Originally uploaded to Flickr by Bev Goodwin.
Capitol Hill is a neighborhood of many ages and backgrounds. A town of porches and back yard oases. A small town of folks who saw the original street cars on Pennsylvania Avenue and those that have never heard of Pete’s Diner or Jimmy T’s.
For a taste of “old school” Capitol Hill, drop by the 36th Anniversary Peter Bug Day celebration on Saturday from 9 am to 7:30 at the Buchanan Park and Peter Bug Shoe Repair building (the odd structure behind the Safeway at the intersection of and 13th Street.) You’ll find a sort of “old home week” with a cross section of folks who have moved from the neighborhood and those who have just moved in. Peter Bug, aka John Matthews, is the consummate longtime neighbor; he’s run the youth training program there forever and local footware is better for the skills he passes on to his students.
Things get started at 9 am with a parade from Congressional Cemetery that will wind through Barney Circle to Eastern Market and back to the Shoe Repair Academy at the aforementioned corner, known officially as Peter Bug John Mathews Way. This parade is not to be missed. You’ll see cheerleading squads, marching bands, mounted police, ROTC, dog walkers, the Watkins Hornets football team, and antique cars with local beauty queens, including the mature ladies who greet you from their porches.
From noon until 7:30 music from groups such as the Grammy Award-winning Winston’s and other doo wop and R&B groups of the 60’s and 70’s will fill the air. A far cry from the buglers of the Marine Barracks and fireworks at Nationals Stadium, but that’s the variety of life on the Hill.