Amy on Crafty Bastards

“Crafty Bastards was started about six years ago by The City Paper because we wanted to have an event that we felt spoke about the city and The City Paper. And, what people think of DC is that it is very button down. You know, the K Street crowd, blue suits and red ties, and that is not the DC that we know and love. Crafty Bastards has over 150 crafters that make things, most of which are not mass produced. Some make things only for this event. You can’t find this stuff unless you come to Crafty Bastards. We bring them together with about 20,000 people who come to shop.

"The event puts us in touch with people who read and look at The City Paper and it’s a great conversation starter. Crafty Bastards is the unique, one-of-a-kind thing. It reflects our advertisers, many of whom are local Mom and Pop stores. That is the advertising that has always worked for The City Paper.

“And, isn’t this a great location? I remember when they took me down to the school for the first time to see the site. I remember saying, “You’re crazy.” But, it is a perfect space. When the school was built in the late 60's, early 70's, the plaza was built for community purposes and it was supposed to be used like this, yet it never is, with very few exceptions. So, we’re actually using this space as it was intended.

“In the past, it was not so difficult to get the permits, except for this year. The DC government had us doing much more work and permitting for the event than in the past. If anyone is listening in the District government, that is a difficult and expensive process!

“We tried doing Crafty Bastards twice a year. We did one other one in Silver Spring last year and it was too much. You know, it is not our core. We are too busy writing and publishing to do more than one a year."

While the next Crafty Bastards is a year away, you can find links to this year's fair vendors and support their work here.

Amy, left, is pictured with Hunter.

Hollywood on Being a Brick in the Foundation

“I’m 62 and learned how to cut hair in the 1960's. This barbershop has been in Shaw for at least 45 years. I took it over in 1988 from a guy named Square John. He had it for about 15 or 20 years before that. This barbershop has always been a part of the neighborhood. This is one of the few structures still standing, this and the liquor store next door.

“Everybody comes through here. I’ve seen half of the neighborhood grow up so this is like a mainstay here. A whole lot of people wouldn’t know how to act if we closed, so we stay open seven days a week. And this is where everyone comes to talk sports, politics, women, whatever. Doesn’t matter if people are getting a haircut or not, they come because it is a meeting place. So, me and this barbershop are just bricks in the foundation of the neighborhood. Since I’ve been here, I’ve had Redskin players come through, rappers, movie stars, a couple of Wizard players, mostly just the neighborhood though.

“The clientele here used to be all black, run-down, low-income and now it is gradually moving up economically. We got whites coming back to the neighborhood, Hispanics, it’s becoming more diverse. This diversity in the neighborhood is now being felt in the barbershop. For about ten years, I hadn’t cut a white head at all and now I am cutting two to three a week. And they talk more sports than we talk! And they talk more politics than we talk! We love it. It’s getting there, except when the Spanish guys come in, we can’t talk because we don’t know the language. Otherwise, everything is cool.

“We going to be here until we can’t be here no more. When I get too old to cut, I’ll just get someone else to come in here and take over. I’ve got other barbers working with me now, they’re young and have other jobs too, but one of them will take it over in time."

Go talk sports, politics, women, the neighborhood, whatever over a haircut with Hollywood at Hollywood Style and Cut at 710 S St. N.W.

Hamzah on the Color Underneath Those Button-Downs

"How do I feel about the city? I just moved here from New York, and my first experience out in DC was on a Saturday night and I realized that my friend and I were the only ones out in t-shirts. Everyone else was in a polo or a button down. We were like what the..how does a city roll like this? And I did not understand how an entire bar could be filled with so many cookie-cutter people.

"People have a façade here that they don’t have elsewhere. I feel like you can meet cool people, though, who will let down their guard and tell you what they’re like. So, I am discovering that there is a lot more to DC than what I found at the bar. There is some color underneath those button-downs."

Check out some polling data on life in DC vs. NYC here.

Carolyn on DC Corners

“I’ve lived in DC my whole life, couldn’t live anywhere else. I’ve been a crossing guard about 15 years. I didn’t have a job so I had no other choice. The first person that called me for a job, I took it. Now, I been doing this for so long because I like working with people in this city. I been stationed everywhere in DC. Every corner is different, some have more traffic than others, but I mean they all corners in the end. But, of all the corners I've seen in my day, I still like DC corners the best! Ok enough, let me go help these people cross the street.”

