The Downtowner 100610 Issue

VOLUME 7, NUMBER 16

OCTOBER 6 -19 2010 2010

All the News you can use!

One Life:

Katharine Graham at the NPG

F all F

oliage

In Country Photo by Roshan Patel

Harman Center Gala

Social Scene

Real

Estate Special

- Quarterly Sales - Feature Property - Ask the Realtor

ONE on ONE with Vince

Editorial & Opinion

THE

DOWNTOWNER

Vol. 7, No. 16

About the Cover: Katherine Graham sits behind her desk at the Washington Post.

Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, now exhibiting “One life: Katharine Graham.” To learn more, turn to page 16.

Publisher Sonya Bernhardt Editor at Large David Roffman Feature Editors Ari Post Gary Tischler Publisher’s Assistant Siobhan Catanzaro Contributors Katherine Jody Kurash Tallmadge Linda Roth Conte Jack Evans Mary Bird Margaret Loewith Stacey Murphy Bill Starrels Robert Devaney Jordan Wright Renee Garfinkel Kathy Corrigall Dave Nyczepir John Blee Rebekah Richards Donna Evers Robert Devaney Veena Trehan Photographers Yvonne Taylor Neshan Naltchayan Malek Naz Freidouni

Serving Washington, DC Since 2003 “All The News You Can Use”

From our contributors

Contents

Editor’s note

When the stern, inquiring face of Katharine Graham graces the cover of your paper, a certain irony starts to penetrate every line of copy you review. There she sits, frozen in time behind her desk at the Washington Post, surrounded by portraits of presidents, dignitaries, celebrities and the like. On my desk, I have a snapshot of a goat and a forboding pin-up of Lincoln. Graham printed the Pentagon papers.

She navigated Watergate. She ran the Washington Post for over two decades. I’ve barely been alive two decades, and last issue I misprinted the dates of a community meeting by a full year (See “Errata,” page 9).

Still, there is an awe being among such great company, and it is enlightening and humbling to familiarize yourself with the greats of your trade. A painter studies Rembrandt. A poet reads Frost. An editor looks to Katharine Graham. I am grateful for her life and work, and it is an honor to be able to tell her story and champion her legacy into the future.

-Ari Post, Editor

Roshan Patel

Patel, whose photography graces the pages of the ‘Fall Foliage’ special, is a wildlife photographer based out of Williamsburg, VA. His focus is on environmental education and bringing perspectives of local ecosystems to the public. He is currently working on a project highlighting biodiversity in Virginia.To see more of his photography, visit his website at www.RPPhotoGalleries.com

Page 18

4 — DC Scenes 5 — Up and Coming 6-7 — Downtown Observer 8 — Editorial/Opinion 9 — Campaign Trail One on One with Vincent Gray 11-13 —Real Estate Ask the Realtor Featured Property DT Real Estate Sales

Tom Wolff Jeff Malet Robert Devaney

Advertising Charlie Louis Justin Shine Elle Fergusson

14-15 — Performance/Art Wrap Performance Wrappings David Richardson at Ralls Collection 16-17 — Cover Story One Life: Katharine Graham at National Portrait Gallery

Graphic Design Alyssa Loope Jen Merino Counsel Juan Chardiet, Attorney

18-19 — In Country Fall Foliage 22-24 — Food & Wine Cocktail of the Week The Latest Dish Wright on Food 25 — Body & Soul

Published by Georgetown Media Group, Inc. 1054 Potomac St., N.W. Washington, DC 20007 Phone: (202) 338-4833 Fax: (202) 338-3292 editorial@georgetowner.com www.downtowner.org The Downtowner is published every other Wednesday. The opinions of our writers and columnists do not necessarily reflect the editorial and corporate opinions of The Downtowner newspaper. The Downtowner accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs and assumes no liability for products or services advertised herein. The Downtowner reserves the right to edit, re-write, or refuse material and is not responsible for errors or omissions.

Copyright, 2009.

