Tag Archives: crystal city

Entertainment, Special Events, The Features
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Summer 2012 Guide to Outdoor Movies

Photo courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie
DSC_1556.jpg
courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

Summertime in the city–the daylight lasts longer, the outfits get shorter and the city has so many things to offer you outdoors. We’ve rounded up the outdoor movies in the DC area and put them into one comprehensive guide. Break out the popcorn and blankets and get ready to see what films are rolling this summer.

Washington, DC:

Screen on the Green
Where: On the National Mall, between 7th and 12th streets, NW
When: Begins at sunset
Movie Lineup:
Monday, July 16th: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Wednesday, July 25th: It Happened One Night
Monday, July 30th: From Here to Eternity
Monday, August 6th: Psycho

Follow @SOTGinDC for updates and more information.

Capitol Riverfront Movies
Where: Tingey Plaza (behind U.S. Department of Transportation), New Jersey Avenue and Tingey Streets, SE
When: 8:45 PM/Sundown
Movie Lineup:
Thursday, June 14: National Treasure
Thursday, June 21: The Goonies
Thursday, June 28: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Thursday, July 5: City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold
Thursday, July 12: O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Thursday, July 19: The Da Vinci Code
Thursday, July 26:  Muppet Treasure Island

Follow @CapitolRvrFront for more information.

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Arlington, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: The 1K Beer Walk

Photo courtesy of jcm_DC
Porter
courtesy of jcm_DC

If you’ve ever wanted to run a marathon but worry about whether your beer gut will slow you down, Washington Wine Academy‘s DC School of Beer has a perfect solution: the Beer Walk!

The beer walk took place last Saturday and Sunday – a week after the wine walk – in the underground maze of the Crystal City Shops. Both “Beer Walk” and “Wine Walk” are pretty self-explanatory.

After you sign in and show ID, you pick up your race number, t-shirt, glass, and drink tickets. With twenty tickets and generous pours, a $20-$35 ticket (depending on the day/time of the heat you sign up for) will get you feeling pretty good – especially if it’s only 2pm when you start, like it was for me.

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The Daily Feed
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First Look: SOCCi

Photo courtesy of
‘SOCCi Sign’
courtesy of ‘A. L. Huber’

Often, hotel restaurants get a bad reputation that is sorely undeserved. There are many truly great restaurants that adjoin hotels that often get forgotten when thinking about fine cuisine – Blue Duck Tavern in Foggy Bottom springs to mind immediately. SOCCi, short for South of Crystal City Italian, is a new addition to that list of great restaurants in unusual locations.

Nestled in the lobby of the gorgeous newly-constructed Renaissance Arlington Capital View hotel, SOCCi boasts a 96-seat dining room serving chef David Creamer’s fresh, inspired take on classic Italian cuisine.
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The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Crystal City

Photo courtesy of

‘Crystal City – Lightning Ball’
courtesy of ‘Mo Kaiwen è�«æ¥·æ��’

Welcome to another edition of Where We Live. This week we’re hopping on the yellow line, crossing the river, and checking out Crystal City.  When I started looking into Crystal City for this feature, I wasn’t too sure what I would find– a neighborhood named after a chandelier that claims to be Arlington’s largest downtown?  All I knew of it was that there were lots of hotels and office buildings.  But what I found was a lot of people who absolutely love living in Crystal City.  Read on to hear what’s great about Crystal City, as well as some recommendations about what to check out next time you’re in the area!

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Entertainment, Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Paella Sundays

Photo courtesy of
‘two types of paella’
courtesy of ‘needlessspaces’

The Crystal City branch of Jaleo, José Andrés’ award-winning tapas restaurant, is hosting Paella Sundays from 4pm to closings.  Diners can experience a traditional Spanish Sunday Supper complete with gazpacho, salad, paella and flan for $18 per person (excluding of tax and tip).

Every Sunday, guests can enjoy unlimited servings of two daily paellas including Paella de pollo y setas silvestres, a traditional paella of chicken and wild mushrooms as well as a Chef’s Selection Paella, a vegetarian paella featuring seasonal produce.

This is a fantastic way to spend a Sundays  with family and friends, and your meal can be enjoyed inside and outside. Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling (703) 413-8181.

Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Artist Anne Marchand’s Luminous

Photo courtesy of
‘Walkthrough Art’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The Crystal City BID’s ARTFUL Program, which hopes to share with people the influence that art can have over public spaces, is currently exhibiting Lumnious by Washington, DC -based artist Anne Marchand.  Marchand’s Luminous exhibition features eight large, mixed media canvases inspired by a combination of mystical poetry and images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope – where “art and the universe merge”.

Luminous is open until April 26 and is supported by The Crystal City Business Improvement District (BID) in partnership with Vornado/Charles E. Smith.

The exhibition is located at 2231 Crystal Drive.

There is also an opening reception for the exhibit tomorrow, March 24th – Please RSVP at rsvp[at]crystalcity.org.

The Daily Feed
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Bike Rentals Coming to Crystal City

Photo courtesy of
‘Just Another Sight’
courtesy of ‘M.V. Jantzen’

The Crystal City Business Improvement District just announced a new program coming in the Spring of 2010: a 100-bike Commuter Hub, which will offer bike rentals to commuters, tourists, or residents.  The Commuter Hub will be located at 220 Twentieth Street, a new LEED-certified apartment building in Crystal City.  Revolution Cycles will manage the retail and rental business, which will also offer repairs and bike accessories.

Bike rental establishments in our region typically cater to tourists, who can bike around the monuments and parks while sightseeing.  But the Commuter Hub is marketing itself differently– by capitalizing on its location near area trails and bike routes, it offers nearby office workers a chance to rent a bike and explore the trails during lunch.  I’m all for opening up bike options to more area residents, and think that this could be a great option for people interested in trying out biking around town without a huge commitment.

