they browbeaten by the developer's lawyers?
And there are other projects, other PUDs, where I'll admit, I don't have all the information. But I look at what the paperwork says, remember what the location looks like now and sometimes things don't match up.
Labels: history, other neighborhoods
Reporters get better template
Washington Post Staff Writer Paul Schwartzman has written articles about transitional neighborhoods before and my complaint was that it worked on a flawed template. The old template was old-timers black and good, newcomers white upper class and bad. I'm seeing improvement in Post articles, such as the one Mr. Schwartzman has in today's paper, "
Reality Checkpoint."
I particularly liked the beginning quote (print version) from resident Lisa Oksala "The murders and the checkpoint aren't the definition of my daily experience. It's a neighborhood, and we have issues. But it's a community, and we're sticking." And there are other comments from residents, and a variety at that, who illustrate a more hopeful and positive view in light of a dark view outsiders may have upon reading about the police checkpoints in the area. The villain in this story is crime and violence, which oppresses both the poor and middle class. The best quote is from day care owner Dorethea Richardson, "I know what a bad neighborhood is, and this is not it."
There is only one thing I take issue with in the article are the words attributed to Peter Tatian of the Urabn Institute. Though not a quote, it is written that he
said that rising home prices across the city and low interest rates pushed a wave of middle and upper-income buyers into Trinidad and diversified a neighborhood that has long been almost entirely black.
Black is not a synonym for poor and that sentence gives me that impression. It would have been better if it read ... a neighborhood that has long been almost entirely lower income (or poor or some other adjective) and black.
Addition
There is a mention & pix of ANC rep/
Frozen Tropic's blogger for the area.
Labels: media, other neighborhoods
Stuck in the year 2001
After gettin' my hair did 'round U Street I ventured up by bike looking for the new Harris Teeter near 17th Street. I took the long, I'm lost, roundabout route veering over to 19th Street, and then asking for directions. After getting a few things I headed back home heading to 16th St, I saw the Meridian Park and remembered back to 2001.
It has been 7 years since I've been at that exact corner on a bike. Hit with this sudden flashback, I turned my head looking back at the street I just biked up and said, wasn't there an open drug market there? In 2001, Jose, a guy from a dance class I was taking was having a house warming party somewhere in Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights. I was living at 12th & Rhode Island, so I figured I just bike up to the party. When I turned off from 16th St NW, heading west on either Crescent or Belmont (can't exactly remember) I biked straight into the biggest open air drug market I had ever seen. Many people were milling about, and some were sort of looking at me like I might be selling.
Until I got groceries at Harris Teeter, that memory was part of my mental map of that part of town. It's sort of like outdated satellite imagery, you know it's out of date, but it's all you got.
There are so many other parts of the city where it has been a good forever and a half since I've been there, like the DC part of Takoma Park and Deanwood. Then again there are parts of the city where I haven't to at all.
Labels: crime, other neighborhoods
