Photo by PoPville flickr user Rbrammer

Do you like the way the natural brick is beginning to look?

If you have any fun or interesting animal/pet photos please shoot me an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title and say what neighborhood you’re from or upload to the PoPville flickr pool with your pets name and neighborhood. I can’t guarantee I’ll get them all posted but I’ll do my best.

“Animal-Cockapoo from NOMA”

“Here’s a shot of my tuxedo cat Maggie, ready for a night out on the town. We live in NOPE (North Petworth). Enjoy!”

“This is Douglas our three month old Labradoodle pup. Or, if you will, General Douglas MacBarker – we live off H St. NE.”

“Eli just woke up from a nap-”

This rental is located at 3537 New Hampshire Ave, NW:

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The Weichert ad says:

“MAGNIFICENT LUXURY 2BD/2BA CONDOS FOR RENT. 3 UNITS AVAILABLE, STAINLESS STEEL APPLIANCES, CROWN MOLDINGS, HIGH CEILINGS, BALCONY, CUSTOM INTERIOR SHUTTERS, OFF-STREET PARKING AND GARAGE SPACE WITH UNITS. GARDEN UNIT AND PENTHOUSE ALSO INCLUDE DEN, EXTRA STORAGE SPACE. PENTHOUSE HAS PERSONAL ROOFTOP DECK. 2 1/2 BLOCKS AWAY FROM METRO STATION. CLOSE TO SHOPPING & DINING. HCVP VOUCHERS WELCOME.”

Wow, I’ve been wanting to see what these look like on the inside. Thanks to a reader for sending. Do you think $3,000 sounds right for this 2 bed/2.5 bath?

Photo of Duck Prosciutto by PoPville flickr user DCin3MP

“Dear PoP,

Where can I get my kitchen knives sharpened? Alton Brown recommends doing it every Thanksgiving, and it’s been at least two Thanksgivings now without sharpening.”

Anyone know? How often should you sharpen your good kitchen knives? How much does it cost?

Photo from PoPville reader Victoria

“I think this came from a 1950something Ladies Home Journal – but it is still cool. Bake 2 round cakes. Cut the ears and bowtie out of one. Decorate with leftover Halloween candy.”

Submit your photos to the PoPville flickr pool here. Follow PoPville on twitter here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user District Shots

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From a press release:

Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch have announced an arrest in the homicide of 32 year-old Eddie Leonard Jr.

On Sunday, February 20, 2011, at approximately 11:45 p.m., units from the First District were dispatched to 400 block of 24th Street, NE, to investigate the sounds of gunshots. Upon their arrival, they discovered in the rear of the 400 block of 23rd Place, NE, an adult male suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Personnel from the DC Emergency Medical Services responded to the scene and determined that the victim had no signs consistent with life. He was pronounced dead on the scene by a member of the Office of the Chief medical Examiner.

On Thursday, April 21, 2011, at approximately 12:20 pm, 41-year-old Charles Monroe Coates of SE, Washington, DC, was arrested by Detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch pursuant to an arrest warrant charging him with Felony Murder while Armed.

This home is located at 4832 Illinois Ave, NW:

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The flier says:

“FULLY-LOADED @ ENTICING PRICE! RENOVATED RECENTLY B4 FORECLOSED. NATURAL LIGHT FR COUNTLESS NEWER WINDOWS. WOOD FLRS THROUGHOUT. FRENCH DRS LEAD TO DECK. NEWER KITCHEN, GRANITE, S/S APPL’S. NEWER BATHROOMS. BONUS 2-BEDROOM 2BATHROOM + FAMILY RM IN-LAW/ GUEST STE W/ GRANITE-COUNTERED KITCHENETTE. 2ND FLR BALCONY. OFFERS REC’D BUT NO ACCEPTANCE YET. PRE-INSPECTIONS ENCOURAGED. SAFE CONVEYS.”

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

This 6 bed/4.5 bath is going for $349,000.

Back on Apr. 4th I shared some very sweet scuttlebutt that Luke’s Lobster Shack was coming to 622 E St, NW in Penn Quarter. So it turns out I was wrong by one storefront. They are coming to 624 E St, NW according to Washingtonian:

Last night, New York-based Luke’s Lobster co-owners Ben Conniff and Luke Holden signed a lease and secured permits for a 700-square-foot space at 624 E Street, Northwest, in DC’s Penn Quarter. They hope to open by the end of May.

The menu will be a carbon copy of the one at the three locations in New York City, which in addition to a lobster roll, includes New England clam chowder and lobster bisque from the Maine-based company Hurricane’s Soups, Maine Root soda, and Empress crab claws.

Awesome!!!

Photo by PoPville flickr user mosley.brian

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. So anything good happen to you this week?

Danny Harris is a DC-based photographer, DJ, and collector of stories. He launched People’s District, a blog that tells a people’s history of DC by sharing the stories and images of its residents. You can follow People’s District on Twitter @PeoplesDistrict, and can read his previous columns here.

“D.C. was great when I was growing up, but this ain’t no place to raise children any more. Now that I got two kids, there isn’t too much that I like about D.C. I really want to get out of here. Don’t much mind where I go, as long as it is not here. I am being for real.

“I was raised uptown in D.C. and then moved to Maryland. I liked it there for my kids because it was safe and quiet, but I be going crazy with nothing to do. I recently got an apartment in Southeast. I really didn’t want to move there, but an apartment came through the city where I would be able to live on my own with my two kids.

