08.06 - vamos nadal?
what’s going on in d.c.
Businesses in the 14th St/Logan Circle area are hosting the MidCity Dog Days Sidewalk sale this weekend, with many local favorites (Miss Pixies, Pacers Running, Logan Hardware, and Salt and Sundry) participating.
For street art fans, DC’s Mural Tour is back. The 2ish hour tour of murals in the Union Market and NoMa area covers about 25 murals in the area. Tickets are $30/person and tours are offered Thurs-Sat at 11 a.m.
Van Gogh’s Immersive Experience starts at the Rhode Island Center (near the Rhode Island metro stop) this weekend - it’s giving off major ARTECHOUSE vibes, but with 20,000 square feet of Van Gogh’s most famous art. Tickets are about $50/person with fees. If you’d like to go at a discounted rate, I’m selling two tickets for Sunday, September 12 for $30/person (shoot me a note)
It’s your last weekend to see downtown’s National Museum of Women in the Arts for a while, as the museum will close for a two-year major renovation on Monday.
let’s talk food and drinks
my weekly best bite: Impossible Burger at the Citi Open - food is a premium option at the Rock Creek Park tennis tournament (Spanish star Rafa Nadal was the marquee player this year before a rough loss last night)
A fun new Indian spot, Daru, opened this week off of H St NE. The spot combines twists on Indian staples (deemed by the restaurateurs as “Indian-ish”) while the drinks merge Indian ingredients with classic cocktail options.
Compass Coffee is offering free coffee today at the Georgetown location and tomorrow at their Shaw spot.
what’s on our minds?
It’s pretty undisputable that working out inside in a mask is … not great. A group of D.C. gyms have banded together to ask Mayor Bowser to allow a mask exemption - if they operate for the vaccinated population only. Not sure how the mayor’s office will respond, but there is precedent - NYC is requiring proof of vaccination for indoor dining and gyms and Los Angeles is strongly considering a similar measure.
In something that should have happened years ago, the Washington Football Team has finally banned Native American-themed headdresses and face paint from their games. Don’t be fooled though - the franchise ownership/management is still awful. As a prime example, look at the way they treated their former cheerleaders in this great Refinery29 piece.
There is an incredibly realistic (and oddly unsettling) White House replica home for sale in McLean. For $2.7M, you too can invite your friends over to take pictures in..an…oval office.
Quick links to other weekly #goodreads:
The Internet Demands Uplifting Videos. So He Stages Them. - per The New York Times, “Dhar Mann and other ‘wholesome’ channels combine the high-definition slickness of today’s YouTube content with the feel of a corporate-training video.”
American Shoppers are a Nightmare- per The Atlantic, “Customers were this awful long before the pandemic…Flight attendants are merely the tip of the service-work iceberg. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, videos of irate anti-maskers screaming, throwing things, and assaulting employees at big-box and grocery stores have become a social-media mainstay. As Americans return en masse to more types of in-person commerce, the situation only seems to be declining.”
The Community of Brown Grove vs. Wegmans- per The Washington Post, “Why African American residents-turned-activists are trying to block a supermarket chain from building a warehouse in rural Virginia.”
what are we watching/reading?
Schmigadoon! on Apple TV. I’m hearing great things about a new comedy musical series, starring Keegan-Michael Key and SNL’s Cecily Strong as a couple who stumble into a 1940s town that bursts into song. Probably a great fit if you love musicals and shows that parody musicals, probably not so great if the thought of spontaneous musical outbursts makes your head spin.