Capitol Hill Neighborhood

Capitol Hill, a large commercial and residential area stretching from the Capitol building east to the Anacostia River, is one of Washington's most open, beautiful, and family friendly neighborhoods.  While the districts's eastern quadrants often receives a bad rap in the guidebooks and among its snobbish citizens, the tree filled area contains among its gems: the Library of Congress and Supreme Court, the elegant Marine Barracks and Navy Yard, the Nationals baseball stadium, and Eastern Market.  The area also has a number of large parks spread throughout, including Stanton Park, Lincoln Park, the Congressional Cemetery, Garfield Park, and the riverfront Yards park.

In terms of retail and restaurants, the areas best destination stretches along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Library of Congress to the Eastern Market metro stop.  Along here are a great number of restaurants, ranging from budget to luxury and American to Pakistani, and bars, often filled at happy hour with Congressional staffers.  The two blocks of 7th street north of the metro include numerous shaded sidewalk cafes and restaurants, along with the Eastern Market itself, a beautiful indoor hall built in 1873 and filled with prepared foods, deli items, fruit and vegetable stands, and meat and seafood vendors.  South of the metro along 8th street is Barracks Row, home to three more blocks of restaurants (including a number of fast food options) and shops, as well as the Marine Barracks itself, built in 1801.

Commercial highlights in this area include Capitol Hill Books (657 C St. SE) and its three stories of over-stuffed bookshelves, the coffee-shop by day, bistro by night Pound the Hill Cafe (621 Pennsylvania Ave. SE), and the cheap and delicious Tortilla Cafe (210 7th St. SE).  If you want an upscale meal, the Belgian style steakhouse Belga, located on Barracks Row, is excellent.  While there are certainly bars and restaurants open at night, most area establishments close down around midnight or earlier, and the area is not the party spot that can be found in other DC locations.

Of course, if you are visiting the area on a Saturday or Sunday, the outdoor flea market and farmers market at Eastern market will be the best bet, with both after booth of food, goods, clothes, and gifts to peruse.  On the 2nd saturday morning of every month, the Southeast library, adjacent to the Eastern Market metro stop, hosts a $1 book sale as well, generously stocked with fiction and non-fiction, both new and old.

Although the neighborhood is much larger than its commercial core, the rest of the area is largely residential, dotted with some corner stores, restaurants, and dry cleaners.  However its leafy blocks of rowhouses and schools are more than pleasant to walk around.  Some hidden gems, if you feel like finding them, are the Pretzel Bakery (340 15th St. SE), Mangialardo and Sons Deli (1317 Pennsylvania Ave. SE), Riverby Books (417 East Capitol), and the skate park at Garfield Park.  Near the Potomac Avenue metro stop are also both a Safeway and Harris-Teeter grocery store if you need them.

The souther portions of Capitol Hill, known as Navy Yard, is also a quickly developing area. South of the freeway and stretching from the Navy Yard itself to the Nationals Stadium, numerous luxury high rises and condos have gone up in the area in the last five years.  However the commercial and retail is trailing behind, although not very far.  The recently built Yards Park along the riverfront between 1st and 5th street is beautiful and worth a visit.  Baseball tickets can also be found for under $20 and sometimes under $10, and the Nationals play over 80 home games a year.  Plans are also underway for a large brewery and brewpub, Bluejacket, to open in the area sometime in 2013.

In Northeast Capitol Hill, the H Street Corridor, also known as the Atlas District, is quickly becoming a nightlife mecca, with a number of music venues, danceclubs, and hip restaurants.  If you want to see a band go to the Rock and Roll Hotel, if you want to dance with sweaty young people go to Little Miss Whiskeys, and if you want to sit on a patio and drink liters of German beer go to the Biergarten Haus.  Numerous other options abound.

Overall, Capitol Hill is a wonderful area to visit during the day, and if you are considering moving to D.C., a great area to rent (or buy) in.

