The Georgetowner's March 8, 2017 Issue

VOLUME 63 NUMBER 11

MARCH 8 - 21, 2017

WEST END Rising

Metro Almost Broke Day Without a Woman Amina Rubinacci Style Le Decor Reads in Bed

IN T HIS IS SUE N E W S . 4 -7

Calendar Town Topics Overheard at Lunch

ON THE COVER The Westlight residences rise at 1111 24th St. NW (at L Street), land once occupied by the West End Public Library and the Special Operations Division of the Metropolitan Police Department. The new building, which extends a full city block along L Street, will hold 71 condominiums on the 24th Street side and 93 rental units on the 23rd Street side, plus a new West End Library.

Designed by architect Enrique Norten, the EastBanc development is expected to open this summer. Rendering courtesy EastBanc.

E DI T O RI A L /O PI N I O N 8 -9 BUSI N E S S . 10 -11

Ins & Outs Amina Rubinacci Boutique Marks 3 Years

RE A L E S TAT E . 12-13 February 2017 Sales Featured Property Auction Block

DOW N T OW N E R D C . 14 Town Topics

L E DEC O R . 15

W E B E XC L USI V E S White Nationalist Moves In Over Chocolate Shop

March is for the Lubrocubicularist

C OV E R . 18 -20 West End Rising

BY K AT E O C Z Y P O K Protesters “welcomed” Richard Spencer to Alexandria, where the chocolate shop downstairs is benefiting from anti-Spencer business.

F E AT U RE . 21 Hyde-Addison Parents Plan to Start New School

F OOD & W I N E . 22-23 Dining Guide The Latest Dish Cocktail of the Month

@T h eGeo r ge t o wn r @T h eGeo r ge t o wn er

GU Activists Push for ‘Sanctuary Campus’

From Dulles to Dublin

BODY & S OU L . 27

BY P EG GY S A N D S Jessica Andino, the GU Student Association’s chair of undocumented student inclusivity, has lobbied successfully for more campuswide awareness of and support for undocumented immigrants.

Murphy’s Love Beauty by Rebekah

A R T S . 28 -29

Diva Denyce Graves Plays Mom in ‘Champion’ DC Artswatch At the Hirshhorn: Kusama’s Meditative Carnival

At Washington National Opera: Griffith vs. Paret

GOOD WORK S & GOOD T I ME S . 30 -31

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F O R T H E L AT E S T N E W S , S U B S C R I B E T O OUR E-NE WSLE T TER.

T h e Geo r ge t o wn er

Protesters in Alexandria, Virginia.

Photo by Jeff Malet.

I N C OU N T R Y & G E TAWAY . 24

Spring Gala Guide Environmental Film Festival Halcyon Stage American Hearts Association Prevention of Blindness Society

YOUR NUMBER-ONE SOURCE FOR E VERY THING GEORGE TOWN.

BY G A RY T I S C H L ER A review of “Champion,” a jazz opera set in the often hyperventilated world of boxing.

Robert Orth and Aubrey Allicock in “Champion.” Photo by Ken Howard.

Courtesy WNO.

1050 30th Street, NW Washington, DC 20007 Phone: (202) 338-4833 Fax: (202) 338-4834 www.georgetowner.com The Georgetowner is published every other Wednesday. The opinions of our writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect the editorial and corporate opinions of The Georgetowner newspaper. The Georgetowner accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. The Georgetowner reserves the right to edit, rewrite or refuse material and is not responsible for errors or omissions. Copyright 2017.

luxury Edition

Kent. Exquisite new home w/4 flrs of luxurious finishes & exciting design. 6 BRs, 5.5 BAs, living room w/coffered ceiling, glamorous eat-in kitchen, fam rm w/frpl. LL rec rm w/kit, frpl, BR & BA. Pretty patio & back yard. $2,475,000

Nancy & David Hammond

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EntErtain with Flair

Kenwood. Stately custom home w/elegant entry foyer & grand entertaining spaces. 4 BRs, 4 BAs, 2 HBs, library, 4 frpls, & expansive 2 level walk-out lower level w/rec room, bar & patio. $1,595,000

Melissa Brown Beverly Nadel

202.469.2662 202.236.7313

StoryBook SEtting

Chevy Chase DC. Expanded/renovated Tudor w/front porch. 4 BRs, 3.5 BAs, Gourmet kitchen, sunny family rm, living rm w/frpl. Attic/office w/skylights, LL rec room, detached garage, lovely yard! $949,000

Melissa Brown Beverly Nadel

202.469.2662 202.236.7313

laSting iMprESSion

Silver Spring. Fully renovated open concept rambler w/4 BRs & 3 contemporary BAs. Full of light, stunning gourmet kitchen, hardwood floors, fireplace, huge walkout lower level. $525,000

MaryBeth Densford Cathy Berry

301.219.4939 301.512.4899

handcraFtEd ElEgancE

Chevy Chase DC. Impressive residence on 10,191 sqft lot, beautifully nestled in picturesque street w/4 BRs, 4 BAs & 1 HB. Elegant DR w/soaring ceiling, MBR balcony & 4 wood-burning fireplaces. Finished LL, generous backyard, 2 car garage. $1,739,000

Marina Krapiva

grand opEning

Chevy Chase. Expanded and updated colonial over 3 finished levels w/4 BRs, 4.5 BAs, open kitchen, family room, office, library, mudroom, driveway & 1 car garage. $1,325,000

Laura McCaffrey

Eckington. Stunning 4 BR, 3.5 BA row house totally renovated in vibrant neighborhood. Living rm & family rm that opens to wonderful porch. Finished LL/updated in-law suite w/kitchenette, separate W/D & entrance. $810,000

Madeleine Essalat

202.905.3126

claSSic colonial

Indian Spring Club Estates. 1940 peach w/3 BRs, 2 BAs, gorgeous kitchen w/cherry cabinets & breakfast bar. Newer windows, renovated full bath. Den, LL & family rm, screened porch, garage. $525,000

MaryBeth Densford Cathy Berry

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BETHESDA

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301.792.5681

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MakE a StatEMEnt

Great Falls. Sited on 2.53 acres w/over 6500 sqft of elegant living & natural light. 5 BRs & 5.5 BAs. 2-Story foyer w/curved stairs, gourmet kitchen, 3 fireplaces, main level guest suite, finished LL, 3 car garage. 1 mile from Great Falls Village. $1,690,000

Maryam Hedayati

301.367.7921

BEautiFul ViEwS

Chevy Chase. Dramatic offering on a choice lane near Downtown Bethesda, on a premium lot w/ panoramic golf course views of Columbia CC. 5 BRs, 4.5 BAs, designer finishes, finished LL, garage. $1,675,000

Eric Murtagh Karen Kuchins

301.652.8971 301.275.2255

contEMporary MEtropolitan

capE cod charMEr

Phil Sturm

Martha Williams Rachel Burns

Chevy Chase DC. Stately home spanning 5 lvls w/ 4 BRs, 4 BAs, 2 HBs, sun drenched rooms, high ceilings, 2 balconies & library w/frpl. MBR w/sitting room, banquet dining w/gallery, renovated kit, finished LL w/ theater room, & garage. $1,195,000

301.213.3528

liFE at thE top

Observatory Circle. Spectacular 4 BR, 3 BA top floor w/ great views from living rm, dining rm & family rm. 41 ft terrace, 2400 sqft! Laundry in unit, & parking available.

Convenient, light, pet friendly! Great location for shopping & amenities. $750,000

Bonnie Roberts-Burke

202.487.7653

yEStEryEar charM

Washington Grove. Delightful 1890 home w/4 BRs, 3 BAs, & sunroom off bedroom in upper level. Large kitchen, den, 2 fireplaces, hardwood floors, cellar, large yard & across from the Park. Town amenities include swimming lake & tennis. $500,000

Kathi Kershaw

301.613.1613

Handsome Cape Cod w/modern updates. 3 BRs, 3 updated BAs, LR w/frpl. 1st Floor BR & BA, windowwrapped sun porch, formal dining. Gourmet kitchen w/ open pantry. Multipurpose LL & garage. $1,189,999

202.271.8138 202.384.5140

coMplEtEly SMittEn

Silver Spring. Charming south-facing colonial w/3 BRs, 2 FBs & 2 HBs. Large LR w/frpl, den/office & separate DR. Gourmet kitchen open to fam rm w/frpl & bay window to deck/patio. Multipurpose LL. Manicured front/back yard! $719,000

Maryam Hedayati

301.367.7921

poStcard ViEw

Parkside Plaza. Spacious, open 2 BR, 2 BA condo w/flrceiling windows and incredible views of Sligo Creek Park.

Large master suite w/dressing rm. Parking, concierge & building amenities. Shuttle to metro. $287,550

Philippa Jackson

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UP & COMING MARCH 10

St. Patrick’s Family Celebration and Variety Show

Called a “compelling and powerful” singer-songwriter whose “robust vocals combine with beautiful acoustic melodies”

by One Tap Magazine, Ari Hest returns to the Barns after recently collaborating with Judy Collins on “Silver Skies Blue.” Tickets are $25 and $30. For details, visit wolftrap. org. Barns at Wolf Trap, 1635 Trap Road, Vienna, Virginia.

At these afternoon and evening events, Shannon Dunne and the Bog Band (and friends) perform traditional Irish music, dance and comedy. After the shows, there will be traditional music and drink specials in the Fringe Bar. Tickets to each event are $20 ($15 for students). For details, visit capitalfringe.org. 1358 Florida Ave. NE.

Ari Hest at Wolf Trap

MARCH 11

Calendar

The Celtic World Does our contemporary fascination with all things Celtic truly reflect the complex history and heritage of these ancient peoples?

Historian Jennifer Paxton traces how their legacy affects culture and politics in the nations and regions known as the Celtic Fringe — as well as in the wider world.

For details, visit smithsonianassociates.org.

Tickets are $140 ($90 for members). S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Dr. SW.

Opening Reception: ‘Arrhythmia of the Body’

The Glen Echo Park Partnership for Arts and Culture hosts an opening reception for the exhibition “Sara Dittrich: Arrhythmia of the Body,” featuring photographs and mixed-media works, meditations on the acts of listening, making and moving.

The photographs document the artist moving through space wearing gigantic prosthetic hands and feet. For details, visit glenechopark.org. Stone Tower Gallery, Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, Maryland.

house. Tickets are $50. For details, visit vocalartsdc.org. UDC Theatre of the Arts, 4200 Connecticut Ave. NW.

MARCH 12

Twentythirtysomething Book Club

St. Patrick’s Day Parade D.C.’s 46th annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade steps off at noon, proceeding down Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th Streets NW. The 2017 theme is “Irish in Public Service.” Comfortable grandstand seating is located between 15th and 16th Streets NW, next to the reviewing stand.

Grandstand tickets are $20. For details, visit dcstpatsparade.com.

Model Airplane Workshops

At these workshops, one at 9:30 a.m. and one at 2:30 p.m., aspiring aviators from age 7 to age 12 will engineer their own rubber band-propelled model airplanes, learn about aeronautics from the D.C. Maxecuters, then try a test flight in the National Building Museum’s Great Hall. Tickets are $20. For details, visit go.nbm.org. 401 F St. NW.

Soprano Lisette Oropesa

MARCH 15

With pianist Vlad Iftinca, lyric coloratura soprano Lisette Oropesa will perform selections by Haydn, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Obradors and Poulenc.

Oropesa has sung at the Metropolitan Opera and in Munich, Geneva and San Francisco.

Her New York solo debut in January of 2016 at the Park Avenue Armory drew a packed

Tudor Place Curator Grant Quertermous and biographer Flora Fraser will discuss Fraser’s book, “The Washingtons: George and Martha, Partners in Friendship and Love”; the challenges of researching the Washingtons’ relationship; and the

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fascinating American story that drew the author to Tudor Place. This is a pay-whatyou-can event. For details, visit tudorplace. org. 1644 31st St. NW.

Flora Fraser at Tudor Place

At this get-together, TTBC, a DC Public Library book group for younger adults at least 21 years old, will discuss “LaRose”

by Louise Erdrich. The plot: Responsible for the tragic accidental death of a friend’s son, an Ojibwe man chooses to make amends by giving his own son to the grieving parents. For details, email julia. strusienski@dc.gov. Mad Fox Tap Room, 2218 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

MARCH 17

St. Patrick’s Day at Rí Rá Georgetown Rí Rá’s celebration begins at 11 a.m.

Starting at noon, there will be live music by Briste, an all-female trad band direct from Ireland, and Derek Dempsey & Celtic Soul, featuring Dan Paccione. Other highlights include performances by the Georgetown Irish Hoyas and dancers from the McGrath Academy of Irish Dance, bagpiping by Andrew Donlan, a special Irish menu, a Jameson Ice Luge and giveaways. No cover charge. Also this month: live broadcasts of RBS 6 Nations matches on March 10, 11 and 18; special happy hours on March 13, 14 and 15; and live music every night. For details, visit rira.com/georgetown. 3125 M St. NW.

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TOWN TOPICS

NEWS

BY P EG GY S A N D S A N D G A RY T I S C H L E R

No Longer Interim, Newsham to Become Chief In what was probably not a major surprise, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Feb. 23 that she had named Peter J. Newsham to be the city’s Metropolitan Police Chief. Newsham, a 28-year veteran of the force, had been serving as interim chief since September, after the resignation of Cathy Lanier, the longtime and popular chief who left to become head of security for the National Football League.

Signs had been pointing to Newsham’s selection over the last two months. The search committee had appeared to be focusing on choosing a chief from within the MPD, as opposed to someone from outside.

In the end, it also appeared that Newsham — who, among his many prior positions, was head of the second district, which includes Georgetown — got the job the old fashioned way. He earned it.

It was pretty clear from the start that Newsham wanted the job, and that he had the experience to be seriously considered. Getting the nod for the interim position (sometimes not entirely a blessing) created the opportunity for him to proactively occupy the top spot.

