Nana Vintage Moving to Mount Pleasant

Soon to be Nana clothing boutique

A bit of pretty awesome for Mount Pleasant Street: Nana boutique is moving into the neighborhood! TBD reported yesterday and the store's owners also announced that they're relocating to 3068 Mount Pleasant Street NW. 3068 was most recently occupied by Mount Pleasant Deli.

What great, great news! We have seen some retail movement on Mt P Street this year: new facades on businesses, changing hands of Old School Hardware, opening of Revo Nails and the temporary Mount P Library. But Nana is a high profile addition. They were successful on U Street and became part of a collection of indie retail stores on the 1400-1600 blocks. They helped keep U Street a daytime shopping destination while supplementing its reputation as a restaurant and club spot.

Nana will relocate to 3068 Mount P St after the new year. The new space is about 1,000 square feet and is bordered by Mayflower Chinese Restaurant and Ercilia's Restaurant. The 42 bus and SB Circulator stop directly across the street, and there is already another clothing store, Frugalsita, located at the same intersection. With the extra space, it's possible Nana will offer more than clothing; possibly furniture and an expanded selection of other items (bags, jewelry, shoes). 

Excellent news to end the week with and I look forward to the opening in early 2011!

Smallest Work Zone in DC

Park Road NW

Coffee/Riot: Mid City Caffe

Coffee shops, cafes, whatever you prefer to call them, DC has its fair share of spots that serve up the caffeinated, addictive beverage in some form or another. Some are bakeries, others more restaurant-like, and others are straight up coffee shops. I've taken on task of chronicling some of my favorite coffee spots in the city, on a quest to show what's unique and cool about them. If you have suggestions, please submit. Previous posts: Sticky Fingers, Baked & Wired, Dos Gringos, M.E. Swing, Grape & Bean, Crumbs & Coffee, Open City,Tryst, Ebenezers Coffeehouse, Bourbon Coffee, Chinatown Coffee Company, Tynan Coffee and Tea.

Funny, the first thing I thought of after visiting Mid City for the first time was another coffee shop on 14th Street.  There was something about Mid City that bought to mind Sparky's Espresso Cafe, a 14th St coffee pioneer that had a great run in the early 2000s. Sparky's closed and the space is now Cork wine bar.  Bur Mid City Caffe looks like they plan to be around for a while.

General rules of retail say that the public would rather walk down to your store than up. That is to say if you have to choose between the basement and the second floor, choose the basement. But Mid City is in a unique and neat predicament. It's location is truly multi use. There is an auto repair shop next door and a vintage furniture store below. Having Miss Pixie's downstairs means you can window shop (or really shop) and get good coffee on the same trip. I guess you can get your car serviced and get a coffee as well.

The quality is definitely there. They offer brewed coffees based on seasonal availabilities. Like other indie shops in DC, they deal with Counter Culture. Of course always offer espresso drinks. The soy latte is frothy and up there with the best of what I have had in DC. The only food I have tried are the bagels. Nothing spectacular, but the jelly was really good and fresh. So there's that.

Then there is the atmosphere. I kind of love it. As I said the interior sort of reminds me of Sparky's because, well, it' sort of small and cramped. Mid City is divided into two rooms on the second floor. One room houses the baristas, cappuccino machines, register and seating for about 20-25. The second room is smaller and set off and can seat 15-20, but seems removed. Every time I have visited, the shop has been laptop land time as they do offer free wifi.

Mid City is a really cool hangout spot! the staff is actually very cool and the offer little extras like outdoor seating downstairs, accessible water cooler and a mini couch of sorts to mix in with the other vintage looking seating and tables. Mid City is located at 1626 14th Street NW.

AT&T in Space Once Slated for American Apparel

Sweet Green and The Burger Joint are now established there. But, two years ago we thought American Apparel was going to be the first retail (in a while) to occupy the west side of Connecticut Ave north of Dupont Circle. Looks like they never made it. AT&T is now setting up shop in two bays on the first floor of the PNC Bank building in Dupont. The approximate address is 1518 Connecticut Ave NW.  AT&T already has a smaller store just a block away at 1630 Connecticut. Not sure if it will close shop. Probably? 

At the time American Apparel only had one store in the District at 10th and F NW. They've since opened a store in Georgetown, but can probably be forgiven for giving up on the Dupont store. Seems like they would thrive on the exclusive/hard to get to nature of having only a few stores. A sort of anti-saturation plan. But, I guess this is why I don't own a business.

