When you move to a city that isn’t your hometown, you’re a guest. Even though I’ve lived in Washington, D.C. for twenty years now, I take the responsibilities of being a guest seriously: respect native Washingtonians, ask questions and listen, learn local history, and get to know all parts of the city.
When my daughter was born at George Washington University Hospital, I knew I wanted to show every corner of D.C. Shortly after her third birthday, the pandemic hit, shutting down the city (and world). Stuck at home juggling work and a toddler, I decided to teach her the alphabet by exploring every neighborhood once it was safe to go outside masked.
“A” is for Anacostia. “B” is for Brookland. “C” is for Carver Langston. Every evening, I’d learn the neighborhood’s history and distill it down in a way a three year old would understand. We’d then take the morning to walk every street finding objects that began with the letter of the day before returning to our house for her nap and, for me, a long workday via Zoom.
The result of walking every street in every neighborhood in D.C. is a guide to the city’s more than 136 neighborhoods. The kids version is the recently-published 111 Places for Kids in Washington, DC That You Must Not Miss. The book is a collection of my now-nine-year-old daughter’s favorite places in the city after exploring every neighborhood. Here’s a roundup of ten of our favorites, including some obscure choices that even longtime residents might not have heard of.
Giant Gumball Machine
The Riggs Hotel in Penn Quarter is more than a fancy hotel inside a historic bank once known as the “Bank of Presidents.” Near the original vault on the bottom floor is a giant gumball machine that holds between 70,000 and 75,000 gumballs. Quarters aren’t required. Take a token from a nearby bowl for free and grab an old fashioned gumball.
📍900 F Street NW
The Jokes Phone
Built by a substitute teacher at a local elementary school in Chevy Chase, this old pay phone is rewired to tell jokes. Pick up the handle and press “1” to hear a knock-knock joke. Press “4” for (clean) jokes for teenagers and adults.
📍3413 Northampton Street NW
Marvin Gaye Playground
Climb on guitars, saxophones, and musical notes at this playground in Ward 7’s East Corner honoring native Washingtonian and musician Marvin Gaye. The playground transforms into a splash pad in the summer. Nearby is sculptor Vinnie Bagwell’s What’s Going On depicting the famous musician who inspired other greats like Stevie Wonder.
📍15 61st Street NE
Go-Go Museum & Cafe
One of D.C.’s newest museums is a hyper local. Spread across two floors in Anacostia is a museum honoring go-go — the city’s official music. To learn about how the music genre was born in the same neighborhood as the museum, ask questions to digital versions of icons like “Big G” and “Sugar Bear.” Once ready, find the stage downstairs and belt out your own go-go song.
📍1920 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE
Tenleytown's bottle cap mural; Mission Muffins; and Marvin Gaye Playground. (Austin Graff)
Mission Muffins
Outside Central Union Mission, a longstanding nonprofit organization, is a weekday muffin trailer that’s on a mission. They bake yummy muffins like chocolate chip, cinnamon, and apple while also providing job training. Mission Muffins sits in an area once called Swampoodle, an old neighborhood with a long tradition of charity.
📍65 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Plastic Bottle Cap Mural
Down an alley in Tenleytown are murals made from plastic bottle caps. There’s a rainbow, a “Tree of Life,” a red, white, and blue one that reads “Vote,” and a portrait of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The murals’ goal is to help educate the city about plastics and recycling.
📍Alley in between 44th & 45th Streets NW
Puzzle Post
Little Free Libraries carry much more than books. Inside three Little Free Library stations in Hill East are dozens of jigsaw puzzles for the community to borrow, take, or replace. The idea came from its creator during the pandemic. To pass the time, she completed puzzle after puzzle. Wanting to spread the joy, she created Puzzle Post for all to enjoy.
📍1306 C Street SE
Space for Earth
Only astronauts and billionaires go to space, but everyone can experience a taste of the cosmos at Space for Earth inside the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarter’s West Lobby. Monday through Friday, step inside and enjoy a free seven-minute immersive experience of how real astronauts see the earth from space. Spoiler: You can dance with rain.
📍300 E Street SW
Catacombs of DC
Rome and Paris aren't the only cities with catacombs. Underneath the Franciscan Monastery in Brookland are catacombs worth visiting. Sign up for one of their regular tours to pass through dimly lit, narrow tunnels into small rooms with paintings on the walls.
📍1400 Quincy St NE
Unicorn Statues
The National Zoo is home to many animals, but the only unicorns in D.C. guard a townhouse complex near Rock Creek Park in Barnaby Woods. The road that wraps around the Chatsworth Townhomes is appropriately called Unicorn Lane. On either side of the entrance are two giant unicorn statues straight out of a fairytale.
Austin K. Graff is a writer and content creator covering D.C. neighborhoods and unique things to do in the city. He created the first-ever guide to all 131 DC neighborhoods, telling stories of hope throughout the community online.
Killer Queen is a 10-player arcade game designed to get you off of your phone and playing with strangers. In one D.C. bar, dedicated fans are trying to get new players hooked.
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