U Street is Loud, Move to Brightwood

Breaking News: The U Street Corridor is loud!* We had no idea.

Any neighborhood that can spontaneously break out and have the largest party in the city after the Presidential Election in 2008 is bound to be a hot spot for bars and clubs. Oh wait…the corridor already had these bars and clubs before people decided to move in. And now they complain about the noise. Love it.

We here in Brightwood have that nice mix of a blessing and a curse. Wise and I moved here in October of 2008 from Columbia Heights and couldn’t have been happier with the cute brick houses and proximity to Rock Creek Park…and that was it. Besides Brightwood Bistro, Safeway, Subway, Pizza Hut and the Carry Out we have no real local clubs or bars.

What I’m trying to say is don’t move into the local “hot spot” and then complain about the noise, crowds and activity**. Don’t want to relocate to the suburbs? Move uptown. Brightwood to be exact, even Petworth is still relatively silent, oh wait they have some cool developments going on so never mind.

*Comments not so funny on DCist.

**Hilariously realistic comments on Washington Post Article.

Brightwood Day

V, Wise, and I strolled over to Brightwood Day. For anyone that didn’t see the three enormous banners on the intersection of Piney Branch and Georgia Avenue, Brightwood Day is a neighborhood festival that was held July 18, 2009.

As far as neighborhood festivals go, it definitely leaned on the family & church side. Everyone there was either over 45 years old or under 12. V wouldn’t let me go in the moon bounce, I was too lazy to stay for the tug-of-war (I developed a strong case of the ‘itis, more on that later), and given that I was wearing MAC makeup, I wasn’t going anywhere near the face painting. There was a large stage set up in the middle of Tuckerman Street where various performances took place. While we were there, a comedian did an act and a rather good neo-soul singer took the stage. The grassy area was lined with booths that featured everything from the Brightwood Community Association info, the Brightwood Heritage Trail, volunteer opportunities, over-priced jewelry, and anti-war literature. The anti-war literature looked kind of sketchy and given that I have a good government job that I would really rather keep, I gave that booth a wide berth. But V and I found out some really good activities and resources that we’ll experiment with and highlight over the next few posts.

Given that with the exception of Safeway, Brightwood Bistro, and the carryout, finding food in Brightwood is practically impossible (as far as we’ve discovered; if anyone out there has any suggestions, I would love love love to hear them), so I didn’t expect much in the way of festival food. There was a stand selling popcorn, water bottles, and cold drinks but there was a stand selling real food. The stand was from Haydee’s Restaurant and for $5, you got a Styrofoam container full of fried food. And I mean fried. There wasn’t a vegetable to be had, not even fried okra. I could feel my cholesterol rising with each chicken finger but it was pretty good. After wandering around a bit and shaving off years of our lives with the fried food, we were ready to call it quits. Especially since we kept getting vacation bible school flyers shoved in our faces. All in all it was a pretty good day.

Oh Me, Oh My!

LC and I (escorted by Wise) attended Brightwood Day and will have additional post rolling in here soon! It might take awhile considering all of the vendors we visited! I do have to say that Brightwood is just as diverse as I expected it to be and we have some hidden gems that will hopefully be unearthed in the up coming months! Stay Tuned!

Brightwood Day!

Brightwood Day is coming up on us fast! LC and I are going to be in attendance and we'll be sure to report on all the goodies we see!

BRIGHTWOOD DAY 2009--a fun-filled, family-friendly neighborhood celebration!

WHEN: SATURDAY, JULY 18TH

WHERE:
Outdoors at the "Neighborhood Pavilion" - corner of Piney Branch & Tuckerman NW, right off Georgia Ave.

I really hope they have smoked corn! :D