The Daily Render

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future

|| 3/21/2010 || 2:08 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Advertisement for the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West at Athletic Park in Washington, DC – National Republican, June 20th, 1885

Advertisement for the Buffalo Bill's Wild West at Athletic Park in Washington, DC - National Republican, June 20th, 1885

Following up on the previous two advertisements for events at Athletic Park, is this advertisement for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. I first learned of William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody when I was a child as we drove through the town he founded, Cody, Wyoming, while en route to Yellowstone National Park. I bet this show would be have been a lot of fun to watch.

|| 3/20/2010 || 11:19 am || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
Advertisement for Adam Forepaugh’s Circus in Athletic Park, Washington, DC – The National Republican, April 11, 1885

Advertisement for Adam Forepaugh's Circus in Athletic Park, Washington, DC - The National Republican, April 11, 1885

Following up on yesterday’s advertisement for the Barnum and London Circus, is this advertisement for Adam Forepaugh’s circus appeared in the same newspaper about one year later.

According to Wikipedia:

Forepaugh was different from most of his fellow circus operators at the time. Already independently wealthy when he entered the circus business, he was much less a showman and much more a businessman — a stark contrast to P. T. Barnum and the Ringling Brothers. He was intimately involved in all aspects of the circus business. He would regularly seat himself at the main entrance into the circus, making sure his face was seen by all. Through the 1870′s and into the 1880′s, Forepaugh and P. T. Barnum had the two largest circuses in the nation. Forepaugh actually had more animals than Barnum and generally paid higher salaries to the much-favored European talent. The two men constantly fought each other over rights to perform in the most-favored venues.

They signed truces in 1882, 1884, and 1887, dividing the country into exclusive territories to avoid disputes. But at least twice, they decided to pool their resources and perform together. In 1880, Forepaugh and Barnum combined their shows for a Philadelphia engagement. In 1887, Forepaugh obtained permission to perform in Madison Square Garden, a venue that Barnum considered to be exclusively his. A compromise was negotiated, and once again the two circuses presented a combined performance.

In 1889, Forepaugh sold his circus acts to James A. Bailey and James E. Cooper and he sold his railroad cars to the Ringling Brothers. The Ringlings used the equipment to transform their circus from a small animal-powered production to a huge rail-powered behemoth, which later purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Thus, in liquidating his circus assets, he indirectly contributed to the demise of his arch-rival.

Its probably safe to assume that they also competed to secure the use of Athletic Park in Washington, DC as well.

|| 3/19/2010 || 10:55 am || 2 Comments Rendered || ||
Advertisement for the Barnum and London Circus in Athletic Park, Washington, DC – The National Republican, May 3rd, 1884

Over the years I’ve attempted to document bits and pieces of my neighborhood’s 100+ year history on this digital scrapbook. From a bird’s eye view of my neighborhood in 1885 to a map of my neighborhood in 1921, I’ve tried to learn as much about where I’ve been living as possible. Its hard not to when you realize that long after we are gone, the houses in this neighborhood will probably still remain.

The educational starting point was this article about my neighborhood history, which I pretty much copied in my first entry, and now that I have access to the thousands upon thousands of newspaper articles that were published around the time of the neighborhood’s development, I’m able to find some rather new and unique facets of my neighborhood’s history.

In time, I hope more old newspapers come on-line that show what happened on the land prior to 1884, but in the meantime, I’ll post more unique items that I find.

|| 3/15/2010 || 11:23 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
A T-Rex Google Map On My Neighborhood Via Twitter

The other day I allowed Twitter to track my location. Much to my chagrin, the map that was created looks awful. At first I thought it looked like PacMan and now I’ve come to the conclusion that it looks like T-Rex, and that ‘T’ stands for Twitter.

|| 12/16/2009 || 9:20 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
[Found Map] The 3rd District Police Station in Washington, DC

Found Map on a display at the 3rd District Police Station in Washington, DC

Over the holidays I’ve had friend’s come and visit me. When they drive to Washington, DC, I always go to the police station to get my guests temporary parking permits. Two weeks ago I noticed this display on the opposite side of the station and decided to snap a couple photos. I don’t know who designed the display, but think the juxtaposition of the photographs on the map was interesting. What this map does lack, interestingly, is a little red dot that says you are here. The photograph and the map has no geovisual correlation because the map makes no reference to the location of the Third District Police Station. Is it possible that the layout was generic and the detail photograph was inserted for each of the different police departments? I have not been to any other stations, so I don’t know if the police in 2D are as lucky as 3D. I like the display, I just wish there was a better geographic connection embodied within it. I could add one. Maybe I should. A bonus would be the map of where Zone 1 and Zone 2 parking permits are allowed. I’ve asked officers present if they had one they could show me and they’ve never had one. This important boundary map helps ensure all citizens are given the appropriate Zone to park in. Thankfully I live in a permeable boundary that allows both Zones, but what if you live in an area that is one Zone only and you happen to get the wrong one and your guest gets a $100 ticket? Not fun.

|| 12/3/2009 || 2:50 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
15th Street on YouTube || North Meets South || A Game of Locational Awareness [part 2]

click image above to view

On August 5th, 2008 I made the first version of this mashup, East Meets West and with the newly created contraflow bicycle lane on 15th Street NWDC, I decided to make the second version, North Meets South.

