THOSE WHO DRIVE in Adams Morgan regularly likely know Champlain Street NW well. The two-lane road, which runs parallel to 18th Street and dead ends at the Marie H. Reed Community Learning Center, is typically used as speedy cut-through for motorists in the area — and residents have had enough.

A group of neighbors has organized a petition to get the D.C. Department of Transportation to conduct a transportation audit — part of a process they hope will help to get speeding on the busy backstreet under control. Drivers blow through the street at such a clip, they say, that it's dangerous for those walking nearby with children or pets.

Michal Kisilevitz, a Champlain street resident, is working with her Advisory Neighborhood Commission rep, Wilson Reynolds to gather support for the effort. The two have set up an email address through an Adams Morgan Yahoo group that allows residents to send in their electronic signatures. According to DDOT, the neighborhood has to prove at least 50 percent of the street's residents are in support of the audit for the agency to proceed.

Kisilevitz estimates that that means she needs roughly 100 signatures; as of Wednesday, she's racked up 20.

Continue Reading "Champlain Street Residents Look to Slow Down Speeding Cars" »

TWO WEEKS AGO, after 29 uninterrupted years in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, I finally moved within the D.C. limits.

In an attempt to fully explore my new urban existence, I decided to chronicle a typical late spring Friday night along the 18th Street corridor in my new neighborhood, Adams Morgan.

I knew I was in for challenging sidewalk navigation, rampant bralessness and lots of discarded pizza. I thought I might witness a drunken scuffle, some particularly egregious sexual harassment and a sobbing girl or two.

But I underestimated Adams Morgan.

Suffice it to say, the bodily fluids I had feared I would encounter turned out to be a lot less menacing than the one that I did.

(And even though 12 a.m. is technically Saturday, not Friday — please, just roll with it, people.)

Continue Reading "A.M. in the A.M.: A Friday Night in Adams Morgan" »

IF YOU HAVE the kids this weekend, try the National Zoo's Weekend Family Festival in celebration of International Migratory Bird Day. You will learn about birds and how they ... you know ... migrate. Or something. They're pretty!

In the meantime, you (and the kiddies) will learn about global warming, bird banding, and how to help migratory birds.

» National Zoo, 3001 Connecticut Avenue NW; Sat. and Sun., 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., free; 202.633.4800. (Woodley Park)

Photo by Jessie Cohen/Smithsonian's National Zoo

ADAMS MORGAN'S Black Squirrel gives food lovers with less-than-Trumpesque wallets a reason to celebrate Tuesdays. Enjoy half-priced food all night while scrolling through pages of quality, well-priced beers. The calamari is enlivened by a kicked-up chipotle aioli; the simple house salad, tossed with citrus vinaigrette and finely diced hardboiled egg, is an ample alternative to a fried appetizer, and the 24-hour baby back ribs are coated with port wine and barbecue sauce and served in a mini cast-iron skillet.

» Black Squirrel, 2427 18th St. NW; 202-232-1011.

Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans

LOVESOME THING jazz trio plays at Tryst every Wednesday. Bring a friend (or a laptop) for a mellow night at Adams Morgan's coziest cafe, where the couches are soft and the drinks are $9. Tryst is full of people tapping away on their laptops, falling deeper and deeper into the recesses of the myriad couches and ordering chai milkshakes, while Lovesome Thing plays their slightly funky jazz.

» Tryst, 2459 18th St. NW; Weds., 8 p.m., free; 202-232-5500. (Woodley Park)

ADAMS MORGAN residents looking for fresh vegetables won't have to go far this weekend. On Saturday at 9 a.m., the Adams Morgan Farmers Market will be back in full swing for the spring.

The market, located at the corner of 18th Street and Columbia Road NW, typically features 3 vegetable carts and 1 flower cart. Randy Treichler, of Star Hollow Farm in Three Springs, Pa., sells 95 percent local produce, and is looking forward to coming back.

"I love doing the farmers market," Treichler said. "It's exciting, it's neat, but it's also a lot of work. A lot of people think you can't have anything yet at this time of year, but there actually is quite a bit of local produce still around."

