C A P I C O S T I A

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wendy-s-at-center-of-dc-s-dave-thomas-circle-to-close-tuesday-mayor/ar-AAOBNuK?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

  "...She was about two years old before she really started understanding and comprehending me,” she continued. Maybe it was because she was home alone with her father at seven-weeks-old when I went back to work and they bonded. He would talk to her only in Spanish and when I would come home, she did not quite understand me,” said Graham interviewed at her Penn Branch home on P Street SE that she shares with Anna Elizabeth’s father Efren Martinez Montero. In Ann Elizabeth’s case, her crayon became a life line, earning her a national art award..." A Penn Branch girl, living with autism, who is an artist...and Afro-Latina? Though I am not, myself, autistic, ..my sister is. My family is Cameroonian, Ghanaian, Mexican AND American. We are also artists and proud  Branchers, since 1965 [I was born in 1969]. So, we check ALL of those above boxes, and we are so proud. Congratulations, Anna. Read more in East Of The River magazine... https...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 hills ...

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 just do not think, 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 stable taxb...