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29-31 — Social Scene DC Children’s Law Center Benefit Wolf Trap Ball Shakespeare Gala Last Kiss of Summer Meridian Ball

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C

s Photos by Jeff Malet

ene

Tens of thousands of progressive activists gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the One Nation Working Together rally on Saturday Oct. 2, 2010. One Nation Working Together is a social movement of individuals and organizations committed to putting America back to work and pulling America back together.

Timothy Basil Ering signs a book for Paige Young of Kennett Square Pennsylvania. The 10th annual National Book Festival, organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress, was held on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

1.

3. 2.

Bill Loggins (Vienna VA) and Rick Orli (Arlington VA) are members of the 82nd Orta Janissaries from the Sienkiewicz Society Living History

1. A giant polar bear was spotted walking down Constitution Ave. on Capi-

Speaker Nancy Pelosi meets with Elizabeth Warren, Assistant to the President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the Capitol in Washington DC on September 29, 2010.

4 October 6, 2010 gmg, Inc. 1

tol Hill in Washington DC, but it didn’t escape from the zoo. Supporters of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, calling themselves the Alaska Wilderness League, gathered with Arctic animal mascots and this large-scale, two-person polar bear puppet named Snowflake – as a visual representation of the wildlife that begin their lives on the Arctic Refuge and its Coastal Plain on September 28, 2010. The Arctic Refuge is a national treasure and one of our last remaining great wild places – it provides crucial denning habitat for the endangered polar bear, and breeding grounds for numerous species of birds, as well caribou, muskoxen, wolves, grizzly bears, Dall sheep, and many other species. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the refuge.

2. A Turkish businessman, Murat Aksu, succeeded in entering the Guinness Book of Records by preparing the longest shish kebab in the world. The shish kebab which cost about $3-4,000 and measured 18 feet 7 inches, was distributed to the visitors. Oct 3, 2010 3. Rev. Al Sharpton at the Lincoln Memorial for the One Nation Working Together rally on Saturday Oct. 2, 2010.

dt

observer

Change in Direction for WNO

Placido Domingo, General Director of the Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera (WNO) saw change last week, in response to General Director Placido Domingo’s September 27 announcement that he would not be renewing his contract when it expires in June. As a result, Tuesday saw the appointment of Philippe Auguin to the position of music director of the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra.

Domingo has served as General Director since 2003 and brought the Washington National Opera to a new level by bringing on national stars and doing big productions. However, the company still struggles financially, and the ab-

sences of Domingo, while performing and directing at the Los Angeles Opera, did not help.

Domingo will complete his commitments with the Washington National Opera through June 2011, which included the timely appointment of new Musical Director Philippe Auguin.

This came after Heinz Fricke retired a month ago and announced he would be unable to oversee the latest production of Strauss’ opera, “Salome,” due to health problems.

Auguin will make his first appearance as music director October 7, the opening night of “Salome.” He made his debut at Washington National Opera conducting “Gotterdammerung,” in November 2009.

“From the moment I stepped onto the podium, I felt a special rapport with the talented musicians of the Orchestra,” stated Auguin.

“Considering the outstanding success of our collaboration last fall, and the exceptionally warm reception we received from Washington audiences, I am convinced that the Orchestra and I have a great future together, one that will be marked by artistic excellence and growth. I am honored and delighted to accept this directorship, my first in the United States.”

Curbside Cookoff Kicks Off October 7 and 8, the District’s most popular street vendors will converge at CityCenterDC for the two-day First Annual Curbside Cookoff.

The event is being hosted by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCRA), in conjunction with

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the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Brightest Young Things, and the Downtown BID. 20 of DC’s favorite food trucks were invited to participate after a weeklong online voting process. Additionally, all who attend will have a chance to vote for their favorite on-site vendor via paper ballot and text messaging.

Selected vendors include Red Hook Lobster Truck, BBQ Bandidos, Curbside Cupcakes, Fry Captain, and Pleasant Pops. Flying Dog will also be sponsoring a happy hour beer garden after work both days. The event will be rounded out with music, graffiti art and several performances.

From 11:30 am to 2 pm Thursday, graffiti artists Tom Conlon and Decoy will be showing off their craft, and between 5 and 8pm djRBI will lead you on a Dance Party through the Decades.