Already a familiar face in all parts of the

city, he appeared at announcements, at crime scenes and at meetings as the face of the police department.

The more time passed, the better Newsham looked as chief. He had a commanding presence, but was also down-to-earth and accessible. But what likely clinched things was the performance of the police force under his leadership during inauguration weekend in January.

Few police departments in large cities have ever had quite the challenge of huge back-toback, citywide, media- and crowd-drawing events like the 2017 inauguration of President Donald Trump and the Women’s March on Washington. The latter, which jammed the streets for the better part of the day after Inauguration Day, had close to half a million attendees — the inauguration not so many, but still a considerable number.

While there were groups, sometimes large, of demonstrators during the inauguration, police contained things, including the sporadically violent activities of one group of demonstrators (200 or so were arrested). It was an efficient and effective show of law enforcement forces, who helped to make both events relatively peaceful, avoiding potential disasters.

Mayor Bowser seemed to think so. “As we continue our work in creating a safer, stronger

D.C., I am confident that Chief Newsham has the skills and relationships to successfully lead our police force. He understands and believes in community policing, and he is trusted by the community.

“As interim chief, Peter Newsham has been reliable and consistent,” Bowser said at the press announcement. “Last month, Chief Newsham oversaw the very successful presidential inauguration, as well as the Women’s March on Washington. With the eyes of the world on us, our officers stepped up to the plate and performed. He ensured that the hundreds of thousands of people who came to D.C. had a peaceful experience.”

Newsham joined the force in 1989 and served as assistant chief for 14 years. In 2008, he was named assistant chief and head of the Investigative Services Bureau, the department responsible for investigating violent property crimes, sexual assault and narcotics crimes.

He also oversaw the MPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau.

Newsham joined the force when D.C. was known as the murder capital of the nation. As time passed, crime dropped and homicides moved to their lowest number: 88 in 2012.

They have risen again since then, soaring to 162 in 2015 but dropping again last year.

Police Chief Peter Newsham.

Photo by Patrick G. Ryan.

Town Topics continues on page 6

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TOWN TOPICS

Needed: Billions for Metro, Millions for Gondola

Sanctuary City? ‘We Are Very Vulnerable’

Transportation improvements loomed large at the Feb. 27 meeting of the GeorgetownBurleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission, especially in the face of the metropolitan area’s forecast one-million-plus population growth over the next 10 years or so.

Ward 2 Council member Jack Evans, who chairs the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board, made an impassioned case for biting the bullet to support the estimated $18 billion (that’s billion with a B) of improvements needed to modernize and make safe the present Metrorail system. “They’ll be far more expensive if we put them off any longer,” he said.

Attendees also learned that the Georgetown Business Improvement District has doubled down on its advocacy of a gondola system over Key Bridge between Rosslyn and Georgetown.

Despite the fact that, last month, Arlington County turned down the initial proposal for support, BID CEO Joe Sternlieb said that the Georgetown organization would push for an environmental impact study.

With an estimated $18-million (million with an M) construction cost, a gondola system would be the most cost-effective way to link Georgetown with the growing residential areas across the Potomac, Sternlieb said.

ANC members Mara Goldman and Zachary Schoepfer seemed to indicate that their fellow Georgetown University students would love it.

“MPD law enforcement officers are not allowed to ask anybody — stopped, detained or arrested — about their immigration status, nor to cooperate with any deportation procedure by federal officials,” Captain David Sledge of the Metropolitan Police Department’s second district confirmed to The Georgetowner at the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting Feb. 27.

D.C. has openly declared itself a sanctuary city. Mayor Bowser has even allocated a $500,000 fund to protect “residents” (i.e., mainly unauthorized immigrants) facing deportation. But the Trump administration has threatened to prohibit the allocation of federal funds to any city that refuses to help federal officials detain for deportation immigrants who have committed felonies.

“We are very vulnerable,” said Council member Jack Evans about D.C.’s sanctuary city policy. “We depend on over $2.5 billion of federal funding annually, and that could be at risk if Trump cracks down on sanctuary cities.”

“Would it help if the mayor would specify that sanctuary protection excludes convicted felons?” (as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi confirmed at a press conference earlier that day), The Georgetowner asked Evans.

“Yes, it would,” he answered. “We have to be smart.”

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Solar-powered homes on Longfellow Street NW. Courtesy DC SUN. 14 at the Georgetown Public Library — to explain what’s involved.

It’s more complicated than just buying and installing the latest, most appropriate solar panels on your roof. And while the home energy savings can eventually amount to more than $1,000 annually (depending on the size of the system), there are significant initial fees and startup costs. The co-op offers a 10-to-20percent discount on the fees, plus help in estimating the federal tax credits that can be obtained.

Another component is the buying and selling of a property’s SRECs, a kind of solar energy unit. “D.C.’s SRECs are among the most valuable in the nation,” Miller said.

Sam Polino and Greg Miller of DC SUN. Photo by Peggy Sands.

Thinking About Going Solar? You’re Not Alone An organization called DC SUN — which stands for Solar United Neighborhoods — is helping Georgetown and Burleith property owners decide whether to convert to solar power. If they choose to do so, they can become part of a solar energy cooperative and receive guidance on the technical and financial sides of the conversion process.

Solar co-ops are a passionate interest of Greg Miller, sustainability programs coordinator at Georgetown University, and Sam Polino, co-op program director at DC SUN, which is part of the Community Power Network, a national nonprofit. Miller and Polino organized a community meeting on Feb. 22 — with another coming up on March

Crime Report

National Yoga Group Takes Positions The National Yoga Alliance, based in Arlington, Virginia, is backing federal legislation to expand the IRS definition of medical expenses to include yoga. If the “Personal Health Investment Today Act” becomes law, yoga could possibly be covered

by Medicare and other pretax federal health care programs. That would be good news for many Georgetown residents and businesses.

But a piece of legislation pending in several states is not viewed favorably by the yoga nonprofit. As yoga becomes more popular, training facilities for instructors of every methodology are spreading. Some state regulators are looking at requiring yoga instructors to register and be state-certified.

While that might not affect studios in the District for a while, if enough states favor it, could federal regulations be far behind?

TOWN TOPICS

ANC Launches Website, Social Media The Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E has launched a newly designed website as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts, according to Executive Director Peter Sacco. The website anc2e.com will include a newsroom for neighborhood announcements and “fun” stories about happenings in the ‘hood. It also will post a list of city agencies that residents can contact for neighborhood services, contact information for ANC Commissioners, ANC meeting agendas, minutes, financial reports and stories about the work of the ANC.

COMMUNIT Y CALENDAR THURSDAY, MARCH 9

CAG Meeting on West Heating Plant The Citizens Association of Georgetown will host a 6 p.m. meeting on the West Heating Plant project with updates from architect David Adjaye and landscape designer Laurie Olin at the Four Seasons Hotel, 2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. For details, visit cagtown.org.

OVERHEARD AT LUNCH:

BY KATE OCZYPOK

Courtesy BLT Steak.

Caitlyn Jenner.

Starship robot. Courtesy DMVFollowers.

D.C. Foodies Have a Beef With Trump

Kelly’s ‘No Secret’ and Caitlyn’s ‘Secrets’

Meals on Wheels, Jetson-Style

On Feb. 25, President Trump dined at BLT Prime, the restaurant in the Trump International Hotel, blocks from the White House. While there, he ordered a $54 steak, dry-aged for 28 days, the Huffington Post reported. Normal enough for a man like Trump, right? Well, how’s this for all you D.C. foodies out there: the president ordered his steak well done with a side of ketchup. The move was blasphemous enough to prompt beef-lovers to tweet for his impeachment.

Get ready for quite the week to wrap up April.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue is bringing in singer Kelly Osbourne April 26 to chat about her new book “There Is No F***ing Secret: Letters from a Badass Bitch.” The very next day, Caitlyn Jenner will be in town for her book tour, promoting “The Secrets of My Life.”

Should be a wild ride. . .

The Twitter account @DMVFollowers tweeted a photo of a little white container with a black top on wheels. Flying a red flag, the food-delivery robot was seen whirring around downtown D.C. European-based Starship Technologies is (literally) rolling out the little WALL-E-like robots, DCist reported. They can go up to 4 mph and hold up to 20 pounds. Keep your eye on the pavement for these little guys to avoid tripping over someone’s tandoori.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15

GBA Monthly Networking Meeting The Georgetown Business Association will host its monthly reception at 6:30 p.m. at Kennedy & Co. Real Estate, 1231 Potomac St. NW. For details, visit georgetownbusiness.org.

Courtesy White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2A Meeting

Trump Stands Up Correspondents

The March meeting of the Foggy BottomWest End ANC will be 7 p.m. in Room 103, Funger Hall, George Washington University, 2201 G St. NW. For details, visit anc2a.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22

Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and wife Natalia at the 2011 Georgetown Gala, put on by the Citizens Association of Georgetown at the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue. Photo by Robert Devaney.

The Citizens Association of Georgetown will host a spring cleaning talk at 7 p.m., (program starts at 7:30 following reception), Healey Family Student Center, New South Dormitory, Georgetown University. For details, visit CAGtown. org.

Who Has Met With the Russian Ambassador?

Hmm, Half of Georgetown

Georgetown Beautification: Talking Trash (and Rodents)

MONDAY, APRIL 3 ANC 2E Meeting

The April public meeting of the Georgetown-Burleith ANC will be held at 6:30 p.m. at Georgetown Visitation Prep, 35th Street NW at Volta Place, main building. Visit anc2e.com/meetings.html.

Send your community event listing to editorial@georgetowner.com or call 202-338-4833.

Members of the Trump Administration — and its opponents — have nothing on the citizens of Georgetown when it comes to meeting the Russian ambassador. (Yes, we will admit it under oath.) The 2011 Georgetown Gala was put on by the Citizens Association of Georgetown and held at the Russian Embassy on Wisconsin Avenue. Hundreds showed up. The host and hostess were Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and his wife Natalia, who were quite cordial and greeted partygoers. The Russian Embassy also hosted the 2012 CAG gala. The Kislyaks met a lot of people.

In a move that seemed to delight celebrities who flock to D.C. for the annual event, President Trump tweeted that he would not attend the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, which raises money for scholarships for student journalists. ABC News reported that one of his most famous enemies, Rosie O’Donnell, tweeted: “seriously – u need to get help.” Actor Zach Braff posted to his Twitter account: “Does this mean the parties are back on?” One can only hope.

Garner for Education Actress and mother of three Jennifer Garner was in town last month for the National Governor’s Association Winter Conference. According to U.S. News and World Report, Garner talked about her life growing up in rural West Virginia and how it inspired her to become an education advocate.

Although Garner missed out on Oscars weekend, she did have her mic cut off at one point, so she joked it was just like Jennifer Garner. being there anyway.

Courtesy IMDB.

Model Gigi Hadid on the runway. Courtesy Antonio De Moraes Barros Filho/Wireimage.

Pussyhats on the Runway in Milan Missoni’s Milan Fashion Week show had a touch of activism: 40 of the Italian brand’s models donned the infamous pink pussyhats women wore while participating in January’s Women’s March on Washington and sister protests worldwide. The Hill reported (via Vogue) that designer Angela Missoni named her collection “pink is the new black.” With breaking news impacting women daily, we have a feeling those hats won’t be going away anytime soon.

What Did You Hear at Lunch?

Email your tips to editorial@ georgetowner.com.

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 7

EDITORIAL / OPINION Jack Evans Report

Of Subways, Gondolas, Boathouses Metro’s Shortfall Our Metrorail system is basically broke.

Conceived for transporting government workers out of Great Society idealism and as an example of America’s technological prowess in the mid-1960s, it now requires resuscitation. But you knew that. Just move your eyes right and read what Jack Evans has to say about that … yet again.

Meanwhile, the District of Columbia and other entities are chiming in with their own transportation ideas, some possibly leading nowhere.

At the recent ANC meeting, Evans called the DC Streetcar proposal for a Union Station to Georgetown route “a terrible idea.”

Construction would run along downtown’s extremely busy K Street and then under Washington Circle to emerge under the Whitehurst Freeway. If that sounds unreal, that’s because it is. We still like what Mayor Muriel Bowser said during her first sit-down interview with us: Buses work very well and have route flexibility.

The proposed gondola over the Potomac River, linking Georgetown and Rosslyn — given a thumbs-up and continued advocacy by the Georgetown Business Improvement District despite a thumbs-down by Arlington County — looks like pie-in-the-sky to many.

We’re hanging on by a tread ourselves but applaud GBID’s thinking outside the box.

(To ensure that the concept soars past the hurdle of 27 government agencies, perhaps Georgetown University should fund at least

half its cost. We hear that GU students really, really like the idea.)

Add to this cacophony the decades-long dream, vision, whatever, of more boathouses on the Potomac River — the idea of which was recently approved by the National Park Service, which owns the land. The agency is such a control freak, however, that Citizens Association of Georgetown President Bob vom Eigen called its development plan for a non-motorized boathouse zone “unlikely to succeed.”

In vom Eigen’s words: “Agency officials have imposed rigid restrictions on what can or cannot be developed on the five sites, and they don’t have the funds appropriated to build the boathouse structures, even though they claim they will build them. It is not likely that boating organizations will contribute funds when there is no flexibility that meets their goals and objectives. It is likely that this study will be filed away, like many others in decades past, without implementation.”

We concur with the CAG president’s sentiment but do not quite share his pessimism. But he’s right about NPS: there’s the right way, the wrong way and the National Park Service way. (It is one of the unofficial mayors of Georgetown.)

So, we’ve taken it upon ourselves to walk to the Rosslyn or Foggy Bottom Metro or catch a bus, whether Metro or Circulator. Some of us bicycle. Heck, we might even get in our car and drive home.

How do you envision a gateway to Georgetown?

Your opinion matters. Email your response to editorial@georgetowner.com.