“I tell you, Southeast ain’t nothing but corruption. I don’t want to live or raise my children here. It’s like every time my son gets up out of the house, he gets into it with somebody. And my son is only four years old. My daughter is one and too young to deal with all of this. What is wrong with these parents where my son can’t just go outside and play? These parents ain’t raising their kids right.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Voted one of the best real estate agents in DC by the Washington City Paper Readers’ Choice Poll in 2009, hipchickindc aka the not-so-hip Suzanne Des Marais is the Principal Broker (DC) for Urban Pace, LLC. She lives (and sells a lot of houses) in Bloomingdale, but works all over DC, with everyone from first time buyers to highly regarded developers. 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.

Featured Property: 334 8th St NE
Legal Subdivision: Old City #1
Advertised Subdivision per Listing: Old City #1
Original List Price: $364,000.
List Price at Contract: $364,000.
List Date: 02/15/2011
Days on Market: 10
Settled Sales Price: $540,000.
Settlement Date: 03/31/2011
Seller Subsidy: $0.
Bank Owned?: No Short Sale? No
Type Of Financing: Conventional

Original Good Deal or Not post is: here

The listing can be seen: here. To see pics, open the listing link, click on the listing then scroll through from the main pic.

The subject house here was actually a secondary property on a twofer Good Deal or Not (GDoN) post. This small two bedroom home with no basement or parking, located within two blocks of Stanton Park on The Hill, was an estate sale. Commenters to the original GDoN post noted that it was essentially priced for auction. Some weren’t too complimentary of the listing agent for bringing back the 2004 bidding wars, but she did her job for the seller and drew apparently in the range of 20 offers. Ultimately, the settled sale price is 148% of the original list price. My question to readers is, what do you think it would have sold for if it had actually been priced at, say, $539,900.?

To give an idea of the market in that specific location, Here is everything within a quarter mile that is an active, pending, or settled (since 10/01/2010) listing. City wide, the average list to sale price ratio for March 2011 was 93.2%. For the zip code of 20002, it was 95.3% (including this outlier). Citywide for all houses priced under $375,000., the average list to sale ratio for March 2011 was 97.19%.

By the way, the other house on that original GDoN settled also. 803 Maryland Ave NE was originally listed for $629,000. Pricing was reduced to $599,000., which led to a settled sale at that price with a subsidy of $18,094. It was on the market for 91 days. You can see the listing and pics here. This house had a basement and a garage and was fully renovated. I’m guessing no bidding war and the purchaser was able to utilize FHA financing. Considering the subsidy, it sold for $40,906. more than the property mentioned above. Who do you think got the better deal?

“Dear PoP,

My partner and I live in Columbia Heights. We live on 13th St NW near the Giant grocery store. Last year we noticed that the landscaped area on the Holmead St side of Giant had turned into one large trash area. This spring, Giant had a crew come out, clean up the trash, trim the rose bushes and put down new mulch. It looked nice again. Then we noticed that people started to throw trash in this area again. So we decided one day that every time we walked by this area we would pick up at least one piece of trash. Mind you, we walk by this small landscaped area on the way to work, home from work, on the way to the gym, walking home from shopping, etc. etc. We soon found ourselves picking up a lot of trash.

It really opened our eyes to how much people use the street/sidewalk for a trash bin. Each time we would only pick up one or two items, but slowly the place was cleaned up again. In honor of Earth Day I wondered what would happen to our city if everyone of us just picked up 1 piece of trash on the street in which we lived on our way to work, or coming home from work, or on our way to the shopping store, etc. Maybe in some small way all of our “little corners” of our great city would become cleaner. We found it quite easy to simply stop, pick up an old beer can, banana peal, empty potato chip bag, discarded lottery ticket, etc. Why not give it a try in your neighborhood? It might just change how you view the place you call home.

Happy Earth Day!”

I think it’s a great idea. If we all pledge to pick up just one piece of garbage a day I think our combined efforts can make a bit of a dent. It’ll be a Sisyphean task but as long as we do it everyday I hope we can make a small difference like you and your partner have done in the photo above.

Who else is in?

“Dear PoP,

I’m in a bit of a bind and figured PoP readers may have some suggestions. I had a rehearsal dinner scheduled for next Friday at one the Georgetown Waterfront restaurants. Needless to say, since it was inundated with about 4-5 feet of water Monday, we are in desperate need of an alternative location.

I’ve found some options, but they all fall outside our desired geographical area (Dupont, U st, Woodley Park). Any suggestions for a place that can put together a diner for 60 on short notice?”

Hmm what about Cassa Nonna located at 1250 Connecticut Ave, NW? Where would you guys recommend?

And for the Friday Question of the Day – where are the best restaurants in DC that can take care of a big group?

And on a side note: I’ve been meaning to share some good news of my own. So a month from today I’m getting married! I am beyond happy and promise to share a photo from the wedding (Pablo.Raw and Kay Campbell will be taking some shots). I know I don’t talk about personal things too much but I’m gonna be out of the loop a bit for a week at the end of May and for a week in the beginning of Sept. My fiancee is the greatest and doesn’t mind my insane blogging hours but I promised that I’ll be completely offline for our wedding and honeymoon. I hope to have the LoP, Eric Nuzum, fill in a bit while I’m gone. Thanks in advance for understanding!

Photo by PoPville flickr user Vileinist

Congrats to book with:

“idiots, these books aren’t even password protected.”

Honorable mention to My glasses… with:

“And the best thing, the very best thing of all, is there’s time now… there’s all the time I need and all the time I want. Time, time, time. There’s time enough at last.

[Glasses break as she reaches for a book]

That’s not fair. That’s not fair at all. There was time now. There was, was all the time I needed…”

Please email me at princeofpetworth(at)gmail for your t-shirts.