Friday will feature yoga artist Julie Eisenberg in the morning and a Farafina Kan dance demonstration that night. Swing by between 11am and 9 pm both days for good food and an even better time.

National Geographic Goes Live The fall season of “National Geographic Live!” events is in full swing, featuring presentations by world-renowned explorers, scientists, photographers and performance artists. The lineup includes concerts, documentary screenings, insightful discussions and more.

Among the upcoming events are The Last Man on the Mountain with author Jennifer Jordan (October 7), My Father, the Captain with ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau (October 8), and The Last Speakers with linguist K. David Harrison (October 12).

The Last Man on the Mountain, shares its title with Jennifer Jordan’s new book, which tells the story of American socialite Dudley Wolfe.

In 1939, Wolfe perished attempting to summit K2—abandoned at 25,000 feet. Wolfe was its first victim, and his remains were only recently discovered by Jordan in 2002. Her presentation promises to be both entertaining and moving.

For more information on these and other National Geographic events, visit Events.NationalGeographic.com. All of the programs being offered will occur in the Grosvenor Auditorium of the National Geographic Museum.

Jewish Literary Festival Approaching The 12th Annual Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein

Jewish Literary Festival will run from October 17 to the 27 throughout DC, and as always it promises to highlight the year’s finest Jewish literature and authors. Many of these emerging and established writers earned accolades from The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Their selected works span an assortment of genres, including history, humor, politics, and children’s fiction.

The festival opens at the Washington DCJCC, on October 17 at 7:30pm, with a staging of “Strangers in a Strange Land,” directed by Derek Goldman. The performance highlights this year’s overarching theme: the Jewish Diaspora.

Another event sure to attract a diverse audience will be the film screening of “Sayed Kashua: Forever Scared,” on October 18 at 7:30pm. In it Kashua, an award-winning author and screenwriter, reflects upon the everyday challenge of being both Arab and Jewish.

Closing night, October 27 at 7:30pm, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein will discuss the problems of living rationally when religious impulses fill the world around us with Ron Charles, Senior Editor of The Washington Post’s “Book World”.

Critics agree, Goldstein’s recent novel “36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction” is quite a read.

Plenty of other authors will be featured daily, over the course of the festival.

For information on obtaining a festival pass, ticket prices, locations, and times visit www.WashingtonDCJCC.org/LitFest or call (202)777-3251. Join the Washington DCJCC in perpetuating Jewish identity while bolstering DC’s bond with its Jewish community.

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Vince Gray, in keeping with his mission to share ideas and discuss issues with DC residents as Mayor, will be hosting a series of town hall meetings in every ward of the city to allow people a chance to voice their opinion and have open discussion. Check to see when and where he’s coming to your neighborhood: October 5: Ward 5, at Community Academy Public Charter School, 1400 1st St., NW October 7: Ward 3, at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, 4201 Albemarle St., NW October 12: Ward 7, at Sousa Middle School, 3650 Ely Place, SE, Washington DC October 14: Ward 2, at School Without Walls, 2130 G St., NW October 19: Ward 1, at Columbia Heights Youth Center, 1480 Girard St., NW October 21: Ward 8, at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church, 2616 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., SE October 26: Ward 4, at Peoples Congregational Church, 4704 13th St., NW October 27: Ward 6, at Eastern High School, 1700 East Capitol St., NE

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By Gary Tischler

T

PHILIP AND KATHARINE GRAHAM’S WEDDING PHOTOGRAPH

by Edward Jean Steichen Gelatin silver print 1940 Sheet: 25.4 x 20.3cm (10 x 8”) Mat: 45.7 x 35.6cm (18 x 14”) Donald E. Graham © Joanna T. Steichen. Used with permission

One Life: Katharine Graham at the National Portrait Gallery 16 October 6, 2010 GMG, Inc. 1

hat small room in the National Portrait Gallery housing “One Life”, the series of exhibitions begun since the completed renovation of the Reynolds Center, may be one of the biggest rooms in the whole building.

“One Life”, after all, attempts to squeeze into a small, square room a summation of an entire American life with a minimum of artifacts, paintings and photographs. Not an easy task when you’re dealing with the previous tenants.

