Milkmachine are playing a show this Friday at the Velvet Lounge. There will be three bands with accordions, and an opening act of sword sallower and fire breathers. Certainly an eclectic night indeed. January 30, doors at 9pm, show at 10. see for details: http://www.velvetloungedc.com/

Chinese New Year (year of the ox) parade is Sunday in Chinatown at 2pm.  A reader also writes:

Saw this on Chinatown in the Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012801315.html

it starts off saying that a five story high firecracker will be lit off this Sunday, and that made think it was perfect for PoP! For those non-superbowlers of course. The broader article is also interesting and discusses one drastically changing neighborhood.

Did you know Chinatown was originally along the mall, and its residents were forcibly relocated to make room for smithsonian and such?

Petworth Library is celebrating its 70th anniversary this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with cake and punch. The party will follow the children’s story hour. Please come, show your support, meet the new librarian (Robin Imperial) and sign up for the relaunched Friends of the Library support group. More after the jump. (more…)

Thanks to a reader for the tip on this new pop up located on the 1300 block of Oak Street, NW. It’s hard to tell in it’s current state but do you think this’ll be a good one? I kinda like the fact that’s it’s going to have a double bay window. You?

After the jump check out a pop up that I’ve shown a number of times that has finally been completed. It’s the one that has a super sweet glass fire escape. (more…)

Who knows what the domed structure to the right of the Capitol is? After learning what it was I was super embarrassed. Does anyone regularly use it?

Inauguration Day, originally uploaded by quigley_brown.

I think the one above from Quigley Brown really captures the moment perfectly. Tears of joy and tears of remembering the trauma this country and it’s people went through to get to this historical moment. Beautiful and extremely powerful. Congrats Quigley.  Honorable mentions after the jump. (more…)

This converted Rowhome is located at 1303 Clifton Street, NW:

View Larger Map

The flier says:

“New 4 unit conversion. LAST unit available! Modern kitchens w/ granite cntrs, custom cabs, SS apps, bamboo hdwds. Beautiful slate baths, spacious walk in closets. Great size BRs, pre wired sound w/ IPOD docking stations. Great location! Spectacular views of entire city! Just a few blocks to metro, U St Corridor & Columbia Heights dev (Target, etc). Come check them out!”

More info and photos can be found here.

I love this location because it is right near that part of 13th Street where you have an amazing view of downtown and the monuments. It is also very close to the building we judged yesterday.

A reader writes:

“I used to live next door (the white house on the left, looking at the photo) in a really nice condo conversion. When I lived there (2006-2007) the house next door was incredibly scary. It was falling down in terrible repair, and we used to joke about the one guy who lived there, who was bizarre beyond words. He never talked to anyone, and we took to calling him Boo Radley. Once our neighbors on the top floor told us they could see his roof, where he was keeping rows and rows of 5 gallon buckets filled with dirt that he would tend, but he’d take them inside before we could see what sprouted in them. We were actually worried their weight would cave the roof in.

Not long after I moved out (end of 07), I walked by and saw a sign had gone up by a contractor. They spent about a year quite literally gutting the entire house, and now they look like really sweet condo conversions. $499 is kind of brutal, but some of them have outdoor space, and they’re near the corner of Clifton & 13th, at the top of Cardozo which has the sweet view of the Capitol building and Washington monument, where everyone watches the fireworks. My upstairs neighbor there had his condo on the market, with similar specs as these new ones, for over a year at about $450K, with multiple price drops, until he gave up had to rent it out. I’m curious how this building will do.”

The asking price is $499,000. What’s the premium for an amazing view? What do you think of the condo itself?

Back in August of 2007 we spoke about Genovese syndrome after gun shots were fired and nobody called the police. I’m afraid this is much worse. Thanks to a reader for sending:

“I was listening to the radio this morning, apprently two men were arrested for beating a homeless man in front of a grocery store in columbia heights. apparently it took 15 min before someone bothered to call the police. The one man shoved the homeless guy and the other guy punched him in the face. When the homeless man got up he was punched in the face again. Then a couple picked him up and moved him to the curb. He’s in critical condition and might die. The two men were arrested and may face murder charges. This is according to the radio.

They talked about what kind of place Columbia Heights is, and why did no one bother to help him out, why did it take so long to call the police?”

WJLA has a security camera video and reports:

“A brutal attack was caught on tape outside of a District grocery store in a story you’ll only see on ABC 7/NewsChannel 8. But perhaps what’s more disturbing is the number of people who walked by the injured man and never stopped to help.

It happened about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday near the intersection of 14th Street and Parkwood Place in Columbia Heights. Twenty-four minutes would elapse before medical help arrived. Sources tell us the victim is on life support with bleeding on the brain. He is not expected to survive.”

It occurred outside the Panam grocery store. Have we as a society really become so complacent?

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every Monday and Friday.  Anything good happen this week?

There’s something for everyone but eventually, it all winds up in a place like this.

In today’s economy, thrift stores make a lot of sense, and in the middle of all of the random bits of other people’s lives, there are often some real steals and surprising treasures. It’s usually hit or miss in here, so your best bet is to go as often as possible because you never know what might have been dropped off yesterday, today, or in the last hour.

