Good afternoon Capitol Hill! It’s another pandemic day, but boy am I glad that “demon sperm” is trending on Twitter today! Okay, “glad” may be an exaggeration, but we get our humor where we can.
If you would like to pay for final respects to Rep. John Lewis, WJLA has details on how to mourn and where to send letters of condolence. You may pay your respects tonight until 10 p.m. If you go, make sure you stay hydrated and maybe even bring a parasol, because it’s a scorcher out there.
Last night, artist Martin Swift took to Instagram to share how a mural he’d created with the purpose of auctioning it off to support Black-owned businesses and which he’d stored at Emilie’s during the pandemic was only returned to him a couple of days ago, after six weeks of asking for it back. As you may recall, Emilie’s suffered a shake-up when Chef Kevin Tien was forced out of his partnership in the restaurant. You can read Swift’s whole story on Instagram.
Speaking of Instagram (stories), when we shared a post about delicious-looking crabs at The Ugly Mug/Valor Brewpub yesterday, at least five readers sent in negative experiences regarding the restaurant, specifically on the lack of mask-wearing by staff. While here at The Hill is Home we strongly believe in supporting small businesses any chance we get, we want small businesses to support our community as well. Please, folks: Wear your masks and make sure your staff wears them as well. It’s now a mayoral order. (Very surprised that even though we’ve been hearing about this particular restaurant not adhering to mask-wearing rules, only District Soul Food got fined $1000 over on Barracks Row, per Barred In DC.)
Looks like the Southeast Library will expand vertically as has been discussed at prior meetings. The input of the people without homes who shelter in and around the library was also taken into account as the renovation will force everyone out of the building for a considerable period of time. The meeting was held via WebEx and you can watch it here. Capitol Hill Corner
A piece of legislation that forces annual reviews on dangerous intersections? Yes, please! And if it helps the deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing, even better. I think many of us would rather have Dave Salovesh still riding around the neighborhood, but I’m glad to see this legislation is a positive step toward safer streets in the District. The DC Line (press release)
The DC Council postponed a vote on a proposed 3% advertising tax. They eventually decided against it altogether. A tax like that would affect publications that rely on advertising– that includes us over here at The Hill is Home. As it is, we’re probably going to start passing around a till, because no one has money for advertising as it is. (Be ye warned!) Washington Business Journal
If you want to give up drinking but still want to keep your bar lifestyle, Binge will probably be your spot. It won’t open for a while (early 2021 is what the article says), but it looks like fun. Washington City Paper
The Deer House, one of the legendary Trick-or-Treating houses on East Capitol, is up for sale. It’s so very tony and hoity-toity, it gets a full write-up from the Washington Post. For only $4.75 million dollars, this beauty can be yours.
The Quarantine Cat Festival is coming (virtually) to you thanks to the Miracle Theatre and I am e x c i t e d. WTOP has the story. Make sure you buy tickets here so you can keep supporting the Miracle. MEOW!
Hey, so it’s baseball season and even though half of the Marlins’ roster tested positive and fans are actually kind of scared and not that excited, it keeps going. (USA Today)
The Free Beacon wrote a piece of “satire” about the Washington Nationals, saying just how racist the symbolism is and… look, I know your intention was to point out the ridiculousness of our awful national reckoning with the depth and breadth of institutional racism, etc., but I think your piece wandered into Accidentally Left-Wing territory and well…. we’ll be laughing for different reasons over here. (Style note: Dr. Anthony Fauci is an actual doctor– no need for quotation marks.)
The Progressive Grocer is really excited about the reopening of our beloved Safeway. Get in line, dude. I want to know: Will you be standing in line to walk through the doors on August 12 at 6 a.m.? Tell me in the comments, tag me on Insta or tweet at me! I love hearing from you guys!
Edited to add: Two of Emilie’s former employees have been speaking out against a Washingtonian article written about Emilie’s investor Johann Moonesinghe. Go see their stories: Claire Aniela and Willa Lou Pelini on Instagram