Peace Corps Headquarters

Peace Corps Headquarters

The Peace Corps traces its roots and mission to 1960, when during the course of his campaign for the presidency then Senator John F. Kennedy floated the idea that a new “army” should be created by the United States, and challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. From that inspiration grew an agency of the federal government devoted to world peace and friendship.

To fulfill this plan, Kennedy issued an executive order on March 1, 1961 establishing the Peace Corps as a trial program. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes three goals: providing technical assistance; helping people outside the U.S. to understand American culture; and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. The work is generally related to social and economic development.

Each program participant, a Peace Corps Volunteer, is an American citizen, typically with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of 24 months after three months of training. Volunteers work with governments, schools, non-profit organizations, non-government organizations, and entrepreneurs in education, hunger, business, information technology, agriculture, and the environment.

There are a number of notable people who previously served as a Peace Corp Volunteer, including Bob Vila (home-improvement expert), who served in Panama from 1971-1973; Chris Matthews (news commentator and host of MSNBC’s “Hardball”), served in Swaziland from 1968-1970; Bob Beckel (political pundit), served in the Philippines from 1971-72; Kinky Friedman (Texas singer, songwriter, novelist, politician), served in Malaysia from 1967-1969; Christopher Dodd (former U.S. Senator), served in the Dominican Republic from 1966-1968; Donna Shalala (former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services), served in Iran from 1962-1964, and; Reed Hastings (founder and CEO of Netflix), served in Swaziland from 1983-1985.

Riding to the Peace Corps Headquarters located at 1111 20th Street in northwest D.C. (MAP) and learning about the organization is what my bike riding and this blog are all about.  The better known monuments and memorials in D.C. are worth the time.  But so are many other attractions in D.C.  And unfortunately, most people, whether they are tourists who are here only for a short while or residents who spend their entire lives here, never experience these lesser known but often equally interesting aspects of the city.

          
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The House of the Temple

The House of the Temple

I recently rode to the The House of the Temple, which is the national headquarters of Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jursidiction, of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.  Actually, the full name is “The Supreme Council (Mother Council of the World) of the Inspectors General Knights Commander of the House of the Temple of Solomon of the Thirty-third degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States of America.”Its architecture is an adaptation of the famous Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the “Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.”  The exterior of the building stands 130 feet high, the top of which is surrounded by Ionic columns that rise to a magnificent stepped pyramid roof. The front of the building features two impressive sphinxes carved on site from limestone by famed sculptor Adolph A. Weinman, who is best-known for designing the Walking Liberty and Winged Mercury coins. The rear of the building is a dramatic rotunda.  Located at 1733 16th Street (MAP) in the DuPont Circle neighborhood of D.C., the Temple was completed in 1915, and  has been open to the public for guided tours since it opened.  I recommend it as a worthwhile way to see the Temple, as well as a way  to learn about Freemasonry.

    
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A Spite House in Georgetown

The spite house at 1239 30th Street N.W.

A spite house is a building constructed or modified to irritate someone else, usually neighbors.  Spite houses often serve as obstructions, blocking out light or access to neighboring buildings, or as flamboyant symbols of defiance.  On this ride, I went by one such house in the Georgetown neighborhood of D.C.   The Georgetown home (on the left) is located at 1239 30th Street N.W. (MAP).  It’s a shade under 11 feet wide, and was built between two larger houses.  When the couple who initially lived in the brick home to the right divorced in the late 1800’s, the wife moved out and built the spite house next door, purposefully blocking all the light and air of the original home’s north-facing windows in what has been reported to have been a purely spiteful gesture toward her ex-husband.  Also of note, the oval plaque in the middle of this house was a symbol representing an insurance company.  This and other symbols, known as fire marks, indicated to volunteer firemen that the house was insured, thus assuring them that they would be rewarded for saving that home.  History records a number of occasions in D.C. when firemen allowed uninsured houses to burn.

The Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden

The Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden

When you’re traveling by bike, you have the benefit of a different perspective along the way.  You’re going slow enough to be able to see and appreciate things you otherwise might miss if you were driving in a car.  But you’re also travelling fast enough to cover a lot more distance than you can when you’re walking.  That’s the way it was on this ride.  Along the way I ran across the Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden.  It is located in the midst of the wooded ravine known as Normanstone Park which borders Rock Creek Park, just off of Massachusetts Avenue and across the street from the British Embassy (MAP).  The garden was built and then dedicated as a memorial in 1991 to one of history’s most influential Arab Americans, Kahlil Gibran.  Of Lebanese descent, Kahlil Gibran was a writer, poet, artist and philosopher.  His writings and poetry have inspired countless millions around the world.  He is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.

