DC’s Penn Quarter
Quaint Quarter
Washington, DC’s Penn Quarter is quickly becoming the district’s most exciting hot spot.
Words by Jill Fergus
If you haven’t been to Washington, DC, recently, you might be surprised at how trendy the town has become. Sure, it’s still primarily a pinstripe-and-pearls kind of place, but hip bars and restaurants are opening every day, edgy art galleries are springing up, and new museums are spicing up the cultural scene. And one of the most exciting neighborhoods is the Penn Quarter. This once-derelict area, stretching from Fifth to Ninth streets and bordered by Chinatown and Pennsylvania Avenue (hence, the name), had one of the district’s highest crime rates. But the turnaround began in 1997 with the opening of the MCI Center (now the Verizon Center)—where the Capitals and the Wizards play and top entertainers perform to sell-out crowds— bringing some much-needed foot traffi c to the area. And it’s just a ten-minute walk from the White House and National Mall, so you’re never far from the district’s leading landmarks.
One of the most anticipated cultural events in the city will be the reopening of the National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.si.edu) and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (www.americanart.si.edu) in July. The two museums are now housed in the Old Patent Offi ce Building on a two city-block site in the heart of the Penn Quarter. Robert Mills, the architect who created the Washington Monument and the Treasury Building, designed the building, whose dramatic architectural elements include a curving double staircase, porticos and vaulted galleries. The National Portrait Gallery will have all the presidential portraits back on permanent display, including the famous “Lansdowne” portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart, as well as caricatures of latter-day presidents, such as Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. The Smithsonian will open with exhibits on photographer William Wegman and artist William H. Johnson.
Across the street from this stately building, you’ll fi nd the International Spy Museum (www.spymuseum.org).
Though it’s only been around for a few years, it has quickly grown into one of DC’s most popular attractions. Billed as the only museum in the world solely dedicated to the tradecraft, history and contemporary role of espionage, it has three fl oors of cool spy gadgets like a WWII Enigma machine, Soviet shoe transmitters and KGB lipstick guns. There are also displays on real-life spies from Mata Hari to Aldrich Ames. Kids will absolutely love this place.
It’s a quick walk from the Spy Museum to the neighborhood’s main drag, Seventh Street, which is lined with cafés, bookstores and art galleries, including Touchstone (http://gallery.infosrc.com) and Zenith (www.zenithgallery.com), where you can catch exhibitions of works by local artists. On the third Thursday of each month, galleries stay open until 8pm, and the Starbucks at Seventh and H hosts poetry readings. There’s even a farmers’ market, a sure sign of gentrifi cation. You’ll also fi nd contemporary furniture shops like Apartment Zero (www.apartmentzero.com) stocked with cutting-edge desks and chairs and unique items for the home, such as stainless-steel welcome mats and rubber bowls that can be molded, origami-like, into different sizes.
Also located on Seventh Street is the Shakespeare Theatre Company (www.shakespearetheatre.org), which performs in the Lansburgh Theater and is one of the country’s most esteemed Shakespearean troupes. In addition to familiar works such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest, the company stages rarely produced plays like Coriolanus, King John and Pericles. Works from such notable playwrights as George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Eugene O’Neill, Henrik Ibsen and Tennessee Williams are also performed. During the months of June and July, look for Love’s Labor’s Lost, directed by Michael Kahn, the company’s artistic director. The show is scheduled to travel to the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in August.
If you prefer more avant-garde fare, head to the Woolly Mammoth Theatre (www.woollymammoth.net), led by artistic director Howard Shalwitz, one of the founding members. Back in the 1980s, the fl edgling company performed in various venues around the city, including church basements and warehouses. Finally, after winning multiple theater accolades, including several Helen Hayes awards, they moved into their permanent home last year, a 265-seat courtyard-style theater. Some of the plays slated for this summer include Faculty Room by Bridget Carpenter, about the relationship between students and teachers in a public high school, and In the Continuum, a two-woman show that began as an off-Broadway production in New York about parallel lives in Los Angeles and Zimbabwe, written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter.
There are plenty of choices for pre- or post-theater dining in Penn Quarter. In fact, this area is becoming known as something of a culinary mecca. One of the newest restaurants is Rasika (202-637-1222), which has a modern Indian menu. Expect such dishes as minced lamb kebab with a mint chutney, and black cod with dill and star anise from Bombay-born chef Vikram Sunderam. Design elements here include an open kitchen, mosaic lighting fi xtures and a wall of spices. There’s also Finn & Porter (202-719-1600) with its dramatic 30-foot waterfall, serving up steak (Porterhouse, fi let mignon), seafood (Alaskan halibut, Atlantic salmon) and sushi at the U-shaped raw bar.
Another hotspot is IndeBleu (202-333-2538), a sexy restaurant/lounge with a French-Indian menu. Fashioned from four adjoining historic townhouses, the place boasts 23-foot high ceilings, a miniature suspension bridge and an ornamental staircase. Start with a cocktail (there are more than 50 to choose from) at the bar, where you’ll fi nd a bustling after-work scene. Or unwind on comfy mattresses in the swanky sunken lounge complete with a DJ. Afterward, make your way to the second-fl oor dining room, where windows look out onto the National Portrait Gallery. Chef Vikram Garg’s dishes include cumin-scented scallops with orange-braised chicory, and oven-roasted sea bass with coconut tumeric mussels. Zola (202-654-0999), the restaurant connected to the spy museum, is housed in a historic 1875 building and always buzzing. The fare is New American, the wine list is stellar and there’s a celebrity clientele that includes First Lady Laura Bush, Michael Jordan, Tom Cruise and Senator Hillary Clinton.
Of course, the area wouldn’t be complete without a hip boutique hotel. And the place that fi ts the bill is the Hotel Monaco (www.monaco-dc.com), housed in the former General Post Offi ce building—an all-marble National Historic Landmark designed in the early 1840s. There are 183 stylish rooms with bold color schemes, original vaulted ceilings and whimsical touches like plaster busts of President Jefferson. The hotel is home to Poste (202-783-6060), a chic brasserie with dishes like braised short ribs and grilled veal chop on the menu. Don’t miss the complimentary evening wine tasting in the lobby, which is decorated with modish furniture and has an inviting fi replace—it’s a great spot to meet the staff and other guests in an informal setting. And the best part about the Monaco? It’s smack dab in the middle of Penn Quarter, so you are never far from the action. Who would ever have thought this area could be so cool? How times have changed.