Cesspool on the Potomac (Washington, DC Part I)

[ShonTron]

After Baltimore, I took a train and left the United States.

Here is part one of two sets of pics.

I took the Metro from Union Station (wonderful place, posted in the next set) to my hotel, located between the White House and Dupont Circle, a perfect location, and a great rate (thanks, Shatner!). My hotel was on K Street, infamous for all the lobbyists (the 4th branch of government).

I was immediately in awe of the European continental feel of the place.

The White House. It's heavily policed, but not entirely intimidating....

Until you discover all the security cameras around. However, the uniformed secret service agents are surprisingly friendly. I was listening to one describe how many fence-jumpers they get. And the fence-jumpers usually get off with a $75 misdemeanour fine, a record and often a psych evaluation.

I visted several of the museums on The Mall. All are free to get in, the line-ups only for bag checks (and in some cases, a metal-detector screening).

Smithsonian Castle

Old Art and Industries building

Hershorn Museum. Interesting architecture, but limited time made me skip the inside.

Air and Space museum was cool. Very crowded though.

Weapons of Mass Destruction

Also on display were several artifacts from the under-renovation American History Museum.

Judy Garland's slippers and the scarecrow costume.

I thought putting C3PO and R2D2 in front of 5 panels of ENIAC was rather cute.

They even have Archie Bunker's chair, Seinfeld's puffy shirt and Mr. Rogers' sweater. Though the CBC museum here has Casey and Finnegan and Friendly Giant's castle. Tough call as to which is better.

Entire exhibit on the Wright Flyer (though seeing the original craft is impressive

The National Gallery of Art was amazing. Also free. Had special exhibitions of the work of JMW Turner and Edward Hopper. What I also found remarkable was the museum's policy on photography: permitted (even with flash) except otherwise noted, like the special exhibitions.

The Pei addition contains the more contemporary works.

Back on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Washington is loaded with faux Greek and Roman architecture, yet is usually done really well and seems to fit. Maybe because Washington, in many ways, the current incarnation of Rome around 200 AD.

FBI Brutalist HQ. It does and doesn't quite fit the building's namesake, a brutal bully who also liked to cross-dress.

The historical commercial centre of Washington.

Metro Center Station. All underground Metro stations look almost exactly the same. It's not a bad design though. And the system is busy and covers the city well. No wonder it's second to New York in the US by rapid transit ridership.

The stations can be very deep, with really, really long escalators.

Dupont Circle area. Note the national park sign for the green space in the circle. All of these are NPS parks, which I found interesting.

Embassy Row.

The Watergate. Actually, a really interesting multi-use complex, hotel, offices, apartments and a community shopping centre including a Safeway.

Kennedy Center is nicer at night.

And then to see the big guy.

Korean War memorial nearby.

Then the walk back to the hotel takes me by the White House.

Part II to come shortly (I hope).

 

[Zephyr]

While in NYC, I took weekenders to several places. I went to DC at least four times. once while base camping in Laurel Lakes Maryland. Laurel Lakes was the only time that I took a Metro down and back from DC, the other times were in a motor vehicle on Sundays when it is especially easy to park.

It looks as though you visited the exact same places that I did. I had a few photos of the new WWII memorial between the Washington and Lincoln Monuments - and I don't see that here. I hope that does not mean you were unable to see it.

Another spot that 'blew me away' as they say, was the American Indian Museum, near the Capitol - the most spectacular architectural midrise I have seen this year, and that is no exageration.

The Lincoln Memorial seemed especially unclean and unkempt when I got near it at nightfall on one visit. And as I left there to find the White House (or should I say 'Casablanca' ), I discovered a Red Cross building that looked like it was designed by the same architect as that of the President's residence. It was very unnerving to look over and see that building lit similarly but without the wrought iron fence.

This is a city laid out to impress, but if you go into the nearby neighbourhoods like those along New York Avenue, it is not all glitz and glitter. And that heat and humidity can be difficult to endure ...

 

[Long Island Mike]

Washington,DC-an interesting city...

ST: Good washington,DC pics! If you noticed Washington has strict height restrictions on its buildings. Pic#10 shows the Old Post Office tower-I have been up to its deck at least once.

You took lots of pics of the Smithsonian Institution's buildings- my favorite exhibits that come to mind are-at the Natural History museum: the Hope Diamond and the nearby crystal ball on display;anything at Air and Space and the National Museum of American History. The Art galleries are called the Hirschhorn by the way.

