(photograph by Pilar Vergara)

Hang on to your mats, gentrifiers. The much-anticipated revival at the former Church of the Rapture at 14th and T is getting closer and, this time, won’t involve the laying-on of hands…unless that’s some new yoga move? Boundless Yoga is moving into 1840 14th St. NW, where it will share third-floor space with City Dance; the second floor will be a comedy dinner theater; and the ground floor is planned as a Diner/Tryst hybrid.

At least that’s the plan. Constantine Stavropoulos and Co. have to get by Dupont Circle’s ANC 2B first. Stavropoulos, owner of The Diner and Tryst in Adams Morgan and Open City in Woodley Park, is giving a presentation about plans at Wednesday’s meeting at the JCC, 16th and Q, around 8 p.m. Things could get sticky, we’ve heard.

The large space across from Café Saint Ex has been basically vacant since the church moved out a few years ago. We wrote about dashed condo dreams there at the cusp of the bust and, more recently, about artists kicked out because of the open elevator shaft.

That shaft will remain a defining feature of the building, which used to be a Model T assembly plant in the 1920s. (According to Stavropoulos, bumpers and lights were installed on the third floor, they’d paint cars on the second, and showcase them on the first, moving the parts with the giant elevator.)

The restaurateur and AU grad says unlike Open City (which is more Diner than Tryst), the new place will be a true blending of the coffeehouse/lounge/makeshift office that is Tryst and the 24-hour eggs-shakes-and-alcohol that is The Diner. They’ll be separate-but-not, he says, so Diner people can still be Diner people here and Tryst people can still grab a couch, but there will be opportunity for Diner/Trysts meet-cutes and whatnot. There’ll be a full bar, too, along with outdoor seating, pending liquor board and ANC approval.

So far, neighbors seem stoked, according to Stavropoulos. “Every single person I met, and I was out there all day Saturday, in some cases chasing after people as they were walking out of their homes, said ‘It’s about time,’” Stavropoulos says. One dropped what she was carrying “and hugged me.” The owners of the respective businesses are working as a team and using the same contractor, although they may open at different times. Stavropoulos says he hopes to open his yet-unnamed venture in March or April of next year.

It’s a bit of a gamble for Stavropoulos and not exactly cheap—it’ll probably cost him $2 million or more by the end. “The landlord is putting up some allowances, but it is going to be quite a bit of an investment. I’m leveraging everything, the businesses, the house, the dog, the cat, everything… but we’re excited. We’re hoping this will have a positive impact on the neighborhood.”

Earlier this month, the New York Times Magazine ran a lengthy article on the clandestine doings of London guerrilla gardener Richard Reynolds.

If you’re not familiar with this rogue tilling movement, Reynolds supplies a neat explanation of the practice to writer Jon Mooallem. Guerrilla gardening, he says, is ” the cultivation of someone else’s land without permission.”

Gardeners like Reynolds home in on forgotten properties, whether public or private, in order to work horticultural wizardry over them, transforming formerly crappy parcels into botanical wonderlands or small farms. The movement, for which Reynolds has become the default spokesperson, has attracted its share of devotees. Reynolds’ Web site boasts impressive before-and-after guerrillla garden pics sent to the flora guru from such places as Toronto, Portland, Ore., and Brisbane, Australia. “There are hundreds of us around the world discreetly digging at night. Some like me improve their cities, some make the countryside that little bit more colorful, and some live off the vegetables they illicitly grow in roadside verges,” writes Reynolds on his site.

Scanning the site’s photos and extensive guerrilla garden map (evidently there’s a “dig” in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) and finding no mention of the District might lead one to conclude that insurgent gardening is just one more vintage-clothed hipster phenomenon a decidedly Brooks Brothers D.C. is missing out on.

Not so. In what was a vacant lot across from Marcus Popetz’s two-story house in east Columbia Heights, a lot that was, as the 32-year-old computer engineer puts it, “attracting drug users, trash, etc…everything a normal nuisance property does” now grow tomato, squash, and cucumber plants.

According to Popetz, two years ago he and some other residents who’d been working on beautification projects around the neighborhood began thinking about what to do with the large, eyesore of a plot just adjacent to the playground of Bruce Monroe Elementary school. “We looked into who owned it,” Popetz writes in an email “and the city did a lien to clean it once they found that the owner was a corporation [that] hadn’t paid back taxes in 20 years. We cleaned it a couple of times and then started to think about planting flowers and then the idea sorta ballooned into a garden from there.”

Unlike celebrity guerrilla gardener Reynolds, who, in his recently published book– as the Times mag reports– makes “references to horticultural ’sleeper cells’ and ’shock and awe’ plantings,’” Popetz doesn’t act as if he’s involved in environmentally responsible espionage. There’s been no night-time gardening or “seed bombs” at the plot on Columbia Road. Popetz and crew (made up of the garden’s co-leader Sara Eigenberg and at any given time six to eight other gardeners) have never really tried to hide their work.

