Lamont Street Halloween Party is Oct 31

2007 Lamont Street Halloween Party

The occupancy permit needed for the Lamont Street Halloween Block Party has been assigned by the city and the party is happening! The Lamont Street Party will go on as it has the past few years. The location is the 1700 block of Lamont St NW between 17th and 18th Streets. The time is 6:30PM - 9:00PM

Typically, at least half of the homes have residents who give out candy, provide spooky music, or have engineered some sort of amazing front yard display. It's always a good time and draws hundreds of kids and kids-at-heart from all over the city. I say this every year, and the record still stands: I lived on this block in 2007 and gave away 2,000 pieces of candy. TWO THOUSAND. 

The block is closed to auto traffic although there are always a few straggler cars that won't be moved in time (they don't tow). I haven't gotten the details of other activities happening besides the handing out of candy, but if I find out before then, look here or follow The 42 Bus on Twitter for updates.

Special thanks to the reader who passed on a special bit of intel on this, too.

Each Peach Opens in Mount Pleasant

3068 Mount Pleasant Street NW has a new tenant: Each Peach Market. The market soft-opened yesterday and replaces the last tenant, vintage clothing store Nana. Before Nana, 3068 was home to Mount Pleasant Deli (closed in 2009) and then briefly the Temporium (2011).

Each Peach is more of a specialty food market. They're sure to evolve over time, but for now they carry a small selection of fresh vegetables (corn, potatoes, tomatoes, mushrooms, greens), bottled specialty products (pickled veggies, sauces), ready to eat prepared foods (beet salad, gazpacho), cold drinks (including some pretty innovative/unique teas), some traditional grocery items, and a lot more than I can list here. They also make and serve sandwiches and have a fair amount of house-made products on the shelf, which is a plus.

They'll have a proper grand opening in September. Each Peach is open 9:00 am - 9:00 pm. Good luck!

LIA Cafe Opening in Mt Pleasant + Ramona's Spa Relaunch

LIA Cafe will open next Friday July 19 at 3103 Mount Pleasant St NW. This is the space first identified as Sobé Café a few months ago and it has always been the home of Ramona's Salon and Day Spa. They're hosting an opening for the cafe and a relaunch of the salon and spa next Friday from 5:00PM - 8:00 PM. RSVP on their Facebook event page and here's more information from the organizers:

"Join us for the opening of LIA Cafe and the relaunching of Ramona's Salon & Day Spa!

We are excited about the soft-opening of Mount Pleasant Street's newest Cafe and the relaunching of Ramona's Spa with Minerva Mastacanu managing the spa which offers the latest and greatest treatment for the skin and body. Everyone who attends will get a 10% off next spa treatment coupon!

Also for the event, the spa is offering a special microdermabrasion treatment (an advanced skin correction system to gets rid of lines and wrinkles) for $125 (originally $150).

French & Brazilian appetizers will be served as well as wine and other beverages during the open house.

Raffle prizes will be given away during the event so come out for your chance to win:

Free European facial
30 minute body massage
manicure
pedicure
waxing
hair treatment and blow dry
lunch of choice from the cafe

This will be a great event we hope you can make it!"

Mount Pleasant Morning

Radius Pizza Back?

This is welcome news: according to the Washington City Paper, Mount Pleasant's own Radius Pizza could open as soon as next week. The only sit down pizzeria in the neighborhood has been closed since abruptly ceasing operations on June 21 of this year. I look forward to this happening whether next week, the week after, or next month. The location is centrally located on the commercial strip, at 3155 Mt Pleasant St NW. 

Who can say no to a good pizza and a glass of their favorite adult beverage? No one. Everyone loves a good pie. And it looks like they'll have vegan options, which is just fantastic. Very, very good news and perhaps I'll see you there, next week even! Have a great weekend.

Brown Street Market Closed for Renovations

Brown Street Market has now been closed for more than one week. It has been gutted and appears to be getting a complete interior renovation. This small food & grocery --3320 Brown St NW, at Newton St-- is the only Mt Pleasant market north of Park Road. I'm pretty sure it is the only retail establishment north of Park Road (not counting Woodner Apartments). The signage on the front door indicates that Brown is under new management. The sign also noted that it would reopen on October 7. Whoops. Looking forward to visiting after the updates. Good luck Brown Street Market.