Yes-WMATA has built a "family"look into its Metro stations-Metro Center does not look bad for over 30 years of service-the Red line section between Rhode Island Avenue and Farragut North then Dupont Circle opened in 1976 and the Blue Line between Stadium/Armory and National Airport opened in 1977. The Dupont Circle escalator was one of the system's longest-Rosslyn was the longest-until the Red line extension to Glenmont was constructed. Forest Glen or Wheaton-I dont recall which one-has the longest escalator in the Western Hemisphere serving it-another is strictly served by elevators. In my opinion the most interesting to me Metro station is Huntington on the Yellow Line-built literally into the side of a hill-the S end has what must be the most expensive handicapped service-a incline car up the hill!

Speaking of tall buildings-few and far between in DC-two of the tallest structures are a building constructed above the Metro station in Rosslyn (Arlington,VA.) and the Masonic Memorial in Alexandria-near METRO's King Street Station and the Amtrak station next door on the bluff.

As you mentioned-there was not quite a big hassle visiting DC's tourist attractions-as long as you consented to a bag search and go thru security. Hopefully you enjoyed your trip! LI MIKE

 

[ganjavih]

Best tour of DC ever...

Sweet canyon... wish we had some o' those...

 

[JasonParis]

That picture could be Berlin.

 

[smuncky]

That picture could be Berlin.

minus the american flag on the left building

great pics sean. i'm itching to go back to washington sometime since i was there when i was a little kid.

 

[unimaginative2]

It's so true about the European feel! It's perhaps the most European-feeling city I've ever seen in North America. It's quite a strange, but intriguing place.

The Washington Metro really is amazing. It's everything that a subway should be. They really didn't skimp on anything.

You know the American Indian Museum was designed by Canadian Douglas Cardinal, though he got screwed over when they fired him before completion. He's suing, since it's quite obviously his design.

As an aside, there's one flag that you can see above all the others at the Brandenburg Gate. It's perched way up high looking down over everything. It's the flag of... Quebec!

 

[junctionist]

Could we achieve midrise "canyons" like the ones seen in Washington?

 

[allabootmatt]

The Washington Metro really is amazing. It's everything that a subway should be. They really didn't skimp on anything.

Except for the 15-minute frequencies between rush hours.

Thanks for the photos...I hope that Part 2 will include some of the residential areas, a few of which are, in my opinion, bar none the most beautiful in North America (Georgetown, Dupont etc).

I lived in Washington for a little while and know the city quite well. The European feel is absolutely right, between the big boulevards and endless rows of quite ornate rowhouses. The extent of the historic architecture is also quite impressive--it covers a swathe that feels quite a bit larger than brownstone Boston, for example. It can really be a stunningly beautiful city in spots, although interestingly (like Toronto) that's manifested more in the back streets than in the grand public spaces; the Mall in particular is in terrible shape and desperately needs a facelift.

But it has more than its fair share of problems, the biggest of which is that 1/2 of the city is a virtual no-go zone--off New York Ave, as someone mentioned, things get really quite grim and the south-east is even worse. Probably some of the worst urban poverty in the US, in fact, and that's saying something. The social problems in those areas are staggering, and yet completely invisible to the affluent lobbyists, Congressional staffers and lawyers living in the spiffy NW quadrant.

And even in the nice parts of the city the place can be, well, totally dead. The Dupont Circle area is almost hilariously underwhelming for what's supposed to be the cultural hub for a conurbation of several million people, and Adams Morgan--DC's funky, slightly seedy hipster headquarters--is a commercial strip which is literally two blocks long. Even in the revitalized downtown, along F Street where the Spy Museum and Verizon Center are and 7th, the other main drag, the sidewalks can be virtually empty on the weekends. DC has come a long way, but it still has a long way to go.

One of the culprits is, ironically, the DC area's incredibly successful suburban transit-oriented development, which has created several high-density centers (Silver Spring, Arlington, Bethesda, and Alexandria--though that long predates the Metro) that keep a lot of the evening and weekend life out of the District proper.

All that said the city has an amount of potential that's really quite incredible; great bones, a concentration of smart people that's got to be the highest in the world, decent transit by US standards, nice weather 9 months of the year, and on and on. As I understand it things are massively better than they used to be, but Washington is still not even in the same galaxy as Toronto in terms of vibrancy and organic cultural life, let alone New York. Though the city has some high culture it's almost totally artificial; federally subsidized and overlaid on a town that for most of its history has had no significant arts community.

The Metro, however, is a lot less of a decent system than it appears--it's really designed for VA and MD commuters, and tourists--not so much for people who actually live in the District. And the lack of service to Georgetown, my old neighbourhood and the DC area's busiest retail zone, is a huge flaw. Though the NIMBYs west of 26th Street have only themselves to blame for that, of course.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Part II.

 

[unimaginative2]

The area it covers is more comparable to GO Transit, though, and when you compare it to GO's frequencies 15 minutes off-peak seems pretty impressive.

I agree that missing Georgetown was a big omission, but as you say it was the NIMBY residents' fault.

