Dining in Columbia Heights

[AlexC]

My first impression on walking in was "Oh, God, the assholes have discovered Columbia Heights." You know, baggy shorts, backwards baseball hats, frat boy vibe despite the fact that they're pushing 30.

Brolumbia Heights is coming. It happened to 14th Street.

[Kev29]

Brolumbia Heights is coming. It happened to 14th Street.

Seriously, why can't Columbia Heights just go back to the days of bombed out buildings and feral children throwing rocks at passers by?

[DonRocks]

Seriously, why can't Columbia Heights just go back to the days of bombed out buildings and feral children throwing rocks at passers by?

Ladieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees and Gentlemen .........

"He's been aggravating the shit out of celebrity chefs and PR firms for nearly ten years!"

"You wanted to choke the life out of him when he rammed 14 UP down your throats!"

"You've tried desperately to ignore him - but you can't!"

"You wish he'd just shut the fuck up, go the fuck away, or die!"

And Now, PreseeeeeeeeZENTING ......... for your elevated blood pressure .........

DON ROCKWELL'S LATEST ANNOYANCE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<walks on stage with an innocent-looking smile, waves to audience ...>

"Thank you, thank you."

<applause continues, sheepishly looks downward with an awkward grin>

"Thank you all."

<holds up hand, applause slowly dies down, assumes a serious-looking demeanor>

"Thank you all so much. I'm here today to share with you a wonderful trend which I have spotted, a trend which bears testament to the spirit and tenacity of our Latino brothers and sisters - our neighbors from the south who have such a long and dignified history of fighting - and overcoming - oppression and hardship, oppression and hardship that have all too often been inflicted upon them by people <slowly looks down, then looks back up> ... like me."

<soft applause>

"The other day I parked my car on 13th and Irving Streets in Columbia Heights, an area which, just ten years ago, was better known for people throwing rocks at cars than family life. As I walked down Irving Street, I passed Tubman Elementary school, named after the great abolitionist and humanitarian, Harriet Tubman. On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I saw Latino families gathered together, mothers tending to their children while fathers played soccer. There were dozens, if not hundreds, of our Latino brethren celebrating this great American dream we call <pause> "life."

<light applause>

I turned left onto 11th Street and headed north, my destination being our culturally robust and diverse city's latest Mexican restaurant, "El Chucho." Looking towards my left, I saw, several blocks in the distance, gigantic, sprawling, concrete slabs. There they were, rising above the rooftops: Target, Best Buy, and all the other corporate behemoths polluting the 14th Street corridor that once represented the revitalization, the promise, the rebirth, of our historic and beloved Columbia Heights neighborhood.

<silence>

As I walked up 11th Street, passing charismatic, independently owned restaurants such as Wonderland Ballroom, Meridian Pint, and Room 11, I could not help but draw a stark contrast to the cold, impersonal, bureaucratic cancer that lay just three blocks to the west. And I could not help but think about the fighting spirit so emblematic of our Latino brothers and sisters, today enjoying the simple pleasures of a Sunday afternoon soccer match, in the park with their families, in the last area of Columbia Heights still untouched by the cruel hand of unbridled capitalism.

Nowadays, when people think of Columbia Heights, they think of raw development - of Staples and Best Buy; of Target, and of Bed, Bath, & Beyond. They think of a superficial layer of varnish, thinly coating the strong-armed Goliath of American economic corruption that has, all too often, come at the expense <pause> of our good Latino brethren.

<applause>

It is this 11th Street Corridor - Columbia Heights East - that is home to our great city's true fabric - a fabric rooted in the sweat and toil of these honest, hard-working Latino-Americans, enjoying a soccer match on a sunny Sunday afternoon with their families.

Columbia Heights East, the bastion of resistance, grit, determination, and rebellion against the forces of capitalism. Columbia Heights East, the proud symbol and last vestige of an area being swallowed by a sterile monster. Columbia Heights East, soon to be officially abbreviated in the donrockwell.com Dining Guide ... as CHE.

<audience stands, applauding and hooting wildly. In the back, a man is being carried out, his screams of protest inaudible and muted against the noisy din, barely comprehensible words, sounding of "Arlington bastard!" rising above the squall of the frenzied crowd>