Hirshhorn Gallery

Hirshhorn Gallery

Museum: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Sculpture Garden: 7:30 a.m. to dusk

7^th and Independence SW (museum entrance on Independence)

The Hirshhorn gallery, a donut shaped building on the mall’s southern edge, houses the Smithsonian’s collection of modern and avant-garde art.  With works by luminaries like Anselm Kiefer, Eva Hesse, Damien Hirst, and Andy Warhol the museum is a good choice for anyone hoping to be exposed to the contemporary span of the global art world.  Spiral up the two floors of galleries until you find yourself at a large resting room on the top floor looking out on the mall.  Leather couches provide a rest for your legs and a large working table allows you to pull out your laptop, inspired by the two Sol LeWitt prints that frame the room.  Then descend down through the museum’s sculpture filled inner ring to the basement, housing a theater, audio-visual galleries, and Barbara Lautenburg’s room-wide text art project Belief+Doubt, running through 2014. 

The outdoor grounds of the museum also display an extensive sculpture collection, both around it’s perimeter and in the sunken garden on the mall.  In the donut’s center is a large plaza and central fountain with a number of table and chairs, often home to a special sculpture exhibit as well.  The giftshop, located in the museum’s basement, contains a good collection of art books, t-shirts and jewelry.  Ask in the lobby for an impromptu 30 minute tour between noon and 4 p.m., or visit the museum at 12:30 p.m. M-F for a gallery talk. 

Overall, the Hirshhorn is worth a visit (or re-visit), even for non-arty types, as it is a world-class collection of modern works and can be fully explored in under an hour and a half.  Like most art museums, it may not be suitable and/or induce boredom from small children, but with pieces large, strange, and at times disturbing, all but the most petulant of adolescents should be satisfied.  And if not, tell them they are uncultured and to go send text message on the 3^rd floor couches.    

Smithsonian Freer-Sackler Galleries

Step into the Smithsonian’s Asian art galleries on a sticky Washington summer day and you will exhale in relaxation.  Located in the sprawling Enid Haupt garden behind the Smithsonian castle, the Freer-Sackler is a two for one, housing both the Freer Gallery, opened in 1923 as the Smithsonian’s first art museum, and the underground Sackler gallery.  Also take note of the Freer’s central courtyard and fountain, equipped with chairs, often empty, and a world away from the Washington mall. 

While some of the Freer’s large permanent collection is of the type that is notable for simply being ancient (I am looking at you, ceramics jugs), many of the large wall scrolls and paintings are intricate and fascinating.  The gallery also contains a collection of work by the American painter James Whistler, including his opulent “Peacock Room”.  Take the stairs beneath the Freer, perhaps get lost in the buildings warrens, and find the Sackler gallery’s rotating collection of both contemporary and historical art exhibits.  Running through September 2013 is drawings, models and a documentary on Chinese artist Xu Bing’s Phoenix Project, giant Phoenix sculptures built entirely out of construction refuge.  The museum also permanently displays Xu Bing’s Monkey’s Grasping for the Moon, a multi-floor hanging sculpture depicting the word monkey in a dozen different languages.  Lastly, make sure to take a look in the Sackler’s gift shop, containing a good amount of Asian historical and art books, gifts, and prints. 

Smithsonian African Art Museum

Located in the southeast corner of the Enid Haupt garden, the Smithsonian’s African Art Museum occupies two large floors and a set of underground connections to the Sackler Gallery and Dillon Ripley center.  With rotating exhibits and a permanent collection showcasing works both ancient and new, the museum provides an entertaining perspective on African art.    

Running through February 2014 is an exhibit by the photographer Roger Ballen, a New York to South African transplant whose black and white works are both disturbing and entrancing.  Having photographed South Africa from its apartheid 1980’s through the present, Ballen focuses his work on the edges: between photography and drawing, line and chaos, violence and amusement.  Also displayed is the music video Ballen directed for the South African rap group Die Antwood.

In the museum’s lower level is the exhibit Earth Matters, a large, multi-artist rumination on the natural world displayed until January 2014.  With paintings, photographs, and sculptures, the exhibit should provide something to interest anybody.  A small ceramics collections is also on display in the museums lowest level, which connects to the Dillon Ripley Center.  The museum’s gift shop contains a good selection of African style clothing, artwork, and a large display of African themed books—fiction, non fiction, and childrens.

Overall, the African Art museum is worth a visit and can be seen in under an hour.  For lovers of the avant-garde, the Roger Ballen is an exhibit that may otherwise go unseen if you just visit the Hirshhorn.

.