C A P I C O S T I A

Penn Branch may be a little behind the times and short on modern amenities, but we got cars. We can drive, wherever we like. A major coffee retailer, with a name that sounds something like 'War-bucks' , will NOT be coming to Penn Branch or anywhere else in Southeast Washington, D.C. in the Fall of 2011, ..and if you read differently here, and this is a little bit of a letdown for you, I hope you aren't taking the truth too hard. Bummer, huh? It was all a big April Fool's gag , courtesy of yours truly. It might be a bitter pill to swallow, but, eventually, we're going to have to swallow it, my friends. The market research for this area (for reasons I won't get into here) is so terrible and nearly impossible to compile, that we are commercially invisible. Besides groceries, gasoline, liquor and a few other things, no retailer can determine, with any measure of certainty, what we are or aren't buying in Southeast or anywhere else, and, without the ...

  For all of you, who're working so hard to make this holiday something special - in your kitchens, stuck in holiday traffic or sweating it out in the diners and big-box stores - for everything you're putting up with, out there, while the rest of us stuff our faces with turkey and Soul-style macaroni and cheese, thank you...God bless you... And Happy Thanksgiving. Mel of Seven Bee

  The Marine Corps War Memorial from CNBC.com   Wishing all of you, who have answered the call to defend our great nation, here in Seven Bee and everywhere...a dignified and respectful Veteran's Day celebration.   Mel Dyer

By Mel Dyer Yes! Penn Branch has an urban legend. That of the Big Bird Witch  or Hawk-woman, who haunts our wild, emerald hills... If you're over 35 and grew up in the Southeast D.C. neighborhood, Penn Branch, in the mid-1960s, ..you've probably seen or heard of this creature, at one time in your life. You probably thought you were imagining things ..or that it was just crazy-talk. You may have even heard that it had a woman's head and white, bulging eyes, ..or that it was a witch. While I don't believe that part, I've seen the creature that might have inspired this urban legend, with my own disbelieving eyes, ..perched menacingly on a rooftop, at Carpenter Street and Highwood Drive! ...One neighbor recently told me that this thing, ..which she described as a witch in black feathers, with a chalk-white face and large, staring eyes, ..glided over a backyard family gathering, back in the mid-70s, and scared the hell out of their guests! An electrician, who no ...

Part Two of 'The Drive-by', the second episode in our CAPICOSTIA HEAT video series, takes you back to the streets of Washington, D.C.'s historic Naylor Dupont district ..for an up-close look at the dark, urban labyrinth, between Anacostia and Capitol Hill! This brief tour of Seven Bee, shot in 2012, covers Good Hope Marketplace, Anacostia Park, the Randle Highlands, Fairlawn and rare footage of the now-demolished Skyland shopping center. What happens, ..when the gritty struggle for survival in this no-man's land reaches its breaking point? Capicostia Heat is back!    

CAPICOSTIA HEAT is a video series that will take you straight to the streets of Washington, D.C.'s historic Naylor Dupont district, to talk to the people, who live here. I've just finished editing 'Part One' of a brief video tour of Seven Bee, shot way back in 2012. Covering Dupont Park, Fort Davis, Fairfax Village, Hillcrest, Naylor Gardens and Fairlawn, it is one of the most comprehensive looks at our River East neighborhoods that you will find, ..and here it is.  

 

  I just saw, for the second time, the most facinating and INSPIRATIONAL film on LINK TV, ..and it is ALAMAR, by Mexican filmmaker, Pedro González-Rubio! In the film, we a fisherman raising his son, on and beside the ocean. We see a father, who involves his child in the immediately relevant work and economy of their family, ..giving his son a TRUE sense of self-esteem, ..in ways an endless string of meaningless, irrelevant, organized activities (Ancient Tibetan basket-weaving, hip-hop yoga, Israelli bagel-painting, etc) NEVER could.  We see a father, who plays in the natural world with his son ..and a child, who never stops being excited about learning. We see a child, who knows his place..and, trusting that it is a cherished, loving and protected place, has no need to constantly and wastefully question and challenge authority, ..growing up without the subsequent uncertainty, insecurity and life-crippling anxiety that so many of our American kids are experien...

