EVERYONE HAS FDR fever these days. Wonder if it could be the combination of a new, Democratic president and an economic crisis that has everyone hoping that Barack Obama will do for the current financial climate what Roosevelt did for the Great Depression (i.e. create massive social programs that revitalize the U.S. infrastructure and create new jobs.)
Anyway, not to be outbandwagoned, Arena Stage has an economic-downturn special for you, and they've called it the New Deal. Anytime on Friday, Nov. 14, from midnight to midnight, you can buy tickets for any Arena show for $25. If your group numbers more than 15 people, it's only $22 per ticket. That can be as high as a 60 percent discount, so jump on this one.
Call 202-488-3300 or go here for tickets.
Click here to see their season schedule.
Photo courtesy FDR Library
FEELING DISILLUSIONED by the election? Upset about the state of politics? Meet Josh Kornbluth, self-proclaimed Everyman. He's a monologist, and he's concerned about our country.
His one-man show — 90 minutes with no intermission is the new hot length for plays; you heard it here first — "Citizen Josh," at Arena Stage will be cleansing if you, too, are confused about your role as a citizen of this country.
» Arena Stage in Crystal City, 1800 S Bell St., Arlington; through Oct. 26, $32-$37; 202-488-3300. (Crystal City)
Photo courtesy Josh Kornbluth
ARENA STAGE hasn't let its temporary homelessness get it down. It currently has two shows running, including the new "Resurrection," which details the intersecting lives of six African-American men in an effort to address what playwright Daniel Beaty calls the crisis of black men in America, from slavery onward.
» Arena Stage, 1800 S. Bell St., Arlington; Tue.-Sat. through Oct 5., $47-$61; 202-488-3300. (Crystal City)
Photo by Scott Suchman
CLASS STARTS EARLY at Bebo Trattoria. Throughout the month of August Chef Roberto Donna will lead cooking classes for everyone: kids, early risers and dinner-daters. Make parent-child time more delicious by learning how to make kid-friendly pizza and pasta. No one will judge you for drinking a glass of wine at 11am if you're also learning to cook with DC's resident Italian chef. Summer soups and crostini are morning lesson highlights. Each weeknight and weekend Donna will lead a class through a 5-course dinner featuring cuisine from a different region in Italy. Regardless of the class, each student will get to take home an apron and the recipes, and of course, eat delicious food.
» Bebo Trattoria, 2250-B Crystal Drive, Arlington, $45-$140; 703-412-5077, robertodonna.com. (Crystal City)
Written by Express Contributor Stefanie Gans
Photo by Len Depas
PICKING A PLACE TO LIVE is hard! Sure, you could think about property value and crime statistics, but wouldn't you rather focus on revolving restaurants and other important things like that when you're thinking about what to look for in your new neighborhood?
1. COLLEGE PARK, MD.
Relive your misspent youth, and your WWII days, just off the Green Line.
You may have gone drinking at the college bars — like the cavernous Town Hall, the dive bar with pinball machines and a colorful, cheap-beer-enjoying clientele — of College Park. The neighborhood combines suburbia with cozy bungalow houses, bikes parked on the porches, all screaming of academia.
You can rent a one-bedroom place starting around $1,050, take the Green Line anywhere you want to go, take in a physics lecture at the University of Maryland, and then play pinball all day and night while swilling affordable suds. Yes, yes, yes — but you can also do something far more exciting in College Park: You can eat at 94th Aero Squadron, a World War II-theme restaurant that sits next to College Park Airport, the country's oldest continuously operated airport. There is weekly hand dancing at the 94th Squadron, too. That's D.C.'s answer to the jitterbug, in case you didn't know.
» 1 br: $1,050-$1,100
» 2 br: $1,300-$1,500
2. DEL RAY, VA.
Serenity off the Yellow and Blue lines
Del Ray is either the calmest or most stressful place on Earth, depending on what you make of the more than of six "relaxation" or "stress-relieving" shops on its small, quaint and entirely charming main street. Massage shops, day spas, a place advertising "authentic" pilates — if you need stress relief, this is your place.
But also, if you need custard, the Dairy Godmother is there to fill that need. Buy cheeses from Cheesetique, local meats (Let's Meat on the Avenue) or hats (try Tops of Old Town). Del Ray also has a number of gift shops, a gallery featuring monthly rotating exhibits of local artists, an upholsterer, a handful of tasty restaurants including the famous St. Elmo's Café and the less famous Al's Steak House ("no cell phones permitted"), a dog bakery and other amenities that make this charming neighborhood a way to live in a great small town right next to a Metro stop.
It also lets you buy comics and exotic plants from one of the greatest shops ever: the Exotic Planterium and Card & Comic Collectorama, a dusty, treasure-filled store whose owner, Dennis E. Webb, grows many of the plants from seed, and collects everything from Sweet Valley High dolls in their original packaging to old Spiderman comics. Webb has operated the shop right on the main drag for 34 years. So, go buy a plant from him. Plants are relaxing, too.
