Alley dive, today! I was feeling a little bit unenthusiastic about my New Place today: I didn’t have much time, so thought I would just duck into this alley while I was down in Dupont Circle, and check the New Place off my list. Boy, did I get a free attitude adjustment! This alley (behind…
Continuing my Civil War Fort series here in D.C., I ventured into the Brookland neighborhood today to check out Fort Bunker Hill Park. The “fort” part of this park has definitely been taken over by the “park” part of this park. Indeed, the Civil War fortifications seem to have been swallowed back up into the…
That “castle” on the corner in D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood? For years I didn’t pay it any attention other than a passing glance. Until tonight, when an event I attended at the “Heurich House,” turned out to be this place. (Oh, it’s you!) This stone behemoth is actually a Gilded Age mansion built in 1892-94…
Found it! This is the alley I was looking for the other day. The colorful mural had caught my eye when I was driving down U street last week. But this alley turned out to be so much cooler than I ever could have guessed! I didn’t know, for example, that it was named after…
Library Day here at ONP! Continuing my series of renewing my library books at a different branch of the DC library each time they come due. . . . Now, I hate to play favorites—but this adorable Petworth library may be my favorite so far: the red brick building with white cupola, dark wooden window frames…
I was looking for a particular alley off of U Street today, with a particular mural, but I got lost and ended up at 9 1/2 Street NW. Why not? I thought. I liked the contrasts of 9 1/2 Street–one side mini gentrified row-houses and the other side crumbling brick buildings. A rainbow pride banner…
The one good thing about catching on all these pesky medical appointments over the summer is that some of them are taking me to New Places—for example, today’s Hall of Mirrors. While seemingly a normal office building on the outside, the inside of 2112 F Street (with its double-mirrored gold entryway) place struck me as…
Quelle dilema! My original New Place today (the REI store in NE DC) got usurped by a spontaneous New Place (the unit block of Pierce Street NW), when we took a stroll around the neighborhood and discovered the street’s pink and white anime-inspired mural and a reflective glass office building that mirrored the sky and…
One of the things that surprises me about this project is how rarely New Places come into my daily life as a matter of course. I usually have to go out and intentionally look for them. So when an errand took me to today’s New Place, I was happy (and a little relieved) to have an…
One of the best things about the ONP project is how my friends are getting into the spirit of it. Many are eager to come along on my explorations (I now keep a running list of destinations and the people who want to go there). Even cooler is when my friends have New Places they want…