Anne-Marie and Cori on Starting a Bike Gang

Ann-Marie - "I just moved back to DC, like, a month and a half ago. I bought a beachcomber bike in Miami and when I moved here it was completely useless because of all the hills. I bought a new bike with gears, helmet, and mirror, so now I am pimping on my Schwinn! I bike to work everyday because I am trying to live green. I feel like there are bikes everywhere in DC. That doesn’t mean I feel safe when I am on my bike, though. My route to work goes through Rock Creek and the C & O Canal, so I am not around cars the whole time, but biking home at night is nerve-racking. I don’t think drivers here pay attention to us."

Cori - "I grew up in the DC area and had not ridden my bike since middle school. When I started work, I saw that bikes were everywhere and decided that I should start biking, too. I borrowed my Dad’s bike from the 70s, which is a great old road bike. And, it’s been working really well. I see bikers all over the place which encourages me, and hopefully others, to bike more."

Anne Marie - "Our company reimburses us for riding to work. They encourage people to bike or use public transportation. We even have a bike repair kit at the office. Now that they are providing support, more people are coming to work on bikes. And, the more that people in DC see bikers, the more they will consider riding themselves. That’s what got me started. There is also great camaraderie in biking. We just finished a softball game and came over to Georgetown. This is our first time riding together. It was like being eight again and riding on the streets with my buddies. I was, like, we should start a bike gang!"

For more information about DC bike trails and routes through the city that avoid heavy traffic, click here.

Kati on Being Connected by The Greater Good

“I was with my roommate in our lobby when my boyfriend got stuck in the elevator of our apartment building. So, he’s, like, ringing the panic button and we are trying to figure out how to get him out. We were on our way to a Kanye West concert at the Verizon Center and we were, like, what are we going to do? We ended up calling the police or the fire department; I forget which one, to come help. Anyway, they said that they were going to send someone. It took forever, so we decided to crack into the case of beer we had for the concert while waiting on them.

“Finally, there was a police officer outside issuing someone a parking ticket and, as no one had showed up, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We asked if he could come help us, but he was like, there is nothing that I can do as we need the elevator company to come save your boyfriend. So, we just sat around and shot the shit with him and he told us stories of being a cop in DC and about his education. We, of course, offered him a beer, which he didn’t accept because he was on the job.

“Finally, after he gave us his life story, the elevator company came and let my boyfriend out. Anyway, we ended up keeping in touch with this cop and the thing that reminds me most of DC about this story is that he still, whenever he is in Cleveland Park, will send me a text and say, “Are you out? I’ll come say hi.” Or, if there are a lot of police out, he’ll shoot me a text and tell me that there are a lot of cops in my neighborhood and I should behave myself! It was this one little chance encounter that brought us together. We met this kind cop with the best of intentions who now looks out for me. This just shows me how we’re all connected here and look out for each other. It becomes a good representation for me of how people in DC are connected by the greater good. That is one of my favorite random DC stories.”

See how well the DC Metropolitan Police Department is performing here and see their goals for 2010 here.

Sonny on DC B-Boys

“I started breakdancing around 1989. My crew is called the Lion’s of Zion. We've been on the scene for 17 or 18 years. We taught a lot of kids in the area. Some of them are now competing all over the world. Our squad introduced a whole new breaking style to the East Coast. It’s a DC-specific style, I would call it the LOZ style. If you go anywhere on the East or West coast and mention the Lion's of Zion crew, people will recognize DC.

“To be in the LOZ, you have to be the best of the best. You need your own style and be the best at what you do. Here, people call me Ghost because I am the original battle cat. That’s my nickname. When I step up to battle, people pretty much get scared. I can take different forms. I have every breakdancing style possible.

“I am now of the older generation. I’m 33, but I still rock it hard. There is a newer generation coming up in DC, and I am doing my part to train them and keep DC on the map for B-Boys.”

See Sonny, the Lion's of Zion and other DC B-Boys and B-Girls on Thursdays at Modern. And, check out the Lion's of Zion's D-Moe and Domkey winning this year's Crafty Bastards B-Boy Battle here.

Baker on Being an Endangered Species

“I’m 76-years-old. I was born in this neighborhood and lived here all of my life. I’ve seen a lot of changes on H Street, some for the better and some for the worse. But, I have lived with them. I just go with the flow because I know I can’t do nothing about it.