Streetcars Advance With $200 Million Plan

Running the on the streets by 2012(?)

The District's Department of Transportation has submitted a plan to City Council outlining the roll out of the long planned and overdue streetcar system. The all important ETA: spring of 2012. At the outset there will be sections of two separate lines, the H Street NE line and the Anacostia line. 

The H Street line will run form a planned maintenance facility at 1st and H, NE to Oklahoma Ave and Benning Rd NE; almost exactly two miles. These cars will serve the H St corridor-Atlas District and Union Station, but will not cross the Anacostia River or connect with the Anacostia streetcar. Both are just portions of what the $200 million will attempt to accomplish; two fully functioning lines linking Union Station and Benning Road Metro station as well as 11th Street Bridge to the Naval Annex on South Capitol Street SE.

The Anacostia line will initially be very short; less than a mile long. It will run from the Anacostia Metro station down Firth Sterling then turn south along South Capitol Street. The southern terminus will be the 2750 South Capitol Street SE.

These two segments will be powered by electrified overhead wires, but additions to the system will be powered by another source; likely to be in-car batteries or an electrically powered underground wire system.

The hours of operation of the streetcars will be 6:00AM-12:00AM on Monday through Thursday, 6:00AM-2:00AM Friday, 8:00AM-2:00AM Saturday and Sunday 8:00AM-10:00PM. The fare has been set at $1.00, identical to Circulator! Free transfers with a SmarTrip card. Pretty amazing.

This is for real! These first two "mini-segments" are all but assured to be completed. Council has set aside the $34 million to kick off construction and was awaiting this report (full PDF) before disbursing the funds to DDOT. As for the rest of the system, including another 40 miles or so of track, touching all wards; there is a plan to assemble the money. The city will re-purpose some existing revenue streams, apply for federal grants and collect revenue from passenger fares.

Great, great news!

Dupont's Panera Bread a Work in Progress

1350 Connecticut Ave NW

Looking at Panera Bread's online menu, I'm noticing a lot of items marked "It's Back!" 

It is? Why did it go away? 

They are excited. About something. And I know more than a few people excited that the bakery and cafe plans to open up shop for the first time in DC; next to a 42 bus stop in Dupont.

Panera is one of those places that is really cool because you went there once, in another town, but couldn't go again because there isn't one near where you live. It's cute and they have a vegan soup and the coffee really hit the spot when you were hard pressed to get something decent on that retched drive through southern Jersey. Who says there's no culture in that state. Not me. At the very least there is a Panera. And they even had free wifi.

Anyway, Panera is hopefully opening some time in 2010 and they look fairly close to accomplishing that. If I remember correctly, they are advertising for job openings on site. The location is 1350 Connecticut Avenue NW. This space previously housed a Lawson's Gourmet and is right in between a Cosi and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. It's also one of the first eateries you encounter exiting the Dupont south Metro escalators or the 42 bus southbound at the same stop. Booya for more lunch and coffee options in Dupont.

Reasons to Be Car Free in DC: We're # 3!

Mount P's CaBi station is often empty--a sign of high usage

Not number 1. That's New York, by a lot. And Boston's  number 2. But we're number 3! 

Thanks to Greater Greater Washington for pointing me towards the results of the US Census American Community Survey. According to the numbers, the District ranks third among the largest U.S. cities with 50.4% of commutes by means other than automobile. 

Count me in. I was a bus guy, then Metro, now I'm trying bikeshare. Walk to work...? Maybe on a realllllly nice weather day. And I'd have to wake up fairly early, but it could be done. But seriously, what a great trend. Washington trailed only New York (66%) and Boston (51%) in percentage of non automobile commutes. Essentially this means that commutes by auto (alone and carpool) make up less than half of the city's total. The majority of DC commutes are via walking (11.1%), biking ( 2.2%), or mass transit (37.1%). Portland had the highest commuting percentage by bicycle (5.8%); Boston by walking (14.1%),New York by transit (54.9%).

And those are 2009 numbers. Looking forward to 2015 or 2020. I could see those numbers increasing. With Capital Bikeshare, expansion of the Orange Line Metro, addition of street cars and tweaked MetroBus service, the capital region and specifically the District are working to move more people more efficiently. Not every city or metropolitan area is able or willing, but I'm glad to be living in one of them. 

Broken Metro escalators: check. Empty bikeshare stations: check. Bunching buses: check. Even in the face of all the occasional inconveniences we still live in a town in which there are multiple ways to get around morning noon and night: check and double check. We can always strive for more efficient, service and a better customer experience. And maybe by the 2020 Census, 2.2% will be commuting by car and 22% will be biking. Pretty cool.

