Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most......

Many neighborhoods in the District tend to go through a rather predictable routine. They start as fringe areas, slowly attract residents and business owners looking for good deals on housing and commercial properties, see an influx of newcomers as word spreads, and soon become the city's next hot destination. And throughout the process the usual conflicts tend to emerge -- between old and new residents, between local and national businesses. Yesterday the rather tranquil Barracks......

A group of friends gathered last Friday night at a rain soaked campground just outside the village of Cooperstown, NY for a weekend that had been in the works for over a decade. All of us, just north of 30 and pals since high school, grew up in D.C.’s Maryland suburbs and were in town to celebrate the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. into baseball’s Hall of Fame. The event was so much more than......

This post is by new DCist contributor Matt Pelkey. It’s almost Friday and a drink or two may sound like a great way to decompress. But happy hour shouldn’t always be about forgetting a tough week, so tonight toast to local business and a thriving community instead. Mount Pleasant Main Street, one of ten DC Main Streets programs, is sponsoring a wine tasting this evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at Dos Gringos restaurant,......

Back to the feeding trough, all. After spending a weekend in the beautiful and delicious Bay Area, it's nice to be back to the reality of dirty campaigning, impossible political prognostications, and the constant braying that the turrists are going to blow us up. I wouldn't be here if I didn't love it… Restaurants in Anacostia? Is it time to put a sit down restaurant in the middle of Anacostia? That's the question Washington Business......

Via the always delightfully surly Rock Creek Rambler, we learn that the proud Navy town of Norfolk, Va. has lifted its 56-year ban on tattoo parlors within city limits. Sixty years ago, Norfolk's East Main Street was world famous for its tattoo parlors, taverns and burlesque palaces. In 1945, there were about a dozen parlors to choose from. That ended in 1950 when the City Council approved a citywide ban on tattoo parlors. Tattoos were......

On a busy corner of Route 1, where Laurel, Md.'s quaint Main Street meets the beginning of a strip mall slide all the way down to College Park, we found one of the last Little Tavern restaurants still standing in the region. Harry F. Duncan founded the Little Tavern chain in 1927 in Louisville, Ky., but when he and his wife Doris moved to Washington in 1928, they established the first Little Tavern Shop at......

Outside the Beltway on Route 1 in Prince George’s County is Laurel, Md. -- a sprawling suburb that has acquired more than its fair share of strip malls and chain stores. But it hasn't always been a playground for T.G.I. Friday's and countless Blockbusters. No, Laurel was established in 1870 as an iron factory town and even boasts a historic little Main Street that is a surprisingly interesting food finding destination. The purpose of our......

Barracks Row Restaurant Crawl Next Weekend Have you been to 8th St. SE lately? The place is going crazy! New places like The Old Siam and World Cafe are snuggling into the Hill neighborhood next to old standbys like Banana Café and Levi's Port Cafe. They're even putting in a Dunkin' Donuts on the corner of 8th and Pennsylvania! Hellooooo Coolattas. The folks along Barracks Row are pretty excited about it too, and they're throwing......

Welcome back, Washington. We hope you had a Turkey Day filled with food, family, and football triumphs. Now it's back to work, maggot! Hey, at least it'll be warm: today is likely to be rainy, but will have temperatures in the sixties. That's not bad for being on the cold side of Thanksgiving. Annapolis Fire Destroys Building, Costs Millions: The weekend's big news was the blaze that tore through Annapolis's historic district. No one was......

In 2002, this DCist moved to the far eastern reaches of Capitol Hill. At the time, 8th Street SE, which passes nearby the popular Eastern Market and in front of the Marine Barracks, was a worn down stretch of road, hardly a place you'd want to be caught at night. Three years and $8.5 million later, the roadway, at right, now known as the Barracks Row Main Street, boasts brick sidewalks, improved lighting, increased parking,......

It'll be a party this evening on Barracks Row, the stretch of Eighth Street SE that'll be celebrating its Great American Main Street Award -- a great honor for its revitalizing streetscaping project. The festivities kick off at the Old Siam Restaurant (406 Eighth St. SE) at 6 p.m. with appetizers and drinks. While its name may have "Old" in it, Old Siam is the newest restaurant on the strip. In the process to revitalize......

Has any stretch of real estate in D.C. turned itself around as quickly as Barracks Row? In just over six years the stretch of Eighth Street SE south of Eastern Market and north of M Street SE. has seen rapid development changing the area from one infested with drug traffic and petty crime to a vibrant thoroughfare. Sure, the space still has some bleak spots, including a Popeye's with astonishingly bad service (even for a......

On our way home from work, DCist took a quick stroll across the newly reopened Pennsylvania Avenue pedestrian precinct in front of the White House. While How Now, Brown Pau was underwhelmed with the results, we're still digesting the revamped streetscaping. From How Now, Brown Pau: I had expected that the whole stretch of Penn Ave from 15th to 17th NW would be paved over with colored granite slabs, turning the street fronting the White......

The third annual Barracks Row festival will be held this Saturday from 11-5, on, you guessed it, Barracks Row. The festival will feature musical performances; a dog show; and over 70 vendors selling art work, gift items, and food. If you haven't been to Barracks Row and are curious, this is the perfect opportunity to see what some have (perhaps a little prematurely) called "the next Georgetown." The Barracks Row strip (the 500-700 blocks of......

In a tough blow to the already beleaguered H Street corridor, the Board of Directors of the H Street Main Street program have cancelled the first annual H Street Arts and Humanities festival, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 9. In a release to the Voice of the Hill, spokesman Richard Layman states that the festival has been cancelled because The board was uncomfortable with the amount of money raised thus far, as well as the......

(By DCist contributor Kanishka Gangopadhyay) Planning is underway for the first of nine memorial tree groves to be planted around the city in commemoration of the victims of 9/11. The memorial groves project is D.C.'s participation in the U.S. Forest Service’s Living Memorials Project. D.C. officials are planning to plant commemorative trees in each of the city's wards, with a central site on Kingman Island in the Anacostia River. The first grove will be at......