BY JAC K EVAN S

This month, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board will further consider and approve an operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. Unfortunately, that budget will likely include fare increases and service reductions — two counterintuitive but unavoidable actions in a time of declining ridership.

The board, which I chair, has been reviewing General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s initial proposal for the past several months.

Last month, we became aware of a precipitous decline in ridership — and thereby revenue — during Metro’s October to December quarter.

While we had seen ridership decline during the previous quarter, the drop has grown significantly larger. We now expect to earn $125 million less in revenue than we had budgeted this year.

The current-year budget will be balanced by layoffs, cost reductions and drawing upon Metro’s lines of credit. However, the shortfall will only exacerbate our financial difficulties in the coming fiscal year.

Beginning July 1, I anticipate the board will approve changes to peak-service headways — the time between trains — to 12 minutes from 8 minutes for Blue Line trains and to 8 minutes from 6 minutes for Red, Orange, Silver, Green and Yellow Line trains.

Additionally, rail fares will increase 10 cents per trip during peak hours and 25 cents per trip during non-peak hours. Bus fares will increase 25 cents per trip to $2 per ride.

Since the initial proposal, however, the agency has agreed to avoid non-peak rail service changes and to increase funding for bus service by $5.5 million, putting back nearly a third of what it originally proposed to cut. The price of a seven-day bus pass will remain $17.50, so that riders can avoid the bus fare increases by purchasing the pass.

The budget will also begin to bend our cost curves down by reducing some duplicative and unnecessary positions, reforming absenteeism and overtime rules and establishing a trust fund to begin funding the agency’s $1.1-billion unfunded “other post-employment benefits” obligations.

These service changes and fare increases don’t move Metro closer to the two pillars of successful public transit: affordability and convenience. Although the funding jurisdictions have increased their contributions this year, we need to make structural changes to Metro and to our regional agreement to fund and operate the system. A dedicated funding source, greater contributions from the federal government and governance changes all need to be taken up by the governments in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

While we should be able to manage our shortfall this year and balance our budget next year, anything less than a serious solution will leave Metro in a calamitous position on July 1, 2018. Now is the time for the region to act.

Jack Evans is the District Council member for Ward 2, representing Georgetown and other neighborhoods since 1991.

Mayor Bowser — Undefined and Unformed

BY MA RK P L OT K IN

I last wrote exclusively about Mayor Muriel Bowser nine months into her term. The adjective I applied was “uninspiring.” Today, almost midway into her first term, the word that comes to mind is “undefined.”

You must remember: when she was first elected mayor in 2014, voters did not so much vote for Bowser, but against her opponents.

She beat incumbent Vince Gray because many thought he very well might be indicted.

In the general election, her opponent was David Catania, who had a persona problem.

He could never shed the severe, strident, snarling, know-it-all manner he exhibited as a Council member.

Bowser had no legislative record to speak of.

Quite simply, she got elected because she was viewed as an acceptable alternative, coupled

with the endorsement of the Washington Post.

White voters who really did not know her went along and, without passion, decided in her favor.

Recently, I observed her speaking before a meeting of the Ward 3 Democratic Committee.

She is poised and presentable. She has developed a greater degree of confidence.

Unlike her former mentor, one-term Mayor Adrian Fenty (whose name she never mentions), she is knowledgeable and informed about the workings of D.C. government. Her remarks were replete with safe banalities. She stated that she was “focused on D.C. values,” that she “has been fiscally responsible,” that she has made a major “investment in affordable housing” and that she is “committed to openness and transparency.”

PUBLISHER Sonya Bernhardt

Please send all submissions of opinions for consideration to: editorial@georgetowner.com

8 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robert Devaney

FEATURES EDITORS Ari Post Gary Tischler COPY EDITOR Richard Selden WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA Charlene Louis

One subject that seemed to visibly irritate her was campaign finance. She’s no Bernie Sanders.

When asked if she would reject corporate contributors, her face took on a diffident countenance. She tensely stated: “I will follow the law.” This stance might hurt her in her reelection effort. To some, she is viewed as far too close to big business and developers.

On statehood, she deserves praise; the referendum got a stunning 77-percent approval in November. It was her idea and it won big.

The question still remains. Voters are not in any way wild about Muriel (not that anybody ever refers to her by her first name). But who can beat her? Is Vince Gray still damaged goods? Does Attorney General Karl Racine ADVERTISING Michael Corrigan Evelyn Keyes Kelly Sullivan Richard Selden Rebecca McCabe PRODUCTION MANAGER

Aidah Fontenot

GRAPHIC DESIGN Angie Myers Jennifer Trigilio PHOTOGRAPHERS

Phillip Bermingham Neshan Naltchayan Patrick G. Ryan James Brantley

have a citywide following? He presently seems to have a reputation for not returning phone calls.

There is still time for Bowser to create some enthusiasm, but right now I would call her image and record distinctly “unformed.”

Political analyst and Georgetowner columnist Mark Plotkin is a contributor to the BBC on American politics and a contributor to thehill.com. Reach him at markplotkindc@gmail.com.

CONTRIBUTORS

Mary Bird Pamela Burns Jack Evans Donna Evers Michelle Galler Amos Gelb Wally Greeves Rebekah Kelley

CONTRIBUTORS

Jody Kurash Sallie Lewis Shelia Moses Stacy Murphy Mark Plotkin Linda Roth Alison Schafer

FEATURE

A Day Without Women: Half The Human Race

This symbol popped up during the activism movements of the 1960s and 1970s. It is often associated with “radical feminist.” This is an adaptation of the Venus Symbol, combined with the raised fist.

We are in the midst of March, which is special not only for Daylight Saving Time and St. Patrick’s Day but because in America and elsewhere it is Women’s History Month.

Not coincidentally, March 8 — the publication date of this issue of The Georgetowner, a woman-owned business — is also International Women’s Day. As a country, as members of the tribe of nations, as a city and as a people, this is our annual opportunity to celebrate the importance of women, who number half or so of the human race.

Women’s History Month exists as an acknowledgment of the remarkable achievements of women over the history of humankind, the obstacles that had to be overcome, the battles physical, emotional and intellectual had to be won, the language that had to be rewritten and enriched (including, of course, words like ‘mankind’).

Men should be thinking about history anew. Men were never denied the right to hold office, rule, make law, vote, inherit, be athletes, writers, artists, soldiers, engineers, scientists, overseers, lawyers, philosophers, equal partners, religious leaders, professors, presidents or prime ministers. Almost every tribe that has gathered itself to become

citizens of a region, a nation, a town, a city, a country, some established and owned place, has defined the role of the women in their midst, and those roles were always about limitations, not opportunities.

When we talk women’s history, that’s what we’re talking about: the centuries in which women were chiefly defined as mothers and spouses and wives, the caretakers, if you will, of the future, without having a say in that future. Women’s history is about how they had incrementally to fight for the right to do deeds, create art, be a part of history itself, in ways that few men ever had to do. Most of those gains have been made in the last century or two.

The changes came about largely due to the efforts of the women who fought for it all. Today, anyone can be almost anything based on merit, education and will.

That is what we celebrate this month.

The unfortunate thing about commemorating and celebrating this is that we’re likely to approach it in different ways — the process itself exposing the great or small, passionate or intellectual, trivial or important, long-held or brand-new differences among humans (women and men, young and old, experienced and uninitiated) all over the world.

The world found that out in the aftermath of the failure of Hillary Clinton to become the first female president of the United States. It was women who led a massive march on Washington one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump, a march that sparked similar events across the nation and in many other nations. The power of women to organize and bring people together rarely has been more invigoratingly demonstrated.

It goes without saying that we should stir ourselves to participate in some of the special events this month in places like the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, all over the city, in fact. To take the next steps, we should, men and women, think differently together, talk in a heartfelt way and arrive at some shared and common conclusions (yes, we know that can be a difficult thing to do) about the way forward.

An especially effective International Women’s Day was the Icelandic women’s strike in 1975, which resulted in the election of the first female president in the world, one Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

What will A Day Without a Woman, planned for this year’s International Women’s Day, result in?

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BUSINESS

Ins & Outs

BY R OBE RT DEVA NEY

In: Phoenix Spreads Its Wings After a couple months of renovation, the Phoenix, the unique clothing, folk art and accessories store at 1514 Wisconsin Ave. NW, has expanded and reopened — thanks to the efforts of third-generation co-owner

Samantha Hays Gushner. Her parents, John and Sharon Hays, concurred with her design ideas, and the business added space vacated

by Swiss Watch Works next door. The Phoenix was founded in 1955 by Bill and Betty Hays and later taken over by John and Sharon Hays. The family and their storied store were given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgetown Business Association in 2011.

Business Association’s president for a term or two. Appalachian Spring was a hallmark of Georgetown’s success over the past 50 years.”

The Phoenix. Photo by Sonya Bernhardt.

In: ‘Compassionate’ Jeweler in Cady’s Alley Brilliant Earth, a retailer of “ethically sourced bridal and fine jewelry,” will move into a 2,500-square-foot showroom at 3332 Cady’s Alley NW in April. The firm, founded in 2005 by two Stanford University students, says it is “dedicated to cultivating a more ethical, transparent and compassionate jewelry industry. Brilliant Earth pairs ethical sourcing with high-quality craftsmanship and unique designs, demonstrating that fine jewelry need not come at great human or environmental cost.” It is Brilliant Earth’s first Washington, D.C., location; other showrooms are in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago and Boston.

The Phoenix. Photo by Sonya Bernhardt.

In (Maybe): Trader Joe’s

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Word on the street has it that Trader Joe’s may be moving to the ground floor of the former Georgetown Holiday Inn property, which is vacant and set for redevelopment.

The location at Wisconsin Avenue and Whitehaven Street would put the grocer within blocks of the Georgetown Safeway and the Glover Park Whole Foods.

Site of expected Under Armour store at Wisconsin Aveneue and M Street. Photo by Robert Devaney.

Under Armour’s Sagamore Takes Lacoste Space, Too Sagamore Development, part of Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank’s growing real estate and business empire, continues its reconstruction of 3150 M St. NW — the southeast corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M. It likes the spot so much that it annexed the adjacent building at 3146 M that used to be a Lacoste store.

The ongoing work at the prominent corner, former site of the celebrated Nathan’s Restaurant, will likely produce retail and residential spaces, as the company envisioned at a Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission presentation in 2015, returning the 6,662-square-foot building to its 1920s glory.

Under Armour — under the guise of War Horse, LLC, and 3150 M Street, LLC — purchased the building for $12.25 million in 2014 and reportedly still holds the liquor license.

Out: Appalachian Spring, After Almost 50 Years Another classic will soon leave us. Founded in Georgetown in 1968, craft and gift store Appalachian Spring at 1415 Wisconsin Ave. NW is not renewing its lease and will close this summer. Other locations remain in Union Station, Reston and Rockville.

David Roffman, retired publisher of The Georgetowner, commented on the loss on the Georgetown Metropolitan blog: “Founders David and Polly Brooks will be sorely missed when they close their Georgetown location.

They are the nicest shop owners we have had these past five decades. I remember when they opened their store, it was my first year at The Georgetowner Newspaper. My wife and I always enjoyed stopping at Appalachian Spring to purchase gifts and items for our homes.

David Brooks and Polly never hesitated to participate in Georgetown’s many festivities and promotions. David served as the Georgetown

Actress Daniela Lopez with Under Armour’s Kevin Plank in 2016. (Note the Sagamore Rye.) Photo by Robert Devaney.

BUSINESS

Amina Rubinacci Boutique Marks 3 Years

BY KAT E OCZ Y P OK At first glance, Merribel Ayres seems like your typical Washingtonian woman.

Principal of Lighthouse Consulting Group, which she founded in 1996, she has worked tirelessly as a business leader for years.

What makes Ayres unique is her second job, what many millennials call a “side hustle.” But her second job is much more than that; it is clearly a passion. Owner of the Georgetown boutique Amina Rubinacci at 2822 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Ayres is celebrating the shop’s third anniversary.

“It’s amazing to think that we are already three,” she says. “We have been so well received by both Washingtonians and travelers to D.C.” Noticing the sign for the boutique, well-traveled Georgetown residents and visitors may recognize the brand from Capri or Rome. Many are overjoyed to discover an Amina Rubinacci boutique in the nation’s capital, according to Ayres.

Three years ago, she chose Georgetown as the perfect location. The retail here reminded her of the charming shops in Milan. “The customers are always amazed at how beautiful and serene the shop is,

and therefore the shopping experience,” she says.

The shop does give off a certain serenity, with its gleaming white walls and soft yet bright lighting. The peaceful white seems to make Amina Rubinacci’s clothes pop, inviting the customers who shop there to envelop themselves in their softness.

Ayres has toyed with the idea of a second location in another part of the city, but as of now there are no plans for Amina Rubinacci to expand in D.C. The idea for opening a boutique in Georgetown came to Ayres four years ago.

One year to the day of her big idea, Amina Rubinacci was born. “As a business proposition, it was clearly full of risk, but I knew the market for elegant and versatile women’s clothing at an affordable price was underserved in Washington,” she says. “Most importantly, I didn’t have a choice, as my inner voice said it was time to follow my dream, to share the beauty of Italian design with the women of Washington.”

The boutique, one of just three in the U.S., is named for an iconic Italian designer. Amina Rubinacci’s father was

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a highly regarded Neopolitan tailor of the last century, serving many European monarchs, according to Ayres.

Amina Rubinacci is famous for her refined wool, cashmere, cotton, linen and silk knitwear. Particularly important for Ayres is that the designer represents “family tailoring in the world of globalization.”

Ayres appears to run both Lighthouse and her boutique with ease, yet she does quote Bette Davis that “it’s not for sissies.”

She likes that the boutique cultivates her artistic side while her cerebral and managerial skills are fulfilled running the energy advisory business.

Since Amina Rubinacci opened, Ayres has seen a big uptake in dresses, often paired with complementary jackets.

“I think that was part of Michelle Obama, to tell you the truth,” she says. “[The trend] seems to be here to stay. You see it among newscasters and politicians as well.”

