Category: Commerce

Victims of the Riot: Jessie McCain 643 P St NW

It has been 50 years since the riots that destroyed several DC commercial corridors. And it has taken about 50 years for life and vibrancy to return to those corridors. However at the time, several of those places were already in a downward spiral. The heyday had passed. When the community is strong and disaster strikes, you rebuild. When it is weak, you leave.

Parking lotJessie McCain had a barbershop at 643 P St NW. During the riots it was completely destroyed. So what is there now? A parking lot. Next to it is a vacant lot, where Clark Construction has a couple of mobile office trailers that have been there for years. So in 50 years the only improvement has been clearing off the rubble.

Just after the riots officials sent out surveys to business owners to figure out the level of damage. The image above is from the survey Mr. McCain returned in September 1968. He was a 50 year old African American, and back in the 60s, 50 was old. Fifty year olds are a whole lot healthier and active these days, but back then they were well over the hill, probably not going to see 65. The destruction the riot brought Mr. McCain was the final straw. He wrote: “I am too old to be worryed [sic] any more. I just don’t want any more business.”

There were plenty more victims in Shaw for whom the riots were the final straw, and I’ll introduce you to them in the month of April.

Dangit old Engine 12- Spark Restaurant Review

Dammit. I really had hoped this would be better. Maybe they’ll change things up or find their audience or something, because I was mildly disappointed with the new Spark restaurant that took the place of the old Engine 12 Firehouse restaurant.

I had high, maybe too high, hopes for the new restaurant in the old space, when I saw bone marrow on the menu. The last time I had bone marrow was at Eat the Rich (RIP) paired with some jam. It was soooo good. I had those same expectations when coming to Spark.

Bone marrow at Spark 12

 

Okay, let me start off with what I liked. It was bone marrow. There was nice crusty bread. There was a little of a pickle side to cut the fat of the marrow. There was a nice funky tool which to use to scoop out the marrow. There was salt at the table so I could season bland tasting marrow. Yeah, that’s my one complaint, it was bland tasting. Maybe it was because the marrow was ‘smoked’ and not braised or whatever the heck Eat the Rich did. It lacked a richness, and just tasted like fat. I’m fine with paying $16 for a plate of bones and bread, if it is yummy bones and bread.

My main reason for getting a sitter and making Spark 12 our date night outing were the bones. Ignoring the bone marrow, everything else was meh, ‘alright’. The people at the next table were loud and even after they left, we still had to speak with a raised voice to hear each other. The service seemed a little slow, but since they’d only been open about a week, that was forgivable. The Old Fashioned I ordered was fair tastewise but packed one hell of a boozy punch. The Help ordered a chocolate atomic fireball non-alcoholic drink. It was like a chocolate manhattan with the cinnamon spice candy along the rim and at the bottom of the drink. I thought the chocolate tasted watery and the strong cinnamon was a little overwhelming. If I hadn’t had a big lunch I might have been hungry for more, and if I were, we would have left to check out Big Bear or ANXO.

The experience left us a little sad. We really want the space to succeed. The previous restaurant had mediocre food. This, although they just opened and there is a ton of room for improvement, is also mediocre. This would be a great restaurant if they could just get the food right and in this neighborhood we expect more out of a sit down restaurant. A friend pointed out that if they wanted Caribbean, (Spark has some island dishes) they would go to Jam Doung down the block. This neighborhood also hosts Red Hen, Bacio, and DCity Smokehouse, places known for their great tasting food.

Maybe the problem is that I just got a super mediocre meal. The Help, my date, seemed content with his beef patties, but he’s easy to please. I haven’t written Spark off, I’ll try them again and hope for better. But next time we’re bringing the kid and skipping the sitter.

That is one pretty salad

Fishscale Romaine SaladSo for lunch I ventured out and was hankering for a Halfsmoke dog but they were closed on Tuesday for lunch, so I walked back in the direction of Truxton Circle to fix myself lunch when I was drawn into Fishscale at 637 Florida Ave NW.

See that salad. That sure is one pretty salad. I did not order that salad. I ordered a fish burger with the sunflower slaw. It was good. Was it $15 worth of good (incl tax)? Unsure, but it was good. I liked it. I may come back to check out the salad to see if it tastes as good as it looks.

Good Liquor Stores/ Bad Liquor Stores

Let beer be for those who are perishing,
     wine for those who are in anguish!
 Let them drink and forget their poverty
     and remember their misery no more.--- Proverbs 31:6-7

So I was allowed to escape my darling baby son to run some errands and noticed a new liquor store where an old liquor store sat at S and 7th St NW. It is a different liquor store in that the corner doesn’t reek of fake pot and there isn’t a crowd of purposeless Black men hanging out in front. The inside probably is different too. I wouldn’t know as the old store “Log Cabin Liquors” was impossible to see into.  The new store. Looks very nice from the outside.

Unfortunately in the history of the neighborhood, liquor stores were bad news. For those who didn’t know, for about 2/3rds of the 20th Century chunks of Shaw was a slum or downtrodden neighborhood. In the map above liquor stores were in the brown and they dotted the neighborhood. You will find a lot of liquor stores in downtrodden neighborhoods, with unsavory characters hanging about. When I moved into my neck of Shaw, it was natural to fight the renewal license of liquor stores because they were problems. They didn’t reflect where some neighbors hoped to progress. Those places sold wino liquors (Mad Dog, 40 ozs, etc) and sometimes other things adding to the drug trade. They catered to the poor who were trying to drown their sorrows in cheap booze.