Full press release after the jump. Continue reading →

We Love Food
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We Love Food: El Pollito

Photo courtesy of Me

El pollito, courtesy of Me

Overall I’m inclined to agree with Carl about the crack metaphor: it’s overused, and unless you punched your mother in the face or [redacted] someone’s [redacted] and then let them [redacted] in order to get it, then NO, that chicken ISN’T like crack.

When Tom Sietsema went and checked out El Pollito in Crystal City, however, that’s exactly the comparison someone used in front of him in line. Crack, that is, not the punching your mother stuff. My darling wife and I were delighted to see this review, since the place that used to occupy this storefront looked like it had about 9 customers over the six-month period it was there. Overall we won’t frequent a restaurant that doesn’t seem to do some business – old food is just not conducive to a good dining experience.

So when we went and got some takeout there on Friday evening we were a little concerned to walk in and find the place completely empty. However the rotisseries are right there in plain view and a simpler menu like this makes it less of a concern to me than a larger menu and a closed kitchen, so we went ahead and picked up our order.

Which was simply -eh-.

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The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Splish Splash Statues..and Free Yoga Mats

Photo courtesy of
‘Dew on bamboo’
courtesy of ‘Lip Kee’

Over the years, artists have tried to capture the magic of water in myriad ways. Sergio Martinez chose bamboo and organic hemp rope. His sustainably made eco-statues now leap over walkways at, fittingly, the Crystal City WaterPark, near Crystal Drive and S. 18th St.

Come by tonight from 5-7 p.m., and you can meet the artist himself. Sport & Health will lead “a yogic commemoration reflective of the eco-art.” And they’re giving away free yoga mats. Boat pose, anyone?

The Daily Feed
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Shake and Stretch, Alfresco

Photo courtesy of
‘Ankle Bangle’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

Nothing freshens up a workout like taking it outside! Starting today, and continuing every July Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m., the lucky folks near Crystal City can take a free outdoor Zumba Latin-infused dance class in the courtyard at 2345 Crystal Drive. In August, Zumba switches to Hot Yoga.

No worries about going back to work all hot and sweaty — you can use the shower at nearby Sport & Health for free.

Prefer to unwind after work? On Mondays, starting July 6, you can do yoga-inspired stretching in the courtyard between 18th and Bell Sts. at 7:45 p.m., just before Crystal Screen Superhero-themed movie starts. Stretch, then movie. Yawn! Ahhh….

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: “Legacy of Light”

legacy-of-light_298

Stephen Schnetzer as Voltaire and Lise Bruneau as Émilie du Châtelet in "Legacy of Light" (courtesy Arena Stage)

It makes perfect sense that a theater company whose current renovations will include a new space to be christened “the Cradle” would commission a play about motherhood in all its forms. Karen Zacarias’s “Legacy of Light,” at Arena Stage in Crystal City now through June 14, is a wide embrace of these themes – the purely physical act, the creative endeavor, even the scientific genesis. Maybe too wide an embrace. Its first act had me a bit impatient. But if you can get through the beginning exposition and make it to the second act, you’re rewarded with some truly funny and poignant moments that bring these themes to life.

The production weaves together two sets of couples – in the past, scientist Emilie de Chatelet works furiously on her thesis while balancing a young lover, a longtime companion (who just happens to be Voltaire), a military husband, and a fiesty daughter who shows more interest in fashion than learning. In the present, scientist Olivia struggles to come to terms with balancing the impending birth of her child by a surrogate mother while investigating the more exciting birth of a star in a distant galaxy.

You could say these two have a lot on their plates.

The first act plays with mutable gender roles – both the young male lover in the past and the modern husband register as rather feminine (not to mention, a tad annoying), while the women read masculine at least in terms of their assertiveness and consuming drive. It’s a conceit that gets turned on its head in the second act, when timelines intersect and traditional roles become harder to ignore.

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The Daily Feed
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New Farmers’ Market Opens Today in Crystal City

Photo courtesy of
‘_’
courtesy of ‘Roebot’
I always love shopping the farmers’ markets, seeing the colorful veggies and the plump fruits that hours before were sunning in fields, sampling the wares and roaming around while someone plays the guitar. And then there’s biting into those juicy berries and crisp cucumbers. Yum.

This afternoon, a brand new farmers’ market opens at Crystal City. It’ll be held every Tuesday from 3-7 p.m. from now through October, along Crystal Drive between 18th and 20th streets.

Come and take your pick from more than 20 vendors selling fruits and vegetables, cheese, flowers and potted herbs, meats, eggs, baked goods, specialty foods and more. Eat local, eat fresh and eat mmm, mmm good.

Arlington, Fun & Games, People, Special Events, The Features
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Crystal Couture In Review

Workday Wednesday Fashion Show

The Gossip on 23rd Runway Show at Crystal City Couture

On Wednesday, I headed over to Crystal City for dinner with friends and then a stop at the Crystal Couture Work Wear Wednesday event. Housed inside loft-like industrial space, the large room was set up with vendors selling work wear outfits, a runway, a cash bar, and complimentary mini-cupcakes from Red Velvet Cupcakery. Techno music echoed through the space, and the Sex and The City Movie played in the background. It was girlie to the hilt. After reading Don’s review of Tattoo Tuesday, I was expecting tons of photographers, but mostly there were twenty-somethings stopping by after work to shop the wares.

Although Crystal Couture isn’t quite over yet (there are still events happening through the weekend) I was able to chat with Angela Fox, the President/CEO of the Crystal City Business Improvement District, all about what she loved, what went wrong, and what the event meant for Crystal City. Continue reading →