Ayres plans to have a two-day fete celebrating the boutique’s anniversary March 17 and 18. She said to expect a birthday cake and surprises and gifts for customers.

Merribel Ayres, owner of Amina Rubinacci.

Photo by Greg Powers.

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FEBRUARY 2017 SALES

REAL ESTATE

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This stunningly renovated 1936 colonial home in soughtafter Colony Hill will please the most discerning eye. With six bedrooms, all with en-suite baths, this classic four-level residence has been designed for comfortable family living and gracious entertaining. Features include six fireplaces, a library, sitting rooms, an exercise room and beautiful gardens.

Offered at $4,625,000 TTR Sotheby’s International Realty Honor Ingersoll 202-297-9681

REAL ESTATE

The Auction Block

BY AR I P OS T

BONHAMS Porcelain Brush Holder Joseon Dynasty, 18th century Estimate: $60,000 – $80,000 Auction Date: March 15

FREEMAN’S Walnut Side Table, 1963 Wharton Esherick (1887–1970) Estimate: $10,000 – $15,000 Auction Date: March 19

Produced in Korea from the 15th to the early 20th century, simple but elegant white porcelain reflected the neo-Confucianist ideology of the Joseon Dynasty’s ruling elites.

This particularly rare piece was a brush holder, with an open latticework design of linked circles and the top edge molded and carved with a continuous frieze of flowering vines. Its thick white glaze shows bluish-green where it runs in streaks on the foot.

Regarded as the dean of American craftsmen, Wharton Esherick was a wood sculptor who applied his artistic principles to common furniture objects, laying the foundation for craft furniture design made internationally famous by George Nakashima. This side table, part of Freeman’s Craft & Design auction, showcases Esherick’s unforgettable style.

Along with a number of Esherick’s pieces, the auction features furniture by Nakashima.

Bringing the Hammer Down FINAL S E L L ING PR I C E S F O R LAS T MONT H’S F E AT U R E D AUC T ION B L OCK I T E M S Freeman’s “The Spy Who Loved Me,” first edition, 1962 Ian Fleming (1908–1964) Auction Date: February 17 Estimate: $8,000 – $12,000 Final Selling Price: $8,125

Doyle New York Gold, Coral, Diamond and Emerald Bracelet Auction Date: February 22 Estimate: $10,000 – $15,000 Final Selling Price: $23,750

Bonhams “Figura de perfil,” 1925 Salvador Dalí (1904–1989) Auction Date: March 2 Estimate: $1 million – $1.5 million Final Selling Price: $2,208,305

Sotheby’s “Effet de neige à Louveciennes,” 1874 Alfred Sisley (1839–1899) Auction Date: March 1 Estimate: $6 million – $8 million Final Selling Price: $7,358,750

CHRISTIE’S “The Unfair Advantage” Kristin Baker (b. 1975) Estimate: $30,000 – $40,000 Auction Date: March 1

This bold work by Baker is part of “Handpicked: 100 Works Selected by the Saatchi Gallery,” a special auction organized with the one of the world’s most renowned contemporary galleries. Taking place in London and New York, this dual auction reflects the gallery’s transatlantic scope.

Among the other featured artists are Ahmed Alsoudani, Henry Taylor, Federico Herrero and Dana Schutz.

SOTHEBY’S ‘Peony’ Table Lamp Tiffany Studio Estimate: $80,000 – $120,000 Auction Date: March 29

DOYLE NEW YORK “Autumn in the Marsh,” c. 1866–76 Martin Johnson Heade (1819–1904) Estimate: $80,000 – $120,000 Auction Date: April 5

This Sotheby’s sale is divided into chapters devoted to 20th-century artistic movements such as Arts and Crafts, Austrian Modernism, European Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Highlights include an exquisite “Peony” table lamp by Tiffany Studios, a suite of Jean-Théodore Dupas panels from the S.S. Normandie and contemporary designs by Franz West, Tord Boontje and Studio Job. Also featured will be French art glass and Italian glass.

Doyle’s American Paintings, Furniture and Decorative Arts auction will showcase a wide range of art and furniture from the Colonial period through the Federal and Classical styles. This canvas by Martin Johnson Heade encapsulates the unique Transcendental romanticism of 19th-century American aesthetics. Ceramic mirrors, Chinese export porcelain and rugs will also be offered, as well as Audubon, Currier & Ives and topographical prints.

Christie’s “Régates des six mètres” Raoul Dufy (1877–1953) Auction Date: March 1 Estimate: $87,000 – $124,000 Final Selling Price: $272,935

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 13

DOWNTOWNERDC.COM

BY KAT E OCZ Y P OK

Buildings Rise on Deck Over I-395

Not So Infinite: Kusama Exhibition Passes

Notice any activity on the 200 block of Massachusetts Avenue NW? Property Group Partners/Center Place Holdings LLC is hard at work on Capitol Crossing, a 2.2 millionsquare-foot mixed-use development on a platform above Interstate 395. Curbed DC is reporting that two 12-story buildings will be erected in the first phase: 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, by 2018, and 250 Massachusetts Ave. NW, by 2019. The plans include a fitness center and childcare.

Eighty-seven-year-old Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrors” exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum is seeing unprecedented popularity. Free passes sold out online in less than a minute. WTOP reported that Allison Peck, interim director for communications and marketing, said the museum has had to set up an online pass redemption system to help keep groups small, a first for the Hirshhorn. The exhibition — which features six of Kusama’s rooms of mirrors, flickering lights and glowing objects — opened Feb. 23 and runs through May 14 (see story on page 29).

H Street NW. Courtesy DC Parking.

Demand-Based Parking Coming to Downtown Parking is about to get a little easier in Chinatown and Penn Quarter — but it’s going to cost you. NBC4 reported that meter rates will increase for blocks with high demand and decrease for blocks with low demand. As with

Metrorail, in other words, peak periods will cost more. Prices are expected to range from $1.50 to $3.25 per hour. The program aims to lessen the time needed to find parking and improve turnover.

Rex Tillerson.

Rex Tillerson Ponies Up for Kalorama Digs

Ground Broken for Soccer Field of Dreams

Newly appointed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson bought a $5.6-million home in the Kalorama neighborhood, according to Washingtonian magazine. The four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath Colonial Revival was purchased Feb. 10. Kalorama seems to be the “it” neighborhood of late, with first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner moving in, along with former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama.

After 21 years, and enough owners to count on a whole hand, D.C. United broke ground Feb. 27 on Audi Field, the soccer team’s new home at Buzzard Point, near the southwest waterfront. Among the speakers were Mayor Bowser, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, D.C. United Managing General Partner Jason Levien, Head Coach Ben Olsen and longest serving active player Bill Hamid.

According to WTOP, the field should be completed by the summer of 2018.

Nice Day for a White Pizza

Egg Roll May Be Toast

The tradition continues — expanding like dough in a hot oven. DCist is reporting that more than 50 couples have chosen to marry at &pizza’s Chinatown location. In accordance with millennial marketing principles, the nuptial fest will take place on Pi Day, March 14 (as in 3.14). The popularity of the chain’s pizza weddings is so great that ceremonies will also take place at &pizza locations in Baltimore and Philadelphia.

Will eggs roll at the Trump White House?

The Washington, D.C., Patch reported that no information has been released on the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which traditionally takes place the day after Easter (Monday, April 17, this year). With Trump announcing he plans to skip the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, it wouldn’t be shocking if he nixes the popular holiday event altogether. It drew 35,000 last year, according to the Patch.

Mayor Muriel Bowser along with Council members Charles Allen and Kenyan McDuffie and Ana Harvey of the Department of Small and Local Business Development and others celebrated the newest member of DC Main Streets, Eastern Market, on March 3.

Bowser Lauds Latest Main Street at Eastern Market “Great neighborhoods contribute to the strength and vibrancy of our city,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser March 3 during a ceremony that recognized Eastern Market as the newest member of the DC Main Streets Program.

“For more than a decade, DC Main Streets has helped neighborhoods throughout D.C. reach their full potential.

We have witnessed so many small businesses thrive because of Main Streets, and we must continue investing in our neighborhood businesses because they, in turn, invest in our residents.”

DC Main Streets, a program of the Department of Small and Local Business

14 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

Development, serves as the citywide coordinating program that provides services and funding for the 12 Main Streets programs in Washington, D.C. The mission of these 12 programs is to enhance communities by retaining and recruiting businesses, improving commercial properties and streetscapes and attracting consumers.

“We are thrilled to welcome the newest addition to our DC Main Streets family. The contributions Main Streets programs make to the continued economic growth and prosperity of our city is invaluable. They have generated more than 2,000 jobs in the last two years,” said DSLBD Director Ana Harvey.

LE DECOR

MARCH IS FOR

LIBROCUBICULARIST MODERN STYLE BED AT CONTEMPORARIA MANUFACTURER: MDF ITALIA DESIGNER: BRUNO FATTORINI PRICE ON REQUEST

T

he Eyes of March have us under Mother Nature’s thumb with the fluctuation and unpredictability of weather. Some days, especially on the weekends, we simply want to stay in bed and pull the sheets over our heads. Then our minds awaken and we crave tea, coffee or books. Termed “librocubicularist,” a person who reads in bed, would describe many of us this time of year. Let’s make that experience as memorable as we can.

CLEAN WHITE SHEETS BY SFERRA GIOTTO IN WHITE $70 - $870

CRISP SHEETS BY YVES DELORME ENTRELACS STARTING AT $75

CHING CHING CHA CONTEMPORARY SHEETS BY SFERRA JENNIA IN WHITE $58 - $775

1063 Wisconsin Ave. NW Provides a variety of teas, cups and pots.

THE SPICE AND TEA EXCHANGE BLUEMERCURY 3059 M St. NW CLASSIC AND LUXURIOUS SHEETS BY SFERRA GIZA 45 MEDALLION $140-$2,110

SCENTS BY DIPTYQUE UN ENCEN ETTOILE $35-$70

1069 Wisconsin Ave. NW Offers many options like their blood-orange smoothie herbal tea made with red rooibos, orange peels, hibiscus flowers, rosehips, apple pieces, safflowers, rose petals, vanilla and citrus flavorings.

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 15

Long & Foster.

For the love of home.™

Dupont, Washington, DC. Exquisite restoration of 1897 Hornblower Marshall home with 8,200 SF & 5 levels.

Owner’s 3,860 SF residence w/5 FPs, Water Works bathrooms, private garden, 2-car parking. 2 sep 2BR apts rent for $8,750/mo w/FP, parking plus roof deck. $4,950,000 Chevy Chase Uptown Office 202-364-1300

Georgetown, Washington, DC. Superb living at its finest!

6BR, 4.5BA Federal home with historic details, ideal for entertaining. Unique double LR, PR, exquisite DR opens to a deep, priv garden w/patio, detached garage. $4,200,000 Judith Hackett 301-437-4815 Miller Bethesda Office 301-229-4000

Wesley Heights, Washington, DC. Sun-filled 1928 Tudor w/7BR, 4.5BA, gracious foyer, large LR w/FP, screened porch, DR, Lib w/FP, modernized Kit. Spacious MBR suite & deck.

Lower level w/access to 2-car garage & gardens. $3,275,000 Marjorie T Lee 202-253-4618 Miller Chevy Chase Office 202-966-1400

Georgetown, Washington, DC. New Price. Gracious Victorian near Tudor Pl & Dumbarton Oaks. 4,000 ± SF of modern amenities & exceptional architectural details. 4 large MBR suites, chef’s kitchen, au-pair suite w/sep entrance, & 2 FP. $2,695,000 The Szabo Group 202-445-0206 Georgetown Office 202-944-8400

Chevy Chase, Maryland. New Price. Significant Chevy Chase Village home with exceptional interiors, beautiful updates, fabulous floor plan with 6,500+ SF on 4 finished levels. 12,500 SF private lot. Premium location! $2,545,000 Miller Spring Valley Office 202-362-1300

Georgetown, Washington, DC. Renovated 3-level Townhouse, classic facade w/ultra-modern interior. LR, DR, sleek kitchen opening to large garden on same level. Loaded w/high-end amenities and flooded w/light. $2,500,000 Stephen Vardas 202-744-0411 Georgetown Office 202-944-8400

Information deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

16 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

GEORGETOWN

LONG & FOSTER OF WASHINGTON DC

Chevy Chase, Washington, DC. 5BR, 4.5BA Colonial on quiet cul-de-sac. Dramatic foyer & open layout w/gorgeous architectural details. Lrg screened porch w/views. Incredible MBR suite w/sitting rm & FBA w/steam shower. Finished LL w/BR/BA, family/exercise room. 2-car garage. $2,075,000 Chevy Chase Uptown Office 202-364-1300

West End, Washington, DC. Historic 4 story Townhouse with legal 1BR/Rental Unit. Original features/beautifully renovated.

Interior 2-story atrium. Top-quality HVAC systems & appliances.

Close to White House, Metro, World Bank & GW. $1,995,000 Terri Robinson 202-607-7737 Georgetown Office 202-944-8400

Forest Hills, Washington, DC. Beautifully Renovated 4-leve home in a private setting. Views of Rock Creek Park. New hardwood floors and windows. High-end kitchen with Granite counters SS appliances, new baths, elegant library with fireplace & bookcases. $1,525,000 Chevy Chase Uptown Office 202-364-1300

Georgetown, Washington, DC. 4BR, 3.5BA end unit townhouse exudes charm. Kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances opens to the dining room. Features hardwoods, large rec room, 2 fireplaces, new bathrooms, and 2-car parking. $1,499,000 Dede Brough 703-244-1029 Arlington Office 703-522-0500

Kensington, Maryland. Gorgeous home backing to park and trails! Gourmet marble kitchen with SS appliances.