  Seven Bee's Laughing Airman, ..my Uncle Stanley!   In his life, he was a warrior - a veteran of the Viet Nam War - a scholar and an artist, and he was always there for the people he cared about, when they needed them.  In the 1970s and 80s, he worked, side by side, with a Penn Brancher of long-standing - the late Mrs. Barbara Jean Harvey - in D.C.'s Department of Mental Health, bringing economically challenged citizens closer to the psychiatric care and social services that they so desperately needed to live. After living half of his life in Northwest Washington, he eventually settled into a small house in Marshall Heights and frequently visited us - me, his nephew, his niece, his sister (my mother) and our Coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby [RIP] - and we will always remember how much laughter and wisdom he brought us, ..right here in the Naylor Duponts.   I think this photo captures the enduring pluck and ambi...

Just another day in that fabled, urban war-zone...Anacostia? So scary. Stay away.   Who do we think we are? There are perfectly sensible people living along Pennsylvania Avenue, between the Sousa Bridge and the Southern Avenue D.C. State Line - in Naylor Dupont, ANC-7B - who think that they live in as colorful a scattering of socially and politically diverse neighborhoods, as to be found, anywhere else in Washington. They think they live in neighborhoods, called  Greenway, Penn Branch, Fairfax Village, Hillcrest and Skyland , ..in spite of the fact that so many Washingtonians, west of the Anacostia River, persist in dismissively referring to these neighborhoods, as .. 'Anacostia'. There are people living on exlusive Westover Drive, secluded in the emerald majesty of historic Fort Davis Park, where Ohio Representative, Dennis Kusinich, presently resides, who are so removed from the fabled, urban grit of Southeast Washington...th...

[Third Edition] This is a NAYLOR DUPONT EXCLUSIVE... A corporate website, listing local stores, presently available for franchise, solidly confirm that SEVEN ELEVEN will be opening a new store, between Penn Branch Center’s old, broken down escalators and the H&R Block, in a space that will soon be vacated, by Beltway Beauty and Barber Supply - that's just four doors down from the CVS Pharmacy. Several Penn Branch Center merchants have confirmed the same. The new store will be a corporate store, meaning that it is owned by the 7-Eleven corporation - not a family or individual - and is listed as "UC" (under construction), at, "3218 Pennsylvania Ave SE...Washington DC...20020". Everyone in Penn Branch is talking about this, but, no one is reporting it. No one. Furthermore, there's nothing posted at the address, in the window of 3218 Pennsylvania Avenue, announcing the new tenant. Not sure why that is, ..but, this isn't a rumor, anymore. Th...

Union Square at 941 North Capitol Street, NE, currently hosts the Office of Tax and Revenue Customer Service Center (photo from Wikimedia Commons) Since the early 1960s, the once bright and modern shops of  Penn Branch Center - bank, drugstore, barber shop, liquor store - have sat at the corner of Pennsylvania and Branch Avenues, in the Capitol Hill area of Southeast Washington, DC. My once very strong desire to see them renovated into a small 'town center', with condos, has ..evolved. There was a time, when I could imagine a new shopping complex resembling newly renovated Fox Chase in Alexandria, Virginia, ..and I still can, truthfully. Though, I am not sure that would best serve Penn Branch and surrounding areas. I simply do not think that, with new developments on the horizon, like Capital Gateway (also in Ward Seven), promising to fatten the city's coffers with more annual revenue than Penn Branch can presently generate, that having a...

By Mel Dyer All of the speculation about Skyland Town Centre is very exciting. For those of us, who remember when Skyland gave us a movie theatre, a Sears & Roebuck  department store, a Safeway AND a Giant, a drugstore, a gentlemen's club, Discount Mart, Gussini Shoes, Blockbuster, law offices, a  diner ...[Sigh] it's especially exciting, because we remember when Skyland was our commercial center! Trust me, ..the excitement and the optimism is justified. Should this new Skyland be Seven Bee's town center again, and is that neighborhood, ready? Can it be? Here are some selections from our latest poll... 1) The new Skyland should be 7B's town center, and the neighborhood is ready.   2) The new Skyland should be 7B's town center, but, the neighborhood is NOT ready.   3) The new Skyland should NOT be 7B's town center, and the neighborhood is NOT ready!   4) We sheeple of 7B don't need a 'town center' and should continue t...

  The new name of the blog may be Naylor Dupont, but, the spirit's still pure, unadulterated 'CAPICOSTIA', ..and the same  optimism that got us through the worst of times, into these great neighborhoods,  still keeps us flying. We will never forget it.