Alcoholism isn’t helpful, and doesn’t raise anyone up. I would go all Carrie Nation, if I didn’t enjoy the stuff, as I’ve experienced the destruction of alcoholism in my family. When residents and church representatives challenged the ABRA license, the destructive nature of alcoholism was brought forth because we saw the evidence of it littered in our treeboxes and passed out in our parks.
Angel Share Liquors
Yes, the new ‘good’ shiny liquor stores are a reflection of gentrification, but they aren’t making money off of panhandlers and seniors cashing in their social security checks to self-medicate themselves into a stupor. The bars and liquor stores are not like some college town places helping patrons to get drunk fast and cheap. Drinks are stupid expensive, and at some places carefully crafted so you don’t gulp them down, but rather savor the notes and whatever.  As a resident I like these bars and liquor stores that cater to a more responsible (and yes moneyed) crowd. Parks are more fun when there aren’t smashed liquor bottle glass sticking out every few feet.

Somewhere in this town is a drink that uses spruce, like in the tree, where can I find that?

Amazon Headquarters in Shaw? Oh Hell No!

So going though my email digests I read, a press release titled “Washington, DC Proposes Four Sites for Amazon HQ2”. Instead of deleting it after skimming the first 2 suggestions pushed forward by Mayor Bowser of the Anacostia waterfront and NoMa, I spotted “Shaw- Howard University” and actually screamed.

Commercial Building Map
Map of Shaw for 1970 Commercial Buildings

This was not a scream of delight. More of dread, followed by a suspicious feeling that the Mayor’s office is sucking up to some Shaw community or group because, seriously, where the hell would you put it? Would Amazon have to buy a chunk of the financially distressed Howard University and put it around there?

It would be nice if Amazon decided to put its second headquarters here and the Mayor’s alexawhydc.com campaign is cute. However, we’ve got one major industry in town that employs a range of people (meaning you don’t always need a college degree or post secondary anything) and a lot of them, Uncle Sam. Yes, the federal government is slowly reducing its workforce in the city (if I want to rise up I’d have to go to our suburban office) and the city should seek other major employers. Preferably employers who need people other than college and grad school graduates like myself. Anyway, I have a feeling that we should not set ourselves up for heartbreak. And on the off chance Amazon does choose DC, stay out of Shaw, traffic is a pain in the butt around here already.

Beau Thai Maybe Thursday, Maybe Friday, We’ll see

I ran into the owner of Beau Thai after work. She was waiting for the C of something, I gather the person is the last ok from the city to go ahead and start serving us food.
Anyway I asked for a menu. We’ll see how Mr. Scanner is acting later tonight. Hopefully the last inspector will bother to show up this evening and give the go ahead. If he doesn’t show up today, then tomorrow, pushing the opening back to Friday.
The menu has two different prices for lunch and dinner one dish meals and entrees. I remember when Thai X-ing opened the lunch service went away due to a lack of people to support it. Anyway it’s got some usual favs, Pad Thai, Satay, Panang Curry, Red & Green Curries, Larb Gai, and spring rolls. Appetizers run between $5 and$ 6, one dish meals $8 or $10 and entrees $9 or $11.Beau Thai Door 1

Dear Washington Post- Stop killing yourself

Last night I got a phone call from someone trying to get me to subscribe to your new “Capital Business” publication, most likely because I am a regular weekly & weekend subscriber. I told the woman on the other end no and explained why and mentioned that I have pondered canceling my regular subscription all together.

The “Capital Business” publication lacks what I liked about your old business section, before you gutted it. I want to look at a list of stocks. I want to see what are their dividends if any, and their P/E ratios. I can’t get that in your daily minuscule section of business in the A section of the paper, and it doesn’t appear in “Capital Business” either. I don’t buy what I don’t want.

This call happened while ‘the Help’ was over for dinner. He’s got a few friends in the newspaper/ broadcasting paid-journalism field. He told me of a conversation he’s had with these friends, and how they mentioned your editorial staff is paying more attention to the online side than to the print side, which might explain the typos and other errors. And there was something about your copywriters, can’t remember what, but there is something wrong there. Those friends were frightened about the path your paper seems to be taking. “Frightened” was the word they used and they have been inside. The quality of the paper has gone downhill really fast in the 15 years I’ve been reading it. It may have started with the buy-outs.

As I’ve said, I pondered canceling my weekday subscription. Want to know what’s keeping me, so far? Comics, metro, and food. In that order. Sometimes the theater listings. If the Washington Times ever vamped up and expanded their comics you’d be in trouble. I also value the Post as fish wrap. It’s handing for wetness in the basement, wrapping packages, soaking up bacon grease or other fried foods, paint projects, washing windows, weed-block, and a variety of projects around the house. For that I could use any newspaper, except the City Paper for the food things, that paper seems unclean.

Maybe your business model or some consultant has told you that the Internets is where it’s at. Ok. I hope that’s bringing in money and justifying your $490 a share price. Maybe you don’t need paper subscribers, with our need for deliverymen who knock over our pots and break our plants.