SLEEK WHITE LEATHER COUCHES and mod white tables turn Evolve's look into something quite different from that of its neighbors. Among the chug-and-puke-themed bars in Adams Morgan, Evolve caters to a more sophisticated crowd.

With attentive service and mellow hip-hop playing, small plates such as crisp asparagus and tender mushrooms tossed with a light white wine sauce and grated parmesan can be enjoyed in a relaxed setting during the week.

It's great to share, and it's a healthy alternative to the fried cheese and breaded meat that is usually eaten during this happiest of hours. No beers are on tap, but check with the bar for cocktail specials.

» Evolve, 1817 Columbia Road NW; 202-486-3087.

Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans

TUCKED BETWEEN THE HIPSTER LAND of Mount Pleasant and the collegiate playground of Adams Morgan stands a tiny eatery, glowing with pink electric light and offering a snack-perfect pupusa platter.

Amaryllis' appetizer consists of two fried corn cake patties stuffed with either cheese, minced pork or both. El Salvador's popular dish varies in fillings just like the many versions of grilled cheese. Amaryllis uses mozzarella, which conveniently oozes out at every bite. A slaw of cabbage and shredded corn dressed with a tangy tomato sauce serves as a crunchy counterpoint to the satisfyingly doughy pupusa.

» Amaryllis, 1654 Columbia Road NW; 202-483-2027.

Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans

FOR MONTHS NOW — actually, it's been years — two of the biggest retail projects in the District have drawn their fair share of skepticism from many convinced that their development plans were just that, plans. But finally, there are signs of life at the Target planned for Columbia Heights and the Harris Teeter slated for Adams Morgan.

As The Post's Sue Anne Pressley Montes wrote on Sunday, there was a job fair on Saturday, pictured above, for the District's first Target store, which will anchor the massive 500,000-square-foot D.C. USA project at 3100 14th St. NW between Irving Street and Park Road. The big-box retailer needs to fill 320 jobs for the store, which is scheduled to open on March 9.

On Wednesday, there'll be a job fair at the Columbia Heights Community Center for the future Harris Teeter, which is set to open sometime this spring. It's a sign that the store might actually open someday — there have been plenty of delays since the project was announced in 2005.

Meanwhile, the District is getting ready to create a series of one-way streets on the congested blocks surrounding the grocery store, which does not sit on any major roadways. The site at Kalorama Road and 17th Street NW, is a block west of busy 16th Street and two blocks south of Columbia Road, one of the neighborhood's main thoroughfares. The new traffic patterns are slated to go into effect on Jan. 21.

» "Before the Big Opening, a Hiring Blitz" [WaPo]
» "Harris Teeter Jobs" [D.C. Council Member Jim Graham via City Desk/City Paper]
» "New Traffic Pattern for Adams Morgan Harris Teeter" [DCist]

Photo by Lois Raimondo/The Washington Post

LOVE IT OR HATE IT, the patio at Lauriol Plaza in Dupont Circle come spring and summer is usually one of the hottest tickets in town. But it's not just a place to see and be seen. For smokers, it's a place to light up.

And as D.C.'s temperatures plummet, many restaurants are rolling out heat lamps and radiant heaters to keep outdoor patios open — and smokers happy.

Mayi Castillo, the manager at Lauriol Plaza, said that the weather dictates whether her establishment will be serving outside. But the restaurant always keeps a couple heaters on by the main entrance. "Smokers tend to appreciate them," she said.

This time of year, smokers are finding refuge at heat lamps across the city, including the patrons of Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights, pictured above. And with the D.C. smoking ban going into its second year, those devices are increasingly more common features on the city's restaurant and bar landscape.

At Marvin at 14th and U streets NW, the roof deck, pictured at right, will be kept open year-round, even on "really cold nights," said Sheldon Scott, the restaurant's manager. The restaurant has installed both propane heat lamps, as well as infrared radiant heaters under its outdoor canopy. Sarah Rosner, a bartender who was dressed in a hat and sweater, acknowledged that it does sometimes get chilly working outside, but said patrons tend to appreciate the option. "A lot of people come here because they can smoke," she said.

Continue Reading "Outdoor Heat Lamps Give Smokers Winter Refuge" »