Local philanthropist David Rubenstein has agreed to split the cost of repairing the Washington Monument with the federal government, kicking in $7.5 million to patch up the iconic obelisk that was damaged in the August 23 earthquake. more ›

Good morning, Washington. Happy October, and happy new fiscal year. A noticeable drop in temperature this weekend reminds us it’s not too long before we’ll witness a noticeable shift in hues. Some may mourn the loss of warmer days but nearly all of us can look forward to approaching shades of autumn. What the new fiscal year will bring is far less certain. more ›

Here's some pretty wild footage -- the National Park Service has released three videos recorded inside the tip of the Washington Monument as a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the District on August 23. more ›

It remains unclear when the Washington Monument will reopen after several cracks were discovered in its stones after the August earthquake that shook the region. Carol Johnson, a spokesperson for the National Park Service, said assessment of the damage is not complete. more ›

Did Hurricane Irene wash away your memory of last week's earthquake? Well, the Earth is moving and shaking -- while Irene was doing her thing above ground over the weekend, five aftershocks were reported from underground in Virginia. more ›

UPDATE: Well, then: officials have updated their original assessment, and now state that the crack at the top of the Washington Monument is actually a little more than four feet long. more ›

During a press conference this afternoon, Mayor Vince Gray said that the District of Columbia was "not aware of any significant public safety issues" as a result of today's earthquake. So, no matter how many breathless media reports are circulating out there claiming that the Washington Monument might be tilting, just know, it's not. more ›

Over the weekend, we bemoaned the fact that a little chilly weather could cancel the Blossom Kite Festival. But not to fear! Organizers announced yesterday that the traditional wind-catching festivities have been rescheduled to Sunday, April 10, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on the grounds of Washington Monument. Think of it as a whimsical way to end the annual cherry blossom festivities. more ›

The elevator that goes to the top of the Washington Monument malfunctioned at about 1 p.m. this afternoon, with a number of tourists who had already reached the viewing area still inside the building. more ›

Courtesy an anonymous tipster more ›

Afraid you'll run out of time to show off our city's most prominent phallus to your out of town guests? The Washington Monument is making it easier by extending visiting hours for the rest of the summer. more ›

The verdict on the D.C. Zombie Lurch on Saturday was sadly a little underwhelming ... we estimate there were maybe only two dozen people participating in the mass "Thriller" dance, another two dozen who were dressed as zombies but didn't dance, and then a slightly larger group of pure spectators and/or friends of zombies who didn't dress up. Still, everyone was having a great time, and we got some fun shots of zombies with... more ›

FRIDAY: >> It's raining, and you've got some serious partying to do tomorrow night, so we'd recommend taking in a movie and saving your strength. Don't miss our movie picks for the weekend here, including special Halloween screenings of Nosferatu at the AFI Silver Theater. Also of note tonight, The American City Diner screens Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho at 8:30 p.m. >> If you’re more in the mood for getting your eardrums absolutely destroyed, Japanese metal... more ›

It's that time again, the best comments of the previous week. It was a bountiful week, with World Bank protests, Metro employees chowing down, and new dog park regulations Read on, and register if you haven't! ----- Everybody had something to say about D.C. switching to taxi meters. shawndc: I'm glad Fenty had the balls to stand up to the Taxi commission and move ahead with meters. Let's hope they can get it up and... more ›

Written by DCist contributor Benjamin Schuman-Stoler Last week in our “revisiting sites we’ve walked by a hundred times" series we presented the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This week, we’ll look at that huge phallus in the exact center of the original D.C. map -- the Washington Monument. Screaming nothing but glory and testament, it is the classic D.C. monument. But we know its background isn’t as simple as its geometric profile. The National Park Service commissioned... more ›

It’s hard to say if Tapatini’s owner Jordan Cappolla should be commended for bringing sleek style and superior sushi to a neighborhood where it was previously impossible to get a decent raw fish fix, or if he should get 80 lashes with a wet noodle for everything else on the menu at Jordan’s 8. more ›

FRIDAY: >> The city's free concert series follows MC Hammer with a rare appearance by salsa legend Willie Colon, 7-9 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson Center. >> President Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his book, Broken Government, which examines "the institutional damage he believes the Republican Party has inflicted on the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government during the Bush administration." 7 p.m. He'll also be... more ›

Oooh. We're suckers for shiny new takes on our nation's many marbled monuments. Relatively new contributor InnerDemon took this truly impressive shot of the Washington Monument with an infrared lens on his Nikon D40. more ›

Flickr user randomduck imagines the Washington Monument as a stake in the world's largest game of horseshoes. Besides who could possibly be playing this game (giants, God?), the other question of course is what would be on the other end of the pitch. The Capitol Dome, perhaps? Send your touched up photos of D.C. through the end of August to sommer (at) dcist.com. more ›

Hey, DCist, I like fireworks and celebrating the birth of our country. Where should I go, what should I do, help a sister out. -DCist reader Sarah The best (and entirely serious) tip we have for you is of course to avoid the National Mall like it's going to give you cancer. It's a sea of tourists and transit trauma every year down there, but this year it's shaping up to be even worse, with... more ›

Oooh! This photo is actually from January, but was just added to the DCist pool yesterday (I have to wonder if philliefan_99 waited until I was back doing Photo of the Day, knowing what a sucker I am for astrophotography). He stood at the base of the Washington Monument to take this shot of Comet McNaught, the brightest comet most of us have seen in our lifetimes. So bright, in fact, that it was able to shine through the smog and light pollution that usually obscures views from city centers (but which contributed to the gorgeous orange sky). It's almost amazing to note this was only a 1/4 second exposure. more ›

The first thing we noticed when City-State's first full-length, Monument, arrived is that it looked very professional. Often with local bands the CDs look (and usually are) homemade. There's nothing wrong with that, it's just something that stuck out as a good sign. The CD cover has a picture of Vladimir Tatlin's unbuilt sculpture "Monument to the Third International," one of those things that pops up in architecture books from time to time, superimposed over the Washington Monument in a night photo of D.C. more ›

Good morning, Washington. International politics watchers will no doubt spend their day today assigning meaning to the resignation of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They'll speculate about the future of the Labour party, and draw conclusions regarding the possible consequences to the war in Iraq. Here at DCist, we toil with no such weighty topics. Nay, we'll spend our day fantasizing about what it must be like to live in a country where a massively... more ›

There is a lot of great jazz coming up in the D.C. area throughout the next week, much of which is FREE, an important word here at DCist. Of course, the big news for jazz aficionados is the annual Big Band Jam, which began on April 20 and runs through April 29. We already told you about the service bands playing at Blues Alley, but there are many other shows to check out. Here are... more ›

No offense to Mary Steingesser, the artist who attempted to capture the spirit of the District of Columbia for our official 2007 "State Easter Egg" this year. It's a perfectly lovely rendering of the White House on an egg, we suppose. But we just wouldn't be us if we didn't take a moment to point out that a) Using the White House as the symbol for D.C. is so 2004 (2005's egg was the Washington... more ›

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