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DC’s Great Streets: Part 2


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The District of Columbia is a beautiful city, full of great streets that connect our favorite places.  In Part 1, you saw half of our authors’ favorite streets in DC.  The streets ranged from quiet, tree-lined residential streets to boulevards with views of the Capitol and thriving mixed-use districts.  Here are the favorite streets of the rest of our authors:

Photo courtesy of
‘FBI Building’
courtesy of ‘mastermaq’
Ben: E Street, between 11th and 7th, NW. I used to love walking this street when I was working at a museum in that area of town. The ominous, ugly J. Edgar Hoover building always seemed to attract my attention; I’d wonder who was looking out at me, and if the cameras were even then watching my every move. I know FBI counter-intelligence agents use that area to train their rookies in the art of counter-spycraft and I’d try to see if I could spot the trainees – or even the teachers. I’ve no idea if I was ever right, but it was a great exercise during lunchtime outdoors.

These days, however, I’m beginning to learn to love K Street NW, between McPherson and Franklin Parks. It’s my new stomping grounds for lunchtime and coffee breaks and the people-watching here is so great you just have to spend five minutes on a park bench and watch. So many stories just passing in front of me as I suck down my daily dosage of caffeine…

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The Features
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DC’s Great Streets: Part 1


View We Love DC’s Favorite Streets in a larger map

The District’s Great Streets Initative aims to revitalize selected corridors in the city by focusing funding on streetscape improvements, economic development assistance, and public safety initiatives.  The program was started back in 2005 and it’s probably too early to tell how successful it has been.  But that program really focuses on streets that need revitalization– areas with little pedestrian activity, not a lot of walkable attractions, and pretty bleak streetscapes.

What about streets that are already great?  Streets that are pleasant to walk down, with lots of shade and benches and a mix of uses to walk to– DC certainly has some pretty fantastic streets already.  I set out to ask our authors about their favorite streets, and here’s the first half of their picks for the District’s greatest streets:

Tom: Pennsylvania Ave SE & 7th Street SE.  From this corner, you can see so much of the city.  Just north of here on 7th is Eastern Market, to the northwest along Pennsylvania are the Library of Congress (my favorite DC Landmark) and the Capitol.  Large trees stand along the sidewalks, and in the medians, and while cars traverse the neighborhood, the sedate pace feels like that of a county seat, and not the nation’s capital.  Seward Square has beautiful residential spaces just a block away, and the small businesses that dot Pennsylvania and 7th are some of my favorite. Montmartre is a great place to get lunch, and Peregrine Espresso is one of my favorite cups of coffee in the universe, and Spike Mendelsohn’s Good Stuff Eatery is just a couple blocks away.  Shade and comfort, right in the middle of our busy city.

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