Food Truck Thursday Returns to Mount Pleasant

Last month hundreds of Mount Pleasant residents came out on a lovely Thursday to chow down on some post-workday eats from four food trucks. The night was a success, (maybe too much!) with healthy lines and some food shortages, but leaving no doubt that an evening food truck visit to Mount Pleasant can work. 

The trucks will be back this Thursday --June 21-- at the same location, Lamont Park. This time there will be five trucks: Pleasant Pops, Fojol Bros, PORC, Tasty Kabob, and one of my personal favorites, Takorean. The trucks will be available from 5:30PM-8:30PM. Thanks once again to the organizers. You can RSVP to the Facebook page if you wish. See you there!

Bike & Bus Mount Pleasant

National Building Museum Exhibit Features Mount Pleasant

Mt P investigators congratulated at exhibition opening

Last Friday I attended the opening reception for Investigating Where We Live, an exhibition at the National Building Museum. Investigating Where We Live is a yearly summer program at the museum for middle and high school students. The students pick three DC neighborhoods and investigate with digital cameras and microphones in tow. Then they curate an exhibition in order to showcase their work. Much of the exhibit is photography, but it really is multi-media with written work, videos of interviews, QR codes, and audio players throughout the exhibit.

The team investigating Mount Pleasant pretty much nailed it. The photos are great! They have a flickr page with photos from all the neighborhoods, too (including Bloomingdale and H Street NE). I was interviewed by the group on a site visit and gave a brief history of Mount Pleasant and talked about why I love living here (including having access to the 42 bus!). The students subtitled the Mount Pleasant part of the exhibit "Mount Pleasant: D.C.'s Small Diverse Town." Sounds about right to me. The H Street NE and Bloomingdale teams did a tremendous job as well.

The Investigating Where We Live exhibition is open through May 28, 2012. The National Building Museum is located in Judiciary Square at 401 F Street NW. $8 admission.

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Apartment Houses: The White Apartment House

I don't know the name of this building, but it always intrigued me. Right at the corner of 16th and Newton Street NW, on the edge of Mount Pleasant. It's always seemed to have apartments upstairs, apartments in the basement and vacant first floor. The photos doesn't really show, but it's a very narrow building that butts right up against the Canaan Baptist Church. You could reach your arm out of one one and touch the other. Perhaps it was part of the church property at one point? I don't know. Anyway, I like it. 3360 16th St NW.

Samber Market

Apartment Houses: The Northbrook

16th and Newton Streets NW. Actually two buildings. Circa early 1920s.

New Yoga Studio Opens on Mount Pleasant Street

Past Tense yoga studio opens today on Mount Pleasant Street. I squeezed in a visit to their open house on Saturday and was very impressed. The space looked great! I had been in the former offices of Habitat Real Estate once or twice and the renovated space is literally a breath of fresh air in comparison. "Open" is the word that comes to mind to mind. The owner and other staff, including instructors were on hand to greet visitors as well as explain membership options and reassure novice-yoga people (like me) that it's not as daunting as I had perceived. I'm still debating if or how I'll embark on a new yoga adventure. Either way, this is a great addition to the neighborhood commercial strip and I wish Past Tense well. The studio is located at 3252 Mount Pleasant Street, NW. Cool photo courtesy of the studio.

Apartment Houses: The Argyle

17th Street and Park Road NW

Friday Fun Post: The Washingtonian Interviews... Me!

As part of an ongoing series for the Washingtonian.com, I was interviewed for Blogger Beat by writer Emily Leaman. I enjoyed trying to be both fun and somewhat sincere with the questions. And I took the occasion to plug the neighborhood, because, well, I think it deserves a periodic talking up.

Thanks to all the readers who visit this blog from time to time, like you. And while you're at it, can you take a stab at one of Emily's, too? What store or business do you most wish would come to Mount Pleasant? For my answer, you'll have to read the interview, but I suspect at least some of you will agree with me on this one. Anyway, whatever it is, feel free to share. No wrong answers! Dreamers, you can dream, and pragmatists, you can, uh.... pragmatize.

Calm Down, Yoga Coming to Mount Pleasant

A new yoga studio, Past Tense Studios, is planning to open on the northern tip of the Mount Pleasant St retail strip. The address is 3253 Mt P Street, NW. I suspect the building is owned by it's primary tenant, Habitat Real Estate. Habitat used to occupy the first floor space, but has been trying to rent it out for several months now. They still have offices on the second floor.