There was Walt Whitman, the outsized poet of the outsized American experience; Thomas Paine, the inspiring, iconoclastic political pamphleteer of inspiration for the American revolution; there was most recently Elvis Presley, king of rock and roll, an entire American cultural invention unto himself.

There was Abraham Lincoln. No one sentence would suffice.

There was the first Katharine, the grand dame and Dame of American movies, Katharine Hepburn, or Katharine the Great.

And there is today the other Katharine, Katharine Graham, the publisher of the Washington Post, who made the Post one of the truly great newspapers of the world in what may arguably have been the last golden age, the Indian summer of the newspaper business.

Probably no previous subject of the “One Life” series means quite so much to the current residents of this city as this one – even Lincoln or Elvis. Katharine Graham, as a prominent figure, as a publisher of a national newspaper, as a deeply powerful and influential national and international figure, rose to real prominence in 1963 when she became the publisher of the Washington Post after the shocking and tragic suicide of her husband Phil Graham. At sea in a role she never anticipated, even though she grew up in the world of the Post her father had bought in the 1930s, she learned quickly and adapted, overcame painful shyness, and in a unique partnership with Managing Editor Ben Bradlee, guided the paper in short order through the risky and courageous business of printing the Pentagon Papers (though the New York Times fell into the same category), exploding Watergate onto the front pages of a major newspaper, and afterwards, surviving an almost ruinous printers’ strike in the 1970s.

She was, as it turned out, tough.

That’s certainly the impression you get from the first photograph you see upon entering the exhibition – the famous, iconic, dramatic, almost forbidding black and white portrait taken by Richard Avedon in March of 1976.

She stares at the camera sternly, challengingly, even quizzically.

Her arms are folded. Her mind appears made up about something. She has, for want of a better word, a certain gravitas there, earned honestly and with great difficulty in a world completely dominated by men, even in the ‘70s.

It’s not an entirely inviting image to an exhibition, but it takes care of summing up Graham as, by that time and certainly for the rest of her life, one of the most powerful women—people—in the world.

“It’s not something you could leave out,” says Curator Amy Henderson, who normally organizes exhibitions on popular culture icons like…say, the other Katharine, Katharine Hepburn. “The image is iconic, and it shows that toughness, that courage which let her accomplish what she did. It’s a way in. But we wanted to do a lot more. We wanted to show a little bit of what made Katharine Graham the woman and person she became.”

The “We” Henderson refers to was a notable duo of consultants who knew Graham intimately. Pie Friendly, a researcher at the National Portrait Gallery, knew Graham socially through her husband and father-in-law, journalist and writer Alfred Friendly Jr., and former Post Managing Editor Al Friendly, respectively. Liz Hylton, Graham’s personal assistant, provided access to photos and memorabilia and anecdotal material. “It was just us three ladies,” Henderson said. “The Washington Post and the Graham family were tremendously helpful.”

“We all knew each other,” Friendly said. “You would always cross paths through the paper, schools, parties and social occasions. I respected and admired her tremendously. She was a woman in a man’s world, truly. She was straight forward, honest. You cannot imagine what it must have been like for her, but she did more than persevere. She made the Post a great newspaper. It was just tremendous fun working on this, it really was. And mind you, she fired my father-in-law and replaced him with Ben Bradlee.”

Henderson was obviously limited in terms of space, so there’s a lot more that could have found its way into a larger exhibition.

But what resides tells her story, fleshes her out, and portrays Graham in full.

KATHARINE GRAHAM GREETING NANCY AND RONALD REAGAN AT AN R STREET ...

by Unidentified Artist Gelatin silver print December 12, 1980 Sheet: 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10”) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7cm (14 x 18”) Estate of Katharine Graham

“It’s interesting going through these photographs—of which there were a lot,” Henderson said. “You get a sense of a woman, a girl, who was raised in a privileged world, was raised in her father’s newspaper business [working as a reporter]…who met and married a man she absolutely adored, and wanted nothing more than to be a wife, a mother, raise her children and do good deeds, and perhaps be a social leader. She never expected to be what she became. It required reinvention of the most difficult sort.”