“In my days, I’ve seen a lot of good changes, but a lot of wrong changes too, especially now. I’ve seen people forced out of their homes so others can move in. Since they rebuilt H Street, we basically lost our rights and now we have to fight for them. And why? We grew up here. Basically, everybody here is struggling, except the owners of those establishments on H Street.

“These clubs, restaurants, and places for carry out, they don’t help the neighborhood at all. They should have opened restaurants where anyone can enter, a place that fits the old and the new. But, it’s not like that, we can’t afford these places. You know what I’m saying?

“And, the police are coming around all of the time now that these places are here and harassing us. We ain’t doing nothing but hanging out, been doing that for 30-40 years with no problems. We around every day, some of us work and some of us don’t, but we don’t bother nobody.

“At night time, the streets are flooded with nothing but white people. I guess we get our time during the day and they get their time at night, except that we get harassed during the day by the police, too. At night, I go in the house and let them enjoy the street. If I am out here at night as a black man, I am like an endangered species. It don’t bother me, but that is the change that I see."

Read more about the development of H Street NE here.

Kate on Bringing Stooping Back to P Street

“I have lived in DC for 5 ½ years now. And, I love my apartment and my location, but I don’t love the neighborhood. You know, people have a real pride about living in a place like Mt. Pleasant. But, this specific neighborhood doesn’t even have a name, we don’t know if we’re Logan Circle or Dupont Circle. It is total Puggleville, people are out walking their puggle all of the time and no one makes eye contact. There is no neighborhood feel to it.

“I love to walk. I go walking every day for at least an hour, and I walk up around Mt. Pleasant and even in the back parts of Adams Morgan, and always right around dusk, especially in the summer, people are all out stooping. They’re all hanging out, pouring wine for each other and just being buddies with whoever is around. It is this whole feeling of community that is the reason why I love DC. DC is a place where 5 ½ years in, you can feel like you know so many people. I can’t walk outside without running into people. But, I don’t get that sense where I am living, it feels very non descript to me. There is not a real sense of identity for this area.

“So, I went back and forth for a while about whether I should move to Mt. Pleasant and then I realized that I could just be my own agent of change and I started stooping. I have friends over for dinner a lot and we started a stooping routine, just hang out on the stoop with a glass of wine. I started buying a pack of cigarettes in case people want to stoop out with that. And it's funny, it freaks a lot of people out, especially in the twilight hour. People are super confused about why two people would be sitting outside chatting. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone stoop on this street and look at my neighbors, they actually have a yard. But, I think that I am the only person in the building who knows my neighbor’s faces. You get to hear so many stories from hanging out here. I heard this great story about my neighbor interviewing Woody Allen the other day. But, It’s still just friends that come by, no strangers, that’s the goal. People are very focused here and they miss the opportunity to just chill out.

“People are down on DC because it is not New York, because it is not big enough and because it doesn’t have a lot going on, but I think that is what DC has going on. It gives you the opportunity to make it a small town for yourself. In such a transient, you need to set roots, that’s why I stoop.”

Read more about finding the right stoop and the games you can play on them, including stoopball, here.

This post is part of a weekly series of People's District stories on the Prince of Petworth, check it out here.

Roscoe on The Streets We All Walk On

“My father died last year at the age of 97. He helped build this city. I’m talking about putting down the streets. He was in construction and worked for the city. He even helped put the statue on top of the Capitol. There is probably not a street in this city that he didn't have his hands on. He was a great man and this was his town.

“I loved him to death and I miss him so much. He taught me to love DC. Even during the riots, he always loved this city. I feel great that my Dad played such an important role in this city and people should know about him, and people like him, who built the streets we all walk on.

"My Dad taught me the right thing do. He taught me how to say 'yes, sir' and 'no, ma'am.' I live by a lot of his principles. I have two kids, one in the Navy and the other one is in the Marines. I raised them the same way. They love DC, too. We wouldn’t live nowhere else. Now, I’ve got a little stand and I sell all kinds of stuff: Michael Jackson shirts, cologne, glasses, oils, watches, you name it. we got it. We trying to do good for this city."

See a map of important locations in DC's labor past and present here.

