Top sights in Washington include Capitol Hill Books, the Black Cat music venue and a top-rated Filipino restaurant

People love to be rude about Washington DC because it’s full of so many politicians, feds, and consultants who wear fleece vests and don’t take off their work lanyards when they leave the office. I get it. I myself had mixed feelings about my home town when I was growing up there. It didn’t seem as exciting as New York, or as glitzy as Los Angeles. But after a decade away, I came back, because time is circular, and also it turns out DC rocks and I love it! It has great restaurants, resplendent parks and free museums. Sometimes when I’m sad I’ll put on red lipstick and go wander around the National Gallery of Art for an afternoon, staring at gorgeous paintings and sulking in a way that I hope looks beautiful and intriguing to strangers. This city can be short on glamour, so sometimes you have to generate it yourself.

If you’re not feeling sad and dramatic, though, here are some other things we can do together.

Day 1: Rothko and rock’n‘roll

Let’s start at lunch. My parents started going to Zorba’s Cafe, a Greek restaurant off Dupont Circle, before I was born. My family comes so often that my mom and I once said that in the event of an apocalyptic global communications meltdown in which we couldn’t get in touch with each other, we’d meet at Zorba’s. That’s our idea, and you can’t copy it! Anyway, until then, just enjoy the food. It’s amazing. I like to get the dolmathakia, baba-ganouz, and the souvlaki plate with chicken.

When you’ve finished your meal, you can wander around the corner to the Phillips Collection, a private museum with an extensive collection of impressionist work. The Rothko room is my favorite. One time I went to see an exhibit at the Phillips and Nancy Pelosi stood next to me looking at the same painting.

I don’t generally enjoy shopping. It reminds me of going to the mall as a tween and fighting with my mom because she wouldn’t buy me a tank top that said “Spank Me” or whatever. But I could spend hours inspecting every inch of GoodWood and Delorean 88 Vintage. The U Street vintage furniture and clothing stores are a 20-minute walk or five-minute drive from the Phillips. They both represent aspirational versions of myself: at GoodWood, I am a sophisticated, cerebral aesthete who can instantly tell teak wood from walnut. At Delorean 88, I am someone with interesting opinions on music and who knows how to style an oversized T-shirt. I love taking friends to these places and seeing what they gravitate to.

On to dinner. DC has some incredible Ethiopian and Eritrean food, and Keren Restaurant is an Adams Morgan neighborhood staple. It’s delicious and affordable, and you rarely have to wait long to get a seat. My favorite dish, the veggie combo with injera, is only $12. It’s easily enough food for at least two full meals.

If you still have the energy, the music venue Black Cat is only a 15-minute walk from Keren. My boyfriend took me there on our first date. I can’t promise that seeing a show here will help you find love, but it won’t hurt!

Day 2: Fabergé eggs and Filipino eats

Let’s start off at Hillwood Estate, the former home of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the late businesswoman and heiress. Perhaps you’ve heard about the other home she built: Mar-a-Lago. Hillwood is just as understated as its Florida cousin. Touring the mansion feels like walking through a carnival funhouse designed by Russian tsars. Post’s third husband served as ambassador to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and the couple became enthusiastic collectors of Russian art. The home features portraits of Catherine the Great and Tsar Nicholas II, and two Fabergé eggs. Outside the mansion, the grounds include a rose garden, a Japanese-style garden, an orchid-filled greenhouse and a pet cemetery where you can pay your respects to dogs with names like Scampi. It’s a fun place to wander around, especially when the weather’s nice.

When you’re ready for lunch, pick up a sandwich or a slice from Vace Italian Delicatessen. A six-minute drive from Hillwood, it’s a perfect Italian deli on Connecticut Avenue. You can get a slice of pizza for $2.50 or an Italian cold cut sandwich for $6.50. It also has great homemade pasta, sauces and frozen entrees. My family and I used to get bags of their mushroom agnolotti and tubs of homemade walnut sauce. It’s a rich, heavy meal that one must digest over the course of four to six days, like a boa constrictor processing an ocelot.

Next up, I recommend a stroll through beautiful Rock Creek Park. The green, tranquil escape is the perfect place to go on a long walk and talk trash with your friends. Take your time, until you are ready to do some more eating. In 2023, Tom Sietsema, the Washington Post’s food critic, named Purple Patch the restaurant of the year, and it was well deserved. The Filipino-American establishment in Mount Pleasant has a bright, cozy atmosphere. I have vivid, passionate dreams about its ube pie.

Day 3: Books and board games

To begin: a two-hour unlimited brunch at Ambar. Personally, I could happily eat nothing but Ambar’s cheese and meat pies until they run out of pies and ask me to leave. But this Balkan restaurant on Capitol Hill has other gems on the menu too, like pork sausage and ajvar, a delicious roasted pepper and eggplant spread.

Just a 10-minute walk from Ambar, Capitol Hill Books is the kind of shabby, warm, overstuffed shop that would serve as the quaint backdrop for a meet-cute in a 90s romcom. There is no more perfect place to browse after brunch and to be wooed into thinking that maybe this is the copy of Anna Karenina you’ll actually finish.

A 10-minute drive south of the bookstore, Diamond Teague Park is a great place to stroll along the Anacostia River, or to sit in the grass and performatively read whichever books you picked up. Ideally, you’d buy an ice-cream cone at a nearby shop and enjoy that while you sat in the sun.

After lazing around the park, wander over to the Salt Line, an oyster bar right in front of Nationals Park. For two people, the perfect order is a dozen oysters (two each of their six selections) and one lobster roll to split. And to end the night, stop by Trusty’s Full-Serve. It’s my favorite dive bar in DC, and possibly on the planet. Trusty’s is the perfect spot to have a drink and gossip and maybe order a hot dog if you’re hungry. If you’ve run out of gossip, you can play one of the board games lying around: Tetris, Battleship, a battered box of old Trivial Pursuit cards. Everyone is so nice and they always remember my order (sparkling water and lime).

Question Time

Is three days in Washington DC enough?

Yes.

What is the most popular tourist spot in Washington, DC – and is it worth it?

The National Mall. And yes. It’s beautiful, lined by wonderful free museums, and you can see the Capitol and the Washington monument from afar, which is all you need.

Is it expensive to visit Washington DC?

It doesn’t have to be. The Smithsonian museums are free, and there’s good, cheap food if you know where to look.

When is the best time to visit Washington DC?

Spring and fall because that’s when the weather is the most mild (albeit unpredictable) and when the flora puts on the best show.

What’s the weather in Washington DC?

Cold and gray in the winter, hot and humid in the summer. Spring and fall are wild cards.

Unique career development opportunity connects them with alumni, officials in field

For the past two decades, students at the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice have spent part of Spring Break in Washington, D.C.—an immersive experience that allows them to explore career opportunities, network with alumni and meet with different agencies, regardless of their pathway or year of study.

This year, more than 25 students spent three days in the nation’s capital, as part of “Washington Week”—an opportunity that students said left them with a broader understanding of potential career paths and the feeling that their knowledge and training would enable them to enact real change.

“I feel truly empowered,” said Doria Qu, a first-year Social Sector Leadership student. “Seeing all these impactful people working in different federal government branches is convincing to me that I’m on the right track, and one day I could be as influential as them.”

During their time in Washington, students experienced real-life examples of how they can apply their knowledge and training to handle society’s most difficult problems by influencing change at the federal level.

“There is so much more to this degree in terms of things that you can do than I expected,” said Lilah Ravinuthala, a second-year Social Work student. “This is showing me an entirely different perspective of what I’m capable of.”

Several Crown Family School alumni working in the Washington, D.C., area met with students to host informational interviews and networking sessions. The tour began at the Department of Veterans Affairs, with White House Fellow and Crown Family School alum Mariah Sklyr. Bryan Smith and William Godwin, also White House fellows and both University of Chicago alumni, discussed how their focus on equity prepared them for senior roles in government.

At the Council of Institutional Investors, Research Manager and alum James Crowe spoke about how to make career tradeoffs. Peter Gaumond, senior policy analyst at the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and president of the Crown Family School Alumni Association Board, described the world of federal government and implementing policy across agencies.

Students went to the Fairfax County Government building to meet alum and county Deputy Legislative Director Jennifer Van Ee. At the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, alum and Director of Cross-Sector Initiatives Abra Lyons-Warren offered insight on how to conduct a Washington D.C. job search from Chicago. Alum Maggie Quinn, associate deputy director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families also met with students. The National Association of Social Workers, the Department of Transportation and the White House, were also stops on the tour.

Nearly two dozen residents in D.C.’s Eckington neighborhood are without a home after a massive fire engulfed an apartment building in Northeast overnight Monday, authorities said. The flames also damaged nearby homes.

Firefighters were called to an apartment fire in the 300 block of Seaton Place NE just after midnight, D.C. Fire and EMS said. When fire crews arrived, heavy orange flames were shooting from the roof and both levels of the building, fire fighters said.

Those strong flames traveled from the building across an alley about 10 Ft. away to neighboring row homes.

Thern Hill-El who lives next door to the building took cellphone video of the fire from his window. The video captures the moments the fire jumped from the alley to a car.

"Man, somebody better put some water on that car!” Hill-El can be heard saying.

He said "the inferno was hot enough" to melt the side of the house and metal like the fence and car.

"Reinforcement steel, imagine that just dripping like wax, okay. And they’re trying to get through the fence and they’re cutting the wood down so they can get through, so they can get to the fire itself," Hill-El said.

Resident Taylor Warpool was lucky. Her unit on the very end of the building wasn't damaged. She said she was sleeping when the fire broke out and someone banged on her door.

"We don't know who it is, but somebody came into our building, like got into our building and started banging on people’s doors to get us awake," Warpool said.

All of the apartment's residents were able to evacuate. No one was injured in the fire, officials said.

In total, 17 people and two dogs were displaced by the fire, authorities said. The Red Cross is helping with housing and other necessities.

After the fire was extinguished, photos show the building with smashed windows. 10 units were gutted and filled with charred debris.

The back of the apartment complex has blackened wood and singed framing where units used to be. The flames scorched the car and left a trail of black smoke in the back of the row homes.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Stay with News4 for updates.