Great room & large living room. Large MBR suite w/His & Hers walk-in closet & spa-style marble bath. Finished LL. Front porch, balcony off master & fenced yard. $1,149,000 Chevy Chase Uptown Office 202-364-1300

Logan Circle, Washington, DC. Location is an understatement! Spacious 2-level 2BR, 2BA condo w/open LR, KIT w/cathedral ceiling, MBR suite w/Jacuzzi tub & deck. Off-street PKG. Extra storage. Low fees. 1/2 blk to bustling 14th St. $825,000 Scott Purcell 202-262-6968 Woodley Park Office 202-483-6300

Georgetown, Washington, DC. Westbridge - First time offered since 1980. Renovated unit w/huge balcony & sunset views. Unique 1,036 SF 1BR, 1.5BA - storage & garage parking included. Near Metro, shops & World Bank. $695,000 Terri Robinson 202-607-7737 Georgetown Office 202-944-8400

Observatory Circle, Washington, DC. Modern 2 bedroom, 2 bath co-op in full-service building, approx.1,400 SF, renovated baths and high-end kitchen, hardwood floors, large windows, patio with separate entry, garage parking. $579,000 Miller Spring Valley Office 202-362-1300

Foggy Bottom, Washington, DC. Fully renovated 2BR, 2BA corner unit Coop at Potomac Plaza. Sleek galley Kitchen w/ high-end appliances. Close to Kennedy Center, fine dining, Metro, State Dept., World Bank & the Waterfront. $549,000 StephenVardas 202-744-0411/SalleyWidmayer 202-215-6174 Georgetown Office 202-944-8400

202.944.8400 (O) • 1680 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007 longandfoster.com 866.677.6937

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 17

WEST END RISING Birthplace of Duke Ellington, the neighborhood between Georgetown, Foggy Bottom and downtown continues its climb to a sophistication the legendary composer would appreciate.

Left to right: Chef Nobu Matsuhisa.

Renderings of the Westlight residential building

by EastBanc.

Courtesy Nobu Restaurants and EastBanc.

BY R OBE RT DEVA NEY “They have the president of the United States,” said Nobuyuki Matsuhisa, founder of Nobu Restaurants, of his decision to locate in Washington, D.C. “I’d like to feed him.”

His latest spot, at 25th and M Streets in the West End, is two blocks east of Georgetown.

For Matsuhisa — first encouraged by Robert De Niro to expand his Los Angeles restaurant to New York and beyond — the opening in the nation’s capital comes at the best of times and the worst of times: the age of Trump.

His sophisticated fusion cuisine will surely get the attention of the president he had in mind a few years ago, when he announced the D.C. venture.

That would be former President Barack Obama, who will open an office on 24th Street in the World Wildlife Fund building, a block from Nobu. From this spot in the West End — and from his new Kalorama home, rented by the Obamas for daughter Sasha’s remaining high school years — 44 will begin his post-presidency.

As for 45, President Donald Trump — he of the fully cooked steak, ketchup on the side — there’s no word on his other culinary preferences. That seems as it should be in these seemingly chaotic, early days of his administration.

What’s clear is that the West End, mere blocks from the White House, is the little neighborhood that can.

18 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

RESIDENCES & RESTAURANTS Expected later this year, the coming of Nobu — a group of 32 restaurants in 26 different cities, spanning five continents — is the latest signal that the West End has arrived. This part of the federal city got its name as the western end of 19th-century Washington City, adjacent to Georgetown, D.C. Generally speaking, its borders run north from K Street to just below P, east to 21st or so and west to Rock Creek.

The West End’s most famous favorite son is Edward Kennedy Ellington, known to the world as Duke, born on Ward Place near 22nd Street in 1899. A plaque marks the spot and the small park facing the street bears his name.

Part of the neighborhood’s current flare of recognition is due to the impending opening, at 24th and L Streets, of Westlight, which will house the West End Library and residential units at the new-old firehouse — Engine Company 1 — first responder for the White House. As a buffer between the firehouse and the apartments above, at 23rd and M, a top-end sports club, Squash on Fire, is set to open next month.

Westlight is a project of EastBanc, a developer that has done much to remake the West End. EastBanc also helped build the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and Residences on 22nd and 21st Streets, as well as the condos across the way called 22West.

“I grew up in Georgetown, but have lived in the West End,” said EastBanc’s Philippe Lanier. “It’s a wonderful neighborhood and so accessible to the city.” His father, Anthony Lanier, who started the Georgetown-based company, has been called “the king of Georgetown” for his visionary retail and residential work.

Some of EastBanc’s residential buildings are designed to be half owner-occupied and half renter-occupied, the younger Lanier pointed out. “We’re ready for the new administration types as well as empty-nesters.” The first 20 units of Westlight (those persons camping out for contracts notwithstanding) are spoken for, he said.

Just as Eastbanc has been around for years, so too have some of the West End’s restaurants.

“The West End is one of the nicest areas for living and working,” said chef-owner Robert Wiedmaier, who opened his haute-cuisine flagship Marcel’s at 2401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW in 1998. Marcel’s is named for Wiedmaier’s son, who was born at Columbia Hospital for Women on L Street. Like several of the neighborhood’s institutions, the hospital is no more. In 2006, it became the Columbia, housing 225 residences, with a jam-packed Trader Joe’s on the ground floor.

On the soon-to-arrive Nobu, “The more, the merrier,” said Wiedmaier, who first appeared on the scene taking over the Watergate Hotel’s Jean-Louis restaurant from beloved chef Jean-Louis Palladin.

Rendering of rooftop pool area at the Westlight building. Courtesy EastBanc.

“D.C. is becoming a real destination for great food, and we are excited to be a part of it. The new location is perfect for us businesses and friends very close by and we look forward to welcoming new fans too!” — Nobu Matsuhisa

The West End is “a great place to be, surrounded by the Ritz, Park Hyatt, Fairmont, Westin and Melrose — and the Four Seasons in Georgetown,” said Wiedmaier. For residents and workers, “It’s a great location for getting in and out of the city — and one of the safest.”

Another chef who set up in the neighborhood is Ris Lacoste, who departed Georgetown’s 1789 Restaurant eight years ago and in 2006 chose the West End, moving into an empty part of the Ritz-Carlton condo space at 23rd and L (once the site of the Circle movie house).

The West End’s heritage — “From Collards to Kale,” as one urban essay puts it — includes tales of black Washington, which linger in the DNA of Francis-Stevens Public School, in the hushed atmosphere of the West End Library and along the lively L Street sidewalks.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the West End was simply a working-class neighborhood, mostly black — as Colbert King of the Washington Post has recalled in his heartfelt stories of African American D.C. The King family owned a home at 24th and L, exactly where the Westlight now rises. Along with the white racism of the day, King lets his

FROM NEWS HQS TO HOTELS, CONDOS

“I love my customers and was looking for what’s comfortable for them,” said Lacoste, who recalled the Auger family’s Blackie’s House of Beef — on 22nd Street for more than 50 years — and Lulu’s. “Lulu passed on her legend to me,” she said. Her Ris bistro sits across from the Westlight residences. After two years of construction, Lacoste is looking forward to “increased foot traffic.”

Other restaurants that dot the West End map include Blue Duck Tavern, Rasika West End, West End Bistro and La Perla — places for residents to refuel after workouts at Blast, Solidcore, Soulcycle and, soon, Squash on Fire. Soulcycle was former first lady Michelle Obama’s go-to spot (and may still be).

many

AFRICAN-AMERICAN HERITAGE

readers know about the uptown blacks in LeDroit Park and elsewhere who looked down on folks from the West End and Foggy Bottom.

Another child of the West End — in his case, 23rd and L — is the original shock jock, tough but endearing talk-show host Petey Greene, who calmed Washingtonians after the riots sparked by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (and who later had Howard Stern on his show in blackface makeup). In “Talk to Me,” a 2007 film about Greene, he was played by Don Cheadle.

The narrative of gentrification isn’t new, but it has accelerated in D.C. in recent years; still echoing amid the construction and ribbon-cutting are the legacies of those, black and white, not only families but organizations, made to relocate by the pace of change.

Chef-owner Robert Wiedmaier of Marcel’s. Photo by Scott Suchman.

—

In the 1980s, when U.S. News & World Report was headquartered on N Street — and was a print publication — the company owned West End property and wanted to build an office building. It solicited the aid of financierdeveloper Mort Zuckerman of Boston Properties, in the process changing itself and part of the West End. Buying out the employee-owned business in 1984, Zuckerman was among the developers — including Oliver Carr — who transformed blocks of greasy-spoon eateries, garages and light industry.

Call it the West End effect: Blackie’s House of Beef, which closed in 2006, is now the Washington Marriott Georgetown. U.S. News is all digital, its editorial department headquartered in Georgetown. Congressional Quarterly left its 22nd Street building, which went condo. The Bureau of National Affairs — launched by U.S. News founder David

Born 1899 in the West End on Ward Place, Duke Ellington as seen at the Howard Theatre in 1946. Photo by William Gottlieb.

Lawrence — moved to Arlington; its former building on 25th Street has become the WestEnd25 Apartments. The Advisory Board Company’s M Street headquarters is likely to turn residential as well.

Some hotels have been renamed. A prime example is the newly renovated (again) Fairmont at 24th and M, previously the Monarch, the ANA and, yes, the Westin.

(Understandably, if inaccurately, some of these West End hotels include in their names the word “Georgetown.”)

A neighborhood with a proud African American past and a future with the likes of Nobu is a fitting base of operations for our former president. The West End is unmistakably on a roll. And in the words of an Ellington classic: “It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing.”

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 19

COVER

West End ANC: ‘It’s More About Excitement’

BY PEG GY SA NDS “What are the big issues that the West End’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission is dealing with right now?” ANC 2A’s Rebecca Coder mused, repeating The Georgetowner’s question. “Actually, right now it’s more about excitement than big issues,” she said, laughing.

“First of all, it’s with some excitement that we consider our newest working neighbor — former President Barack Obama. Reportedly, he has rented executive offices in the World Wildlife Fund building at 24th Street NW between M and N. We expect we’ll be seeing him around, and highlighting the building as well. If you can get in to see it, do so. It has the greenest roof garden in the city,” she added.

According to Coder, Obama’s decision to locate his office in the West End shows the new dynamism of the area. Now, instead of being an area that thousands of Washingtonians and Virginians pass through on their way to and from Georgetown, Key Bridge and Memorial Bridge, it has become a destination in itself.

Long dominated by George Washington University students, World Bank and International Monetary Fund staffers, the neighborhood is welcoming a new demographic: a mix of 30- and 40-something professionals with a child or two and emptynesters moving back to the city from the suburbs.

This new, less transient population wants to live in airy condominiums and apartments in a walkable neighborhood with plenty of restaurants, shops and high-quality markets.

The close-by medical services, including

George Washington Hospital and the many new medical offices, are part of the package, too.

“We’re about food and fitness,” Coder said. “It’s not a ‘do-it-yourself remodeling for a growing family’ population.”

She pointed to the new West End restaurants, such as Blue Duck Tavern and Westend Bistro, that were included in D.C.’s first Michelin Guide. Specialty grocer Trader Joe’s is on 25th Street between M Street and Pennsylvania Avenue and a Whole Foods is across from the Foggy Bottom Metro and Washington Circle, on the edge of the neighborhood.

In addition, there are several new-concept fitness centers that have moved to the area, including SoulCycle, Blast and — soon to be installed as a buffer between the brand new fire station on the ground floor and the firemen’s quarters upstairs at 23rd and M — a squash court called Squash on Fire.

At the groundbreaking for the Westlight construction in December 2014: EastBanc’s Anthony Lanier, Mayor Vincent Gray, Council member Jack Evans and Foggy Bottom-West End Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Rebecca Coder. Courtesy ANC2A.

Left: Former President Barack Obama has a new office on 24th Street in the World Wildlife Fund building. Courtesy Georgetown University.

Below: Lobby of Squash on Fire fitness club.

Courtesy Eastbanc.

Condos under construction at 25th and M Street NW. Photo by Robert Devaney.

“That’s because the visionary of the West End, Anthony Lanier, and his family love squash. So when the firemen asked for a buffer between floors, he decided to design in a squash court,” Coder said.

West Enders also want easy access to public transportation to get to cultural activities downtown and on the Hill. A big success for the ANC last year was to persuade the District Department of Transportation to extend the hours of the Circulator buses that cross the West End, connecting Georgetown with Dupont Circle and running between Rosslyn and Union Station.

“Transportation problems for us is not so much parking, since only about 50 percent of West End residents own cars,” said Coder, who grew up in Chevy Chase and moved to the West End 15 years ago. “Here, it’s more about walking, easy public transportation access and traffic flow.

“Once all the construction is done, the West End will be pretty much completely developed,” she concluded. “The new condo buildings will have parking for residents and some for the public. We’ll see if that’s sufficient and how that affects street flow, as many of the new residents may not have cars.”

Ravishing West End Library on the Way Without a doubt, the most anticipated piece of the new Westlight building by EastBanc at 1101 24th St. NW will be the newly refigured West End Library on the ground level. The closing and demolition of the library was protested, delayed and bemoaned over the past five years. But West Enders’ agony will end soon, possibly as early as June.

The new 21,000-square-foot, two-floor library will be located in the spectacular glass residential and retail building designed

by Mexican architect Enrique Norten of TEN Arquitectos. The library’s interior, designed

by Georgetown-based CORE, will include separate book and computer sections for

adults, teens and children, a meeting room for 100 people, two smaller conference rooms and five quiet study rooms.

The most unusual feature will be a large café and bakery inside the library, separated by a glass wall. “It will make the library even more friendly, a community space to go and spend time,” said Rebecca Coder of the West Side ANC, which had a good deal of input into the planning process for the new facility.

In the meantime, the interim West Side Library has been located since June 2014 at the Watergate office building on Virginia Avenue NW, next to the post office and the escalator to the lower-level shopping mall.

A rendering of the first floor lobby of the West End Public Library. Courtesy EastBanc.