The memorial garden was a project of the Kahlil Gibran Centennial Foundation, established in 1983 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth.  The centerpieces of the memorial are a bust of the Gibran in a contemplative pose, and a star-shaped  fountain surrounded by flowers, hedges and limestone benches engraved with various quotes from the poet, which include:  “We extract your elements to make cannons and bombs but out of our elements you create lilies and roses.  How patient you are earth and how merciful!”  “When you love you should not say God is in my heart, but rather, I am in the heart of God.”  “Do not the spirits who dwell in the ether envy man his pain?”  “Life without freedom is like a body without a soul, and freedom without thought is confusion.”

Unlike many of the memorials downtown, this off the beaten path site is a serene and peaceful place, reflecting Gibran’s passion for peace.  So if you have the time, pack a lunch and bring along good book (such as Gibran’s “The Prophet”), and you’ll be rewarded with a delightful way to spend a quiet afternoon in D.C.

         

         

     
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Barrel House Liquor

Barrel House Liquors

On a recent ride on 14th Street to see the gentrification of the neighborhoods through which it passes, I saw some interesting things.  Among the most interesting was the Barrel House Liquor Store (MAP).  As you might expect, the liquor store’s entry is framed by a large barrel that you enter through. The store’s unusual doorway was constructed some time during the 1950s, and is a local attraction. Before turning to liquor, this storefront once housed an auto dealership – for Rolls-Royce.  There’s always something interesting to find in D.C., which makes the bike rides fun.

The Titanic Memorial

The Titanic Memorial

The Titanic Memorial on D.C.’s southwest waterfront is in a great location for going for a bike ride.  Located on the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail next to the Washington Channel (MAP), the thirteen-foot-tall statue is sculpted from a single piece of red granite and depicts a partly clad male figure with arms outstretched.  It should be noted that any similarity to Kate Winslet’s much-imitated pose at the helm of the ship in the 1997 film Titanic is purely coincidental, inasmuch as the memorial was dedicated in 1931, decades before the movie.

As stated in the inscription on the front of the memorial, it is dedicated “to the brave men who perished in the wreck of the Titanic – April 15, 1912.  They gave their lives that women and children might be saved.”  The memorial was erected by the Women’s Titanic Memorial Association.

Despite their efforts, more than 1,500 people were killed after the ship collided with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.  It remains one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.

The Titanic Memorial was unveiled on May 26, 1931, by Helen Herron Taft, the widow of President Taft.  The statue was originally located at the foot of New Hampshire Avenue, in Rock Creek Park along the Potomac River.  However, it was removed in 1966 to accommodate the construction of the Kennedy Center. The memorial was re-erected without ceremony in 1968 at its current location.

After enjoying a ride and visiting the memorial, consider riding over to the Thai Tanic Restaurant  for some of their house famous Soft Shell Crab Pad Thai or Goong Lava.  They are located at 1326 14th Street in northwest D.C. (MAP).

         
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Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office

Clara Barton’s Office of Missing Soldiers

During the Civil War, a humanitarian named Clara Barton had a discussion with her father in which he convinced her that it was her Christian duty to help the soldiers.  She subsequently went on to help gather and distribute medical supplies, food, and clothing to soldiers during the war.  She even gained permission to work on the front lines, where her work gained support from other people who believed in her cause. These people became her patrons.  Eventually, with the support of her patrons, she went on to be appointed as the “lady in charge” of the hospitals at the front of the Army of the James.

Among her more harrowing experiences during the war was an incident in which a bullet tore through the sleeve of her dress without striking her but killing a man to whom she was tending.  For this she became known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.”

At the end of the Civil War, Barton continued her work by hiring a staff and opening an office to provide assistance to grieving parents, family and friends whose sons, brothers, neighbors were missing.  It was named the “Office of Correspondence with the Friends of the Missing Men of the United States Army.”  Also referred to as the Missing Soldiers Office, they responded to over 63,000 letters, most of which required some kind of research.  The research then led to published lists of the names of the missing so that anyone with knowledge of their whereabouts or death could contact Barton. By the time the office closed in 1867, she had identified the fate of over 22,000 men.

Barton, along with another humanitarian named Adolphus Solomons, would later go on to found the American National Red Cross, an organization designed to provide humanitarian aid to victims of wars and natural disasters in congruence with the International Red Cross.

Over a century later, in November of 1997, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) discovered signs, clothing and papers in the attic of 437 Seventh Street in northwest D.C. (MAP).  The vacant building had recently been transferred from the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation for sale by the GSA and was slated for demolition.  The artifacts were identified as the belongings of Clara Barton from her occupancy of the building during the Civil War, while she was providing supplies to soldiers on the battlefields, and immediately following the Civil War, when she operated the Missing Soldiers Office out of Room 9 on the third floor.

