14th Street Bridge Rehabilitation to Begin

Earlier today, DDOT issued an announcement that a two-year rehabilitation of the 14th Street Bridges will begin. The job involves major repairs to the northbound bridge and minor repairs to the southbound bridge (no work will occur on the HOV bridge).

The work with the greatest impact on the public is repairs to the deck of the northbound bridge. While four lanes will be maintained during morning commuting periods, resurfacing the deck during the next year is anticipated to impose significant delays on northbound morning commuters.

Overnight lane closures in both directions are anticipated to start in early May.

The release, in its entirety, is after the jump.

Lost Washington: Loew’s Palace Theater

Opened on November 4, 1918, the Loew’s Palace Theater was Washington’s first movie palace and the site of numerous early premieres. Loew’s was designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb as a 2423 seat single screen theater and was located at 1306 F Street, NW.

In addition to motion pictures, stage shows began in 1926 and continued until 1932. The Loew’s Palace Theater was also reportedly the first DC movie house with air conditioning which was installed in 1926.

As the theater began to decline, Loew’s spent $225,000 to renovate the theater in 1964 which changed the paint, walls, and carpeting at which time orchestra and balcony wall boxes were also removed.

In 1968, a robbery occurred in which two people were shot and wounded and a year later Loew’s put the old movie palace up for sale.

The Loew’s Palace was finally closed for good in 1978, and was torn down in late-1979. (Source of history, Cinema Treasures)

Its a Parking Sign!!!!!

This neon parking sign is on the north side of L Street, NW, between Connecticut and 18th Street. I think what I like most about it is that the overall shape of the sign is an exclamation point. If I’m correct, the parking garage is for the Bender building, which has a Connecticut Ave. address.

Shepard Fairey Seems to be Pervasive

Now that I’m keeping my eyes open for Fairey’s art around town, I’ve actually started to notice quite a few. This one of Obama, from which the portrait in the National Portrait Gallery is based, is on 14th Street, NW, just north of U and is part of a much larger grouping. I haven’t been able to get a good shot of all of them, as its a construction zone right now. Perhaps this weekend I’ll be able to remedy that.

Farragut Square Getting Some TLC

Tuesday morning, as I was walking to work, I noticed that large swaths of grass were being scrapped up in Farragut Square. At the time, I thought maybe the workers were creating new planting beds for flowers and shrubs.

I contacted Dr. Ximena Hartsock, the new Director of Parks and Recs, to see if she could shed some light on what was going on. What I found out, and would have if I’d only waited a day, is that the party responsible for the work is actually the National Park Service, and what they are doing is resodding areas that are clearly worn.

It looks like there is still a lot of work to do, but for now, it appears that they are doing sections of the park at a time. If you walk through the park you’ll notice areas that have been roped off.

“I Do Solemnly Swear: Photographs of the 2009 Presidential Inauguration” Opens at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

Opening yesterday and running through July 12th, the exhibition “I Do Solemnly Swear” features approximately 50 framed color and black-and-white photographs highlighting the week-long events surrounding the historic Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama.

Included in the exhibition are photographs by both professional and amateur photographers who recorded events surrounding the peaceful American transfer of power. The photographs on view include selections from the National Museum of American History’s new acquisition of 2009 inaugural photographs by leading photojournalists, including David Hume Kennerly, Bob McNeely and Karen Ballard.

You can read the entire press release for more information, and if you haven’t been back to the National Museum of American History since it’s reopened, what better reason do you need.

Ever Wanted to Go Inside an Embassy?

Well, here’s your chance if you’ve ever been curious on what its like inside one of the many Embassies scattered about town.

Passport DC has organized an opportunity to visit more than 30 embassies on Saturday, May 2. While you’re there you may want to take note of events offered throughout the year so you can return your favorite countries.

Cultural Tourism DC will provide free shuttles on May 2 from 10 am – 4 pm. Three shuttles will leave from 1900 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (Dupont Circle) and will loop Massachusetts Avenue, Connecticut Avenue, and lower New Hampshire Avenue.

For more information, visit the Cultural Tourism DC website.

Barry Farm: A Community With a Powerful Past Battles Poverty, Economic Crisis.

Yesterday, NPR featured the Barry Farm community in their programming. According to WAMU: the Freedman’s Bureau established a settlement for former slaves on the eastern bank of the Anacostia River two years after the Civil War ended. Barry Farm, as the community became known, is one of D.C.’s oldest African-American neighborhoods. Today, it’s a low-income housing development plagued by crime, high unemployment and now the recession. You can listen to the feature through the link below.

Barry Farm: A Community With a Powerful Past Battles Poverty, Economic Crisis.

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This Date in History

April 30, 1932: Meeting for the first time, Baltimore’s Mount Washington smothered the Washington Lacrosse Club, 21 to 0, in Baltimore.

Then and Now: 11th & F, NW

Then: ca. 1910, the W.B. Moses & Sons building. W.B. Moses moved to Washington from Philadelphia during the Civil War, and within 50 years established the largest exclusively retail furniture, carpet, and drapery business in America. W.B. Moses settled on the corner of 11th and F in 1884, and the building was added on to in  1887, 1889, 1898, and 1906.

Now: Yet another, largely nondescript office building.