Gray Town Hall Meeting Next Tuesday

UPDATED:  The location has changed: The location of this town hall is Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, 1100 Harvard Street, NW. The time is still 6:30-8:30pm.

Presumptive Washington DC mayor Vincent Gray is on a mission to win over District residents weeks before the general election.

He has scheduled town hall meeting in each  DC political ward and ours is coming up next Tuesday. The two hour meetings are really geared towards the residents; not so much a presentation, but a chance for residents to let Mr. Gray know what concerns they have heading into the new year. He would take office, if elected, on January 2, 2011.

The Ward One meeting --for residents of Mount Pleasant, Columbia Heights, most of U Street, Adams Morgan and more-- will take place Tuesday October 19. Ward One councilperson Jim Graham and ANC members from across the ward should be in attendance. The location is the Columbia Heights Youth Center, 1480 Girard Street NW. The town hall starts promptly at 6:30 pm!

Free Nutrition Talk and Vegan Food at La Casa

DC Veg Fest (courtesy of COK)

One of DC's hardest working and most dedicated organizations, Compassion Over Killing, is hosting an event right here in Mount Pleasant, tonight. Among many other animal friendly campaigns, COK is the brains and effort behind many of the vegan menus in DC. The Founding Farmers vegan menu (PDF) is one of my personal favorites. They also help produce events like DC Veg Fest, pictured left

COK and DC's Positive Force are sponsoring a talk tonight in La Casa at 3166 Mount Pleasant St NW. From COK: Join Compassion Over Killing and Positive Force for free vegetarian food and to learn the latest in human nutrition in an engaging multimedia presentation from Michael Greger, M.D, the director of public health and animal agriculture at The Humane Society of the United States. Using the latest published research in peer-reviewed scientific nutrition journals, Dr. Greger shows us how a humane diet is also the healthiest.

This event will include practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse chronic disease in a fun, interactive quiz show format. The event is free and open to everyone!

The event is tonight from 6:30-8:30 pm.

If you have events or notes to pass, email the42bus@gmail.com. Keep up with it all and more on Twitter @The42BusDC

Frugalista

Walking home yesterday at the end of a nice (no, I can't call it columbus) day off, I saw a sign advertising two dress shirts for the price of one. The sign was at Frugalista, the second hand clothing store on the first floor of the old Kenesaw Apartment building.

3 for 10 was the name of this place when I first shopped there. As in 3 items for $10. Now it's knows as Frugalista. Two years ago 3 for 10 underwent a slight transformation, and went for a more upscale look (and prices). I still like it. 

The selection is probably 65-35 women's, or maybe 70-30, but there is a decent men's section on the right as you enter the store. Heavy on J Crew, Tommy and Ralph Lauren Polo pattern shirts, various brand jeans and men's slacks. And sweaters, sweaters, sweaters. There are a lot of sweaters at this place. They continue to upgrade with new wardrobe-like display for the shoes and point of sale system, from what I remember. 

As for the shirts, I didn't buy any yesterday, but hey, a great choice if you're looking to save a few bucks or consume something used instead of new. Frugalista is located at the corner of Irving and Mt P Streets NW, at 3069 Mount Pleasant Street.

Friday Fun Post: 90s Redux

One of my favorite songs from the 90s! Frente's Accidentally Kelly Street. Great start to the morning, eh? Enjoy the three day weekend!

18th Street Construction to Last One Year or More

Everyone wants wider sidewalks and a safer pedestrian experience in Adams Morgan.  18th Street NW, even on a slow weeknight, is sometimes a pain to travel around by foot.  Narrow walkways, empty treeboxes, uneven sidewalks and multiple curb cuts have pedestrians on their toes nightly. 

And that's not even considering that 18th Street and Columbia Road are typically slow moving and at full capacity with vehicular traffic each Friday and Saturday.  Even without private cars; Metrobus, Circulator, tour coaches and cabs make busy streets around these parts.  I wouldn't go as far to say it's the Wild West of DC, but sometimes, it can feel a bit out of control on a given weekend night, specifically at the corner of 18th and Columbia.

Get ready for a drastic change.  But drastic change will take a while.  Likely at least a year, and perhaps 18 months to two years.

The city has been planning to rebuild 18th Street NW between Florida and Columbia for a while. They are pretty far along in the planning process (you can keep up here). They'll complete the bidding process for much of the work by this time next week. Hopefully, construction will start sometime this calendar year.