When Henderson talks about Graham— whom she never met, she will tell you—certain words recur with regularity, as they do when you talk with Pie Friendly: “forthrightness, honesty, integrity, courage, resilience.”

These are, of course, all qualities that elicit great admiration, without necessarily revealing a human being so much as a statue.

The pictures and artifacts, carefully selected by the trio of women, accomplish that job, even if the two videos (for the NPG’s Living History series by former director Mark Pachter) in which Graham talks about Watergate and the Pentagon Papers don’t entirely do so. There are many pictures, for instance, in which some form of the Graham sternness of the Avedon image are repeated: Graham with her editors, Graham at a meeting of the Associated Press National Board, Graham unsmiling in lots of photos.

But there are also a lot of portraits of Graham smiling, laughing with her head thrown back, and the smile and laugh show a woman transformed: a fun loving person in the moment.

It’s a pretty dazzling smile she’s got there. And not one easy to acquire given the charismatic but self-absorbed nature of the dazzling Agnes Ernst Meyer, her mother, shown in a haunting photograph taken by no less a photographer than Edward Steichen. Her father, Eugene Meyer, while he encouraged and obviously

KATHARINE GRAHAM AND WASHINGTON POST EXECUTIVE EDITOR BEN BRADLEE...

by Associated Press Gelatin silver print June 30, 1971 Sheet: 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10”) Mat: 35.6 x 45.7cm (14 x 18”) Estate of Katharine Graham Courtesy AP/Wide World Photos

loved his daughter, was rarely accessible and often distant. And there was the kinetic, hypnotic Phil Graham, who became publisher of the Post and absolutely swept Katharine away, until his instability began to overtake him.

What did she achieve? Take a look at the AP meeting portrait: a semi-circular made up entirely of men who look somewhat like the cast of “Mad Men” in late middle age, minus cocktail and cigarettes. And there is Graham, alone as a woman, but uncommonly self-assured. In her memoir, she wrote that she accepted life in a man’s world but then ended up leading a change in that world.

Watergate and the Pentagon Papers, and the Post’s growing reputation as a writer and reporter’s paper under Graham’s leadership, steered the paper into a stratosphere occupied by few publications.

Both the Pentagon Paper publication and, even more so Watergate, were dangerous times for the Post, but also thrilling and memorable times. In a way, the Post helped bring down a president, and the movie version of the Woodward-Bernstein saga “All The President’s Men” did not change that perception.

Graham herself began to become an influential social lioness, and you can see her light up like a Christmas tree with Jacqueline Kennedy in New York, and at the black and white ball thrown by Truman Capote in her honor.

The infamous—therefore treasured—showdown with then-Attorney General John Mitchell, in which he blustered that Kate had gotten her tit in a wringer, resulted in a gift of a miniature wringer and small jeweled replicas of a wringer and a breast, which she wore proudly and with grand humor. They are among the artifacts on view, which also include the first hand-written page of her Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir and the mask she wore to Truman Capote’s black and white ball.

The strike was difficult for Graham and in squashing the union she acquired, unfairly said a Post reporter, a reputation for ruthlessness. “Not so, not so,” said Robert Kaiser, who wrote the official story on the strike for the Post, “without any interference from her.”

“That was undeserved. She was the ideal publisher if you were a reporter.”

For most of us who were not Posties, the paper nevertheless was a daily presence in its headiest period, and Graham, for Georgetowners, living in her mansion, was an uncrowned queen. When she passed away, the funeral at the National Cathedral and subsequent wake at her home seemed like one last gathering for which she had called upon the world to come. And the world came.

The exhibition, which gets all the right things in that small room, seems particularly poignant in a time when the idea of great newspapers seems more memory, and a memory without a future at that. You feel almost glad that she’s not here to see the confusion and decline and predicted disappearance of newspapers in the 21st Century.

On the other hand, she might have found a way to prevent all that, to persevere. That Avedon picture, that look, those crossed arms seem to indicate that she just might have done it.