The Georgia Avenue Thrift Store Center is a decent-sized store (with parking), located on Georgia Avenue in Brightwood, just north of Missouri Ave.

You can find clothes, electronics, furniture, what appear to be old wedding gifts still in their in original boxes and apparently stored in someone’s basement for 10 (or 20 or 30) years, and things that may actually make you go hmm?

Books are a bargain at $1 each and on any given day, among the self-help titles from the 70′s, there are plenty of current hardcovers and paperbacks and pleasant finds like classic cookbooks (food never goes out of style), or maybe the old Time-Life fix-it series (the economy’s bad, time to learn to do it yourself).

Their kitchen accessories are my personal favorite — I really love the spice rack I picked up there for a few bucks a while back that goes perfectly in our (unintentionally) retro kitchen. Continues after the jump. (more…)

I found the oddest porch decoration.

I wondered what was an Oriental Deli?

A guest poster posed an interesting scenario from the “if the music is too loud, you’re too old” category.

DSCN6104, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Yesterday the Post’s DC Wire reported:

“One of the most vocal proponents of the DC vote bill offered an alternative today: stripping DC residents of the obligation to pay federal taxes.

Rep Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) told a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties that he was introducing a bill this week to exempt District residents from paying taxes.”

Today DCist had a great list of alternative options to DC’s non vote problem.

But I’m gonna make the FQOTD a simple one – would you rather have a vote in Congress or not have to pay Federal taxes? I’m hesitant to admit but if given the choice, I’d have a very tough time turning down an exemption to Federal taxes. You?

alley2a, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Never let it be said that working for DC government has to be boring.
Check out this help wanted ad:

“Are you the kind of fellow that likes to break things, set fires, and knock old ladies over in the snow? You might think there is no career for you in government other than to run for Congress — au contraire mon frere! The DC DDOT is always looking for snow plow drivers who like a little destruction to ‘break up’ the monotony of the gray working day.

Turn that frown upside down Atilla! DDOT wants YOU! Do you think you’d have fun mangling back fences, crushing elderly peoples’ trashcans, and generally making DC alleyways resemble the set of a Mad Max movie? Then drop the matches and gasoline and come on down to DDOT!

Whether you prefer to drive hulking trucks drunker than Cooter Brown or high on PCP we can accommodate your need for giggle-filled afternoons of property destruction. No insurance? NO PROBLEM! No license? FORGETABOUTIT! No scruples or common decency? A-OK!

Check out the fun that Plow Specialist First Class Beel Z. Bubb had just this Tuesday in a Petworth alleyway!

Woohoo!

Those interested in a satisfying career spent wrecking both private and public property should call the DC DDOT career hot line at 202 HIT-N-RUN.”

P.S. PoP: Unluckily for the driver in this particular truck-o-death pictured, several wonderful neighbors caught him in the act and, as you can see, at least one neighbor took photos of part of his reign of destruction in the alleyway Tuesday witch included the murder of several trashcans and the mangling of at least one chain link fence.

The authorities are now on the lookout for a slow moving plow with several garbage cans fused to its blade. They think they might crack this case by 2012 — if only they had something more to go on than crystal clear photos depicting the act in broad daylight and several eye witnesses.

DSCN3413, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

In real life, hipchickindc is licensed as a real estate broker in the District of Columbia and Virginia, and as a real estate salesperson in Maryland. Unless specifically noted, neither she nor the company that she is affiliated with represented any of the parties or were directly involved in the transaction reported below. Unless otherwise noted, the source of information is Metropolitan Regional Information Systems (MRIS), which is the local multiple listing system. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Address: 1507 Caroline St NW

3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, Unfinished Basement, Offstreet Parking

List Price at Contract: $649,000.

Original List Price: $789,000.

Actual Sale Price: $600,000.

Settlement Date: 14 January 2009

Days on Market: 75

This home was originally featured as a Good Deal of Not? (GDoN) back when it was listed at it’s high of $789,000 (which can be seen here. Not surprisingly, the PoP reader commentary thought the price for the small house was quite high. Apparently the Seller was motivated and did a smart one shot heavy duty 6 figure price reduction a little more than a month into the listing. It took about three weeks from the price reduction to get to contract. (In all fairness, the reduction happened a little before Thanksgiving, which may have slowed the process).

So, was it a good deal? Comps can be seen here, including the listing for this home (scroll through to see). Note nearly identical 1518 Caroline St NW, which settled in April for $500,000. I suspect that 1507 Caroline St NW, the subject property, was in livable condition but in need of updating, while 1518 Caroline St NW sounds like it needed a lot of work (and it settled with a $150,000. rehab loan).

The property had last sold back in 2001 for $400,000, back when it was painted white. Update from last week after the jump. (more…)

DSCN6204, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Props, of course, go to Som Records on 14th Street.

Ed. Note: Som Records has recently become an advertiser on PoP. The selection of album cover of the week is in no way influenced by their advertising. I simply love their selection of album covers. As always reader submitted album covers are not only accepted they are encouraged.

DSCN6181, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Some great entries this week. Congrats to Aimei who entered:

“Note to self: Next time install fire extinguisher inside the building.”

Please email me so I can get you your t-shirt.

DSCN5852, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

How can you not dig this?