D.C.'s Dan Tangherlini: A Trendsetter?

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Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post"

UNLESS YOU FOLLOW District politics, the name Dan Tangherlini is one you probably haven't heard much, unless you remember his tenure as Metro's interim general manager. (Remember, he was on all the Metro customer service advertisements in 2006 after the Metro board ousted chief executive Dick White?)

You haven't heard much from Tangherlini since he left Metro and returned to public service in the District government, where he is Mayor Adrian Fenty's city administrator. (Essentially, Tangherlini, who is a former D.C. Department of Transportation chief, is the one who secretly keeps D.C. from sinking into the muck it was stuck in over the past decade or so.)

For someone who hasn't been plastered up on Metro public service ads in months, you may find it odd that Tangherlini, a resident of Capitol Hill, might be a trendsetter. This writer kids you not: Last night while heading down into the Dupont Circle Metrorail station, a random professional-type guy on the escalator said the following to a friend who had a semi-respectable — but not-quite-filled-in — beard, similar to the one Tangherlini sports:

"Dude, what is that? Are you growing a 'Tangherlini?'"

Beard guy said: "No, it's just what I'm doing. What's a Tangher-what-ee?"

Exactly. That sounds somewhat suspect.

We're very hesitant to say that Dan Tangherlini's appointment as city administrator has made maintaining a beard socially acceptable or cool, since that's a trend that's been solidifying over the past few years. But maybe if he fashioned his facial hair to look like President Chester A. Arthur, then we think Tangherlini could be a true D.C. trendsetter, at least in the eyes of certain scenesters.