The two videos were taken from one continuous video recording that I conducted while riding on my bicycle from U Street & 15th Street to Massachusetts Ave & 15th Street and back. At home I split the videos into North & South and used the crosswalks as the starting & ending points. The object of this video mashup is to find the exact time when the two recordings pass each other on opposite sides of the street.

A few notes:

+ MORE

|| 10/18/2009 || 10:48 am || + Render A Comment || ||
[POSTPONED] Westminster Playground Art Exhibition

Due to unfortunate weather conditions we’ve decided to postpone today’s art exhibition until next Spring. Thank you for your interest & we look forward to seeing you at our next exhibition!

Sincerely,
Chuck, George, and Nikolas

|| 10/15/2009 || 2:21 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
This Weekend: Westminster Playground Art Exhibition

Westminster Playground Art Exhibition

Sunday, October 18th, 2009, Noon until Sundown
913 Westminster Street NW, Washington, DC

You are invited to a special outdoor art exhibition at the Westminster Street playground. Neighborhood artists Chuck Baxter, George Smith-Shomari, and Nikolas Schiller, who all live on Westminster Street, will have their artwork display throughout the afternoon.

Crowned by the vibrantly-colored, 3 story mural titled “Community” by local artist Anne Marchand, the Westminster Playground is urban oasis that brings neighbors together and helps foster the mural’s namesake, community. The playground exhibition is free and open to everyone, is wheelchair accessible, and only two blocks from the U Street Metro station (10 Street exit). Since this exhibition is weather sensitive, please check Nikolas’s website, http://www.nikolasschiller.com/blog/ before noon o n October 18th if the weather looks bad. We hope to see you!

The Westminster Playground is located on the Northeast side of Westminster Street, a one block street between 9th & 10th and S & T Streets, NW, Washington, DC, 20001.

About The Artists:

Chuck Baxter creates found object art from materials tossed in DC’ s gutters and alleys. For the past decade Chuck has built a reputation, in his own mind, as the D.C. area’s foremost collector of gutter gifts. He’s a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs bureaucrat, a DC artist, and minimal director of his own life. Few of Chuck’s pieces hang in DC business and government offices, and in the homes of art collectors and friends around the world. “I have always felt the pull of throw-aways, and sought to invoke the world of junk as the natural medium for the urban artist.” His fascination with the flotsam of city life and the details of trash, such as broken glass, smashed plastic, crumpled paper, and lost toys, is the starting point for most of his pieces. The underlying compositional theme of his work draw from the common shapes and forms found in the gutter. Chuck currently resides in the Shaw where he simmers in his own private studio.

Member of MidCity Artists visit: http://www.MidCityArtists.com

George Smith-Shomari is an artist, professor and artistic consultant who’s artwork focuses on the Universal African Diaspora. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Professor Smith received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Howard University and his Master’s with a specialization in printmaking and art education from Pratt Institute. In addition to teaching at the University of the District of Columbia, George Smith has taught in the DC Public School System and several museums in New York City. The artistic works of George H. Smith, have appeared in numerous one man and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, schools, colleges and universities throughout the United States and abroad.

For more information visit: http://www.shomariarts.com

Nikolas Schiller is a digital artist who maps the territory between art & science. After studying geography & computer science at the George Washington University, in 2004 he began developing abstract geographic designs based on kaleidoscopic aerial photography and satellite imagery. In the years since, he has mapped nearly every major city in the United States, including each ward of Washington, DC. His unique maps have been featured on book covers, album covers, and are in the permanent map collections of the Library of Congress, British Library, New York Public Library, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the two-time recipient of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Young Artist Program Grant (2006 & 2008) and most recently had his artwork on display at Artomatic 2009 in Washington, DC and “Photocartopgrahies: the Tattered Fragments of the Map” in Los Angeles.

For more information visit: http://www.NikolasSchiller.com

We hope to see you!

