39,327
edits
Washington DC: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
m (categories and general cleanup) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 11:
Why does such an ironic situation exist? It was written into the US Constitution. The Founding Fathers feared if the capital district was a part of any state or was considered a state itself, the federal government would treat that state favorably. The framers never thought that Washington would become an actual city with an indigenous population. But they overestimated the size of land needed to host a body of government, and that extra land naturally ended up being filled with people who worked in the District.
Why this has not been corrected: Aside from the fact that [[Be
----
Line 40:
=== Tourist Attractions of Washington ===
* [[Bio
* [[The White House]]: The President's pad. The West Wing contains the Oval Office and other offices for presidential staff; other executive offices are at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (formerly the Old Executive Office Building, or OEOB), a [[Big Labyrinthine Building|giant gingerbread structure]] across the street. Thanks to [[The War
* The Supreme Court: self-explanatory. Long queue to get in for a brief glance at proceedings.
* Pennsylvania Avenue: Washington's main parade street. North of here is downtown DC.
Line 53:
** The American History Museum: The Star-Spangled banner and other historical artifacts. [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|Not as interesting as it used to be]] when it was used for rotating displays of the Smithsonian's vast array of tchotchkes. Now it's highly polished and empty display halls, populated by visiting exhibits paid for with private funds. They still have a [[Fan Disservice|naked marble statue of George Washington]].
** The Hirschhorn, a gallery of modern art along with a very... odd... sculpture garden. The [[Flying Saucer]]-shaped building itself was designed by Gordon Bunshaft, and it's called the Hirshhorn as it was initially funded by a guy named Hirschhorn. To locals it is especially well known for hosting terrible science fiction movie screenings in the summer (seriously).
** The National Museum Of American Art, which has the sculpture of Robert Gould Shaw on which the film ''[[Glory]]'' is based. It also has the Throne Of The Third Heaven Of The Nation's Millenium General Assembly (see below). [[Arc Words|Fear Not]].<ref>According to the artist's [[Fictionary|untranslated journal]], it's a [[Exactly What It Says
** The National Portrait Gallery, which is a gallery of, well, portraiture.
** The Postal Museum, which is a museum dedicated to the postal service (seriously, it exists).
Line 84:
* The Maine Avenue Fish Market. America's oldest fish market, since 1790. Busy at night.
* Dutch Country Farmers Market in Maryland. Run by the Amish.
* The Mormon Temple in Kensington, MD. Easily visible from the Beltway, its bright-white towers and golden spires bring to mind the Emerald City from ''[[The Wizard of Oz (
* Walter Reed Annex. [[Circus of Fear|an abandoned resort]] full of wacky pagodas, castles and windmills. Former [[Abandoned Hospital|psych wing]].
* The Awakening. Statue of a gigantic, and very angry man buried in the earth. Lived for many years at the very tip of West Potomac Park; has since been relocated to the National Harbor development in Oxon Hill, MD.
Line 97:
=== Useful Features ===
* Metrorail - DC's subway system, the second-busiest in the nation and designed as something of an antithesis to the New York City Subway, with huge domed-concrete stations, hexagonal tile floors, computer-controlled cars, and notoriously strict rules about consuming food and beverages. Designed in the late 1960s as a [[Time for Plan B|Plan B]] to redirect unused freeway funds to some form of transport (as DC residents saw that they [[Big No|really didn't want freeways]] cutting apart their backyards and neighborhoods), it was made with an eye toward luring commuters out of their cars -- a plan that, 40 years on, seems to have worked. It's starting to show its age a bit (it went online in 1976) and is nearing capacity, but still preferable to driving (especially if you're aware of how bad DC traffic is).
* D.C. has notoriously difficult traffic circles. The explanation is that this in case those [[Evil Brit|redcoats]] (or later, just [[Dirty Commies|the Reds]]) ever come back, they'll enter a traffic circle and will be unable to figure out how to leave it, thus keeping them from burning the city. [[
* The Capital Beltway, aka Interstate 495. On its southern and eastern sections, it also contains mainline Interstate 95... which was supposed to go directly through DC on its trek from Miami to Maine, but was redirected by freeway revolts (see above). All in all, it's another reason why [[Washington DC Invasion|Invading DC is not advised.]]