The Santorini Islands, rumored to be lost Atlantis. I looked EVERY-where! [Wikipedia.org] Since re-focusing this blog, about a month ago, I've been desperately searching for two things: the lost continent of Atlantis ..and the Naylor Dupont Advisory Neighborhood Commission 's official website. Neither has proved easy to find; so, this afternoon, I did some digging on ANCFinder.org and made some phone calls about it. I found out that Seven Bee has a new website, and, like Atlantis... It's not in Anacostia . Can you tell I am really sick of West Bankers calling us 'Anacostia'? Is that showing, just a little, tiny bit? I sure as hell,  hope so. Anyway, ..have a look.

A rendering of Skyland Town Center from SkylandTownCenter.com MORE STATEHOOD FUN...   I am still wondering what will happen to our neighborhoods, if Washington, D.C. becomes a state. Will eight, new counties be created from D.C.'s eight wards? Will the Advisory Neighborhood Councils create exciting, new towns from ANC districts, within those eight, distinct wards?   Exciting...   Imagine that our own historic ANC-7B, Naylor Dupont, is now an incorporated city in the new 51st state of New Columbia. What should our new, shining city on a hillcrest be called?   1. Davistown, New Columbia - taken from historic Fort Davis 2. Hillcrest City, New Columbia - named for historic first neighborhood of ANC-7B 3. Skyland, New Columbia - inspired by what might become Downtown ANC-7B 4. Naylorville, New Columbia - taken from ANC-7B designation, Naylor-Dupont 5. Randletown, New Columbia - named for the first developer of the Southeast ...

  Sprawling, spectacular view of new urbanism in 'Near Southeast'. [Wikipedia.org]   Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Riverfront neighborhood - more specifically, the Capitol Riverfront Business Improvement District or (BID) - truly has a great deal to be proud of. Having taken what was most surely one of the bleakest corridors of the Nation's Capital, one historically blighted by drugs, crime and unemployment, it has created an inspiring example of urban renewal, strategic investment and civic relevance for neighboring areas to follow... And I applaud them for that. However, for D.C.'s W-JLA Channel 7  to present Capitol Riverfront as an example of a development boom in 'Southeast' is more than a little dishonest, intellectually speaking. When W-JLA refers to 'Southeast Washington' in its numerous, exploitative crime stories, it is almost always referring to some troubled cluster of streets - not even an entire neighborhood - th...

[Second Edition] If you're like me, and you've lived on a side street in the burbs, your entire life, this JEWEL in Fairfax Village will be a refreshing change for you. As this condo is right on a major thoroughfare, Alabama Avenue, there'll be no more braving snow, thunderstorms and dark of night to get back and forth from your car to your front door, anymore. There's enough on-street parking, here, to put you a short walk from your door, at any hour of the day or night, ..and (for River East) there's an uncommonly present police presence. Since this is a major thoroughfare that police and EMS services need to use in a crisis, you can also expect an equally reliable public works commitment - means you'll never be waiting very long for snow plows, salt trucks and power restoration, after violent storms. Location amenities? In Fairfax Village, whether you're renting a townhouse or flat, you're surrounded by private homes, ..which only reinforces...

[Second Edition] NAY-LOR...DU-PONT. This is where we are, ..and it's not Anacostia. It's just Southeast for most of us... Juzz Sowfeest for some of us. It's Seven Bee for the politicos, ..as in ANC-7B. It's still Capicostia, ..somewhere in the blogosphere. It's A'not-costia, ..if that helps. I just pulled that out of my...desperation? Stay with me. It's Naylor Dupont, ..and it's always been Naylor Dupont, ..though I doubt that you'll remember all of that, because we wouldn't be having this one-sided conversation, if that worked for you. ANC-7B and Anacostia (or ANC-8A) really are two totally different places, ..culturally, politically and socially, and have been for a very, very long time. It's like those realtors, who refer to the Atlas area of Eighth Street, as Capitol Hill. It's just plain wrong, whether you're doing that intentionally or unintentionally, and if you try telling any Penn Brancher of long-stand...

Must say...I am sorry that the biggest 'Whole Paychecks' (what we resentful peasants call 'Whole Foods Market') won't be going to our future Skyland Town Center, right here in Naylor Dupont. Just the same, I suppose that Tyson's Corner, being so well planned, ..had this coming. Love that bit about it being 'half a Costco'. Read more in the Washington Business Journal.

Whatever you do, don't miss this upcoming event in ANC-7B. Everyone, who's doing anything relevant in our district, will be at the  Hillcrest Bicentennial Celebration Gala!

[Second Edition] I know this street, very well. Right at the edge of the woods and surrounded by the serenity of nature...and look at that pale, sleepy blue! Just imagine the mornings. Literally minutes from shopping and café life on Capitol Hill, ..and it's all yours. You're welcome. 2937 Fort Baker Drive Southeast, Washington, DC For Sale | Trulia.com

So, SHARKS are being fished out of the waters of St. Mary's County. Let's not pretend that we didn't see this coming. Their ancestral cousin, the bullzjit shark has been sighted, as far inland as Capitol Hill, passing bad legislation... And knocking back cocktails at Sonoma. Read about it, anyway. Seriously...like what else have you got to do, in this neighborhood? An Eight-Foot Bull Shark Was Caught In The Potomac River: DCist

[Second Edition] This is a CAPICOSTIA EXCLUSIVE... A corporate website, listing local stores, presently available for franchise, solidly confirm that SEVEN ELEVEN will be opening a new store, between PB Center’s old, broken down escalators and the H&R Block, in a space that will soon be vacated, by Beltway Beauty and Barber Supply - that's just four doors down from the CVS Pharmacy. Several Penn Branch Center merchants have confirmed the same. Furthermore, SEATTLE'S BEST COFFEE will not be moving into that space, as previously scribbled on this blog. In fact, the opening of a Seven Eleven almost guarantees that PBC will NOT be getting a Seattle's Best, Starbucks, Cosi, Peet's or any other proper coffeeshop, in the immediately forseeable future. The new store will be a corporate store, meaning that it is owned by the 7-Eleven corporation - not a family or individual - and is listed as "UC" (under construction), at, "3218 Pennsylvania Av...

Penn Branch has some problems that won't wait, until 2012 [Movie poster for '2012', above]. I predicted trouble on the horizon for Penn Branch, just a few months back. In spite of the fact that the good folk of Penn Branch are working very hard to feed their families and struggling to keep a roof over their heads, I fear a greater struggle may be ahead for us. As Washington, D.C. descends further and further into the dark future of revenue-creating gateway communities rising, east of Anacostia, ..and the emergence of 'Business Improvement Districts' (or BID s), west-of-River, I fear stable-but-static neighborhoods, like Penn Branch, will see the quality of their services (power, police, EMS) go down. Unlike Penn Branch, the BIDs, according to DC.gov 's Business Resources page, "collect a 'self tax' from property owners to provide services and programs to the entire BID...cleanliness, maintenance, safety, promotion, economic development, an...

A picture of the Old West we're not used to seeing (photo from Face2FaceAfrica.com) Pride. This Mexican American of African descent - fourth generation in the U.S. - who has never even been to L.A., has nothing, but, pride,  over here...

There're a lot of empty living rooms in Silver Spring. (Photo from ZedsCafe.com) I like coffee, and THIS is the BEST COFFEE in the entire WESTERN WORLD! I wrote a review of Zed's Café and One Big Living Room, many years ago, on a now defunct WordPress blog, and I might have described little else, but, the coffee, ..which is phenomenal. So, this time, while there is much to praise about this legend of Silver Spring hospitality, I don't want to diminish that one, indisputable fact. Phenomenal coffee! Go anywhere else, where you are poured a cup of coffee, and the quality of the coffee that you will find at Zed's Café will surpass it, every time and at every hour of the day. How does proprietor, Zed Mekonnen, do it? He has a gold standard. Zed's Café, in Downtown Silver Spring, delivers the promise of what a cafe serves, coffee, and that standard is never compromised. Ever. The quality of the coffee - a cup of Nirvana, every time - and the paninis a...

Bring rakes. Bring bottled water. Bring lawnmowers...and, for God'sake, bring your KIDS. Give our young Penn Branchers a sense of pride and purpose, the foundation for true self esteem, by enlisting them in the work of keeping our neighborhood clean and beautiful, ..and they will appreciate, as much as we do, what a special place Penn Branch is to all of us. They have a right to feel proud of where they live ..and the hard work it takes to keep Penn Branch worthy of that pride. I grew up in Penn Branch, ..and I am still very, very proud of that. Bring your kids to Memorial Park Spring Clean-up. God bless all of you.

Fighting racial fanaticism on TWO fronts, while honorably serving our nation in World War II, and THEY never gave up. Their proud standard has been cast in blood, sweat and hope. We are still here, because they never gave up. Neither can we...

Marcus Garvey believed 'We can', before President Obama. [photo from 'The Guardian']   Baltimore City, Maryland has problems. Big problems. If you have been watching the news or reading the paper, over the past day or so, you may be wondering how Baltimore's government and the people, who live there, will ever solve them. Mixed in with the problems that government CAN solve in Baltimore, ..the disenfranchised young residents, burning everything down, over there, have problems that the government and the mayor cannot solve, even with billions of dollars investment in ..and subsequent development of their communities. Government can give tax incentives to entrepreneurs, who open businesses in the economically depressed communities, where many of us live. The Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation is offering expedition of permits, tax abatements and workforce assistance to people, starting new businesses in depressed areas of Hy...

  Capicostia's Laughing Airman, ..my Uncle Stanley!   In his life, he was a warrior - a veteran of the Viet Nam War - a scholar and an artist, and he was always there for the people he cared about, when they needed them.  In the 1970s and 80s, he worked, side by side, with a Penn Brancher of long-standing - the late Mrs. Barbara Jean Harvey - in D.C.'s Department of Mental Health, bringing economically challenged citizens closer to the psychiatric care and social services that they so desperately needed to live. After living half of his life in Northwest Washington, he eventually settled into a small house in Marshall Heights and frequently visited us - his nephew, niece, his sister (my mother) and our Coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby - and we will always remember how much laughter and wisdom he brought us, right here in the Naylor Duponts.   I think this photo captures the enduring pluck and ambition of the gener...

It looks like another major coffee retailer - this one, named for a famous metropolis in the American northwest - will be setting up shop in quaintly middle-class Penn Branch (Washington, D.C.) in October 2015. A reliable source tells Capicostia that the world-famous coffee giant's Penn Branch store will be located between PB Center’s old, broken down escalators and the H&R Block, in a space that will soon be vacated, by Beltway Beauty and Barber Supply  - that's just four doors down from the CVS Pharmacy . See you in October. Mel Dyer

Much has been made of Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign for President of the United States becoming a coronation. Well...coronation-schmoranation! EVERY presidential election is a coronation to some degree. Ronald Reagan was certainly a coronation of departure from the sociopolitical consciousness of the 60s and 70s - a return to the rugged individualism that America indulged so unapologetically, before the progressive social unrest of the 1960s. If you want Clinton or any other candidate, you consolidate your political power into a voting block, hold your candidate accountable for your issues ..and CORONATE them! There are other candidates running for that office. When I find one that I think represents what's important to me, I will bloody coronate them... So, why NOT Hillary?

Capicostia is now also on Facebook, at these coordinates... https://www.facebook.com/capicostia  

Why 'Capicostia', again, you ask? Because, if you're living anywhere east of the Big Dirty - that's the 'Anacostia River' for you, greenhorns - you're probably sick and tired of being referred to as 'Anacostia', ..unless you're actually, propely  living in Anacostia. Most of us aren't, and most people don't know that Anacostia is only a small part of the River East area of Washington. There's Twining City, the Randle Highlands, Penn Branch, Fairfax Village, Fairlawn, Hillcrest, Good Hope, Naylor Gardens ...all here and all always misidentified, as 'Anacostia'! We residents of ANC-7B don't hate it, because we hate Anacostia ..or Capitol Hill, ..or being sandwiched between them. We hate it, because we want to be appreciated, as something uniquely our own. We've worked very hard to be, and  'Capicostia' is a way of acknowledging that problem, while creating a new, safe place, east of the Anacostia River, ...

By Mel Dyer Yes! Penn Branch has an urban legend.  That of the Big Bird or Hawkwoman, who haunts our wild, emerald hills... If you're over 35 and grew up in the Southeast D.C. neighborhood, known as the 'Hollywood Hills'  in the mid-1960s, you've probably seen or heard of this creature, at one time in your life. You probably thought you were imagining things ..or that it was just crazy-talk. You may have even heard that it had a woman's head and white, bulging eyes, ..or that it was a  witch. While I don't believe that part, I've seen the creature that might have inspired this urban legend, with my own disbelieving eyes, ..perched menacingly on a rooftop, at Carpenter Street and Highwood Drive. It was a turkey vulture ... Right here, in Penn Branch. Why not a hawk? Well, ..I have seen the kinds of hawks we have in this area, up close - like, walking around on a neighbor's lawn - and I don't think they are anywhere ...