Kim on Venus Bike Trap

“Believe it or not, the DC area has one of the largest groups of female motorcycle riders that I’ve seen in my many years of riding. I rode with the Lady Hawks Motorcycle Club of DC, Maryland and Virginia. I held several posts there including Road Captain and Treasurer. But, there are a lot of other clubs in the area including the Road Divas and Phenomenal Ladies. These are clubs that have women who have been riding for 30-plus years from all walks of life: lawyers, doctors, teachers, you name it, they’re out there.

"I ride a Kawasaki 1500 Classic, it’s a Vulcan. Her name is Caldonia. My bike is named after my great aunt, who is the strongest woman I know. Her name comes from the great Blues song, Caldonia, where the lyrics ask, "Caldonia, what make your big head so hard?" That was just like my great aunt!

“I formed Venus Bike Trap about three and a half years ago. It is a female motorcycle accessory company based in DC. I sell women’s motorcycle apparel, boots, jackets, and clothing. I did this because after twenty years of riding, I had to buy men’s things and tailor them to fit my feminine body. We have colors like pink, as women have normally been relegated to black this and black that. I am trying to create a local company that is made for all women, sells safe equipment and allows a woman to maintain her sexy edge. And a sexy woman on a motorcycle, man that turns everybody’s head!

“I think that DC is a very interesting place. It is very electrified right now with our new president. It’s a melting pot of nationalities. People from across the world come here for political reasons and for the vast educational opportunities. You can find a whole lot of things here that you can’t find in other cities, including large groups of female riders. Because women are the fastest growing demographic in the motorcycle industry, we, as leaders in DC, want to provide women from all over the world with the opportunity to look sexy and be safe at the same time."

Read more about Venus Bike Trap here.

Kim, left, is pictured with Rita.

Mark on Blaming the Bike Couriers

"I’ve been a bike courier for 27 years, always in DC nonstop. We don’t make no money anymore, though, and the courier companies are hiring new people who don’t know what they’re doing. They are firing all of us veterans and taking on all of the rookies for cheap. Come on, man, these rookies don’t know the busines and they don’t have people’s respect.

"Most buildings want customer service. They want the courier to be polite, respectful, and to dress well when he comes inside the office. Now, these new couriers have no respect and because of that, none of us can go inside of offices because clients don’t want to see no raggedy looking rookie courier, someone who doesn’t take a bath or turn his radio down, come inside the office.

"Things also changed when the Capitol Hill police officers got shot and with the Anthrax scare, they didn’t want us in the buildings no more. Whenever anything goes wrong, they blame the couriers. Then, when the terrorists came in, that really blew it for us. We had enough problems dealing with the fax machine. Now, we got to deal with terrorism!

"Nowadays, the only people that’s making money is the security because every building you go in, you got to see a security guard. Back when I was doing work, there were no security guards. You could go in the building, drop off a package and leave. Today, you have security in the lobby and one on each floor. I think everyone is too paranoid.

"Now, I’m working in a guaranteed company that isn’t going nowhere, so, if I can maintain and keep coming to work everyday, I might be out here for another 15 or 20 years."

Read more about DC bike couriers here.

Michael on Living in a Bubble

“DC is a wonderful place if you want to advance your professional career. But, the problem is that it is like living in a bubble. I think that, you know, people that have either grown up or lived in the city for a long time because they felt it was the center of the universe, they haven’t expanded themselves so they aren’t, to me, open-minded. This is a very diverse place, but even in all of its cultural diversity, there is still a thread of ignorance. It is weird to describe.

"You would think that with all of these cultures here, there would be this great understanding. This great harmonious vibe. These social interactions that would lift up everybody, but it just doesn’t exist. We give the appearance of this solidarity, and it looks good, we are all walking in the same parks and talking, but as soon as the city shuts down and we go home to our separate lives in separate neighborhoods, we still harvest those same thoughts about everything and bring it back to work the next day.

“The ironic thing about DC is that you would think that there would be a huge change with each Administration, including this one. You know, a new President and new policy that would somehow then trickle down and impact all of us who are here, running around like rats feeding. But, that’s not true. It’s funny, the Administration changes, but the game stays the same. It’s politics as usual. K Street doesn’t change and the lobbying effort doesn’t change. The way people treat each other doesn’t change.