Anyway, I was talking more about the design of the stations and the trains. Sure, frequencies might be better, but it's certainly vastly better than almost all transit systems in the U.S.

 

[Long Island Mike]

The District of Columbia-a divided - of sorts - place

Matt and UNI: The racial divide in DC can be quite interesting-the City is about 70 percent Black with the majority of affluent White residents W of Rock Creek Park. I recall the SE-specifically the Anacostia area along with Shaw-the area around 14th and U streets NW- to be two of DC's toughest neighborhoods. It amazed me to discover the divide when it came to areas like Capitol Hill and as for streets-how different 14th Street-somewhat seedy and sometimes tough-was from 16th Street-somewhat more affluent and nicer-going North from the Downtown DC area.

Matt: You are right about Metro not serving Georgetown-NIMBY opposition kept Metrorail out but residents today now see the mistake that was made.

Metrorail was designed-to an extent-to serve areas surrounding DC instead of being a pure City rail service. I have heard complaints back in the 80s such as "A White Folks Rail System and a Black Folks' Bus System" about Metrobus.

I also recall that people were apprehensive about the construction in more recent years of the Green Line-serving the two areas mentioned above-because of fear of the criminal element using Metro from those neighborhoods-that I do not believe has become a problem-since WMATA has kept Metrorail security a top priority.

I feel that DC has come a long way in recent years-under mayors like Anthony Williams-instead of being a laughing stock of sorts under Marion Barry and his legal and personal problems. LI MIKE

 

[ShonTron]

The area it covers is more comparable to GO Transit, though, and when you compare it to GO's frequencies 15 minutes off-peak seems pretty impressive.

That's every 15 or so minutes on each line, except the Red, which is a stand-alone line and runs every 8 minutes or so off peak. The lines converge in several places in DC and at Rosslyn and though Crystal City in Virginia. So most of DC itself has 7-9 minute service (the yellow line was also extended though the U Street corridor this year off-peak). Not a bad way of doing it, but it still has nothing on Toronto's frequencies. The countdown digital signs for each train (also including number of cars for each train) helped as well.

Washington's Metro system seemed something in between BART (regional metro) and your more typical urban metro like TTC, STM, MTA, CTA, etc.

 

[allabootmatt]

I have definitely waited 15 minutes for trains in bundled sections--specifically the Blue/Orange (my old stop was Foggy Bottom, or rather it was my stop after a 6-block walk or a trip on the Circulator).

Anyway, bottom line: WMATA frequencies not great, but a quite good regional metro/city subway hybrid, considering that it has succeeded in transit-ifying much of the DC region. I think the reference to BART is quite apt. Also rather like the RER in Paris.

The lack of Metro in Georgetown must have the good burghers of that august enclave kicking themselves. As I understand it the Orange line was to have had one more stop in DC after Foggy Bottom, at Wisconsin and M, which is sort of DC's equivalent of Avenue and Bloor. (Actually Wisconsin is so much like Avenue Road it's creepy, right up to the MD line).

Never happened, and the result is gridlocked traffic and huge numbers of busses.

 

[Hydrogen]

Just curious: did you take your photos on a Sunday? D.C. seems rather quiet in those images.


Any images of Georgetown?



And just a side note, who laid out the road network of Arlington? Was it all a plan to get people lost?

 

[Zephyr]

And just a side note, who laid out the road network of Arlington? Was it all a plan to get people lost?

While I don't have the answer to your question about the actual person, or in my mind people, that laid out the roads, I can provide a little context to what you are referring to in your post.

Arlington, which is technically neither a city nor a town, is one of those historical anomalies that intrigue you about this area.

When DC was created in the 1800s, it was designed to be in the shape of a large square, taking land from both Maryland and Virginia to form that square. The Potomac River, under this plan, was within the DC square, no longer providing a natural border between the two states. One of the casualties on the Virginia side, was the obliteration of a portion of Alexandria. But then, somehow, Virginia got its land all back again by the 1840s. The area became the self-governing Arlington County, with no incorporated cities or towns. Maryland, on the other hand, was left holding the bag, with a swath in the shape of three sides of the original square still missing.

Arlington County eventually set about to create a logical street plan for the county, too logical as it turns out, with additional levels of mnemonics to aid in determining where one was located at any given time.

Specifically, the county in trying to make the naming part of the street system more helpful, not only used alphabetics but added a curious twist using syllables in the name to give a clue as to distance away from a given area. Exceptions were layered on top of this, based on historical paths, existing routes and highways, and the allowance of certain new developments to rename. Finally, the numbered part of the system was compromised by the insistence on a further distinction of road, street, place, etc., that lead to several First, several Seconds, several Tenths, etc.

All and all a bureaucratic nightmare, that resulted from detail not intention.