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I'm Margaux Granat. So, the first question I have is, could you just talk about your relationship to Adams, Morgan? Sure. So I used to be a resident of Adams Morgan. I moved to Adams Morgan in 2018, I think, and actually just left last winter. Actually, no, not even six months ago. And we lived over near the original apartment building that had like established Adams Morgan space, which, it wasn't Adams Morgan then but Ontario, on Ontario Street, and so my involvement with Adams Morgan then grew because I was in the neighborhood and really wanted to be involved with community activities. And so I got involved with the Adams Morgan day as like a regular volunteer and then last year led the history and cultural events. And now I'm on the board for Morgan day and just absolutely love it. I mean had been in Columbia Heights before and moved to this neighborhood because It was really vibrant and diverse and I really liked that and it's obviously like, just a Mecca of cultural events and Affairs in the city, but also affordable, you know, which is increasingly hard to find in this city. But also why we moved out of this part of the neighborhood. I was going to ask, yeah, what led you to move.

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Well, this is like a long story but we bought a house is the short story of it, but we lived in an old row home and it had been divided up and each floor was like apartment unit, is was this grand, gorgeous old house and next door, all of a sudden, we realize had the exact same house, but it hadn't been divided and that house actually went on the market. And so we went in to look at the house. We did not end up buying that house because it was not affordable and very ridiculously priced in my opinion, but then I don't know. We had done too much and we were down the road, so he comes looking for us. And so we live in Petworth now. So not far. So we are still coming back all the time. I was going to say it sounds like you're really involved. Exactly. So I guess, has there been a particular space or place that you found really special or meaningful while you lived here?

00:02:16.200 - 00:04:49.020

You know, I actually really loved the access to Rock Creek Park when I was in Adams Morgan, which is not something that is often thought of I think as Adams Morgan, but from our house, it was literally a 5-minute walk down to the back side, where the zoo, you can get on the trails to Rock Creek Park. And just a plethora of trails and access to be in nature and feel completely surrounded by woods, which is such a, you know, different from being on 18th Street where bustling. So within, you know, seven minutes of that house. Either way, we could be in just like totally different worlds, which is also why I absolutely loved it. And that, also DC being a city that has a park like Rock Creek, unlike any other city I think is really great. 18th Street, obviously was really fun and actually really was drawn to it as an older person during the week days like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, really, really amazing. I actually loved the stand-up comedy that was done. I'm not going to remember the name of it, but I think it's like right down Belmont on 18th Street. Just DC comedians, come in every like Monday and it was really great. For some reason there were a lot of government shutdown days that I remember at that bar, where we would go, but that was pretty fun. And then when I got involved with the history and cultural events last year, it was just kind of amazing to learn about everything that had been represented in this like community and how it had actually come to be. And there's so much history in this neighborhood in particular, which may exist in other DC neighborhoods too. I don't know as much about them obviously. But yeah, it's just a very special neighborhood, I feel like. And I guess like thinking about the exhibit, have you noticed any of those places transform or change since you've been here? Well so, because, I hadn't actually been in Adams Morgan that long. I mean also seen plenty of change where like something—where the 18th Street runs across the bridge but the coffee shop right there. All of that, those restaurants that came in— Tail Up Goat. They are very new very much more fancy restaurants and now apartment buildings and all that had changed while we were living there basically. And a lot of even just turn over in the different restaurants that exist on Columbia. 18th Street has also seen a lot obviously, the pandemic has changed a lot of things as well, but wasn't as like actually physically present for those different changes.

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But the photos also having worked with Nancy last year for them. We kind of like started to come up with this idea because she had some of the old photos especially the Green Room one that like we were just I was like amazed to see that she actually had these older photos and that the Green Room, what it had actually been and how important it had been for the community and now that it's on 18th Street and that it was like, you know, a rallying cry for like activism and stuff. And then the Ontario theater, I think is one of the big ones, but also where the plaza is now won't be a plaza apparently, for very much longer, but that used to be a theatre that like burned down but this is like 100 years ago, but that just how changed that one's been with also trying to become the gas station and they fought that, but yeah, the changes I guess I've kind of seen. There's also a lot of issues because I get emails from the Adams Morgan listserv which are quite contentious often about the biking, and with cars, and it's a really fascinating, I think crisis as this city grapples with the— Could you expand on that? With the crisis? Well, just yeah because I think where people want to have, there's butting heads between more bike access and car access, and public transportation and like space for everybody. But I think it is often unrecognized by people that are responsible, largely for gentrification, that a lot of people who have less means actually use cars a lot more and don't use, don't rely on public transportation and bikes because they actually need to go farther and they often do multiple stops in one trip and so being on public transportation or being on a bike or if you're trying to cart around a couple of kids or family members or whatever. It's a much less easy to do that and that there's been such a like conflict between, "Oh, of course, the city needs public transportation and it needs, you know, green infrastructure and all of that component," but how at what cost to the citizens that have been here and living and that it often seems like this is the best route. I also work on sustainability. So it's something that I've had to grapple with myself and just like realizing who needs access to what. And I think Adams Morgan has very good intentions. Why people that are coming in but also the changes that need to be like representative for everyone that still lives in this community as it is still a very diverse community and it because it's so close to so much downtown. But also access to, you know, it's relatively easy to get out of the city because of the access to Rock Creek Park that it's still a community that holds a lot of different people who work on different things and work in the city and out of the city. And yeah, it's an interesting thing.

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That's so interesting to think about like contested space and place. I think a lot of people think about buildings being built, but even just something like bikes and cars like that's space too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean and that's like the argument that if they build bike lanes that they would take away parking spots and also then compounded with the pandemic this year where the open streets and that was like, well, do we need to have these parking spaces anymore, you know, most people who walk or bike are like, "Oh, this is so lovely," but for the people that actually are driving into work or the delivery folks, or people that are trying to stop and pick up dinner on their way home, What complications is that that create for everyone, so, It's it's a it's a good thing for other folks, for everyone to realize. That people have just different needs and priorities. And for me also, like considering the gender differentiation issues within that as well particularly around transportation. But yeah. Well, thank you so much, is there anything else you'd like to say about the festival, your involvement in that. Well, I'm just I'm really glad to see that it's happening in person. Last year was kind of a strange hybrid and this year is also a hybrid. There are, you know, panels that are like happening online, which is great. But I think you know, we're all just so thirsty for anything to do and being back in a community and it's just there's so much. There's so many people out right now, which is really amazing. And I also think coupled with what's happening with the plaza is really important. It was good to hear a few people remark behind me that they were, you know, realizing the signs that are posted that anybody and any possessions will be kicked out at 12 p.m. on September 22nd, and that is a fast approaching date and that issue has been going on for years and Adams Morgan has like, you know, had this community activism space. Like I feel like it's the leading neighborhood for this like having established, the AMCs and stuff. And so—or, the neighborhood commissions. Yeah, and that, unfortunately, you know, there's probably not going to be a lot to be done for it, but I think people just need to be more engaged in their communities. And so, this is something that hopefully, with more history and cultural affairs, I think and I hope like alerts more people to what needs to be done. Perhaps. It is very important because history repeats itself, unfortunately. Yeah, with a lot more issues.