The font, the name “spectrum”, the combination of rainbow against a monochrome backdrop, the inclusion of a prism—it all evokes an aesthetic gestalt that probably seemed pretty fashionable during its 1980s inception (concurrent with the album Glassworks, maybe?), then enjoyed a lingering viability as a signifier of all things highbrow and “arty”, all the way
Cleveland Park in Washington DC is, by almost all metrics, a superlatively walkable neighborhood. Just 2.5 miles northwest of the National Mall and DC’s vast downtown, the neighborhood features finely wrought detached, semi-detached, and multifamily housing, all surrounding a commercial node at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue NW and Ordway Avenue NW. It is one
Unlike most cities in the eastern half of the US, the major metros of the West routinely offer suburbs that exceed 100,000 people—sometimes double or triple that amount. (A few of the suburbs of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Houston, Dallas, and even Denver are bigger than the core cities of Cincinnati, Buffalo, St. Louis, or
It was inevitable…eventually. But it’s still a shame. The bold, celestial blue panels of the Kaufman’s Building in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia are coming down. They looked great as recently as December 2024, when I covered the building as an architectural novelty. Truth be told, it’s really more of a façade novelty, because the original
Most American cities, large and small, have experienced such a revitalization of their downtowns since the year 1990 that they’re basically unrecognizable. Districts formerly presented one carless corridor after another, with panoplies of edifices groaning from varying levels of neglect and decay. Most of them today have considerably more going on than they did 35
At this point in the winter, most property owners have either taken down all their Christmas decorations, or, at the very least, they downplay them by keeping the lights off or the inflatable blowers powered down. The liturgical among us can certainly make a case for retaining the Christmas spirit through the Feast of the
The designers of the Wilkes Street Tunnel surely didn’t expect that its novelty would someday elevate it into a tourist attraction. For over a century, it was functional infrastructure. But in 2025, what more could anyone call it? After all, it contributed to the economy of Alexandria, Virginia as a segment within an early railway,
I hate to title a blog article with superlatives, because they’re so often redolent of clickbait. Everyone knows an example: “the biggest box office flop”, “the most dangerous bridge”, “the ugliest dog”, “the heaviest married couple”. Guinness Breweries managed to build a spinoff empire out of its initial 1955 Book of Records, which according to
In some respects, it’s a tale of two streets. But since it’s actually one y-axis on the grid that comprises downtown Columbia, South Carolina, it’s not so much two main streets as an age-old distinction between north and south: two sides of Main Street. The north side of Main protrudes from one direction of the
It’s been less than a year since my article on the The Block, a small food hall in Annandale, Virginia (part of the affluent Fairfax County suburbs of Washington DC) generated a fair amount of buzz—at least by my blog’s modest standards. At that time I pointed out that The Block had bucked the trends
The font, the name “spectrum”, the combination of rainbow against a monochrome backdrop, the inclusion of a prism—it all evokes an aesthetic gestalt that probably seemed pretty fashionable during its 1980s inception (concurrent
Cleveland Park in Washington DC is, by almost all metrics, a superlatively walkable neighborhood. Just 2.5 miles northwest of the National Mall and DC’s vast downtown, the neighborhood features finely wrought detached, semi-detached,
Unlike most cities in the eastern half of the US, the major metros of the West routinely offer suburbs that exceed 100,000 people—sometimes double or triple that amount. (A few of the suburbs
It was inevitable…eventually. But it’s still a shame. The bold, celestial blue panels of the Kaufman’s Building in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia are coming down. They looked great as recently as December 2024,
Most American cities, large and small, have experienced such a revitalization of their downtowns since the year 1990 that they’re basically unrecognizable. Districts formerly presented one carless corridor after another, with panoplies of
At this point in the winter, most property owners have either taken down all their Christmas decorations, or, at the very least, they downplay them by keeping the lights off or the inflatable
The designers of the Wilkes Street Tunnel surely didn’t expect that its novelty would someday elevate it into a tourist attraction. For over a century, it was functional infrastructure. But in 2025, what
I hate to title a blog article with superlatives, because they’re so often redolent of clickbait. Everyone knows an example: “the biggest box office flop”, “the most dangerous bridge”, “the ugliest dog”, “the
In some respects, it’s a tale of two streets. But since it’s actually one y-axis on the grid that comprises downtown Columbia, South Carolina, it’s not so much two main streets as an
It’s been less than a year since my article on the The Block, a small food hall in Annandale, Virginia (part of the affluent Fairfax County suburbs of Washington DC) generated a fair