This cool image references Hillary Russell’s article from last week on The Plan to Raze Nearly Every Building on East Capitol Street. It’s the 1929 blueprint for the plan to make way for a “East Mall” from the Capitol to the Anacostia River. ICYMI see the article here: https://bit.ly/3zByBg3 Image: Hilary RussellStarbucks closed its Union Station outlet today adding to the flight of retail from the transit center. Here’s what it looked like Sunday afternoon. According to today’s WaPo, Starbucks blames the closure of the outlet and other stores on the difficulty in operating in a challenging environment – apparently indirectly referring to crime and problems related to transit centers serving as shelter for members of the homeless population. The Post quotes CM Charles Allen as doubting it was a coincidence that some of the stores Starbucks closed have been unionizing. He offered his take that part of the decline in the customer base is because Union Station is not integrated into the Capitol Hill community as a destination. The Post cited statistics reflecting that commuter passenger traffic at Union Station is 30% of pre-pandemic riders, Metro is 25% and Amtrak is 90%. Amtrak is trying to take over Union Station’s leasing rights. The federal government owns Union Station and granted control of the property to the Union Station Redevelopment Non-profit Corporation which subleased the property to the New York real estate company Ashkenzy Acquisition. Amtrak currently leases from Ashkenzy. Here’s a photo of the food court and ticket counter on Sunday afternoon. And here’s the space in Union Station formerly occupied by H&M before the pandemic. Triple Candie’s latest “curatorial riddle” –a diorama with a memento mori theme – is on display in the space in the front of the former Li’l Pub at 655 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE. Et In Arcadia Ego is the title of paintings by two artists – the French Baroque’s Nicolas Poussin and the Italian Baroque’s Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino). It translates to “Also in Paradise I am.” The diorama is a modern take on theose paintings’ memento mori warning. For more on the Baroque versions, go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Et_in_Arcadia_ego Triple Candie is a research-oriented curatorial agency run by art historian co-founders Shelly Bancroft and Peter Nesbett. Their purpose is to create alternative exhibition methods making that the object of critical focus rather than what is displayed (which for the most part does not include original artworks). For more on Triple Candie, go here: http://www.triplecandie.org/
The Week Ahead…
The city has entered the doldrums which will last for the the rest of the month…but there is National Night out on Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 2
MPD’s First District will be celebrating National Night Out on Tuesday from 5-8 pm at Lincoln Park. National Night Out is a city-wide event providing an opportunity for residents to engage with MPD regarding crime prevention and neighborhood watch programs.
CAPITOL HILL CORNER 