“Here, we are slaves to the rhythm. You get up everyday at 6 am, most of our lives in DC are based around working. You get up for the commute…I get up at 5 am and hustle and bustle to get dressed, I hop a car to the metro and then hop a metro to the job. I work and then I do the same routine to get home. Get home about 7 pm and then there is time to do a little bit for myself and then, I'm in bed.

"In the mid-West, life is just different. You leave work at 5pm. You have time to interact with your family. You have time to enjoy the things around you. Everything we do in Washington, DC, seems to be centered around a very urban, rushed kind of lifestyle. What keeps me in DC is work and money, that’s about it. It’s a great city, someplace I’d like to earn a living for a little while, but when I retire, I see myself living a more wholesome life. You get caught up into the politics here. We all get soiled by it a little. I just want to get away from that."

Jeff on Building a House of Washington

“I am a city planner trained as an architect. One principal characteristic that distinguishes Washington, DC, from most American cities, and most European cities, too, for that matter, is the rectilinear urban grid overlaid by diagonal streets creating all of these awkward, strange street corners. If you read the urban historians who discuss Washington, DC, they see it as a real disadvantage to the design of the city.

"What is interesting, though, if you look at what the urban planner Haussmann did in Paris and the outcome of his slashing avenues through the medieval street network of Paris, there are actually a lot weirder building lots in Paris than in Washington. But, the design mentality of post-Haussmann in the late-1800s, as opposed to the mentality when DC was designed in 1798, meant that people were more willing and interested in making weird-shaped buildings on weird-shaped lots. Thus, when DC was being designed, a lot of these lots sat empty.

"Now in design, there is a lot less admiration of pure forms. Symmetry is out. Why have a square building when you can have a rhombus or a parallelogram or something that is kind of funky? These weird leftover lots in DC give an architect the opportunity to do a building with an exciting shape without violating the shape of the lot.

“I wanted to make a house that was of Washington and couldn’t really exist anywhere else. I went looking for a very sharp triangle. My wife and I rented a Zipcar, mapped out the flatiron lots around town and visited every one. And, this was the one that seemed the most available, but it still took a year and a private detective to find the owner and another year to clear the title. Even though our house occupies the footprint of what was historically here and I just wanted to fill the same lot, it took three variances and nine months to do that. According to the zoning laws, I was also required to build a garage on site, but I didn’t have a car. Parking a car on site would have meant replacing a public good, street parking, for a private good, my own parking space, and I didn’t want to do that. I spent months fighting that too.

"The key issue in DC is that the current zoning code does not take into account strange lots. If you wanted to build a traditional urban row house on a lot in DC, you would not have a problem, which puts DC far ahead of most American cities. It is these weird left over blocks where you have the problems. I am no longer surprised when I see how long it takes to rehabilitate empty lots here because the tax burdens and title problems associated with a lot of them make it really difficult to actually do anything."

Learn more about what Jeff is doing in DC and around the world to promote smart growth and sustainable design here. See his house here.

Biz on Letting People Know about DC Hip Hop

“Hip hop in DC, you know what I’m saying, is at a crazy point. The Nation’s Capital still has yet to blow up on the scene. So, basically, there are a few undergound artists in the area and they are about to, you know, break out. I can feel DC is going to be the next major city to get on the map.

“DC hip hop comes a lot from Go Go, people like Backyard, Rare Essence, Chuck Brown, and what we grew up listening to. From my generation, I’m 24 right now, that is Tupac, Nas, Ghostface Killer, Outkast, people from all over the place, especially New York and down south. We right here in the middle so we get influences from everywhere…and it’s the Nation’s Capital so we speak for America because rappers around here have a national perspective on shit. Nationals, you see that on my hat? You know what I'm saying?

“Right now, besides my group Suspects, I basically listen to artists around the area that I know. I respect their craft and respect their talent so I’m fucking with Flex Mathews, I think he is one of the best battle rappers in DC, my man Ardamus, people like XO, Rock Mikey, and everything coming out of El Nino, Fuego, and Target Squad. There are definitely a lot of people who are making noise on the underground. The whole fucking world will pick up on DC if things are promoted the right way.

"You see, I am an artist, but at the same time my name is Biz and I handle my business and promote a few parties in the area that you may fuck with. I am trying to let people know what direction we headed with DC hip hop.”

Take a video walking tour of DC hip hop here.