The $9 million project will involve the replacement of a water main, sidewalk widening, new street lighting, curb bulb-outs, new drainage and gutters, granite curbs and more. Expect one of the northbound car lanes to disappear and I''ll be curious to see if the diagonal parking disappears as well. Haven't seen the specific plans, but I'm holding out for bicycle lanes as well.

The sidewalk widening alone will have an instant impact on pedestrians and businesses, especially those who may pursue a sidewalk service license. Many restaurants in Adams Morgan already have those permissions. I'm looking forward to it. The end product anyway. No pain, no gain right? Here's to a painless process and an on time record similar to what we've seen so far.

La Casa Update and More: Keeping Tabs

** The Washington City Paper has followed up on the La Casa/Highland Park situation. Over two posts, they've revealed more about the plans to to add an addition to Highland Park Apartments and build a new facility serving the District's homeless. 

The timing of the demolition of the existing La Casa and the rebuilding of the new facility is key. The developers want to build the Highland Park addition as soon they can. But questions remain regarding closing an emergency shelter just before winter and of course, the other elephant in the room, money. The new community based residential facility will cost $10 million to construct and only $6 million is secure at this point. Stay tuned for more updates and thanks to Ms. DePillis for digging a little deeper.

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**I'm fascinated by this trend of large corporations pitting non profits against each other in the quest for decent, but one time monetary prizes via online voting. The Pepsi Refresh project comes to mind. And here's another; one that could potentially benefit a great DC organization, Miriam's Kitchen. 

The Sears Chef Challenge will award up to $20,000 to Miriam's Kitchen if chef John Murphy wins the whole contest. But, first he must be voted the best of DC, then go on to face other chefs from across the country. 

So, hit up the website and vote accordingly. The other two DC area charities who could win are Capital Area Food Bank and Maryland Food Bank. Either way, a great cause will benefit, so let's try and steer that money to the DC area.

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**Just a reminder, the DC Asian Pacific American film festival starts this Thursday. This is is a ten day film fest screening films by and about Asian Americans. After the opening night film is screened at E Street Cinema at 7:00pm, there will be a festival reception at nearby Asia Nine restaurant. It's free if you attend the film and $10 otherwise. I just found out they're offering various discounts for groups, seniors and more, which is cool. They're a fairly small organization, so if you're at all interested, check out a film or two and support the arts in DC. 

Video: Crafty B-Girl and B-Boy Battles

Crafty Bastards was a beast. I felt so overwhelmed walking the narrow and slow moving aisles at the craft and art fair. It was hella crowded in each of the four of the main areas, all outside the Marie Reed Learning Center at18th St and Wyoming NW. Everyone making the best of what was possibly the last summer-like weekend of the year. And just before this rather miserable rain we've had the last two days. Lucky.

Slightly less crowded was the recessed area where the break dancing competition happened, the "Performance Pit". I felt much better down there. And that's where I took this video. The b-boy and b-girl competitions are best viewed from up on high behind the fence, but those spots are hard to come by. I was happy down below.

Was it just me or was there a lot more crotch grabbing this year? Perhaps a year-late MJ tribute. Despite that, I thought the level of dance was higher than 2009 and many of the same dancers were took part. There were way more women this year, which was awesome. Hopefully that trend continues. And there were more tandem and synchronized moves between partners. This video is form the second round. The sound is a little blown out so turn it down if you're in the office. Sorry about that. Check out other dance videos and more on The 42 Bus Vimeo page.

Crafty Battles 2010: BBoys and BGirls (1) from The 42 Bus on Vimeo.

DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival is Next Week

Au Revoir Taipei

DC APA Film is hosting their 11th annual film festival next week in downtown DC. From the fest kickoff happy hour  to the closing night presentation, and film showings in between; most can be reached by riding the 42 bus. The film festival is October 7-16.

The venues are E Street Cinema, Goethe Institut, Freer Gallery, and National Museum of the American Indian. Opening night is October 7, 7:30pm at E Street Cinema featuring Au Revoir Taipei, described as a "whimsical romantic caper" set in Taiwan. A reception will follow Au Revoir Taipei at Asia Nine Restaurant at 915 E St NW (free for movie ticket holders). 

The rest of the schedule can be found here. Many of the films are short; 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 6 minutes. Others are feature length. And some are even free! Seems like we had the summer of film festivals and apparently they are continuing into the fall. Have a great weekend.