Cleveland Parker

Who needs the Metro? WMATA may be shutting down the Cleveland Park metro station this weekend, but the surrounding area has enough going on to keep us all busy without resorting to the Red Line.  Given the delays on the weekends even when the station is open, this may be a handy guide for some time to come.

Here’s our top ten recommendations for enjoying your Cleveland Park weekend staycation:

1.  Take your Sunday afternoon tea at  the Hillwood Estate. From 1 – 3:30 pm, visit the Hillwood cafe for teas, finger sandwiches, miniature pastries, and wine. Can’t make it for tea? On Saturdays, Hillwood’s cafe also offers lunch seatings from 11 am – 3:30 pm and the Estate is open for tours.

2. Hop on the H2 bus to Columbia Heights. Grab some barbecue and enjoy Sean Chyun & the Deceivers live on Saturday night at Acre 121. Sean Chyun “draws his influence from the likes of The Beatles, Tom Petty, David Gilmour, and Brian Wilson, while carving his own unique plot on the rock and roll landscape.”

3. Relax with “one of the finest concert organists of his generation” at the National Cathedral. For a $10 donation on Sunday night at 5:15 pm, guests to the National Cathedral can check out Scott Dettra’s organ performance.

4. Take in some art at the Stanford Art Gallery in Woodley. This art space, tucked in a Woodley Park gallery in the Stanford University building is featuring the exhibit Insight and Identity: Contemporary Artists and Gertrude Stein. After art, check out the newly opened District Kitchen.

5. See free theater at the Cleveland Park Library.  On Saturday at 2:00 pm, DC theater collective Field Trip Theater will perform a staged reading of Stopgap by Danielle Mohlman, a “play about same-sex marriage that wasn’t just about equality.”

6. Explore Connecticut Avenue. Been meaning to Check out the (highly underrated) Indian Ocean in Van Ness? Heard that the new sushi restaurant, Sushi Para, has been getting good reviews? Always walk by Fresh Med, but never tried the gyro [coupons here]?  Now’s the time to try to find the next hidden Cleveland Park gem.

7. Bike Cleveland Park. With no snow and sunny skies predicted for the weekend, hop on a Capital Bikeshare bike and cruse through Cleveland Park over to the Rock Creek Park trails.

8. Show some love  for Mount Pleasant. Hop off the H2 bus and grab a slice and a pint at Radius for $5. Then you can dance to modern latin rock at Marx Cafe with DJ Luis or chill with some jukebox tunes at the newly renovated dive bar, the Raven.

9. Expand your literary horizons. Listen to David Satter as he “examines the end of the USSR from a humanist perspective” and discusses his book It Was A Long Time Ago, And It Never Happened at Politics and Prose at 6 pm on Saturday. Finish the night off with pizza and ping pong at Comet next door. Politics and Prose is also hosting authors Elizabeth Dowling and Thomas Byrne Edsall this weekend.

10. Check out the Gin Joint.  Take a stroll down Connecticut Ave  (you can also take the L2) to the Gin Joint, the small bar below New Heights in Woodley Park.  The gin joint offers a vast selection of gins from across the globe.  In addition, they have premium and homemade tonics.  Try the gin tasting flight for only $15.