As a result of the discovery, the building was not demolished as planned.  Instead, it has been preserved by the GSA, which retains an easement for a planned museum in the future.

The Yenching Palace

The Yenching Palace

During a 13-day period in October in the year that I was born, a political and military standoff nearly turned into a worldwide nuclear conflict.  Known in this country as the Cuban Missile Crisis (it was known as the October Crisis in Cuba and the Caribbean Crisis in the former Soviet Union), leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense confrontation in October of 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores.

In a nationally televised address, President Kennedy notified Americans about the presence of the missiles and explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba.  The President made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security.  However, 51 years ago today, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba.  Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

So I took a bike ride to the location where many historians contend the agreement to end the crisis was negotiated, the Yenching Palace Chinese restaurant.  Tucked between the D.C. Fire Department’s Engine Company 28 and a 7-Eleven, it was located at 3524 Connecticut Avenue (MAP).  The Yenching Palace was opened in the 1950’s by Van Lung, the son of a Chinese warlord, and remained a landmark in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of northwest D.C. for more than 50 years.

In its heyday, diplomats, politicians, movie stars and musicians dined there alongside neighborhood regulars.  In the early 1970s, Henry Kissinger was a regular visitor, Chinese diplomats often his companions. Kissinger used to drink Moutai — a powerful liqueur popular in China — and eat the duck.  A few of the other customers included Mick Jagger, Danny Kaye, George Balanchine, Ann Landers, Jason Robards, James Baldwin, Arthur (that’s how he signed the guest book) Garfunkel, famed architect I.M. Pei (whose signature is completely unreadable), Daniel Ellsberg, “Alex” Haig, Lesley Stahl, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and so many ambassadors and Senators it’s hard to keep track.  But perhaps the most famous customers and the most oft-told story about Yenching Palace is how emissaries representing President Kennedy and Soviet leader Khrushchev clandestinely met there on the evening of October 27th to negotiate during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and legend has it that they hammered out the final details, and avoided a war, in the second-to-last booth on the left.

The Yenching Palace closed – to the dismay of many regulars – in 2007 when the building was leased by the Lung family to a Walgreens – the first Walgreens to locate in D.C., in fact.  In a nod to the building’s history Walgreens attempted to recreate the façade of the building to imitate its original appearance.

The Islamic Center of Washington

The Islamic Center of Washington

A recent ride took me to the Islamic Center of Washington is a mosque and Islamic cultural center, and is located at 2551 Massachusetts Avenue in northwest D.C. (MAP), just west of the bridge over Rock Creek.  When it opened in 1957 it was the largest Muslim place of worship in the Western Hemisphere, with some 6,000 people attending prayers there each Friday.

The center was originally conceived in 1944 when the Turkish ambassador Münir Ertegün died and there was no mosque in which to hold his funeral. The Washington diplomatic community played a leading role in the effort to have a mosque constructed. Support came from most of the Islamic nations of the world which donated funds, decorations, and craftsmen to the project. Support for the project also came from the American-Muslim community.  The site was purchased in 1946 and the cornerstone was laid on January 11, 1949.  The building was designed by Italian architect Mario Rossi and was dedicated on June 28, 1957, with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance. The main prayer hall of the center is covered by Persian carpets dedicated by the late Shah of Iran. The center continues to be controlled by a board of governors made up of various ambassadors. Around the building are arrayed the flags of the Islamic nations of the world.

In addition to the mosque, the center contains a library and classrooms where courses on Islam and the Arabic language are taught.

    
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A Really Big Chair

The Really Big Chair in Anacostia

One of my bike rides took me to the Anacostia neighborhood in southeast D.C. to see what at one time held the record for the world’s biggest chair. This Duncan Phyfe-style chair is 19 1/2 feet tall and weighs 4,600 pounds, and was originally made of real mahogany. It was created by the Virginia-based Bassett Furniture Company for Curtis Brothers Furniture as a promotional ploy to draw customers to the family’s furniture showroom.  It is located at the corner of Martin Luther King Avenue and V Street (MAP) in the Anacostia neighborhood of Southeast D.C.  It lost the world record when The Bassett Furniture Company constructed a 20 ft. mission style chair in 2002 to appear at its stores across the country. I have included this roadside attraction in this blog to remind people that D.C. is much more than monuments and memorials.  There are many worthwhile sights off the beaten path. Some are unusual and whimsical, while others are more serious and contemplative. I encourage you to seek them out because all are essential ingredients in the recipe that gives D.C. its unique flavor. 

    
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