20 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

FEATURE

Hyde-Addison Parents Plan to Start New School

BY PEGGY SA NDS

“Do you remember at the big meeting last fall when the Hyde-Addison parents met with Mayor Muriel Bowser to object to busing our children for over an hour to a substitute school the next two years while our school is being renovated?” asked Elissa Alben, the mother of three Hyde-Addison Public Elementary School students, aged 4, 7 and 9.

“The mayor told us we had only two options.

One, busing the some-300 students ages 4 to 9 for over an hour each day across town to a school in another zone that needs renovation itself. Or two, wait a year and have the children bused to D.C. University, where the city will fix up space for them. The mayor told us parents, ‘You let me know which one you decide.’”

Alben took a sip of coffee at Via Umbria last Saturday and shook her head. “Well, we did decide. One hundred and eighty-nine parents sent her a letter within three weeks stating we wanted to wait a year while space at UDC was renovated, and have our kids bused there instead of across town. Councilman Jack Evans was sent a copy. But we never heard a word back from anyone. Not a word.”

That’s when a group of parents at Georgetown’s only elementary school started looking for space themselves. “One parent

went to every empty building in Georgetown,” Alben said. “Others of us started looking at alternative schools. We’ve been meeting weekly since December to look over options.

Now we’ve found the one we all really like.”

It’s called the Mysa School system, ‘mysa’ being the Swedish word for ‘to cozy up.’ “It’s one of the new micro, place-based-education schools that are popping up throughout the country,” Alben explained. Mysa has just opened a school in Bethesda, described as a one-room schoolhouse for grades 6 to 12. Now they are willing to open an elementary school in Georgetown.

Limited to about 50 students, the school would be dependent on parent participation, community resources and technology to offer a customized and diverse curriculum that fits the needs of the particular school’s community as well as District standards. Tuition is expected to be less than two-thirds that of most area private schools: around $20,000 instead of $35,000 or more.

“The professional student-teacher ratio would be about 10 to one,” Alben said. “It will be a real community school with a real community presence. There would be an emphasis on math, science and reading in all contexts.” She continued: “And while there

would be testing, of course, there will not be nearly as much as the D.C. schools now require.”

While Alben is excited about the chance for her children to go to a truly customized alternative school, she says she and all the parents are very disappointed that there were no other public school choices in the area.

Ironically, Georgetown has no public charter schools — unlike other parts of the District, which has been characterized as “the queen of charter schools.”

Even more ironic is that the mayor recently made “walkability” to a public school — charter or regular — a priority in the District.

In Georgetown, as of next year, there is no walkable choice; there is no public school option at all.

“Both my husband and I are total products of public schools when we grew up,” Alben said. “We expected and wanted our children to go to a neighborhood public school as well. But now there isn’t one (despite the high property taxes of Georgetown).”

Would they look toward this alternative school becoming a public charter?

“It takes years to get a charter school approved and is very complicated,” Alben said, flipping through a big binder of regulations.

Elissa Alben, mother of three Hyde-Addison School students. Photo by Peggy Sands.

“Our priority right now is to have a Mysa School open as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with 50 committed students next fall, with financial support including grants and scholarships from a number of sources. Then we’ll see about making it a public school charter. At this point, we feel this will not be a temporary, nor the only, alternative K-to-5th-grade option for the families and children of our area.”

JANUARY JANUARY25 25-- FEBRUARY FEBRUARY7,7,2017 2017

What ’s New, Pussyhat ?

AFTER THE INAUGURATION, THE WOMEN’S MARCH: THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 21

LA CHAUMIERE

THE OCEANAIRE

MARTIN’S TAVERN

THE GRILL ROOM

CAFE BONAPARTE

202-338-1784

202–347–2277

202-333-7370

202-617-2424

202–333–8830

lachaumieredc.com

theoceanaire.com

martinstavern.com

thegrillroomdc.com

cafebonaparte.com

Celebrating our 40th Anniversary, La Chaumiere is as close to dining in the French countryside without flying there as you can get.

Chef Orange serves cassoulet on Thursdays, Hearty Choucroute Alsacienne in the winter, Dover Sole Meuniere, Boudin Blanc, Pike Quenelles and many other French specialties.

And your dinner wouldn’t be complete without a luscious Grand Marnier Souffle or warm Apple tart with caramel sauce.

Ranked one of the most popular seafood restaurants in D.C., “this cosmopolitan” send-up of a vintage supper club that’s styled after a '40’s-era ocean liner is appointed with cherry wood and red leather booths, infused with a “clubby, old money” atmosphere. The menu showcases “intelligently” prepared fish dishes that “recall an earlier time of elegant” dining.

Fifth generation Lauren Martin learns about the family business from her dad, Billy Martin, Jr. Since 1933, the warm atmosphere of Martin’s Tavern has welcomed neighbors and world travelers looking for great food, service and years of history within it’s walls. Fourth generation owner Billy Martin. Jr. continues the tradition of Washington’s oldest familyowned restaurant.

Tucked up along the historic C&O Canal, a national park that threads through the Georgetown neighborhood, The Grill Room at Rosewood Washington, D.C., specializes in hand-cut, bone-in, artisan meats, bracingly fresh seafood and tableside preparations.

Framed with a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and fluid geometric lines, the ambiance is one of relaxed refinement

Captivating customers since 2003, Cafe Bonaparte has been dubbed the “quintessential” European café, featuring award-winning crepes and arguably the “best” coffee in D.C.! Other can't-miss attractions are the famous weekend brunch every Saturday and Sunday until 3 p.m. and our late-night weekend hours serving sweet and savory crepes until 1 a.m.

Like us on Facebook or visit our website at lachaumieredc.com.

Lunch Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m. Dinner Mon.–Thu. 5–10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5–11 p.m., Sun. 5–9 p.m.

Brunch until 4 p.m. 7 days a week!

Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

We look forward to calling you a “regular” soon!

TOWN HALL

DAS ETHIOPIAN

ENO WINE BAR

FILOMENA RISTORANTE

202-333-5640

202–333–4710

202–295–2826

202–338–8800

202-986-0757

townhalldc.com

dasethiopian.com

enowinerooms.com

filomena.com

thegrillfromipanema.com

Situated just north of Georgetown on Wisconsin Ave, Town Hall has been a neighborhood mainstay in Glover Park since 2005. Whether you’re popping in for dinner, drinks, or weekend brunch, Town Hall is the spot you’ll want to call home to Gulp, Gather & Grub. Free parking is available nightly after 7 p.m., and during warmer months, our outdoor courtyard is one of DC’s best kept secrets.

DAS Ethiopian offers you a cozy two-story setting, with rare outside dining views and al fresco patio dining. DAS is located at the eclectically brilliant historic corner of the internationally renowned shopping district of Georgetown.

HAPPY HOUR: Offered nightly Tuesday - Thursday from 5 – 7 PM & Sunday from 4 – 6 PM. Enjoy select $5 wines on tap. Join us on Sunday’s for 30% off bottles, Wednesday’s for College Nights from 9 – 11 PM, & Thursday evenings for live music starting at 6 pm. Our delightful wines are best enjoyed with local charcuterie, cheese and small plates.

2813 M STREET, NW

2340 WISCONSIN AVE., NW

1201 F ST., NW

1201 28TH ST., NW

A tent under which all come to feast is the very Amharic definition of DAS. From neighborhood diners, nearby students and journalists to international visitors and performers, all enjoy the casual but refined atmosphere that serves up the freshest Ethiopian dishes from local and sustainable food sources.

1264 WISCONSIN AVE., NW

1050 31ST ST., NW

1522 WISCONSIN AVE., NW

Brunch Sat.-Sun. 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

2810 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., NW

Tues - Thurs 5 p.m. - 11 p.m., Fri - Sat 4 p.m. - 12 a.m., Sunday 4 p.m. - 10:30 p.m.

Free 2-hour parking at Four Seasons.

GRILL FROM IPANEMA

1063 WISCONSIN AVE., NW

1858 COLUMBIA ROAD, NW

Filomena is a Georgetown landmark that has endured the test of time for over 30 years.

Our old-world cooking styles and recipes brought to America by the early Italian immigrants alongside the culinary cutting-edge creations of Italy’s foods of today executed by our Executive Chef and his team. Open 7 days a week 11:30 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. Free salad bar with any lunch entrée Mon-Sat

Family-owned restaurant serving authentic Brazilian food in Washington, D.C., for more than 23 years. Our Executive Chef, Alcy de Souza, cooks with the heart and soul. Live music on Thursday nights is a romantic blend of bossa nova, jazz, samba, choro and forró.

Monday – Thursday 4:30 to 10:30 p.m.

Friday 4:30 to 11:30 p.m.

Saturday noon to 11:30 p.m. (brunch until 4 p.m.)

Sunday noon to 10 p.m. (brunch until 4 p.m.)

Parking validation available for breakfast, lunch and brunch.

MALMAISON

CLYDE’S OF GEORGETOWN

202-817-3340

202-333-9180 clydes.com

3401 K ST., NW

malmaisondc.com Malmaison opened in June 2013 and features elegant French dining in Washington D.C’s historic Georgetown waterfront. Housed in a majestically refurbished industrial warehouse reminiscent of NYC’s Meatpacking District, the modern restaurant, pastry shop and event lounge features the culinary talents of legendary 2 Michelin Starred French Chef Gerard Pangaud and Pastry Chef Serge Torres (Le Cirque NYC).

22 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

3236 M ST., NW

JOIN THE

This animated tavern, in the heart of Georgetown, popularized saloon food and practically invented Sunday brunch.

Clyde’s is the People’s Choice for bacon cheeseburgers, steaks, fresh seafood, grilled chicken salads, fresh pastas and desserts.

Contact: advertising@georgetowner.com

FOOD & WINE

Cocktail of the Month

BY J ODY KURA S H

M

arch Madness is soon upon us. No, I’m not talking about basketball. I’m referring to the Irish Catholic holiday turned binge-drinking free-for-all, when everyone claims to have connections to the Emerald Isle.

So what do celebrants drink on St. Patrick’s Day? Guinness is a favorite. People who never touch the stuff any other day of the year pound it on March 17. Other Irish beers, like Harp and Smithwick’s are also high on the list. Serious imbibers will hit the hard stuff — Irish whiskey, such as Jameson, Clontarf and Bushmills. There is also a wildly popular liqueur: sweet and velvety Irish cream.

But what exactly is Irish cream? What is it made of and where did it come from?

While many Irish adult beverages have long and storied histories, Irish cream is a newcomer. The first commercially produced Irish cream, Baileys, was introduced to the market in 1974. It was invented by the Gilbeys of Ireland company, which was looking for a product to export to an international market.

The name Baileys, according to Business Week, was thought up by a corporate executive for a liquor conglomerate, whose office happened to have a view of the Bailey’s hotel in London. The logic was that the name sounded Irish — but not too Irish. The signature on the bottle, R.A. Bailey, is as authentic as

the million people who attended Trump’s inauguration.

Designed to appeal to women and to those turned off by heavier spirits, the new product became a smashing worldwide success. It was the first cream liqueur, launching a whole new category of spirits.

It quickly spawned a horde of copycats, with Carolan’s, the second most popular brand, being introduced in 1979. Carolan’s, however, is named after a real person, Turlough O’Carolan, a celebrated 17th-century harpist and legendary traveling musician. Another brand, among many, is Brady’s, with a name and bottle awfully similar to the original.

In its most basic form, Irish cream is a mixture of fresh cream and Irish whiskey with added flavors. Baileys contains vanilla and cocoa beans while Carolans claims its rich taste comes from honey. The main ingredients are truly Irish. The top brands are made in Ireland from Irish whiskey and cream from Irish dairy farms. Its popularity has been a boon to the country’s dairy industry.

There is one aspect that defies logic.

Cream is a perishable product; it must be refrigerated and consumed within a certain time. However, this is not the case with “Irish” cream. Another challenge was to get the cream and the whiskey to combine without

TheLatest Dish

BY LIND A ROT H

Courtesy Barcelona Wine Bar. Opening in the fourth quarter at the Wharf in Southwest D.C.: a 400-seat Mexican restaurant called Mi Vida — brought to you

by Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogen of D.C.-based Knead Hospitality + Design and Roberto Santibañez, chef-owner of Fonda and La Botaneria in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The real estate is prime; it will be located next to the 6,000-seat music venue Anthem, operated by Seth Hurwitz’s I.M.P. Chef, GM & Beverage Director Update: Walker’s Grille in Alexandria named Scott Perry its new executive chef. Perry was previously chef de cuisine at Occidental Grill & Seafood … Drew McCormick has

been named executive beverage director at Pizzeria Paradiso, the first woman in the position … Jordan Lloyd is the new chef de cuisine at Mintwood Place in Adams Morgan. He hails from the Bartlett Pear Inn in Easton, Maryland, and worked with Mintwood Place’s Cedric Maupillier at Citronelle … Sebastien Rondier is now executive chef at Brabo in Old Town Alexandria’s Kimpton Lorien Hotel … Bo Elliott is the new head brewer at Capitol City Brewing Company … Marble & Rye on Columbia Pike in Arlington has Paul Murad heading up the kitchen and Kent Lawson as general manager. Both previously worked at

separating. According to Baileys, it took three years of trials and experimentation to perfect this process. The company claims that, with or without refrigeration, a bottle of Baileys will retain its flavor for two years (as long as it is not exposed to direct sunlight or temperatures above 77 degrees), the reason being that the alcohol in the whiskey preserves the cream.

Irish cream is often enjoyed in its most pure form over the rocks. An overwhelming number of people enjoy it with coffee — so many that the authentic Irish coffee recipe is thought to contain Baileys (it doesn’t). It’s popular over ice cream and has spawned an abundance of heavy dessert-like tipples.

It has also evolved into a common confectionary flavor. On the flip side, other sweet flavors have been combined with the spirit to create several candy-like varieties, such as mint, salted caramel and orange truffle.