» 1 br: $1,050- $1,350
» 2 BR: $1,500-$2,200
Continue Reading "Renter's Guide: Check Out These Six Hot D.C. 'Hoods" »
"THE GIRL'S GUIDE TO BUSINESS" series can best be described as "The One Minute Manager" meets "Sex and the City."
It's not for the power-suit-and-sensible-shoes type, but for a new breed of career chicks.
"We would never call ourselves 'women' because that sounds like something our mothers were," says Kimberly Yorio, series co-author with Caitlin Friedman. "We are the girls. We have always identified as girls, all of our friends have identified as girls: 'the girls at the gym,' 'the girls I ski with' and so on. All 'the girls' are successful."
Yorio and Friedman will appear at Olsson's Crystal City on Tuesday for a book signing and career workshop based on their third and most recent "Girl's Guide" book, "The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear."
Continue Reading "Real Chick Lit: 'The Girl's Guide to Business'" »
YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE to find a pint of beer that easily near the Van Dorn Street station in Alexandria right now, but in the coming years, there might be plenty of thirsty workers, so that may all change. The area may be populated with Defense Department workers, as part of Base Realignment and Closure-related job shifts. As The Post's Amy Garnder reports, a sight near Springfield had been eyed as a place to relocate 6,200 jobs that had originally been intended for Fort Belvoir in southern Fairfax County. "But quickly and quietly, another site, on private land in Alexandria, has emerged as a competitor," Gardner writes. Discussions continue on the Van Dorn Street location.
Many of the jobs that are to be relocated are currently based in Arlington County, specifically in Crystal City, where officials are viewing the departure of Defense Department jobs "a tremendous opportunity," as The Post's Jerry Markon reports.
» "Springfield Faces Competition for 6,200 Army Jobs" [WaPo]
» "Crystal City Looks To Recast Itself as Job Losses Loom" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "You Can Drink Near Van Dorn St., But Not Cheverly" [WaPo]
WHAT DO ARENA STAGE and noted restaurateur Roberto Donna have in common? They're both using Crystal City in Virginia as temporary refuge as their District digs are being renovated.
As The Post's Jacqueline Trescott reports, Arena Stage is set to undergo major renovations starting in January and will relocate to a renovated 460-seat facility that once housed the Crystal Forum movie house. Arena Stage will also utilize the Lincoln Theatre on U Street NW, as well as other venues. The new Arena Stage on Maine Avenue in Southwest is scheduled open in 2010.
It's another major score for Crystal City, the much-maligned planned office and residential complex between the Pentagon and Reagan National Airport, which is seeing a major exodus of military and other office jobs.
Continue Reading "Arena Stage to Use Crystal City Flex Space" »
YESTERDAY, REPORTS CAME OUT that Maryland transportation officials are adding weekend service on the MARC commuter train system's Penn Line sometime next year, making Baltimore more accessible from D.C. on Saturday and Sunday. The change is part of a plan to triple MARC's capacity by 2035.
It turns out that the same effort will bring MARC service to a new arena: Virginia.
As The Post's Philip Rucker reports, the plan would extend Penn Line service to L'Enfant Plaza in D.C. and Crystal City in Arlington County near the Pentagon. It's a move that would lighten some of the load on Metrorail's crowded Red Line service at Union Station, where MARC's three lines all end currently. But don't expect any of that to happen until at least 2020, Rucker reports.
As regular MARC riders know, the train system already runs outside the Maryland lines. Aside from its Union Station stop, it also serves three stations in West Virginia.
» "Md. Officials Plan to Expand MARC as Region Grows" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "MARC to Offer Weekend Service in '08" [Free Ride/Express]
IT'S NOT EVEN a park yet, but Arlington County officials know that the name "North Tract" just won't do.
Where is this North Tract? It's a chunk of land sandwiched between I-395 and Roaches Run Water Fowl Sanctuary near Crystal City and Reagan National Airport that the county plans to turn into a major park and recreation area, complete with a 50-meter swimming pool, exercise facility and four full-size synthetic grass fields.
The name "North Tract" has been the term developers and county officials have been using for the past few years to reference the 28-acre site. But Arlington's powers that be don't think that has enough oomph or something.
Construction is set to start in the spring, and the county wants input on what the new name should be. A committee has narrowed down six potential choices:
» Arlington GreenBesides Long Bridge Park — a nod to the original 14th Street Bridge, or "Long Bridge," which was burned during the British retreat from Washington in 1814 — none of the names inspire us very much. They sound like they were pulled out of suburban subdivision name generator. But, hey, go ahead and pick your favorite!
» Brickworks Green
» Long Bridge Park
» River Passage Park
» Water Garden Park
» Esplanade Point
» "Help Choose A Name For Arlington's Newest Park!" [Arlington County]
Image courtesy Arlington County
Addison Road