Though technically, the community-oriented green thumbers are trespassing, no one seems to mind, especially not the neighborhood kids who help weed or the senior citizens who get handed surplus veggies. And the city, which is still trying to locate the owner’s of the abandoned lot the guerrillas commandeered, has not only failed to give the gardeners any grief but erected a gate to help protect the project.

“It’s completely illegal, we don’t have any ownership, but morality is on our side,” says Popetz. In a neighborhood where dark, empty lots create the perfect hideaway for gunmen (which happened once in the lot, Popetz remembers), who could argue with him? Asked whether the Columbia Heights gardeners have–like many other guerrilla gardeners–a political agenda, Popetz snorts, “The grandest political aspiration we have,” he says, “is to keep the garden going.”–Rend Smith

(Photo by Darrow Montgomery)

H.D. Woodson Senior High School, a.k.a. the nine-floor “Tower of Power,” is set to be demolished this summer. But when and how exactly?

Yesterday, Woodson’s alumni association (and surely a multitude of other D.C. listservs) received word that the groundbreaking would occur Monday July 7 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Yet, less than two weeks ago, the school was still loaded with furniture, books, equipment, trophies, and with no clear leadership in the building (Principal Gwendolyn Jones was fired by Chancellor Michelle Rhee), many staff seemed confused about deadlines and moving dates.

So, what does this little event really kick-off? Well, not much, says Tony Robinson, spokesperson for the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization Projects. Groundbreakings are the most ceremonial of ceremonies, and this one is no exception.

Immediately after the event, “We’ll start some excavation out on the football field. Then, after that, they’ll start doing asbestos abatement in the school,” says Robinson, a 1980 Woodson alumnus.

The school demolition won’t occur until at least a few weeks after July 7, and will likely last until September. And don’t expect some wild explosion to rock the calm streets of Deanwood.

“No, No,” says Robinson. “Everyone wants to see [Woodson] implode,” but the building will brought down by a plain jane wrecking ball.

The new Woodson building will cover the old school site, as well as part of the current space of the football field. One thing’s for sure: it will not be a highrise, like its innovative and extraordinarily dysfunctional predecessor. Construction won’t begin until the old building is fully demolished.

Building plans were shown at Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander’s “State of the Ward” meeting late May, says her Chief of Staff J.R. Meyers, adding that the new Woodson was designed for 1,300 students. (As of last fall, the enrollment was just over 750.)

Woodson first opened in 1972. According to a February Washington City Paper article, “Neighborhood residents fought the tower on the grounds of its imposing height, but it got rave reviews from architectural types. Charles Atherton, secretary of the federal Commission of Fine Arts, said the school would “be a good symbol and an excellent landmark.”

The new school is slated to open in 2010.

“As a Woodson graduate, I can honestly say this building is going to be the crown jewel of the District’s new school inventory,” says Robinson. “It’s going to be a very contemporary building.”

Hmmm, sounds familiar.

I recently came across rumors that rising waterfront real estate prices may spell a visit from the bulldozer for the barrel-roofed town homes at River Park, a Charles Goodman cooperative in Southwest D.C. The 518-unit complex was completed in 1962 and consists of two high-rises and 134 town houses clustered in connected blocks of eight to 10 homes, some of which are topped with the striking barrel domes. Fans of mid-century modern architecture cherish Goodman’s industrial designs, with all the prefab parts and gleaming aluminum, although the units themselves get mixed reviews on livability and durability. The rows of arched roofs are a treat to behold in a city full of restrained Federalism.

Anyway, about those rumors. According to Michael Keane, president of River Park’s board of directors, a faction of co-op members has indeed lobbied for selling the land, which the co-op purchased from the District in the late 1980s. Such a buyer would likely tear the place down. But Keane says a far larger group of owners is against such a sale (”A lot of us would like to live here!”) and, regardless, the matter hasn’t been scheduled for a vote. Several of the units are listed for sale on the River Place website, many for less than $200,000.

Today a Cleveland Park resident posted on her neighborhood listserv a simple request:

“We are seeking advice on purchasing a two-person hammock on a wood stand — not a hammock that ties to a tree at both ends — for our backyard. We have reviewed a number of web sites that show attractive two-person hammocks but have no first-hand experience. Please respond off-line with advice on pros and cons of hammocks. I would be particularly interested in trying one out in a neighbor’s yard if possible.”

Do you really need to try out a hammock? Isn’t that just a little obssessive? I immediately thought of mocking such a request as this poster does not appear concerned about Tim Russert’s passing, flooding in Iowa or this really important news. But then I thought: Hammocks Are Awesome.

Not enough people have hammocks in their backyards. People often end up with this kind of crap. And I hear from NPR that with gas prices so high, people are saving money by using their backyards to grow things like vegetables. The backyard doesn’t have to be just another workspace. It can be used for relaxing!

