History

The stories that came before us influence what comes next.

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September 29, 2010 | 4:06 PM | By

How D.C. used to be

Kinorama

One of you just sent me the link to an amazing album of photographs taken in the mid to late 1980s. They depict a D.C. that I don’t recognize (I arrived ten years later); they are vivid, engrossing, beautiful. The photographer who took them said this about them in the album’s introduction:

From 1985 to 1988 I wandered the streets of Washington DC photographing the unseen and vanishing moments of the city. These images lay dormant in the archives until I realized that they needed to be brought to life before the persons and spaces are totally lost to entropy and time…

These images depict the hidden parts of Washington DC rarely if ever traversed by tourists. Here are the places and some of the people trapped in their own world while the rich and powerful swirl around in a seemingly separate world a mile away.

The pictures deserve to be seen. If any of you have similar links or ideas for DCentric, please send them my way.

FILED UNDER: Delightful City, History
September 29, 2010 | 1:45 PM | By

Marion Barry, Revealed

TalkMediaNews

Marion Barry

Earlier this month, I mentioned that Marion Barry’s popularity is something I’d like to explore on DCentric. Half the city loves him, the other half is perplexed and occasionally angry at such affection. If you’d like to learn more about the “Mayor for Life”, you’d do well to get a cup of coffee and set aside some time for a long, but fascinating read from last year’s Weekly Standard. Titled “A Rake’s Progress: Marion Barry bares (almost) all”, it was penned by Matt Labash. I met Labash at a book release party held in his honor; while there, I met Marion Barry. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he stole the show.

Supporting him, in spite of his struggles–even because of them–is almost a symbolic sacrament. Plus, he does something few other politicians in the District, even the city’s later black mayors, do: He shows up.

That’s exactly my answer, when people ask me to explain the popularity of Barry; he shows up.
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FILED UNDER: History, Marion Barry
September 8, 2010 | 3:12 PM | By

An Old Dividing Line in Arlington

TBD covers what was once a “Segregation Wall” in Arlington:

Decades ago, before schools, hospitals and other public spaces were integrated in Arlington, a bunch of white homeowners were increasingly wary of the growing population of African-Americans living in Hall’s Hill. And so one by one, they piled cinder blocks or built high wood fences behind their homes and those of their backyard neighbors.

Eventually, the wall was one continuous barrier between the south-facing homes on 17th Street, owned by white families, and the north facing ones on 17th Road and 18th Street, owned by black families. That same strip now serves as the dividing line between two civic associations: John M. Langston to the north and Waycroft-Woodlawn to the south.

It’s amazing to sit in this currently (for now!) majority-minority city and imagine a time when public spaces were segregated by law. Not that they are all wonderfully integrated now, but the reason why certain Clarendon bars don’t resemble a Benetton ad is because of…personal preference, mostly.

FILED UNDER: History
September 3, 2010 | 1:16 PM | By

Do you know what a Scuppernong is?

Ephemerama

Sweet, sweet, patriotic scuppernongs

I saw them at Whole Foods and muttered, “Scupper-WHA?” then moved on; if I’m going to over-spend on fruit, I’m going to be true to my brown roots and get some mango. Mmmm, mango.  Back to scupper-whats: I was born and raised in California, so perhaps I can be excused for being ignorant of this type of Vitis rotundifolia, which is found in Virginia and the Carolinas. Until I started researching this post, I didn’t know that it was the first variety of grape ever cultivated in this country!

Amanda at Metrocurean has more– she’s been enjoying them since childhood:

If you haven’t had the pleasure of acquainting yourself with the honey-sweet grape variety native to the Southeast, allow me to introduce you.

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FILED UNDER: History, Food
August 25, 2010 | 6:13 PM | By

Kermit the Frog Comes Home

Kermit the Frog at The Smithsonian

John Mueller/Extra Medium

Kermit the Frog at The Smithsonian

Today, a beloved, internationally-recognized icon moved to the Smithsonian. What many of you may not know is that he was born right here in Washington, D.C. Via the AP:

The original Kermit the Frog, his body created with an old dull-green coat and his eyes made of pingpong balls, has returned home to the nation’s capital, where the puppet got his start.

The first Kermit creation from Jim Henson’s Muppet’s collection appeared in 1955 on the early TV show “Sam and Friends,” produced at Washington’s WRC-TV. Henson’s widow Jane Henson on Wednesday donated 10 characters from the show to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

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FILED UNDER: History, Smithsonian