Ivy City Archives - Memos and Mirth

Moving Back to Dallas

August 23, 2020

Dennis Jansen posing at a mural in Dallas, Texas.

Almost exactly three years after leaving Dallas to earn my Georgetown Tax LL.M. degree in Washington, D.C., I was headed back to Texas.

The pandemic triggered an exodus from the District among my social network. Despite the ubiquitous “diversity and inclusion” marketing among D.C. employers, LGBT and brown people are still the first ones to get fired when there’s economic uncertainty. Many of my friends working in politics, nonprofits, and the service industry got the chop pretty early. They abandoned their apartments and moved back to their hometowns at the beginning of the summer.

Then a larger group of people started trickling out of the District as months ticked by and leases came up for renewal. With fully-virtual office environments and most amenities shuttered, why pay a premium to live in the District?

Architecture / Ivy City

Something looks familiar

August 22, 2020

New construction in the Ivy City neighborhood of Washington, DC.

The Ivy City neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying, so it is not unusual to see brand new developments abutting shells of former buildings. But this pair of buildings on Capitol Avenue NE looks mighty familiar.

Surely it is not a coincidence that they match perfectly? Perhaps this is what progress looks like.

Gentrification in the Ivy City neighborhood of Washington, DC.

There are a lot of random facades being propped up in this manner around the neighborhood. I am not sure why they are worth keeping, but at least they are providing inspiration for new buildings?

Architecture / Coronavirus Diary

Impasse Coffee

August 22, 2020

The Compass Coffee headquarters in Ivy City, Washington DC

Aside from a dramatic life-saving rescue, and bi-weekly fires, the view from my desk is mostly the mundane, slow construction going on across the street.

It took weeks for the construction workers to put up the giant sign for the Compass Coffee roastery. For an hour, it hilariously read “ASS COFFEE,” which my inner 13-year-old found hilarious.

Then, when the sign read “MPASS COFFEE,” an actual impasse happened and the construction workers started a full-on screaming fight in the middle of the street.

dogs / Ivy City

Neighborhood meeting

August 17, 2020

Ingrid and Gunter meeting the Ivy City pitbulls.

There are plenty of ferocious pitbulls guarding various places in Ivy City. The local convenience store is surrounded by a yard with two particularly aggressive pits that recently charged after my dogs on one of our morning walks.

Gunter (the Chiweenie) held his ground, and they actually became friends of sorts.

Ivy City

The Neighborhood Fires

August 13, 2020

Working from home continues to be far more interesting than expected. There haven’t been additional dramatic rescues, but there are a strange amount of fires in the neighborhood.

Since March, I’ve seen a fire about every-other week. For a while, there was even a homicidal arsonist on the loose.

The number of fires that I see from my desk is in part due to the great unobstructed view from my window — I can see anything smoking between Ivy City and Maryland. However, there are still too many fires in this part of town for my comfort.

Aside from smoke, helicopters frequently buzz past the building — but that’s likely an everyday occurrence in the District and far less scary than the choppers in St. Paul. 🔥

Ivy City

Still Got It

August 10, 2020

The sidewalk in West Virginia Avenue NE in Washington DC

It’s about 7 a.m. and I’m walking Ingrid by the side of Gallaudet University on my way back from Starbucks. I have my headphones in — focused on my audiobook and distancing myself from other pedestrians.

The street back to Ivy City is West Virginia Avenue NE, which features an odd morning mix of dog walkers, joggers, prostitutes and drug dealers. A guy about my age exits a yard, crosses West Virginia, and starts walking diagonally toward me. The guy says something to me, but I have my headphones in so I pretend not to hear him and keep hustling forward with the dog.

The guy gets into a SUV and drives off.

We are still walking along West Virginia Avenue a few minutes later when the SUV reappears and slows down. The guy rolls down his window and waives to get my attention. I stop and take out my headphones.

Guy in car: “Are you interested in me at all?”

Me: “…pardon me?”

Guy in car: “Would you be interested in a guy like me at all?”

I,

am,

mortified.

