thebluefood Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 Since this is a Washington Redskins message board, it seems appropriate to have a thread devoted to...well, Washington, D.C.! People seem to forget that people have called this city and the surrounding area home since well before its founding and since its inception. I make no bones about my ties to the city - my folks were born in D.C. and their folks the same. My father is especially proud of his civic connection and recently rediscovered this memento from his teenage years when he would listen to Felix Grant's program on WMAL. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Bumpin' this one since I found this post from WAMU recently and it reminded me of one of my favorite topics: the elusive "D.C. Accent": https://wamu.org/story/16/07/07/is_there_a_washington_dc_accent/ Quote Strawberries, Maryland and your mother play a starring role in this edition of What’s With Washington, in which we answer a question posed by several listeners: Does the Washington D.C. region have an accent? It turns out Washington is a tough place for linguists to tease out the real accent. It is one of the most transient cities in the country, and most people who live in D.C. actually grew up in other places around the country. This causes real problems for linguists. “The problem of course with D.C., and it has been this way for a long time, is it is so confounded by the influx of people who were not born and raised in D.C.,” says Walt Wolfram, a professor at North Carolina State University. Wolfram is one of the pioneers of research on social and ethnic dialects, and he spent decades in Washington. Having so many not-from-around-here residents “obscures things that you might think of as originally Washington D.C.” It obscures things because the more people who move in from out of town, bringing their own accents from around the world, the more that levels the accent of an area, flattening it out. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Great thread! Sorry I missed it the first time around. I recently discovered that the hospital I was born in is literally 2 blocks away from where I work. I was born in the Columbia Hospital for Women at 24th and L. It's condo's now so I didn't realize until recently that I walk right by it literally every work day. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Springfield Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 I like this thread and look forward to reading about history and culture of the city. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 I recently watched the Ric Burns (brother of Ken) documentary on New York City. It was fascinating. Obviously NYC has a longer history than our beloved swamp, but I really think that someone should do a deep dive into DC history from beginning to current. SO MUCH interesting stuff has happened here. I looked for one, didn't find anything close to a 17 hour dive like NYC got. I don't have any experience in film production, but I think it would be fun to get a group of people together to do it; I would love to help write the script. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 Just discovered this: Documentary they made right after the Nats came to town. I'm only about 13 minutes in but already, I saw some footage of what appears to be either really high quality home film or archive film from one of the local TV stations of the last Senators game at RFK on Sept. 30, 1971. I've read a lot about how the game ended with the Senators (soon to be Rangers) forfeiting because fans bum rushed the field but I'd never seen film of it before today. I've always thought of field invasions at RFK in the context of joy - like when the fans did it at the end of some of those NFC Championships. You can tell this was out of frustration - not at the players (you can see some of the fans shake hands with them after they ran out onto the field) but at the powers that made it happen. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 2 hours ago, PleaseBlitz said: Great thread! Sorry I missed it the first time around. I recently discovered that the hospital I was born in is literally 2 blocks away from where I work. I was born in the Columbia Hospital for Women at 24th and L. It's condo's now so I didn't realize until recently that I walk right by it literally every work day. I was also born in the Columbia Hospital for Women. I grew up in Glover Park a block away from the National Observatory, and a block away from what is now the Russian embassy (it was an abandoned veteran's hospital when I was a kid). I also remember that in elementary school they had us read a book written by a local author, set on Walnut street (which is Tunlaw spelled backwards). Tunlaw Rd. is the road that runs behind the Russian embassy. Tunlaw was actually named after a walnut tree: There once was a great suburban Washington estate called Tunlaw, in what is today Wesley Heights — the home stood at 45th and Klingle. The man who operated the estate, Thomas L. Hume, was a friend of Generals Grant and Sherman, often threw lavish parties to entertain the upper crust of Washington society. Hume also had a family home at 3319 P St. (Zillow) in Georgetown. Apparently Hume was an exceedingly large man, because he required a custom-sized casket upon his death in 1881. The farm and land belonged to Adophus H. Pickrell, who was Hume’s father-in-law, and President of the Potomac Insurance Company, Director of the Farmers and Mechanics Band, and Director of the Georgetown Gas Company. In other words, he was a very wealthy and influential man in Washington. We found the following old article from October 31st, 1897 in The Washington Post detailing the origin of the estate’s name. Quote The farm, bounded on the north and west by the Loughborough and Ridge roads, contained 147 acres. There was a prodigious number of walnut trees on the place, and one giant one from which the farm was named–walnut spelt [sic] backward–stand to-day not many yards from the site of the house. It was underneath this tree that almost everything connected with the story of Tunlaw took place. It was here that before and during the civil war many parties adjourned to “speak their minds; they knowed the old tree’d never tell on ’em’ said Uncle Dick. It was here that a mock trial was held, with a Judge of the Supreme Court on the bench, and the most prominent lawyers in the District as bailiffs, Sheriffs, attorneys, prisoners, and jury when “the things that were said were better than the nuts, better than the frolic wine.” It was there that brilliant speeches were made, war stories narrated, the Fourth of July gloriously celebrated, while feast after feast, company after company passing in long processional array under the boughs of that old walnut, combined to make it almost as well known as the Treaty elm and the Charter oak. Link 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I remember my mom explaining to me what "****, set me up!" meant. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Didn't know you were that young @Spaceman Spiff. Thanks for reminding me how old I am. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 My HS (Woodrow Wilson) graduation (1983) was the first at the original Washington Convention Center, which was Mayor Barry's baby, but which sucked and was demolished 20 years after it opened. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 We have culture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 (edited) 1 minute ago, PokerPacker said: We have culture? Duh. Sad as it may be at times. Let's not forget we have history. Edited February 8, 2018 by Kosher Ham 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrypticVillain Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 18 minutes ago, China said: My HS (Woodrow Wilson) graduation (1983) was the first at the original Washington Convention Center, which was Mayor Barry's baby, but which sucked and was demolished 20 years after it opened. The new convention wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the first one. So I thank Mayor Barry for that. My UDC graduation was there back in 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 @thebluefood , Band, that initial video is why the thread was initially blah I suppose. I love the idea and will contribute besides this minor critique. I'll start with this so folks can research... Georgetown was considered the ghetto/hood back in the day. When it started to get expensive to live there was in the 80's. Before that... 2 minutes ago, CrypticVillain said: The new convention wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the first one. So I thank Mayor Barry for that. My UDC graduation was there back in 2015. The construction of the new one made my property value more than double. Barry was a good dude. He was re-elected because he did care about the city and the citizens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaceman Spiff Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Speaking of Georgetown in the 80s But it was in the mid and late 90s when I was in jr. high and then high school and this guy was the most electrifying guy in town, no question. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 I think it's taken a long time to realize, but DC's food scene, in the last 10 years, has gone from a bunch of boring snobby steakhouses to one of the most vibrant in the nation. It's now one of 4 US cities that the Michelin Guide awards stars to, along with NYC, Chicago and SF. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted February 9, 2018 Author Share Posted February 9, 2018 Bumping with a reminder that "Washington, D.C." once meant something very different and most folks born in the District are from "Washington County, District of Columbia." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_County,_D.C. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 DC has a pretty great theatre and music scene. James Earl Jones came to prominence in the Great White Hope at Arena Stage back in the 1960's. Countless plays have been incubated at our local playhouses, and we are still one of the great warm up towns pre-Broadway for quite a few shows. There really are two DCs. One is the transitory political town, but there is also a settled population that has produced great Jazz (Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and Bo Didley) as well as even starting its own musical movement. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosher Ham Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Blues alley. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted February 9, 2018 Author Share Posted February 9, 2018 Several musical movements - Go-go and hardcore punk (along with a few other areas of the country) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcsluggo Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 (edited) On 2/8/2018 at 9:25 AM, PleaseBlitz said: I think it's taken a long time to realize, but DC's food scene, in the last 10 years, has gone from a bunch of boring snobby steakhouses to one of the most vibrant in the nation. It's now one of 4 US cities that the Michelin Guide awards stars to, along with NYC, Chicago and SF. New Orleans doesn't have any...? I've gotta say that fact makes the list look more like a "this is ONLY a list of snooty very rich restaurants" Edited February 9, 2018 by mcsluggo added in the word ....ONLY ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebluefood Posted February 9, 2018 Author Share Posted February 9, 2018 Also learned a bunch of notable musicians were either from or lived in or recorded music in D.C. I knew about Sousa and Duke Ellington and Marvin Gaye but apparently, Al Jolson's family put down roots in the city after emigrating from Europe and Van McCoy was a D.C. native and is buried in the same cemetery as my paternal grandparents. Huh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, mcsluggo said: New Orleans doesn't have any...? I've gotta say that fact makes the list look more like a "this is a list of snooty very rich restaurants" That is probably true in the sense that the restaurants that make the main Michelin list are generally what is considered "fine dining." The point of the Michelin Guide was to convince people to make special trips to go to these restaurants (and thus wear out their tires faster). I think people are less inclined to make a special trip to holes in the wall, even if the food is good. Also, several of the places in DC that made the list are both ****ing spectacular and without the least bit of snootiness (aside from the price). The Dabney, for example. The Michelin Guide has a different list, the Bib Gourmand, which is their list of less expensive places. DC had 22 restaurants make that list, some of which I agree with, some of which I don't. Edited February 9, 2018 by PleaseBlitz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 Yep, not to mention an incredible host of literary stars... even more so, if you expand the District to what we call today the DMV. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PleaseBlitz Posted February 9, 2018 Share Posted February 9, 2018 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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