This house is located at 1721 Swann St, NW:

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The flier says:

“Gorgeous 3BR/3.5BA w/ LL studio on beautiful and sought after Swann Street. Features include, gourmet kitchen with limestone floors, massive dining room, huge living room with tons of light, European inspired MBA with Jacuzzi tub, extraordinary floor-to-ceiling windows, multiple skylights, fire place, hwd floors, Bosch W/ D, covered porch & a terrace, and garage parking. Location=10!”

You can find more info here and a virtual tour here.

The reader writes:

“I walk by it every day, and it’s my favorite house on the best block of Swann St NW b/w New Hampshire and 18th. They have the most beautiful garden and landscaping, and it looks pretty good from the virtual tour too. Hopefully the new owners will keep the great plants!”

Wow, good choice! How do you guys think this one ranks among other house porn? This 3 bed/3.5 bath is yours for $1,499,999.

It’s wild how nice the outside looks now from just a couple weeks ago. Here’s what it looked like on Sept. 9th. So I’ve also found out a few more details. I believe the architect is Gronning Architects and they’ve worked on Commonwealth, Cork Wine Bar, Cork Market, Palena, Pizzeria Paradiso, and Hank’s among others. I’m hearing that they are shooting to open up in Jan. and will have a well known chef. Painfully few details. I just wanna know what type of restaurant it’s gonna be! More details as they become available.

Nando’s Peri Peri is located in Dupont at 1210 18th Street, NW and in Chinatown at 819 7th Street, NW. Their Web site says:

“Way back in the 15th Century, in the rich soils and intense heat of Southern Africa, our Portuguese forefathers made a monumentally important discovery – the African Birds Eye Chilli.

Known as Peri-Peri, this fiery little customer is added to special herbs and spices to give our Nando’s original Peri-Peri sauce its unique flavour. The exact recipe remains a closely guarded family secret handed down from generation to generation.

Peri-Peri gives your taste buds an extreme work-out and contains no preservatives, no colourants or artificial flavours so it’s totally natural and healthy. Peri-Peri helps reduce cholesterol and is rich in vitamins A and C. What’s more, it’s reputed to be an aphrodisiac. Hot stuff in more ways than one!”

You can see their menus here. I seem to recall there were some fans when first learned they were opening at the Dupont location. Do they offer the best chicken in DC? Think they’ll open any other spots in other neighborhoods?

Last night around 7:30pm I started getting emails like this one:

“Dear PoP,

All the residents are emptying their worldly possessions on the street. I am talking about dozens of houses…

Any idea what’s up?”

I sadly assumed it was a “normal” eviction but since I was eating dinner I decided not to investigate. Then this morning I awoke to many more emails asking the same question and I realized I made a mistake by not investigating. Anyway, I went down this morning and it is a sight like I have never seen before. And I have unfortunately seen numerous evictions around town. This one is a whole different level. First of all it is from ONE woman in ONE house. The emphasis will make sense when you see more of the photos I took.

The resident who was evicted has possessions filling up Otis St, both sides of the block between 10th and 11th. As well as 11th St towards Spring and a bit north towards Monroe as well. On both sides of the street. It really is a horrifying sight. CM Jim Graham was on the scene as were multiple police. CM Graham said that the woman has been visited by a city Social Worker last night and this morning.

At the time of my visit around 10am moving trucks had started loading up the possessions. CM Graham calls the moving company, JK Moving and Storing, his “heroes of the day”. The city was originally going to remove the possessions via city dump truck but JK Moving heard about the situation and volunteered to move the possessions for free and store them for a month at their facility in Sterling, VA near Dulles Airport. I asked the movers how many trucks they thought it would take to move the goods and they said, likely a minimum of 4-6 trucks. A very nice deed for a very sad situation.

Thanks to all who sent in tips.

All the material in the following photos originated from this house on 11th St, NW just south of Otis.

Lots more photos after the jump. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user Faucetini

“Dear PoP,

I saw in the Washington Post that there has been some pushback from parents regarding the elimination of chocolate milk in schools. Personally, I think the fact that kids aren’t gulping down all that sugar isn’t a half-bad idea, however I got into a heated debate with a colleague over this very issue. She thinks that measures like this will eventually create a “Nanny State.” I would be curious to hear what others in the city think, keeping in mind that DC is the only state (or district in this case) where obesity rates dropped this year.”

Kinda reminds me a bit of our discussions on the proposed ‘soda tax’. What do you guys think – is removing chocolate milk from schools a good idea and beneficial to the health of the students or just one more step in the direction of a nanny state?

Photo by PoPville fickr user pablo.raw

I think this one has a lot of promise. pablo.raw used the title, “I can see the two of us together”. Your caption in the comments and winner picked Friday. Winner gets a free PoP t-shirt. If last week’s winners are reading please email me directly so you can collect your prize.

Here’s what Fasika, located at 4422 Georgia Ave, NW, looked like in July ’09:

This is the Ethiopian restaurant that originally opened under the name Abol.

