There's always a crowd at this little triangle of concrete, squeezed between the confluence of 17th Street and Mount Pleasant street...Today there were some men eating chicken on a park bench, joking around with a toothless sort of bum. I had ten minutes to kill before work, so I sat down with my cup of coffee for people watching.
The toothless bum was cackling and shouting something incomprehensible, holding what I am pretty sure was a lit joint. The police just don't come around to parks like this...it seems they have ceded them as a sort of no-man's land, which means anything goes. A small crowd had gathered to watch the bum's antics..."Bom-baba-DOO!" he shouted at me with a laugh.
On my way home from work there have lately been games of football catch in the park, which means it is still a somewhat wholesome community gathering place. That's what I like about Mount Pleasant. It is like one big family...and even where there is crime, there seems to be a strong respect for family values.
4 stars...this is a DC treasure, as far as the crowd goes--strange, boisterous, yet harmless folks...but since there is no grass, minus one star. read more