GUEST BLOGGER: Finding Faith on 16th Street

This week we’re featuring the 16th Street neighborhood in Northwest DC, just north of Columbia Heights. Informally known as “church row,” the area contains a remarkably high concentration of churches from a variety of Christian denominations. Guest blogger Sudip Bhattacharya gives us an intimate look into this multicultural faith community in NW DC.

Check out more of Sudip’s work on Twitter @WhatsGood_DC and over at the What’s Good DC blog.

Image courtesy of sacredheartschooldc.org

Finding Faith

By Sudip Bhattacharya

Rev. Larry Owens Jr. begins with a confession.

“I don’t listen to gospel music only” he admits, causing some of those at the front and middle pews to gasp. Rev. Owens leans forward from his pulpit and grins. He explains how he can’t stop listening to the R and B singer Jill Scott, and how he especially loves the song “Hate on Me.”

“Our President took the troops out of Iraq and now we got critics blaming him for not doing it soon enough” he booms, and allows for the congregation to clap and yell, “preach!”

NEIGHBORHOOD: Southwest Waterfront

Welcome to DC’s smallest quadrant: Southwest!

This week at DC Hood Hopper we’re featuring the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. Our featured post is brought to you by a guest blogger, Evan Milberg. You can follow Evan @EvanMilberg and @WhatsGood_DC, and check out his blog at http://gooddc.wordpress.com/.

Photo by Alycia Williams

All Hands on Deck in Southwest

By Evan Milberg 

The Southwest Waterfront is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. By 2020, it will be one of the newest. Over the course of centuries, the Waterfront, a maritime community highlighted by the Maine Avenue fish market, The Capitol Yacht Club and The Washington Marina, has become what many think is an underutilized area with literally boatloads of potential.

GUEST BLOG: Katie Boehret takes us to Metro Mutts, Capitol Hill’s newest boutique pet supply store

This week we have a guest post by local journalist Katie Boehret. Follow Katie on Twitter @kabster728!

Metro Mutts, Capitol Hill’s newest boutique pet supply store

By:  Katie Boehret

A visit to Metro Mutts, Capitol Hill’s newest boutique pet supply store, could result in walking out with a penguin-patterned collar, a pack of dog dental floss or a pet-edible Valentine’s Day cookie.

It may also mean buying a stick made of bull penis.

“It’s a hundred percent beef tendon,” employee Kaitlin Utz explains with a straight face as she holds up the foot-long Bully Stick made of cattle reproductive organ. “It takes a while to chew down.”

This is just the kind of distracting, stimulating chew toy that Metro Mutts clientele want, according to Utz. She says working professionals aren’t home much and they have guilty consciences about not spending enough time with their pets.

Pricey pet stores are par for the course in a neighborhood where houses cost a million dollars apiece, a Starbucks hugs the corner and a trendy Matchbox restaurant draws patrons who wait 45 minutes for tables. During the recession in 2010, Americans spent a record amount of more than $55 billion on their pets according to a study by market research firm Packaged Facts.