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A couple enjoys a romantic outdoor meal on a
warm winter day. Photo: Celeste McCall.
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Love, a universal mystery, and a loaded concept in any culture, gets a worldwide workout in February. On Barracks Row, love is in the air everywhere – our retailers have love for sale. At our Eighth Street nonprofits, love is the fundamental motivator of good work, often involving hundreds of devoted volunteers. On our two Barracks Row military bases, Marine Barracks Washington, Eighth & I, and the Washington Navy Yard, love of our democracy, our way of life, is at the heart of the military careers of the dedicated men and women we see in uniform on our corridor every day.
Whatever path we’ve followed for love, for most of us, our first love was Mom – or Dad, if he did the cooking. Memories of home flood us when we get a whiff of cookies baking or pot roast simmering. At Hill’s Kitchen (713 D St. SE, 202-543-1997), Valentine’s baby bibs for your cutie pie are nestled in with luscious, red heart-themed kitchen towels. Myriad heart-shaped cookie cutters, bowls and baking tins form a buffet of future kitchen nostalgia. There’s even a sandwich shaper to create a heart-shaped ham and cheese on rye for lunchboxes while at the same time creating sandwich-love memories for your own kids and grandkids!
Shopping for Love
At Groovy DC (425 Eighth St. SE, 202-544-6633), “Sex on the Brain” grownup games are best sellers for Valentine’s Day, report owners Dennis and Manuel, who also merrily promise a store visit soon from princes Andrew and Harry. A collection of shots of the handsome royals illustrate how casual photos of your own dynasty will look housed in the lovely silver picture frames on display.
There are Valentine’s cards galore from romantic and silly to comic contemporary masterpieces, plus specialties from J Chocolatier. J is for Jane who lives on the Hill. Jane creates designer chocolates, some dusted with 24 K gold, and sells them locally at Groovy DC and at her shop in Georgetown.
For further Valentine’s indulgences, Patrick, the creative bartender at Starfish (539 Eighth St. SE, 202-546-5006) is designing a Boston Cream Pie Martini and “something very pretty and pink” for after dinner on Feb. 14. When you try these at home for your sweetheart (with coaching from Patrick, of course) you’ll need special stemware to show off your creations. Sweet Magnolia (703 Eighth St. SE, 202-290- 2927) and Homebody (715 Eighth St. SE, 202-544-8445) form a yin yang of Eighth Street’s wine glass culture – with sleek minimalist designs at Homebody while colorful, richly shaped wonders are in the collection at Sweet Magnolia. If you have jewelry in mind for your valentine, shop both these stores to experience a vast assortment of styles. For instance, at Homebody, handsome handmade leather cuffs are standouts, while at Sweet Magnolia, adorable girly bracelets bring promises of bling to recession-weary ladies of all ages.
Winter of Love
On Valentine’s weekend, Feb. 12, 13 and 14, all Eighth Street stores, restaurants and galleries will host a weekend blizzard of activities as part of WinterCity Weekend. There will be a full slate of events both on Eighth and just outside – including a range of performances and displays at the Corner Store (900 South Carolina Ave. SE, 202-544-5807) and at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (545 Seventh St. SE, 202-547-6839) for kids and adults. There will be unusual events throughout the weekend on the Row, including magic acts, sewing/knitting classes (Stitch DC, 731 Eighth St. SE, 202-544-8900), and a Shakespearean interlude (we vote for sword play demonstration).
Eighth Street art displays will be at The Fridge (516 Eighth St. SE – alley, 202-664-4151), and at businesses like Fusion Grill (515 Eighth St. SE, 202-546-3874), Long and Foster (721 D St. SE, 202-547-9200), Attitude Exact (739 Eighth St. SE, 202-546-7186), Homebody and Chateau-Animaux (524 Eighth St. SE, 202-544-8710). No matter what the weather, Barracks Row Main Street volunteers will be handing out weekend activity maps at the Eastern Market Metro to guide you to the hot WinterCity Weekend happenings.
Volunteer Your Love
Volunteering is another word for a love that is hard to define, but like other forms of love, it makes the world go ‘round. At Barracks Row Main Street, local neighbors and friends caught the fever and asked to help with the revitalization of Eighth Street. They give up time, and some would say their sanity, to have balloons tied to them while they sell Taste of 8th tickets on scorching street corners or ladle out hot cider as Santa’s elves on freezing street corners, all to support our mutual vision of making Eighth Street the best it can be.
An even rarer volunteer is Dr. Aston Greaves, dentist and owner of at the Washington Dental Health Care Center (729 Eighth St. SE, 202-546-2202). Dr. Greaves and his wife, Oonagh, are formerly from Chapleton, Jamaica, the market center of the county. During a trip home, Dr. Greaves realized the area’s severe lack of dental care and had a vision of how he would help. He closed his practice on Eighth Street for a week and brought his staffers along to Jamaica where they set up a dental clinic for the underserved. Even more remarkably, Dr. Greaves paid for his own supplies – anesthetics, gauze, antibiotics – everything needed to do basic dentistry. Next visit he will bring equipment to perform free root canal surgery – a procedure costing $20,000 in Jamaica!
While most of us are not able to give back at the astounding level Dr. Greaves has, an amazing percentage of Hill residents volunteer regularly to make the vision of a better world a reality. This Valentine’s Day, after you toast the love of your life over dinner at one of Eighth Street’s great restaurants, stroll down the Row and notice the variety of nonprofits tucked up on second and third floors (as ours are), each representing a corps of volunteers who love to give. Take a moment to savor Capitol Hill as a community, an actual city on the hill, not an ideal but a real place where each of us lucky enough to live here is within walking distance to causes that light up our hearts, enrich our lives, help us grow and ultimately spread the glow of love to family, city, country and our planet. |
