Things To Do
Tips and Tricks for navigating DC
1. The Capitol Bldg is the center of the city. The city is laid out in a grid of quadrants - NW, NE, SW, SE. You must pay attention to the geographical designation in order to find your correct destination. 14th St NW is quite far from 14th St SW. 2. The grid is laid out with numerical streets running north/south and alphabetical streets running east/west. As you move west from the Capitol the numbered streets get higher. As you move north, the alphabet gets higher. However, as you move EAST from the Capitol building, the street numbers and alphabets flip as you are in a different quadrant. So the numbers get bigger as you go east. Alphabet streets still go up going north. When they ran out of alphabet letters, they changed to names, but the names are alphabetical and continue to get higher going north. So Allison St is not as far north as Jennifer St. 3. There is no J street. 4. State name streets always run diagonal and create the circles. 5. Metro is the best way to get around.
Secret Tourist Tricks
1. The Kennedy Center terrace has one of the best views in the city and you can enter and access the terrace without tix to a show. 2. At the Lincoln Memorial, walk around the back from the Lincoln statue level to see a great view of Arlington cemetery. 3. Guidebook's suggest Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street. It survived the race riots following MLK assassination and has a long history in DC. But I've spent quality bathroom time every time I've eaten there so enter at your own peril. 4. Schedule Capitol bldg tours in advance. If you request through your Representative or Senators, you frequently get a private tour. 5. The roof of the National Cathedral also has a great city view. 6. The Zoo is well done and free, as are all the Smithsonian museums. If you go to Air & Space on the Mall, look for the pee hole in the rocket where they peed into space.. It's hilarious. 7. Georgetown is mostly shopping but if you get off the main streets the houses are cute and show old DC architecture.
National Museum of African American History and Culture
I HAVE A GROUP PASS FOR 30 PEOPLE FOR SATURDAY, MAY 4TH TO ENTER AT 3:30. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT ONE OF THE TICKETS.
Barbie Pond on Avenue Q
The Barbies are always having a party, either half-naked or elaborately clothed. In patriotic ball gowns, pilgrim costumes, shamrocks as fig leaves or maybe just bunny tails, they gather ’round the miniature pond in front of their Dream House, sometimes engaging in some, um, rather grown-up scenarios. Life in plastic: It’s fantastic for the Barbie Pond, as the campy neighborhood attraction is called. It started in 2014 with just a few Barbies lounging, but now the home’s owner, who has turned his front garden into an Instagram sensation, has collected hundreds of dolls. The display changes every month, usually to reflect holidays.
Dinosaur Sign
Washington’s most mysterious dinosaur fossils weren’t discovered by a swashbuckling paleontologist, but by workers laying a sewer pipe in 1898. Their excavation uncovered a section of dinosaur vertebra, which scientists determined was from a new species dubbed Creosaurus potens — a 30-foot-long predator weighing more than 2½ tons. In 1990, local paleontologist Peter Kranz proposed a much catchier name: Capitalsaurus. To mark the 100th anniversary of the fossil’s discovery, elementary school students petitioned the D.C. Council to name Capitalsaurus the city’s official dinosaur. The bone isn’t on public display — it’s held at the National Museum of Natural History — but its legacy can be found on the block where it was discovered: a fanciful sign depicting Capitalsaurus chasing a smaller dinosaur, and a street sign designating this stretch of F Street SE as Capitalsaurus Court.
The bonsai that survived Hiroshima
One of the trees at the Arboretum’s National Bonsai and Penjing Museum stands small as a symbol of resilience. The bonsai, a Japanese white pine that’s nearly 400 years old, was grown within two miles of where U.S. forces dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945. It was gifted to the United States in 1975, but the museum’s curators didn’t realize the connection until 2001, when the grandsons of the man who donated the tree came to visit and told the story of how it had survived the bomb blast and radiation. It makes one think about how a miniature tree could survive the blast, and how it’s become a monument to the people who did not. World War II wasn’t the first war the bonsai had endured — and probably isn’t the last, either.
Prince call box
If you’ve wandered through the District’s oldest neighborhoods, you’ve probably noticed police and fire call boxes on street corners. Introduced in the 1860s, they found new life in 2000, when the city began a decade-long program that turned the rusting cast-iron hulks into canvases for hyperlocal art, filled with sculptures of long-gone buildings or portraits of notable residents. Last year, a new work appeared on Capitol Hill: The box itself had been painted purple, with gold highlights. Inside, a picture of the late Prince Rogers Nelson was surrounded by bouquets of blue and gold flowers. But where did it come from? Why Prince? An attempt to track down the box’s artist went nowhere. Calls and emails to arts and civic organizations turned up nothing. In some ways, the anonymity makes it better. Instead of a government-approved box, it’s a very personal gift from a neighbor to the city. It’s a tribute to Prince. And it is funky.