** It's also useful for navigation purposes to know that the Beltway has "The Inner Loop" (the side of the Beltway which runs clockwise around DC) and "The Outer Loop" (the side of the Beltway which runs counter-clockwise around DC).
Line 109:
== '''The Neighborhoods''' ==
In D.C., you are what you do for a living. Policy wonks who work on Capitol Hill are divided into "interns" and "Hill Rats" (lifers). They congregate in Georgetown (Washington's old-line, 18th-century neighborhood, featured in ''[[
Many of the shops and nightclubs in Adams-Morgan are Ethiopian-owned, but most of DC's large Ethiopian community has moved into U Street in the Shaw neighborhood, D.C's historically-black nightlife corridor, named for Capt. Shaw of ''[[Glory]]'', which is rapidly being gentrified and taken over by yuppies and college students. Just twenty years ago, it was a high-crime area, and 14th street NW was considered a bright red line which affluent Washingtonians would not cross. North of Shaw is a series of ethnic communities which stretches north to the Maryland border. [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|Walter Reed Army Hospital]] is located here.
Line 132:
Due to DC's [[Fun Size|small size]], many of these works have DC as a base of operations and characters will frequently head into Maryland or Virginia in the course of their duties. This especially applies with military works as the bulk of major military and intelligence facilities, including the aforementioned Pentagon, are outside the District.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Bare Knuckle]] III'', in the bad ending route. (''[[Streets of Rage]] 3'', the American version, "changes" it to the local city hall, [[Paper-Thin Disguise|with the sole change being a sign that says "City Hall"]].)
* ''[[Being There]]'' -- Biltmore Estate is hidden away in Georgetown.
Line 144:
* ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' -- (the film)
* ''D.C. Cab'' -- A [[Mr. T]] film which is among the few DC films to be set in the urban core of the city.
* ''[[Die Hard
* ''[[The District]]''
* ''[[Eden of the East]]'' (episode 1) - very realistically rendered for an anime series.
* ''[[Ethan Suspended]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' takes place in DC [[After the End|200 years after a nuclear war]].
* ''[[Freakazoid]]''
Line 155:
* ''[[In the Loop]]''
* ''[[JAG]]''
* ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]''
* ''[[Die Hard
* ''[[Mars Attacks (Film)]]''
* ''[[Minority Report]]'' -- Northern Virginia has become a sprawling post-apocalyptic slum.
Line 163:
* ''[[National Treasure]]''
* ''[[NCIS]]''
* ''[[Night
** In a bizarre case of [[Life Imitates Art]] [[Art Imitates Life|Imitates Life]], the Smithsonian Castle currently has a self-described "vast pile of booty from Smithsonian" on exhibit in the main hall, ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''-style. It consists of replicas of all of the famous and obscure knick-knacks that appeared as props on the film, all of which were replicas of actual Smithsonian artifacts, topped by [[The Wizard of Oz (
* ''[[No Way Out]]'' -- [[Kevin Costner]] escapes pursuers by hopping on the [[Did Not Do the Research|Georgetown Metro]].
* ''[[Remember the Titans]]'' is set in Alexandria's public high school, TC Williams.
* ''[[Strangers
* ''[[Sue Thomas:
* ''[[Seven Days in May]]'' was filmed on location in the early sixties. The then-new Dulles Airport features prominently.
* ''[[Time Cop]]''
* ''[[Unnatural History]]'' has Henry Griffin going to a school that's part of the [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo|National Museum Complex]].
* ''[[
* ''[[The West Wing]]'', which actually did a surprising amount of location shooting and has been touted as one of the most realistic depictions of actual West Wing operations in fiction, if a bit idealistic in its actual policy. This is because Dee Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary under the Clinton administration, served as a consultant on the show.
* ''[[Wing Commander (
* ''[[The X-Files]]''
* The Postal Service's<ref>The Postal Service being the sideproject of [[Death Cab for Cutie]] lead singer Ben Gibbard and indietronica artist [[Dntel]]</ref> "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" (the opening track of their first and so far only album ''Give Up'') is apparently about meeting an old friend (now unrecognizable) who now lives in <s>Washington</s> the District.
| |||