05.14 - living rent-free
what’s going on in d.c.
The Ballston area of Arlington is hosting a Quarterfest Crawl on Saturday with free restaurant samples, a scavenger hunt, games, and live performances. On Sunday, there’s a similar event in Van Ness, with food specials and games.
The inside of the National Cathedral is reopening with a sizeable art installation - 2,000 origami doves hanging from the ceiling of the Cathedral’s main hall. Tickets are available here (many upcoming days are already sold out though).
B-I-N-G-O is back in action at Union Market, starting next Tuesday at 7 p.m. It’s free to play and there are seemingly lots of prizes to win!
A beautifully renovated library in Southwest DC (between the Wharf and Navy Yard) is opening tomorrow with a rustic vibe and open floorplan.
let’s talk food and drinks
my weekly best bite: Tom yum fried rice with shrimp from Mt. Vernon’s Baan Siam
In apt timing as workers began to head into the office again, Slipstream opened a new café at 12th and New York Ave NW. For now, the shop will be open on Thursdays only, but the café plans to expand hours as more employees head downtown.
Here’s seven pandemic-era outdoor bars to try, courtesy of The Washington Post
Local favorite grocer Glen’s Garden Market is closing in Dupont Circle - but the news isn’t all bad. A different local grocery that is currently in the Maryland-area, Dawson’s Market, is acquiring the space.
what’s on our minds?
In one of the weirder stories of the month, a member of Congress is accused of allowing his son to live in a U.S. Capitol basement storage space for weeks. As part of the broader lawsuit against the member, Republican Doug Lamborn, the aide asserts Lamborn’s reckless approach to COVID endangered the staffer and the overall office.
Traffic deaths in D.C. are occurring at a significantly faster rate this year, with 16 roadway fatalities to date. Yesterday, Mayor Bowser pledged $10M to add speed cameras and general safety improvements across D.C. Previous safety campaigns by the mayor’s office have been critiqued for lack of enforcement and poorly-rolled out initiatives (e.g. the short-lived Slow Streets).
This is the last weekend of less full businesses, as D.C. announced plans to remove nearly all capacity restrictions on May 21 for restaurants, retail, gyms, schools, etc. Only bars and nightclubs will continue to have capacity restrictions, with those to be dropped on June 11. Masks will continue to be required - although the Mayoral press conference occurred prior to yesterday’s updated CDC guidance that vaccinated Americans can remove masks and stop social distancing in almost all settings.
If you have an extra $5M and change to drop on a home, may I suggest this Kent neighborhood beaut featured in Washingtonian? Among its amenities is a SoulCycle-inspired exercise room.
Quick links to other weekly #goodreads:
The battle for 1042 Cutler Street - per Washington Post, “As landlords and tenants go broke across the U.S., the next crisis point of the pandemic approaches.”
The Crucifixion of Courtney Stodden- per The Daily Beast, “At 16, Stodden was mocked and slut-shamed for marrying 50-year-old Doug Hutchison. As Stodden says, it’s taken years to free themself from his—and the media’s—abuse.”
Robinhood’s Big Gamble- per The New Yorker, “In eliminating barriers to investing in the stock market, is the app democratizing finance or encouraging risky behavior?”
Follow the Money - per Texas Observer, “Over the span of four years, federal investigators estimated millions of dollars stolen from Mexican taxpayers passed through one South Texas bank. When they followed the trail, it led to real estate, cars, and airplanes. But in 2018, those investigations suddenly stopped.”
what are we watching/reading?
A buzzy new comedy, Hacks, premiered last night on HBO. The dark comedy stars Jean Smart and Hannan Einbinder as two comedians in different age brackets, but both in a bind, who team up in Las Vegas to revive their careers.
The Woman in the Window, a new Netflix movie based on a twisty thriller book. Will the movie be any good? It’s a Netflix original, so hard to say, but the Amy Adams flick is on my list for the weekend.