I first sampled Irish cream as a young adult before my pallet matured; it offers a sweet and smooth flavor that is easy on the taste buds. As my tastes evolved, I have come to abhor sweet drinks, but I will still admit to enjoying a shot in a cup of robust black coffee.

In my opinion, the best way to imbibe it is by adding more of the ingredient that makes it great: Irish whiskey. I enjoy a 50/50 mixture.

The subtle vanilla sweetness in the whiskey

The Boulevard Woodgrill in Clarendon …

Troy Knapp was named executive chef at the Park Hyatt Washington … Alex Ureña is the new executive chef at Barcelona Wine Bar on 14th Street NW … Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg named Ryan Arensdorf executive chef for all their restaurants, banquets and bars. He hails from Chicago, where he was chef de cuisine at W Chicago Lakeshore … Takeshi Nishikawa was named chef de cuisine at Lincoln. He previously worked at Restaurant Eve, Volt and New Heights…Blue Duck Tavern named Erin Reed the new pastry chef (we’re thinkin’ shoofly tarts and whoopie pies).

CREAMY BUSH • 2 oz. Irish whiskey • 2 oz. Irish cream Shake until well combined and serve over ice. Sip and savor.

blends well with the cream, while cutting through the almost milkshake-like texture.

The first time I tried this mixture, it was forged with Bushmills whiskey, hence the name “Creamy Bush,” but you can use your favorite Irish whiskey.

Is there a more perfect opening day for a bakery than Valentine’s? Sylvan Cafe and Bakery timed it right for their opening in Bloomingdale at 104 Rhode Island Ave. NW. The café serves sandwiches and paninis as well as breads, cakes and traditional European pastries.

Linda Roth is president of Linda Roth Associates, a public relations and marketing firm that specializes in the hospitality industry.

Reach her at linda@lindarothpr.com.

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IN COUNTRY & GETAWAYS

From Dulles to Dublin

BY R I C H A R D S E L D E N

Most Americans travel to Ireland to experience the bucolic green quilt and timeless stony coast familiar from films such as “How Green Was My Valley,” “The Quiet Man,” “Ryan’s Daughter,” “Dancing at Lughnasa” and “The Field.” Some make archaeological or genealogical pilgrimages to the Emerald Isle.

Dublin is generally visited briefly, if at all.

But with plenty to see and do, and nonstop flights from Dulles, this lively midsize city should be near the top of your getaway list.

Yes, there are many wonderful pubs — imagine filling D.C.’s Dubliner with Irish people — but this article mainly covers must-sees for the arts-minded.

Even the arts-minded rarely make overseas pleasure trips with a library in mind, but Trinity College Library, alone, is a reason to visit the Irish capital.

Not because of the library building — though the Long Room is one of the most jaw-dropping book-filled interiors in the world. Because of the Book of Kells.

Google it now, and zoom in. Other extraordinarily beautiful illuminated manuscripts have survived, but the level of artistic and cultural intricacy of this 1,200-yearold gospel book’s decoration is unsurpassed.

When it was made, around the year 800, Ireland had been Christian for almost four

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centuries. The island’s 1,000-year-old Celtic heritage, however, remained strong and was expressed in incredibly complex patterns — Celtic knots — incorporating the Latin text and stylized birds and beasts.

True, the library has only four pages of the Book of Kells on view at any given time.

However, a large and excellent exhibition serves to put the book in context and peel back layers of Irish history.

On nearly 50 acres in the center of Dublin, Trinity College — founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I as a symbol of the Tudor monarchy — has a serene campus of walkways and quadrangles.

Catholics could not enroll for about 200 years (and were forbidden by the Catholic Church in Ireland to enroll without permission from 1871 to 1970). Among its alumni are Samuel Beckett, George Berkeley, Edmund Burke, J. P. Donleavy, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift, William Trevor and Oscar Wilde.

On the campus’s Nassau Street side, tour buses unload group after group on their way to the Book of Kells and, afterward, several adjacent shops of woolens and souvenirs.

Around the time that the Book of Kells was completed, at the Abbey of Kells, north of Dublin, Vikings began to raid and later settle in Ireland, activities that they kept up until

Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Wikimedia Commons photo by YvonneM. the mid 1100s, when the Normans arrived.

The Normans then fought with Irish lords and English kings for a few centuries, the Black Death interrupting from 1348 to 1350.

Stunning and fascinating artifacts from the Celtic, Viking and Norman periods — made of stone, iron, gold and jewels — are displayed at the National Museum of Ireland, in an elaborate Victorian building on Kildare Street.

Trinity College, the National Museum and the Georgian blocks around St. Stephen’s Green — where there is a bust of James Joyce, who frequently refers to it in his work (Bloomsday 2017, by the way, is Friday, June 16) — are all south of the River Liffey.

The main boulevard heading north across the Liffey is O’Connell Street, known as Sackville Street when, 101 years ago, the leaders of the Easter Rising commandeered the main post office. The building burned, the Rising was put down and its leaders were executed.

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Diagonally across from the post office, Nelson’s Pillar, a symbol of British rule, remained standing until Irish Republicans blew it up in 1966. It was replaced in 2003 by the 390foot Spire of Dublin.

In the vicinity are an art museum, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, on Parnell Square North in an 18th-century William Chambers mansion, and Dublin’s two most famous playhouses, the Abbey and the Gate.

The Hugh Lane is named for an Irish-born London art dealer who established what is considered the world’s first public gallery of modern art in 1908 and went down with the Lusitania. Along with a core collection of French 19th-century paintings and special exhibitions, the museum displays seven large paintings by abstract artist Sean Scully and a reconstruction of the looks-like-a-bomb-hit-it London studio of the late Francis Bacon; both Scully and Bacon were born in Dublin.

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The Long Room at Trinity College Library. Wikimedia Commons photo by Sam. visiting IMMA. At the Abbey Theatre, founded by poet Ready to wet your whistle? North of the William Butler Yeats and other Irish literary Liffey on the west side of Dublin is the Old revivalists in 1904, the Druid Theatre Jameson Distillery, where the whiskey was Company’s production of Beckett’s “Waiting made from 1780 until 1971. The “Bow St. for Godot” is being presented from April 22 to Experience” is an immersive 40-minute tasting May 20. tour. South of the Liffey on the west side is The Gate Theatre, where Orson Welles and Guinness Storehouse, a former fermentation James Mason got their start, will present Noël plant in the still-going-strong St. James’s Gate Coward’s classic 1939 comedy “Private Lives” Brewery. It was named Europe’s top tourist from March 31 to June 24. attraction at the 2015 World Travel Awards One more museum: The Irish Museum of (what were they drinking?).

Modern Art is displaying 30 paintings and 20 An impressive melding of the authentic works on paper by Lucian Freud, Sigmund’s and the fabricated, this walled-off pavilion grandson, who died in 2011. This is the first is a high-tech family attraction, telling the year of a five-year loan of works from private story of the internationally famous brand and collections that the museum is billing as “Freud offering souvenirs, food, drink, lectures and Project.” Freud’s work isn’t for everyone, but cooking classes. Your ticket includes a sample he was one of the great figurative painters pint and 360-degree view in the rooftop bar. of the 20th century. If you have a taste for Recommended way to return to central Dublin: detailed, full-body portraits of the naked flesh & T_Georgetowner_3.2017_Layout Page 1and buggy. ofTLondoners and their pets, make1 a3/1/17 point 3:24 of PMhorse

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Spectacular land with rolling, verdant fields, lush woodlands and a spring fed pond, on 415+ gorgeous acres in unspoiled Hume. Offering four parcels of 100+ acres each, this property is ideally located off scenic Leeds Manor Road, amongst other beautiful estates, many in conservation easements. Easy access to I- 66 and within an hour of the nation's capital. $5,000,000

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Three Natural Clay Masks to Fix Your Skin

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Indian Healing Clay Mask by Aztec Secret Health, $5 A super-affordable solution, discovered in my local health food store at age 16. Mixed with water or apple cider vinegar, this product helped dry up adolescent breakouts and skin congestion. I can easily rave about its ability to shrink pores, clear up acne and leave skin smooth and blemish-free. For me this is not hype, it is reality.

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Murphy’s Love: Advice on Intimacy and Relationships

Not Then, But Interested Now

BY STACY N OTA R A S M U R P H Y Dear Stacy, I am writing because of an awkward situation. I have been back on the dating scene for about two years, following a breakup with the guy I dated all through college. It was an unhealthy relationship, and I was pretty unhealthy coming out of it. I had gained weight, stopped really caring about my appearance, had no idea how to dress and so on. A friend was trying to help me meet some people about four months after the breakup and was really excited for me to meet “John” because he and I had so much in common.

Well, upon seeing me, John could not have been less interested. He did that horrible thing where they don’t make eye contact while talking to you, sighing, communicating their disinterest with all kinds of negative body language. I read the signs and excused myself quickly, but I was deflated. Fast forward to the holidays this year and we “meet” again at a party. I’ve lost weight, changed my hair color — I look good. So he’s interested now and is so surprised our mutual friend hadn’t introduced us sooner. He’s been texting me since we met New Year’s Day and wants to meet up. I am torn because we do have a lot in common and I am interested in knowing him better. Do I go?

Do I tell him off? Do I go and tell him off?

— Eye Contact Required

Dear Eye Contact: I have all kinds of dialogue running through my head — the kind you see at the end of a quasi-feminist rom-com (I’m not sure those movies actually exist, by the way). But none of us would like to be judged based on our very worst day, so part of me wants you to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Telling him off on the first date probably guarantees no second date. If that’s your plan, why bother? But if you really are intrigued by him as a person (and your mutual friend was on to something in her matchmaking), perhaps you go on the date without your zinger written on the inside of your palm and just see how it goes.

See how it feels to be with him. Is your past all you can think of? Or are you having fun in the moment?

Obviously, in the long term I wouldn’t let things get too serious before coming clean that you met once before. There may come a time when you are close enough that you can tell him what actually happened long ago when you first met, let him know how it made you feel and really release it.

Stacy Notaras Murphy is a licensed professional counselor in Georgetown. Visit her on the web at stacymurphyLPC.com. This column is meant for entertainment only and should not be considered a substitute for professional counseling. Send your confidential question to stacy@stacymurphyLPC.com.

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PERFORMANCE

Diva Denyce Graves Plays Mom in ‘Champion’

BY G ARY T ISCHL ER

Even if you didn’t know who she was, you’d notice Denyce Graves when she entered the room, any room. The star mezzo-soprano has presence, that look of someone splendid.

On a recent afternoon, Graves came into the Kennedy Center’s Israeli Lounge for an interview during rehearsals for Washington National Opera’s production of “Champion.”

Performances of the opera, composed by jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, with a libretto by Michael Cristofer, continue through March 18.

Though she and her family live outside Baltimore, Graves is a daughter of this city.

From here, she was launched into the world of opera, where she carved out a brilliant place for herself.

She is sometimes referred to as a diva, a characterization she does not deflect. “To me that’s a positive context. It’s about how you live, how you carry yourself.”

This is not the first time that Graves has assayed her part in “Champion.” She was part of the debut of the opera — commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis — in 2013. A slightly revised version was presented in San Francisco in 2016.

For Washington National Opera, the production of “Champion” is a big deal. It’s being done almost in tandem with “Dead Man Walking,” making for quite an outburst of contemporary opera under WNO Artistic Director Francesca Zambello.

For Graves, it marks another return to the place where she remains the hometown girl who didn’t just make good, but conquered the world.

“That’s always a mixed thing, you know,” she said. “It’s always great to be back here. This is where things began, this is where I lived, the

neighborhood, where my mother raised me, where I began. So those feelings always remain.

But there is always this, too — I can’t help thinking that here, more than anywhere else, there are these heightened expectations.”

Sitting across from her — we’d done a phone interview once for a Strathmore concert, when she was in a car with her mom in the back, going to an airport, jetting off to Turkey — she seems accessible, to be sure, but fully a presence, too. Since that time, her daughter Ella (after Ella Fitzgerald, but probably also “Ella Enchanted”) has entered adolescence, information she offered with a parental sigh and a raised eyebrow.

How did she come to her current role? “You know, when he [Blanchard] approached me to join him as part of the cast of ‘Champion,’ I was intrigued. But jazz? I had no experience singing jazz, so this is something entirely new for me. And I asked him, ‘Well, what part do you want me to do?’ and he said, ‘It’s a great part,’ and all that, and he said, ‘It’s the part of the mother.’ ‘The mother?’ I said. ‘You want me to play the mother?’”

This from a woman whose image and fame are wrapped up to some degree in her portrayals of Carmen and Delilah, glamorous sex-symbol roles. Of course, Graves is a mother, and that no doubt had something to do with the appeal.

But she was also drawn to doing something challenging and new, something contemporary.

“I’ve been doing more and more contemporary work the last few years,” she acknowledged, adding: “I had to learn to sing in a different way. More relaxed, more related to feeling things naturally. Jazz works differently.”

“Champion” comes with some challenges for

the audience as well as for the performers. Not only is it a jazz opera — covering the broad landscape of jazz, from Latin to funk — but its story takes place in the enclosed and highly dramatic world of boxing.

“It is very much an opera,” Graves said. “It’s operatic to the core.” Like “Dead Man Walking,” it’s based on a true story, in this case the life of Emile Griffith, a standout welterweight boxer who was also a closeted bisexual. In 1962, he fought Cuban welterweight champ Benny “the Kid” Paret for the second time. Paret called Griffith a homophobic name before the fight, during which Griffith delivered a barrage of blows that knocked him out. Paret collapsed, fell into a coma and died 10 days later.

Subsequently, Griffith came out as bisexual.

Graves plays Emile’s mother, Emelda, who struggled throughout her life, but who “was strong-minded, and she had courage and she was not easy.” She continued: “I think she still had a strut in her walk. But, you know, boxing is a very masculine world. It’s defined by that, so what happened in many ways was highly controversial.”