This block has the best cheap eats and drinks in D.C.
Some of the area's best tacos, delicious Cuban cuisine and reasonably priced (if not downright cheap) drinks.
Where to find all those D.C. murals you’ve seen on Instagram
There are many striking murals in the nation's capital, but some neighborhoods punch above their weight when it comes to Instagrammable murals per block. Here are three walking tours to see the art that brings color to our city — and provides endless selfie material for an #ootd (Outfit of the Day).
Ellē
On Bon Appetits 50 Best New Restaurants list.
Maydan
On Bon Appetit's 50 Best New Restaurants List
Kaliwa
2019 Bib Gourmand Restaurant
Ambar Capitol Hill
2019 Bib Gourmand Restaurant
Darth Vadar Gargoyle - National Cathedral
The National Cathedral has beautiful stained glass windows (in the Space window is a piece of lunar rock from Apollo 11 mission), the remains of Matthew Shepard, and is in general a pretty cool place. Including the Vadar. It's not too far from Georgetown so if you are over there, it's worth the extra effort to head up Wisconsin and look around.
Visit DC craft distilleries
It seems fitting that in close proximity to where Congress ratified the amendment that brought Prohibition to an end is a thriving vodka, gin, rum and whiskey distillery scene. In recent years many DC locals have turned their hand to craft distilling. See how spirits are made and sample the end results at these great distilleries in and around the nation's capital.
Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens
In an age old dance wind, water, and land combine here. Sparkling in the sun on a breezy day, this natural area of Anacostia Park has origins in a 1926 act of Congress to preserve the forests, water quality, and recreation value of the waterways of Washington, DC. The park reflects the policies that affect rivers and wetlands. Come, join the dance.
Frederick Douglass National Historic Site
"I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong." Frederick Douglass spent his life fighting for justice and equality. Born into slavery in 1818, he escaped as a young man and became a leading voice in the abolitionist movement. People everywhere still find inspiration today in his tireless struggle, brilliant words, and inclusive vision of humanity. Douglass's legacy is preserved here at Cedar Hill, where he lived his last 17 years.
Glenstone Museum
Ordinarily, visitors have to book their free tickets in advance, and they’re usually all snapped up as soon as they’re released online on a monthly basis. Glenstone also allows walk-ins, but it doesn’t guarantee entry. But one thing is immediately apparent: It’s stunning. https://dcist.com/story/18/09/24/glenstone-expansion/
Carousel at Glen Echo Park
Hand-carved by the renowned Dentzel Carousel Company of Philadelphia, the carousel was meticulously restored between 1983 and 2003, as was its rare 1926 Wurltizer Band Organ that still plays songs from paper rolls. The carousel has some local history, too: In 1960, five Howard University students protesting Glen Echo Amusement Park’s segregation were arrested for trespassing while riding on the carousel. The park was integrated the following year; a memorial near the carousel recounts the story. Cost per ride: $1.25. (Pro tip: If you buy multiple tickets in advance, you don’t have to get off the carousel between rides.)
Drift Inn
The focus on local seafood means the restaurant’s open from only May to October, when crabs are running. Specials included a dozen #1 crabs for $47 and a soft-shell sandwich on special for $10.99. You can’t go wrong with the golden-brown hush puppies.
Captain Billy's Crab House
The dining room — butterscotch-colored wooden booths, neon beer signs and framed prints — doesn’t feel as though it’s changed much since, which is why it’s better to eat outside, if you can. The Maryland vegetable crab soup and hush puppies make for a nice opening act, but here, it’s all about the blue crabs.
Guinness Open Gate Brewery & Barrel House
The beloved Irish brewer made a splash in 2017 when it opened a taproom and experimental brewery on the site of the old Calvert Distillery just north of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, marking the first time since the 1950s that Guinness operated a brewery in the United States. Last summer, it unveiled an upgraded space in the same complex: Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House now has a larger brewery, a visitors center, a spacious bar, a sit-down restaurant and a gift shop, and outside, a wide lawn features an alfresco bar and plots where beer ingredients are growing.
Close Encounters alien spaceship
This is the model of the alien Mother Ship used in the filming of the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (Columbia Pictures, 1977). The ship was conceived by Steven Spielberg, the film's director and screenwriter. It was made by a team headed by Gregory Jein, using model train parts and other kits. When filmed with special photographic and lighting effects, the model appears to be a huge, hovering craft. Rotating, colored lights underneath the ship added to its effects.