Past Tense (get it: past tense) may finally get me to become a yoga head. I have been toying with the idea for a while. Especially when so many of my friends participated in DC Yoga Week last month. The gym bores me and although I love bike riding, I should probably supplement it with another form of physical activity. Enter yoga. Everyone I know who does yoga LOVES yoga. And one fellow I know became an instructor after falling in love with yoga over the course of a year or so. Past Tense offer several different classes and don't seem too pie-in-the-sky for a newish yoga person, like me.

Maybe this is a sign. Yoga just blocks away from my home and right on the 42 bus line. And quite a plus for Mount Pleasant Street. Another new business not food or drink or laundromat related. Good luck to PT and maybe look for me there soon.

Circulator Still a Mystery for Some

Is it just me, or does the new Circulator route through Mt Pleasant seem like a little nugget of inside knowledge? The neighborhood blogging and transit communities are privy. So are a few downtown workers that gather at the Mt P and Columbia heights stops every morning. But otherwise, I don't think the masses realize how great this bus is or that it even exists.

There is absolutely no advertising for the new route. Some riders don't realize that the bus is limited stop once they get on. So far the drivers have been nice about dropping people off at the next corner when this occurs. Other potential riders are hesitant to get on or ask the driver about the route when waiting for the regular Metro bus at designated stops. The bus is almost always empty, even on days and during times when it should be packed. And those in the know are constantly talking up the bus while riding it, in my observations.

Once again, this bus is awesome. It has consistently run about every 10 minutes so far. All along a route of only 7 stops from Woodley Park to McPherson Sq. It runs until the Metro closes each night, and yes that means until 3AM on the weekends. It costs $1! That is a steal. And it's virtually an express bus. The new route connects with Metro Rail at several stations as welll as the east-west Circulator route. Yes, for some the infrequent stoppage is a problem. The regular Metro bus is still running for those folks. But for everyone else, please take advantage of the Circulator. Late DDOT know that they have hit upon a great idea and that we support it.

Photos: Return of Mt P Farmer's Market

Library Renovation Talks Continue Tonight

A meeting tonight will help shape the course of renovations for our very own Mt Pleasant Branch Library. TheInTowner had a great article chronicling the potential renovations in the last issue.

The meeting is 6:30pm tonight, May 4, at the Library (3160 Lamont St NW).

According to DCPL, the last meeting determined several wants and needs among area residents. They included:

Services most important to residents

• Children’s services and early literacy
• Information about community events, organizations and services
• Lifelong learning and personal interest
• A comfortable place to read, study, use computers and meet neighbors
• Learning to read and write for adults, children and teens
• Programs and services that promote cultural awareness and diversity
• Provide books, DVDs and CDs–reading and viewing for pleasure

What residents value most about the Mt. Pleasant Library

• Location and convenience
• Friendly staff and excellent customer service
• Programs for children
• Free access to the Internet
• Availability of meeting space
• Collections–books, CDs, DVDs
• Computers and free WiFi

What residents dislike about the Mt. Pleasant Library

• Not enough computers and time limits on computer use
• Appearance and condition of the building, particularly the lower level, meeting rooms, bathrooms and heating system
• Access to the children’s area–stairs are very narrow
• Feeling unsafe–presence of customers without homes and noisy teens
• High noise levels, especially in children’s area
• Customers without homes using library as a place to sleep
• Some staff appeared to be overworked
• Need more meeting room space
• Need a broader collection of materials
• Need more reading space for young people

The most striking features of the renovations promise to be the side garden on Lamont Street and the addition of an entire rear wing to the building. And finally, the ADA accessibility of the building won't require patrons to enter through a subterranean door, essentially putting visitors in the basement of the library.

Farmer's Market Starts Saturday

Finally! Must be spring if the Mt Pleasant farmer's market is starting. And the first one is this Saturday. The market is held at Lamont Park, right next to the first stop of the 42 bus, in the heart of Mount Pleasant. It's every Saturday from 9am-1pm. The final market is a ways off, in November. Trying not to think about that day right now. Focusing on tomorrow...

A few changes, some good, some meh. From Mount Pleasant Main Street:

New this year: A free weekly drop-in bike clinic; yeasted breads from Atwater Bread of Baltimore; Cherry Glen Goat Cheese Company from Boyds, Maryland; humanely raised goat meat and veal from Painted Hand Farm; and more.

Bikes, yea! Veal, why??? I'm definitely bummed about that. Was there a market for veal? At the farmer's market? I'm confused. Well, up the veggies. And up the bikes. See you there.