The Post had a story on April 9 about a guy who thinks DC’s spoke-system grid was designed to depict a pentagram, thus proving the demonic core of the nation’s capital. The five-pointed star has terminuses at Dupont and Logan circles to the North, Washington Circle to the West, Vernon Square to the East and, finally, traveling along Connecticut and Vermont avenues, the White House to the South. The Mayflower Hotel is near the center of the pentagram, as is the strange model white house we discovered several months back at Scott Circle. The plastic toy, which someone eventually painted black, lines up perfectly with the real White House in the distance down 16th Street. Which leads me to wonder if the guerrilla art was really a satanic ritual. Woo! Fun with the devil!

With not much fanfare, new bus shelters are starting to pop up everywhere. A moat of wood boards were placed around one on 16th for a while and then presto: a new sleek glass and metal bus shelter was revealed. Prince of Petworth has noticed. And DCist jumped on this months ago. But what I wondered this morning–after seeing more and more of them unveiled recently–did we really need new bus shelters? Especially in light of this new-yet not shocking–report and a bump in rider fees.

I would have preferred better buses and more of them. Apparently, these things will make money. And its benches, according to DDOT, were designed to prevent “long-term occupancy,” according to the Post which is code for homeless citizens will not find them comfortable enough for sleeping. Typical. They should have gone with the suggestion of making the benches heated!

It just seems like so much effort for so little return. Can DDOT now fix T Street between 16th and 15th Streets NW? Can it now make the buses run on time?

Some cool architecture: And, Now Anacostia features some pictures from the still-being-constructed Solomon G. Brown Corps Community Center (aka Salvation Army building). The structure actually looks like it could be one of the more innovative buildings in the city. The blogger ain’t so hot on it. But I kinda dig it. Here’s what it will end up as.–Jason Cherkis.

Jack Willmore, the builder and owner of the mid-century modern house I wrote about in this week’s Buyer’s Market seems to think I’m a snarky brat. He, or someone using his name, commented on the item:

Thanks for the article Angela, your sarcasm makes you sound real smart …. which I know is important to you.

Dude, I really think your house is cool. But it’s not everyday that you find a panic room and a koi pond in Fairfax. So I had to point that out.

Anyway, now that you’ve commented on me, I’m very curious about you. You and your brother run a home-building business founded in the philosophy of “enlightened self interest,” according to your website. I’m glad people are still building interesting homes, especially in the Colonial wasteland of Fairfax. You also have a very interesting personal website devoted to science and world travel and your general interests. You have written rambling essays on Pablo Escobar and Hippos, the Eleven Planets. You are indeed a Renaissance man, although I do think you could work on the five paragraph essay a bit. I had a little trouble finding your point. I also tried to complete your interactive quiz about the Native Americans but it didn’t work. Did the KKK kill the Indians? I may never know!

(Ok. Now maybe I’m making fun.)

Obama is great for just being Obama, says Marc Fisher. “Win or lose,” the senator from Illinois has changed the way Americans view race, he writes in his most recent column. “It’s one thing to believe in a picture we’d like to be true — a society moving toward a colorblind ideal — and something entirely different to live each day with a personification of that ideal.” And which generation has advanced this new way of thinking? Not today’s youth, but the youth of yesteryear. That’s right: Boomers! They always get credit for everything.

While the District hopes to stop handguns from coming in, Mayor Ray Nagin from New Orleans is …

Logic schmogic. Maybe Roger Clemens and his former trainer are both telling the truth (check out the second photo), even though they are saying diametrically opposite things.

Do not slip while running in Adams Morgan. In some places, it’s a long way down.

AP is reporting that two construction workers at the Nationals stadium are being fired after a noose was found in a breakroom.

DCist interviews the Super Furry Animals. The band is playing with the Fiery Furnaces on Sunday at the 9:30 Club. The Furnaces are an obsession around here especially in our editor-in-chief’s office.

Prince of Petworth gets furious over a destroyed mural.

And Now, Anacostia captures the good and ugly in real estate news. And finds yet another promise of a new restaurant coming.

Fisher assesses the low turnout at last night’s school meetings. He seems to think that this means there is little opposition to the school closings. You can read our own coverage of the school meetings here.

The Examiner reports that a bomb threat has closed the World Bank.

Prince of Petworth hates on some new development.

The mysterious toy White House that appeared, then disappeared, at Scott Circle a few weeks ago is back. This time it’s painted black and labeled, just in case you can’t tell what it is.

It’s not the Toynbee Tiles, but I’m sufficiently curious. Mystery artist reveal yourself! Or give me an anonymous call. I’m guessing you’re down on the state of the union.

P.S. The little house on the railing is on the south side of the circle. On a clear day you can see the real White House in the distance.