Faves and raves by
Gail Kern Paster
Director
Folger Shakespeare Library
PERSONAL STATS
AGE: 65
NUMBER OF YEARS IN D.C.: 40 this year!
NEIGHBORHOOD: I work on Capitol Hill and live in Northwest in Forest Hills.
1. FAVORITE NEIGHBORHOOD HANGOUT
I love Le Pain Quotidien on Seventh Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE for great decaf latte and a roast beef open-faced sandwich, and I love that they are all over the city, too. And I can stop at Eastern Market to pick up dinner provisions on my walk back to the Folger.
2. BEST MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
In this city of walkers and bikers, I confess with embarrassment that I am a driver, but one with great parking karma. I can almost always find a spot!
3. FAVORITE LOCAL SPORTS EVENT
The Nats in our seats on the first-base side. I have high hopes for a good season this year, with new pitchers, a new GM and a great new attitude. Go Nats!
4. BEST PLACE FOR LIVE MUSIC
The Folger Shakespeare Library, of course, where we have wonderful early-music concerts by the Folger Consort from October to June.
5. BEST PLACE FOR OUT-OF-TOWN VISITORS
I love taking my grandchildren to the Mall for rides on the carousel and a walk through the National Sculpture Garden.
6. BEST BREAKFAST SPOT
My own kitchen table, as I really don’t talk to anybody at breakfast if I don’t have to.
7. FAVORITE MUSEUM
What a hard choice. I have loved the East Building of the National Gallery ever since it was first built, and I love British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy’s rock domes on the first floor there. I love the Phillips Collection for its intimacy and its wonderful exhibitions.
8. MOST ROMANTIC SPOT
We love to celebrate birthdays at Obelisk, [2029 P St. NW] a favorite restaurant.
9. FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A LAZY SUNDAY
Walking through my neighborhood and into Rock Creek Park.
10. BEN’S CHILI BOWL, OLD EBBITT GRILL OR CAFE MILANO?
Give me the clam pizza at Comet Pizza at Connecticut and Nebraska [avenues NW] any day of the week.
11. BEST OUT-OF-TOWN RETREAT
Take me to the Eastern Shore.
12. BEST INSIDE-THE-BELTWAY RETREAT
Does my hairdresser’s salon — Celadon on F Street [Northwest] — count for a retreat?
13. BEST PLACE FOR LATE-NIGHT EATS
I’ve been grateful to Bistro Bis [15 E St. NW] for staying open late after Folger Theatre performances.
14. BEST BOOKSTORE
I feel incredibly lucky to have Politics and Prose [5015 Connecticut Ave. NW] just up the street from my house.
15. BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE WATCH
Any sidewalk cafe in the spring or fall at Dupont Circle
16. BEST LOCAL HIDDEN TREASURE
The Elizabethan Garden at the Folger — a quiet retreat with benches for reading a book, grabbing a sandwich
17. MOST “D.C.” MOMENT
It has to be waiting in my car — not very patiently — for the presidential motorcade to come by.
18. PROUDEST PART OF LIVING IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL
Two things come to mind: the beauty of our city, and its amazing transformation since the 1970s into a world capital with great diversity, cultural richness and sophisticated amenities.
19. EMBARRASSING PART OF LIVING IN D.C.
The traffic has to be it, especially in the spring during cherry blossom time. That is when out-of-town friends ask how we can live here!