Anyone visit Fasika lately? Mad props on the new sign:

I’ve never gotten used to these examples with the doorknob in the middle of the door but def. thought this was a noteworthy one with the stained glass.

Here are a couple of interesting ones from 16th St. Heights. I really like the style of the one above but I was also taken with the double wrap around porch below. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a wrap around porch on the second floor of a home before:

“Dear PoP,

The Eighth Annual Barracks Row Fall Festival on Capitol Hill is this Saturday! The day promises to be a fun and exciting time for Hill residents and visitors of all ages, and includes the Military Chefs Cookoff, performances by the Redskins Cheerleaders, and a huge Kids Zone complete with a petting zoo, magicians, clowns, and free cotton candy.”

You can see a schedule of events here.

I spoke with some really nice firefighters who said that they believe the Papa Johns located at 5764 Georgia Ave, NW will be opening around Oct. 1st. Though they also said that there hadn’t been much movement lately on the Washington Deli nearby, on Georgia Ave just south of Missouri, but when I peeked in the window it seemed really close to being completed.

I say coming back in the title because of course the legendary Posins Deli used to be located nearby. Pictures from the heritage trail sign and now after the jump. (more…)

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“Dear PoP,

Last night around 11:30 I noticed significant police activity in my alley. At least three cop cars, several bike cops, a helicopter with a spotlight flashing around the alley, and a foot chase along the roofs across the alley, and the largest gun I’ve ever seen in person (held at the time by a police officer on the roof)! From my window I heard something said about a neighbor calling the police after seeing a burglar on one of the roofs. It seems bizarre that so much force would come out so quickly for just a burglary. Any idea if this was a bigger event, or if the Dupont-ish location brought more police attention than say a Trinidad address? The activity seemed to be along the north side of Willard Street between 17th and 18th.”

MPD writes:

“-On Monday, September 20, 2010, at 11:30 p.m. an Unlawful Entry offense occurred in the 1700 block of Willard St., N.W. (PSA 208) and was subsequently reported to the MPD.

A subject was observed climbing the fire escape in the rear of a structure in the listed area. MPD members responded to the complaint of a person on the fire escape who was also peering into the windows of various apartments. Once on the scene the suspect was located hiding under the rooftop deck. The suspect was arrested. This is a closed case.”

I wonder if it was from one of my favorite fire escapes. I’m not sure about the response but I’m certainly glad they caught the suspect.

Photo by PoPville flickr user KJinDC

Good but scary news:

“Three alleged members and associates of the MS-13 gang have been indicted for various violent crimes stemming from a home invasion last year in the District of Columbia in which several persons were held at gunpoint. A fourth alleged member has been indicted for subsequent efforts to threaten potential witnesses in the case.

According to the indictment, Silva, Aguilar and Mejia, “for the purpose of gaining entrance to and maintaining and increasing position in MS-13,” invaded an apartment in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 11, 2009 and held five occupants at gunpoint. The indictment alleges that the purpose of the invasion was an apparent effort to steal funds from the victims to support the gang’s activities. According to the indictment, a female occupant was sexually assaulted during the attack.

Silva, 28, Aguilar 20, and Mejia, 25, subsequently were arrested and originally charged in D.C. Superior Court. Sarba, 20, allegedly began calling potential witnesses sometime after the arrests and made threats.

The indictment charges Silva, Aguilar and Mejia with kidnapping in aid of racketeering, assault with a deadly weapon in aid of racketeering, weapons offenses, and other charges. Silva also is charged with assault with intent to commit first degree sexual abuse while armed and third degree sexual abuse. Sarba was indicted on charges including accessory after the fact, obstructing justice and threatening to injure or kidnap a person.

The indictment states that MS-13 is a racketeering enterprise that constitutes one of the largest street gangs in the United States. MS-13 is a national and international criminal organization, and its members have been found responsible for murders, narcotics distribution and other crimes, the indictment states.

The charges carry significant penalties. The statutory penalty for kidnapping in aid of racketeering, for example is 30 years.”

Full press release after the jump. (more…)

If you have any fun or interesting animal/pet photos or news please shoot me an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title or upload to the PoPville flickr pool.

“Oreo’s still hanging out in Petworth wondering why all the hate mail from the last Coolest Pet contests. How can you hate this face?”

Photo of Bowser by PoPville flickr user Hoodsweatsh

This rental is located at Calvert at 40th St, NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“Spacious, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom with enclosed rear porch for office/den available now.

Wood floors throughout, plenty of closet space.

Storage cage in basement, free washer/dryer in basement.

Full kitchen with dishwasher, plenty of light with north and south exposures.

4 blocks off Wisconsin Ave attractions(Whole Foods, Town Hall, Breadsoda, CVS, etc)

Radiant heat, window AC units serviced by menegement. Water utility included.

1 year minimum lease, 1 month security deposit. No pets. Please do not ask if the office/den can be used as a bedroom, it is labeled accordingly.”

Does $1425 sound reasonable for this 1 bed with an office/den?