(…and the weather is nice!)

|| 9/29/2009 || 4:48 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Timelapse YouTube Video of the Crowd at FiestaDC

On Sunday afternoon I filmed this timelapse video of the crowd of people at FiestaDC walking down Mount Pleasant Street in Northwest, Washington, DC. My good friend has an apartment right above the street which made for some awesome people watching (I think I called it “people watching caviar”). This elevated perspective allowed me to capture this unique footage of the festival participants. The audio in the video is from a separate recording of the same location played at normal speed. I did this to capture the sound of the festival without having to resort to some cheesy music playing over the timelapse video. As for the opening title sequence, I decided to play around with the fonts of the title for 15 frames each. I don’t really know why I did that except to add some random flair to the footage.

|| 9/27/2009 || 4:46 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||
Map of Westminster Street NW in Washington, DC from 1921

Last year I published Then & Now Birds-Eye Views of the Westminster Neighborhood in Washington, DC [1884 & 2005] and earlier today I came across some new maps of the street I’ve lived on for the last 5 years. This map comes from the 1921 edition of Baist’s real estate atlas of surveys of Washington, District of Columbia. It shows the neighborhood pretty much as it is today except for the neighborhood playground that currently sits where houses 193-196 used to be and some of the stables & garages people had constructed in their backyards have been removed.

Below is the citation from the Library of Congress entry:

+ MORE

|| 9/20/2009 || 10:55 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Alfa Omega Tax Services….. a Change in Your Finances

Following up yesterday’s entry about having my name in Greek, I came across this photo I took a couple weeks ago in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of Washington, DC. I took it because, well, umm, I like the way the sign looks chiseled, old, and how the creator used the Greek letter DELTA instead of ALPHA (err, Alfa) in their spelling. Thus the sign should read, Delta & Omega Tax Services— I guess they are not about the beginning and ending of fiscal matters, but the change thereof.

|| 9/10/2009 || 11:54 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Photos from the Metropolis Now! closing party at the Meridian International Center

Earlier this evening I had the opportunity to attend the Pink Line Project-sponsored closing party for the exhibition “Metropolis Now!” at the Meridian International Center. I was on hand to help my friend Robin setup for his special VJ set and had an overall great time.

+ MORE

|| 9/8/2009 || 2:01 am || + Render A Comment || ||
Banner at Amsterdam Falafel in Adams Morgan: “Care About Your Citizens / Healthcare For All, Now!”

I like it when business owners use their businesses to advance their beliefs. You don’t agree with the owner? You can just take your business elsewhere.

|| 8/31/2009 || 5:33 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
YouTube Video of an Arrest Last Night Outside of the 7-11 at 12th & U Street, NW, DC

Last night I had just finished playing movies at Restaurant Marvin and was heading home on my bicycle. I decided to get a snack before I arrived home and the only place open at that time was the nearby 7-11. As I arrived at the corner of 12th & U street, I saw the two men struggling on the ground, with one man in a headlock, and the 7-11 employee had just rushed back into the store. Right after I dismounted my bicycle, I could hear the police sirens approaching, so I pulled out my camera and began filming the moment they arrived. While I was recording, I was also trying to lock my bicycle to the pole, so there are a few times when I accidentally placed my finger over the microphone and/or the camera hits the pole itself. After I lock my bike up, and it looked as though the police had the area under control, I made my way inside and stopped recording. When I left the store I started recording again and made my way back over to where my bicycle was locked. This time I placed the camera on the ground below the pole while I unlocked my bicycle, and a few moments later I picked up the camera and rode home.

Being that I arrived at the scene after the two men had already begun struggling, I cannot remark on the nature of what happened before I got there. I’m am happy that no one was shot or killed and the police did not appear to use excessive force when detaining the man. I will update this entry if & when I find the police report.

|| 1/21/2009 || 4:30 pm || Comments Off || ||
Google FINALLY updates the imagery of Washington, DC and now you can kinda see the message on my rooftop

Screen grab from Google Maps showing my neighborhood

Back in July of 2007 I found that Google was censoring the imagery of downtown Washington, DC. This discovery lead to an article that was featured on the front page of the Metro section of the Washington Post. In the time since, Google has not updated the imagery, even after the release of Street View for Washington, DC.

The other day they finally decided to update the imagery of Washington, DC. I believe they did this because there were millions of people coming to Washington for the inauguration and they would have been showing them outdated imagery on their maps. Now that the imagery has been updated, you can almost see the message on my rooftop that I installed in the summer of 2006. Since the imagery has a somewhat low spatial resolution, its slightly difficult to make out the words “No War,” and it kinda looks like “No W@R.” Below is the photograph that appeared on the front page of the Style Section of the Washington Post in March of 2007 which shows me standing next to the now-visible rooftop sign.

“The mapmaker on his Washington roof with a message that he hopes will someday be reflected in both government aerial photography and the art he creates from that imagery.” (Photo by Michael Williamson — The Washington Post)

The Daily Render By

A Digital Scrapbook for the Past, Present, and Future.