1 gmg, Inc. October 6, 2010 17

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Spacious 3 Br, 3.5 Bath w/ elevator to all 4 flrs; 2-story LR w/frpl, dramatic MBR, kitchen w/ bkfst rm, lovely patio; comm. tennis & pool. $1,425,000

Dupont. Spectacular renovated townhouse with open liv rm/ din rm/ chef’s kitchen; 3 Brs, 2.5 Bas, roofdeck, family rm, spacious in-law suite; 2 parking spaces $1,599,000

John Nemeyer202-276-6351

Ellen Abrams202-255-8219

City Spaces

Adams Morgan. Exciting renovated TH with fabulous outdoor space, rooftop deck with panoramic views, 3 Brs, 3.5 Bas, 2 parking spaces. $1,150,000

Eric Murtagh- 301-652-8971; Karen Kuchins- 301-275-2255

Stately & Spacious

AU/Spring Valley.Sparkling 5 Br, 4.5 Ba colonial on over 1/3 ac w/ new gourmet kitchen/ fam rm, library, exquisite details, scr porch, lg entertaining spaces, 2-car garage, steps to shopping. $1,495,000

Mary Lynn White- 202-309-1100

Refreshing Renovation

Spectacular Renovations

Georgetown/ Cloisters. Beautiful 4-lvl brick TH w/ elevator & garage; 4 Brs, 4.5 Bas, 2 frpls, MBR w/ new luxury bath, hdwd flrs. $1,495,000

Hillside Haven

Kent. Perfectly sited colonial w gracious 1st flr, 4 Brs, 3 Bas, updated kitchen/ family room; finished lower lvl. $1,200,000

Lucinda Treat- 202-251-4000; Penny Mallory- 202-251-6861

Guy-didier Godat-202-361-4663

City Views

Arlington/ Rosslyn.

Terrific 4 lvl TH w/ 3 Brs, 2.5 Bas incl 2 MBRs, 2 frpls, renov kitchen, landscaped patio, sep ofc, parking, views. $699,000

Rachel Burns- 202-384-5140; Martha Williams- 202-271-8138

32 October 6, 2010 gmg, Inc. 1

Brightwood Gem

Sparkling total renovation of classic TH, open 1st flr has LR w/ gas frpl, din rm, hdwd flrs, kitchen w/ granite; 3 Brs, 2 Bas, fin lower lvl w/ rec rm, home ofc; gar parking. Walk to Metro. $405,700

Shawn Goldstein- 202-329-1493

Village Ambiance

Chevy Chase. Walk to 2 Metros and Somerset Elementary from this charming colonial: liv rm w/FP, din rm, den, eat-in renov.kitchen w/ island, 3 Brs, 2 Bas, fin. lower lvl. $849,000

Ellen Sandler- 202-255-5007; Susan Berger- 202-255-5006

Old World Charm

Tilden Gardens.

Sunny, spacious 1 Br apt with classic detailing, renovated kitchen, sep din rm, good closets. Walk to Metro.

Beverly Nadel- 202-236-7313; Melissa Brown- 202-469-2662

Sparkling & Special

Chevy Chase, DC. Inviting Dutch colonial has renov kitchen w/ s.s. appls, 4 Brs, 2.5 renov Bas, lower lvl private ofc; scr porch, lovely grdn w/ koi pond; garage. $749,000

Martha Williams- 202-271-8138; Rachel Burns- 202-384-5140

Sunshine & Space

Cleveland Pk/ McLean Grdns. Sunfilled apt w/ 3 exposures, redone kitchen, 1 Br w/ updated Ba. Walk to Metro, shops, restaurants, pool. $339,000

Catarina Bannier- 202-487-7177

Glover Park. Completely renovated TH w/ open 1st flr, 3 Brs, 2.5 Bas, hdwd flrs, expanded kitchen and MBR; lower lvl rec rm; fenced bkyrd; parking. $699,000

Rachel Widder- 301-986-1679; Delia McCormick- 301-977-7273

Rooms With a View

Adams Morgan/ Columbia Hts. The Imperial. Renov 1 Br apt w/ sweeping views; LR/DR, NEW kitchen w/ s,s, appls, Icestone counters; spa-like bath, hdwd flrs, huge closets. $305,659

Melanie Friedson- 301-346-9207; Michael Makris- 703-402-0629