Weekly Washington: Say It Aint So, Central Liquors!

photo uploaded to flickr by dwfree1967Admittedly, I spend more time in crappy souvenir shops than 99% of Washingtonians, but even I was somewhat disappointed to hear that Central Liquors is moving out to be replaced by the horrible FBI and I LOVE DC T-shirt pushers. Bad enough that the store is no longer there, but now comes word that the iconic sign, a bit of life in a downtown that is all too often sterile, is in trouble. So if you're heading by Ford's Theater (check out We Love DC's review of Sabrina Fair) or the Spy Museum, make sure you take a picture. It might not be there forever. (DCist)

Good news on the First Amendment front. Small demonstrations of less than 25 people on the National Mall will no longer require a National Park Service permit. On first glance this seems like an unlikely bit of common sense from the National Park Service, but no, there was the typical lawsuit forcing their hand. Jeff Ruch of the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility sums up my feelings about the Park Service's decision making process: "This free speech imbroglio is another example of Park Service leadership with its head in the sand, waiting to get sued rather than affirmatively addressing issues before they end up in court". Also, fair warning: if you can't muster up more than 25 people for your cause, you better have some pretty good signs before I give a crap about your cause. (WaPo)

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WalkingTown DC: 5 Tours To Take In

photo uploaded to flickr by TravlrI love WalkingTown DC (ok, fine, and BikingTown DC). Every spring and fall, Cultural Tourism DC pulls together various Museums, tour guides, historical societies, community groups, and othjer entities less definable and offers over 100 free bike and walking tours. Frankly, if you're in town and not taking in at least one of these, you're really just wasting your time in Washington.

But what to do? With so many to choose from, which to pick. Well, everyone is different, but here's the five I would (and hopefully will) do if I had some free time Saturday and Sunday:

note: be sure to check Cultural Tourism DC's website for full info. Some tours require reservations.

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Weekly Washington: Truthiness Restored!

photo uploaded to flickr by Ethan.KStephen Colbert and John Stewart announced last night that they will hold competing rallies on October 30th on the National Mall. You may recall that I asked my Congresswoman about this very topic this weekend. John Stewart is asking everyone to bring their indoor voices to his Rally to Restore Sanity in the shadow of the Washington Monument, while Stephen Colbert will March to Keep Fear Alive, thereby protecting Liberty and Freedom. I'll be honest, I don't make it many rallies (even one's I agree with). I'll probably be breaking that tradition this October, assuming the National Park Service manages to be more effective than the DMV. (TBD)

The whole Tour Guide license thing being unconstitutional thing keeps plugging along. Matthew Yglesias has a great discussion of it on his blog, from a Libertarian perspective. Channel 7 ran a story on it last night, although they incorrectly the test is "new" (it's been around for decades). And my original post has now been cross posted to Greater Greater Washington.

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Weekly Washington: Elephants Now and Then!

photo uploaded to flickr by the Smithsonian InstitutionSo when my wife asks me what I did today, I honestly have no idea. Probably because I've spent way too much time pouring over the photos of old DC landmarks the Smithsonian released this week. (Smithsonian)

The big local news this week, of course, was the short-lived hostage crisis at the Discovery Channel Headquarters in Silver Spring, MD, just outside DC. Fortunately, no one was harmed except for the poor crazy bastard who was responsible for the whole thing. (TBD)

And oh no! My absolute favorite Smithsonian exhibit will be dragged into modern times, kicking and screaming. Western Cultures, 2nd floor of the Natural History Museum, will be closed starting September 26th. The exhibit, which was delightfully dated, was originally designed in 1978, and is looking increasingly out of place as the Museum rapidly upgrades around it. Fine, I guess. Minister Cox and I will just have to find somewhere else to hang out. (WaPo)

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Weekly Washington: Happy Birthday, Smithsonian!

photo uploaded to flickr by SDCDeaCerteThe Smithsonian celebrated their 164th Birthday this week, commemorating the anniversary of when Congress finally pulled their thumb out of their rear and acted on James Smithson's bequest. Or, as they put it; "After ten years of spirited debate and extensive compromise, it was on August 10, 164 years ago today, that President James K. Polk signed a bill presented by the United States Congress establishing the Smithsonian Institution." You say tomato, I say...

Like most local bloggers, I’ve been excited to watch the birth of DC’s latest local news juggernaut, TBD.com. I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out, especially since DC Like a Local is one of TBD’s 100-plus blogs in their Community Network. This week in tourism news they take one for the team and review DC’ s On Location Tours as well as examine why their building is periodically taken over by tour groups.

The District’s slow movement to get our two statues into Statuary Hall gets stalled. Again. Some Representatives led Rep. Dan Lungren (D-CA) think I should only be represented by one statue, instead of two, as I am not a resident of a state. Funny how Rep. Lungren is cool with me paying all of my income taxes, nor do I remember him saying I only had to do half a deployment when I was in the Navy.

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