Challenges seem to energize Graves. She’s sung in all the great houses, collaborated with many of the great conductors and taken up teaching at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory, where we watched her lead a master class last fall. “What you saw was about singing heroines,” she explained. “We’re going to be doing villains next.”

She has come a long way and gone everywhere since her days at Duke Ellington School for the Arts, even from the time she made her Metropolitan Opera debut in — what else? — “Carmen.”

Denyce Graves as Emelda Griffith. Photo by Scott Suchman. Courtesy WNO. Now Graves is back home again, performing in the city where she has sung before the Supreme Court, at the Lincoln Memorial, at a presidential inauguration and at a concert commemorating the victims of 9/11.

You could see the energy picking up as she headed to rehearsal — a diva, but also a champion herself.

“Champion” Through Saturday, March 18 John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 2700 F St. NW Tickets $35 - $300 202-467-4600 kennedy-center.org

DC Artswatch C O M PI L E D BY R I C H A R D S E L D E N

‘Art of Legacy’ Opening Reception There will be an opening reception for “Art of Legacy,” a pop-up exhibition in the newly renovated Georgetown Theater building, 1351 Wisconsin Ave. NW, from 6 to 8 p.m. on March 9. Curated by Marsha Ralls with the help of architect Robert Bell — who converted the building, formerly a movie theater, into mixed-use space — the show will run through March 19. Works by John Blee, Barbara Januszkiewicz, Matt Leedham, Anne Marchard, Marissa White and Tom Wolff will be on view.

Arts & Humanities Advocacy

“I can’t get enough of your love,” 2017.

Barbara Januszkiewicz.

28 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

March is advocacy month for the arts and humanities, with Humanities Advocacy Day (actually two days) on March 13 and 14 and Arts Advocacy Day (likewise) on

March 20 and 21. Defending the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts is urgent, since the president’s budget is expected to defund them. Free tickets for the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy at the Kennedy Center, at which Anna Deavere Smith will perform and Ford Foundation President Darren Walker will speak, are available through March 13 at americansforthearts.org.

Environmental Film Festival The 25th anniversary Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, the largest and longest running such festival in the U.S., will take place March 14 to 26. More than 150 films will be screened at venues including E Street Cinema, the National Gallery of Art, several Smithsonian museums, the National Geographic Society

and the Embassies of Canada, France and Switzerland. On March 18 at 11:30 a.m.: “Horton Hears A Who!” and “The Lorax” at AFI Silver Theatre.

‘Galileo’s Torch’ at Folger On March 30, the Folger Shakespeare Library will present the play “Galileo’s Torch,” starring four-time Helen Hayes Award winner Edward Gero. The concert performance will incorporate 17th-century songs by Claudio Monteverdi and works for lute by Galileo’s father Vincenzo Galilei. Called “Starry Messenger: Musical Revelations of Galileo’s Florence,” the musical program will also be performed from March 31 (with a pre-performance discussion by Robert Aubry Davis) through April 2. In addition, Folger Consort Co-Artistic Director Robert Eisenstein will give a seminar about the music on March 29.

VISUAL ARTS

At the Hirshhorn: Kusama’s Meditative Carnival

BY A R I P O ST

The hype was staggering from the moment it was announced. The Hirshhorn would mount the first Washington exhibition of Yayoi Kusama, the radical Japanese artist who has dominated the worlds of fashion and fine art for more than half a century.

The show would focus on her “Infinity Mirror Rooms” — contained, mirror-lined spaces in which viewers are immersed endlessly within strange and magical landscapes, of glowing yellow polka-dot pumpkins or of small lights that float in the darkness like a heavenly procession of Chinese sky lanterns against a black sea.

It is an exhibition tailored perfectly to contemporary audiences, offering not artworks but environments, experiences in which our bodies are the centerpieces. The “Infinity Mirror Rooms” make us instantly special.

They are selfie meccas.

In a post-Enlightenment and largely secular culture, in which God has become the individual self, Kusama’s rooms are readymade shrines to our fundamental belief in our own exceptionalism.

That said, I loved this show.

I am not suggesting that everyone who visits this exhibition is a depraved egotist, nor that the show is a reflection of our collective moral bankruptcy. But in the same way that persons and objects that achieve massive popularity in the world of entertainment invariably fit into some sort of archetypal superstructure of belief systems or societal hierarchies, it is difficult when thinking about the “Infinity Mirror Rooms” to ignore the very real presence of this idea.

The show is also whimsical and lovely on a purely experiential level, a meditative carnival in the spirit of Lewis Carroll. The “Infinity Mirror Rooms” live up to expectations in almost every way, engulfing the viewer in surreal dreamscapes of unapologetic joy.

(It is only fair to mention that as a member of the press I attended an early showing with very short lines and a full minute in each room, double the amount of time regular visitors have. After waiting in line for two hours, the rooms might be less of an encompassing theater of rapture and more like a quick thrill in a strenuously crowded theme park.)

Kusama is a fascinating artist. For one, she is an octogenarian Japanese woman, which alone makes her success unprecedented in contemporary culture. Her mere existence should be applauded, both for what she has achieved and for all it stands for in terms of women and alternative cultural traditions staking claims to art history. Throughout her career, her work has remained subversive, unique and groundbreaking.

For a time, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, her popularity was second only to Warhol in the United States. This has largely been forgotten due to her permanent return to Japan. In a sort of self-prescribed isolation, she has lived and worked in a mental hospital voluntarily since 1977.

Kusama is a performance artist, sculptor, painter and fashion designer of the highest order, all of which is deftly laid out in this pseudo-retrospective.

“Love Forever,” 1966/1994. Yayoi Kusama. This “Infinity Mirror Room” is experienced by looking through an open window from each side. Photo by Jeff Malet.

Yet this all seems rather incidental to the singular experience offered by her “Infinity Mirror Rooms” — and I mean that in no way as a criticism. It is just a testament to the power of her work and the rarity of her vision.

In a video in the first gallery, we are introduced to Kusama through an interview.

She sits in a red wig and pink polka-dot dress, surrounded by her bright paintings and cactus sculptures, which are like Mexican alebrijes.

She is both Queen and jester of her domain.

And what does she have to say to her throngs of admirers?

“Pumpkins are humorous objects that also fill people with warm intentions,” she says.

“Humor puts our minds at ease.”

She is unfettered by the historical and cultural implications of her work, perhaps uninterested or wholly unaware. But when dealing with such a wonderful artist, what does it really matter? What does any of it matter, save for the unforgettable experiences that she has forged for us all?

The exhibition is a cultural landmark and Kusama is an international treasure. Amidst the roiling cultural climate to which this show has been born, perhaps that is simply enough.

“Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors” Through May 14 Hirshhorn Musum Independence Ave. at 7th St. SW Open daily, 10 a.m. –5:30 p.m.

Free with Timed Pass 202-633-1000 hirshhorn.si.edu/

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 29

GOOD WORKS & GOOD TIMES

Spring Gala Guide MARCH 10 Prevent Cancer Foundation

MARCH 14 N Street Village

MARCH 11 Washington Performing Arts 50th Anniversary

MARCH 16 Pink Tie Party

The Italian Ambassador Armando Varricchio and his wife Michaela Varricchio are honorary patrons of this year’s Prevent Cancer Foundation spring gala, which raises funds to advance the foundation’s mission of saving lives through cancer prevention and early detection.

National Building Museum. Contact Janet Hudson 703-519-2117 at janethudson@preventcancer.org.

The gala will honor and celebrate Reginald Van Lee, chairman of the board of directors, and the 50th anniversary season. Proceeds benefit Washington Performing Arts’ artistic and educational art initiatives focusing on Washington-area children and families. Mellon Auditorium. Contact Roger Whyte at 202-533-1891 or rwhyte@washingtonperformingarts. org.

Leukemia Ball

The 30th annual Leukemia Ball supports the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The evening will include dinner, a silent auction and entertainment by comedian Jim Gaffigan and pop star Andy Grammer.

Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Contact Kelly Kent at 703399-2930 or kelly.kent@lls.org.

N Street Village’s largest annual fundraising event, the gala provides an opportunity to recognize members of the community who exemplify the organization’s spirit. The evening of awards and dinner will honor Ruth Sorenson of N Street Village’s board and Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International. Marriott Marquis.

Contact Stuart Allen at 202-939-2085 or sallen@nstreetvillage.org.

Guests wear “pink tie” cocktail attire to this annual Cherry Blossom Festival fundraiser, which includes spring-inspired cuisine, cocktails, fashion, live music, dancing and stations where they can design their own Tesla and make chocolate bark, among other activities. Ronald Reagan International Trade Center.

Visit nationalcherryblossomfestival. org/pink-tie-party.

BY RO B ER T D E VA N E Y

The Environmental Film Festival picked one of those perfect places in Washington, D.C., a place representing a nation at one with films and with the environment: the New Zealand Embassy. Ambassador Tim Grosser agreed, reminding all that his country was one of the last to be inhabited by humans (1,400 years ago). The Maori-inspired hall held an audience all too happy to honor Flo Stone for founding Environmental Film Festival 25 years ago on 31st Street in Georgetown — and Roger Stone for being a journalist, author and environmentalist. Grace Guggenheim’s “For the Love of Nature,” one of the evening’s highlights, was a tribute to the couple.

New Zealand Ambassador Tim Grosser with Flo and Roger Stone.

E. William Stetson, Ann Hornaday and Thomas Lovejoy.

MARCH 18 Chamber Dance Project Bash Magnifique

The Bash Magnifique supports Chamber Dance Project’s June 2017 season and community engagement programs. Decatur House. Email info@chamberdance.org.

MARCH 12 Wacky & Whimsical Tea for THEARC This fantasy-filled Sunday afternoon tea features adventurous delight for the entire family. All proceeds benefit the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), located east of the Anacostia River, providing children and adults living in underserved communities access to quality, free and low-cost educational, health, music, dance and art programs and social services. The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. Contact Nikki Peele at npeele@thearcdc.org.

Environmental Film Fest Honors Flo and Roger Stone

Mikel Witte, Betsy Rackley and Helen O’Brien.

Didi Cutler and Swedish Ambassador Bjoern Lyrvall.

Halcyon Stage Hosts Culinary Activist Claus Meyer

BY RO B ER T D E VA N E Y

The new nonprofit Halcyon Stage hosted a foodie and business star March 2 at Halcyon House on Prospect Street. Claus Meyer — co-founder of Noma (“best restaurant in the world”) in Copenhagen and developer of the New Nordic Cuisine movement and of the Great Northern Food Hall in Grand Central Terminal in New York — enlightened and entertained. The chef-philanthropist spoke of his Danish upbringing and his ventures in La Paz, Bolivia, and Brownsville Community Culinary Center in Brooklyn. Halcyon Stage, led by Kate Goodall (Halcyon CEO) and artistic director Septime Webre (formerly AD of the Washington Ballet), offers “New Creatives Conversations” with major influencers of the day.

Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose and chef-entrepreneur Claus Meyer with Septime Webre and Kate Goodall of Halcyon Stage.

Danish Ambassador Lars Gert Lose speaks with Mary Haft and her daughter Laura.

Cecilia Browning of the House of Sweden and Suzanne Simon of Chaia (Farm to Taco).

Artist Jami Porer Lara.

CORRECTION: It was artist Jami Porter Lara in the previous issue at the opening reception at the Museum of Women in the Arts that was held Feb. 16 for “Border Crossings: Jami Porter Lara” and “New Ground: The Southwest of Maria Martinez and Laura Gilpin.” Jami Porter Lara will be speaking at the museum April 6. Photo by Mary Bird.

Visit Georgetowner.com for more social scene photos

30 March 8, 2017 GMG, INC.

GOOD WORKS & GOOD TIMES

Affair of the Heart at the Mandarin P H OTO S BY M I C H A E L L A N G

The Greater Washington Heart Ball brought together more than 500 of the region’s physician, corporate, health care and community leaders Feb. 25 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to raise awareness about heart disease, stroke, and cardiovascular research, as well as American Heart Association education and advocacy campaigns.

Lissa Levinson, Matt Turpin, Aaron Daniels, Lisa Dezzutti, Kerry Tucker, Joe Daniels, Caitlin Daniels, Jason Tucker and Willie Violett.

Eric and Jodi Reicin. Eric is the 2017 Lawyers Have Heart 10K chair as well as vice president and general council at MorganFranklin.

Cheryl Waldrup and Marty Cummings, CEO, Integrated Support Systems, Inc.

Heart Ball co-chairs Dave Humpton, executive vice president of Montgomery Village Foundation, and Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens Government Technologies.

Steve and Barbara Lustgarten, executive vice president of Blake Real Estate.

Seated: Dave and Barbara Humpton with Jeff and Judy Marks, CEO, Siemens USA. Standing: Daniela Leonhardt, AHA volunteer and survivor, Elena and Mike Deskin, Sue Palka of Fox5 News, Sabrina Bauer and Joe Palka of National Public Radio.

A Star-Spangled Night of Vision

BY M A RY B I R D | P H OTO S BY N ES H A N H . N A LTC H AYA N

“Oh, Say, Can You See?” was the theme of the gala hosted by the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington at the Four Seasons March 4 to support its sight-saving programs. After a reception and silent auction with many patriotic items, Doug Kammerer of NBC News4 emceed a dinner program opened by the Montgomery County Local 1664 Professional Fire Fighters Honor Guard Team. Event chair Sally Pilkerton presented Pete Piringer of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service with the Community Service Award. William L. Rich III, M.D., received the Professional Service Award. POB is the largest local prevention of blindness agency in the United States.

POB board member and gala chair Sally Pilkerton, NBC4’s Doug Kammerer and Siwar Jaafar.

Professional Award honoree William L. Rich III, M.D. (center), POB board member Mohamad Jaafar, M.D (left), and A. Raymond Pilkerton, M.D. (right).

Pete Piringer, POB Community Service Award honoree (center) and the Montgomery County Local 1664 Professional Fire Fighters Honor Guard Team.

GMG, INC. March 8, 2017 31

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