I smile, mumble something about having a boyfriend and keep it moving. That was quite possibly the most awkward pickup ever, but apparently I still got it? 🤷

Ivy City

Desk Flowers

June 14, 2020

I briefly started ordering fresh-cut flowers a few months ago — I’m working from home so I finally have time to enjoy them, right?

Coronavirus Diary / Ivy City

The Tandem Bike Thief

June 12, 2020

A stolen tandem bike poster in Trinidad, Washington DC, near Gallaudet University.

Posters in the neighborhood are very common — movie advertisements, parking restrictions, political art, lost pets, protest statements, cries for help, etc.

However, this morning, we came across something new — a “stolen bike” poster.

City Gardening / Ivy City

The Succulents

June 9, 2020

The biodiversity in my apartment has taken a hit lately. One of the few plants that I haven’t managed to kill are these Haworthia succulents.

art / Ivy City

The Good Days Coming Mural

June 8, 2020

New artwork is sprouting across the District lately, including here in Ivy City.

Coronavirus Diary

Abandoned Scooters

May 25, 2020

Abandoned rideshare scooters in Washington DC.

Face masks are not the only thing junking up the neighborhood lately — COVID-19 physical distancing drastically increased the number of abandoned rental scooters and bikes littering the area.

Coronavirus Diary / LGBT

The Bird at Red Bear

May 16, 2020

Michael, Ingrid the Labradoodle and Gunter in front of Red Bear Brewing Company.

The District’s stay-home order has done more than normalize telecommuting and transform buying cleaning supplies into a scavenger hunt. It also creates an incentive for me to frequent different businesses in Northeast D.C. for pickup and delivery.

My new favorite spots are typically within a 45 minute one-way walk from my apartment. This is the ideal distance for weekday dog walks before and after work. (This is also coincidentally the maximum safe distance from apartment toilet since most places are closed).

Coronavirus Diary

New Routines

May 15, 2020

After about 2 months, the coronavirus restrictions still do not feel normal, but I’m getting used to things.

Coronavirus Diary

The Bird Box Effect

April 20, 2020

Police and ambulances responding in the Ivy City neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

In the Netflix movie Bird Box, people walk outside with blindfolds because of the threat of invisible supernatural creatures that drive people to commit suicide. We find out quickly that some mentally disturbed individuals are immune from the creatures. These characters run around killing people by forcing them to take off their eye-coverings.

This means that Sandra Bullock spends two hours dodging invisible creatures and serial killers.

Although there aren’t serial killers stalking my neighborhood yet, things have taken on a Bird Box-like feel lately.

Coronavirus Diary

One month of Remote Work

April 13, 2020

The past month of working from was less disruptive and far more mundane than I expected.

I used to work from home full-time at Thomson Reuters, so I am used to the early morning dog walks and days spent in front of the monitor. The time that I save commuting is mostly lost to an increased number of webinars and emails, but the fridge access is worth it.

Coronavirus Diary / Work

Police, Distillery Disinfectant, and a Dinosaur

March 18, 2020

Police and firefighters rescuing a man in Ivy City, D.C.

The Coronavirus spread rapidly across the country last week, so my firm announces Friday that we can work from home starting Monday.

I grab my equipment from the office over the weekend and start the “social distancing” experiment along with most of the city on Monday morning. Working from home reminds me of my prior gigs, but there are major differences this time, including unusually heavy email traffic and the inability to work from coffee shops.

However Monday turns out to have more than emails and bored dogs in store for me…

Ivy City

Moving to Ivy City

August 21, 2019

The larger interior courtyard of the Hecht Warehouse at Ivy City.

I recently moved out of Chinatown.

The Pros: Chinatown was a good neighborhood to start my post-graduation life in Washington D.C., and there were many appealing things about the area:

My apartment building was across the street from my office.
There’s plenty of green space to walk the dogs (e.g. Judiciary Square and the Building Museum).
Easy access to the National Mall and museums.
Plenty of food options, and there’s a nearby grocery store.
The neighborhood is walking distance to plenty of other interesting parts of D.C., like CityCenter and Penn Quarter.

The Cons: Chinatown lost its charm pretty quickly. Here’s what I discovered: