Cleveland Park Business Association ( CPBA ) Meets At Lavandou 2011/ Listens To Main Street Program / Solidifies Committees

We've been at this awhile. We've met many times already. We are quick becoming old pros at this and solidifying our business community base into an active, contributing, effective arm of our Cleveland Park neighborhood's business community. It's a lot of work. It's time-consuming. It's slow and at times seems fruitless / pointless. Why do it? Why continue? Why bother? Simple : because we believe in our diverse and lively and wonderful community : we believe in ourselves. We believe that working together like this that we can make a positive difference.

Our goal is to become the next " must-go / must-see/ must be-seen-at ! " Main Street. Why not?!? We've had lots of activities and special functions here over the years. That never changes. Cleveland Park - our neighborhood has been a destination spot forever it seems. Many politicians, writers, artists, movie stars, poets, architects, doctors, lawyers, boxing stars, owners of major sports franchises, historians, winemakers and wine owners, musicians, ballet stars, comedians, teen heart throbs, war veterans, food critics, chefs, wine enablers and educators, physical fitness experts, laundry experts, patisserie specialists, chocolate devotees, organic and bio dynamic aficionados, special cause advocates, volunteers, coffee impresarios, YOU NAME IT : their parents, children, other family members : WE HAVE IT ALL - have seen most of it all : HERE - our very own special SCENE TO BE SEEN , heard, appreciated, admired, studied, ... you get it, don't you?

Cleveland Park is a real bone fide original, authentic, special and magical slice of Washington D.C. life, of a Northwest D.C. neighborhood with the Uptown movie house, all the excellent local restaurants, a jewelry, special " wake-up " gifts, transcendental goodies, guitar and music store, excellent physical fitness spaces , yoga and more, gathering place for our pets' needs, great library and post office, laundry and key-making, notarizing and, tax and real estate specialists, pubs and billiard hangouts, wine specialty stores that " add to the equation, old-almost 100 years here-established pharmacies , bakeries and enchanted fountain and garden spaces with ancient grape arbors, too ... the list goes on and on and on. I know I have forgotten things. I am sorry for that. Please add anything in the comment section at the end of this blog.

Cleveland Park is history and the present and we are aware , too of the future : our future. What does it / will it hold? We want to make a difference. We want to contribute to this. We want to be relevant , to be heard. We want to continue to be the vibrant destination place that we have been and should still be.

This all simply requires constant vigilance and paying attention to/ working together with and combining resources and voices and concerns and needs to be an even better place - to offer even more than we already do.

We did finally as a community get the old MacDonald's space cleaned and repaired and rented to Tackle Box! Wow, that was a grand feat and we were here to foster and to witness this and it's really something. Go and support Tackle Box and keep them healthy and vibrant and constantly supplying us with the seafood that we love and crave. We owe the owners a big, heartfelt debt of gratitude. Bravo to them I say.

Here at this meeting at Lavandou restaurant ( mid 2011 ) many of us are gathered to listen to a representative, a fine lady speak about the national ( based here in Washington D.C. at the National Historic Preservation building off Massachusetts Avenue I believe ) Main Street program. We are using some of their basic guidelines in helping us do whatever we can to enhance and restore/ preserve our stretch of Connecticut Avenue Northwest. It was really quite interesting to listen to her speak and we all came away with many positive notes and possibilities to strive toward and perhaps incorporate. Lots of food for thought.

We also conducted our regular business as we worked to further solidify and grow our various committees. It's a constant attempt to stay focused, active and on track. It's time away already from our vary busy business schedules but we are willing to do it and to stay at it because it is already making a big difference in how we feel, what we know, strengthening our connections with Washington D.C. as well as with ourselves. It's well worth every ounce of energy and effort we expend.

That's me in the photo above with Florence the owner of Lavandou restaurant for the last twenty years now I believe? We are good friends. Funny, I have know her for almost twenty years and we took our daughter there when it was the smaller - original size and we ordered the calamari for her and called it " X's and O's " so that she would eat it and not leave it on her plate. It worked, too : she forgot that it was fish and actually loved it. She has liked going to Lavandou ever since then.

We have been meeting now for almost two years is it? We started small but we persevered. For many of those meetings we would gather at the old " 4 P's " Irish pub and restaurant across

the street from Lavandou. I have some excellent pictures of that to share here at some point. This is just the start of this as we all try and reach out even more to our community and to that of Washington D.C. and the larger metropolitan region around us that we serve. Everyone needs to know, everyone needs to hear, to be aware of what we are up to. We want to make ourselves relevant and a focus- re-focus. We know, you've heard about us, about our neighborhood, We want you to hear all over again. We want to brighten , tidy, focus, reaffirm and further flesh-out your impressions and desire to come and see again what we and all the fuss is about. We want you to be SEEN AT OUR SCENE!

And to think : I have written this whole blog and not even yet mentioned our marvelous National Zoo! We know that you all already know about that. That's marvelous! Really it's truly marvelous. We love our National Zoo, support our National Zoo and want it to always thrive and do well and prosper. WE want to prosper and do well and thrive right along with our National Zoo. WE are, after all one big team on all sides of the National Zoo.

You pass us by each and every time that you walk or drive to the zoo. You rush past in droves, in large and big groups. You are focused. You are driven : you have kids that only want to see the National Zoo. We understand all of this. However, and this is a big " however " : try and plan just a bit more time either at the start or at the end ( or both ) to visit some of our wonderful establishments. Give us a look or a gander , a quick stop to check this or that out, this or that service that we offer? We could all benefit from this? We can all work together on this. We have a lot to offer and we ask you : don't be so quick to not see any of this. Let us also be here for you as you and your family enjoys a visit to our great and wonderful and amazing National Zoo?!?

Anyway, come see us, come check us out, come again as if for the very first time. We'd love to welcome you, make you feel at home, at ease, and add to your lives just more of those special moments that we all need and want and cherish and , in fact deserve. We are here for you, here to stay, here for the long haul through thick-and-thin, good times, bad times. Cheers and thanks for everything and here's to many more still to come.

These are some of my views and impressions from this wonderful experience. I am a better person for it all and thanks the other members of the Cleveland Park Business Association for being a part of this whole group and experience. Salut, hasta luego, a presto, a bientot, until the next time we meet.

Stay-tuned for more. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

Lee Schipper, One Of My Favorite Customers @ Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits In Washington D.C. N.W. W / Family, Lew & David : Cheers!

This one's for you Lee. I am writing this now to you and to your family and my friend Lew and thanking you four for inviting me to this marvelous soiree of yours at your rented townhouse not far from Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits in the Cleveland Park neighborhood of Washington D.C. N.W. You were all kind enough to invite me though I had nothing to do with this event as it was partly a business gathering that was lively, relaxed, jovial and fun around all the work you all had to accomplish for the rest of the time that you were all gathered here in Washington D.C.

I supplied the wines for the event and brought my camera and of course other drinks were made by some of these guests which included excellent Mojitos and Caiparhinas, too. There was no lack of merriment and joy Lee. You and your wife and daughter know how to throw a first-flight party and this must have been one of your very best judging from all the talking and movement and animation. It was hard to move around your place as there were so many there. These pictures only reflect those that were left at the end. I think that perhaps more than half had already left?

It was fun to hear English spoken as well as so many other languages from around the world. It was a totally international crowd and it was fun to meet some of them.

You have been such a loyal customer over the years and that has meant a lot to me personally. It has been fun to have you over the years respond to my store emails from places around the world like Brazil and China and so many more. You would email that you were in such-and-such a place and what did I recommend? Either that or you would tell me what you had already had and ask me for my opinion?

It was really fun to talk with you about wine but about so many other things as well which included music and the fact that for years you had played classical music for one of the radio stations? What state was that in? I cannot remember? I did see many of your record albums there though when you showed me a small part of your wine cellar. David still had a lot of it - still does from what I heard a few days ago from your daughter when we bumped into each other unexpectedly at the Firehook Bakery just three store fronts down from Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits which was a regular meeting place for your wife and daughter, David and Lew, too. Wow, what an amazing period this all was of sharing stories and sipping and tasting wines together.

Some of the people at the parties even ventured to the store to check us out and buy whatever they might need or want. That was nice, too. I enjoyed these extra contacts in our store as well. Really stimulating.

Lew is an old family friend and it sure was a fun surprise when I / we realized that we all knew one another : Lew, David and you and me?!? What a small world that we still live in these days. Full of surprises and marvelous things to stimulate all of my overactive senses. I love it. Really I do and Lee I want to thanks you for having really enriched my life over the years. It was always a pleasure to talk with you. I never quite knew where our conversation might lead and I loved that about you.

I'm glad that I am pictured above with you Lee and Lew : this greatly pleases me. Too bad that David is not in this picture. I do not think he was able to make this particular party? He did make the next one and that was good to see him there with you all at another time. That second party was nice and I was glad to be included but it did not attain the magic and the same level for me that this one did where I truly felt included here even though I really had no official business to do so.

Sorry that the pictures are a bit fuzzy and a touch out of focus. It does add some atmosphere however? I do like that. They can always be touched up if anyone wants, right?

Anyway Lee, Lew and David ( and your wife and daughter Lee ) : I raise a glass to all of you symbolically now and toast to our friendship and all the times that our paths have crossed and all the positive energy that we have shared, glasses of wine, smiles, stories and here's to many more. Even though you have recently left us Lee way too soon I know that you will be right there along with the rest of us toasting and telling many anecdotes and fun tales. Cheers, your friend always, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

P.S. I have not identified people here in these photos. You know who you are : that's enough. It's really a bit of a personal tribute really even though these pictures include a whole lot of people.


I just added this because it shows one of the last things that Lee and I worked on together : You are missed Lee! Cheers,   TONY   Here Lee was responding as he often did to one of my store emails. Cheers,  TONY  Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 here in the store in Cleveland Park at 6:10PM on a warm, hot, a touch sticky, otherwise glorious day!  Enjoy ... I'll drink a toast to you tonight Lee, to you , your family, to Lew and David, too ...   TONY   I am also now adding Lee's last name - Schipper here. It's time : he's a great guy! Everyone should know and celebrate and see this.


     I will talk to Santos Lee and we will take care of you. How much beer do you think you will need? Cheers, look forward to seeing you, send Lew Fulton my regards when you chat with him next.  TONY

On Jan 4, 2011, at 5:12 PM, Lee Schipper wrote:

And guess what. I’m doing a small reception 22 January, and YOU will be the source of the booze (beer and wine). Do you have any Japanese DARK beer? (the Japanese are sponsoring the event, its at our apartment in Tilden Gardens)…

 

Lee Schipper, Ph.D.

Project Scientist, Global Metropolitan Studies, UC Berkeley

Senior Research Engineer, Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford Univ.

phone +1 510 642 6889

fax      +1 510 642 6061

cell for emergencies +1 202 262 7476

 

From: Cleveland Park Wines [mailto:sales@clevelandparkwine.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 2:08 PM
To: Lee Schipper
Subject: New Year 2011 / Brimming With Ideas / You All Are Inspiring To Us!

 

Jack

Cleveland Park Beer, Liquor & Wine Featuring a wide, international selection of fine wines, micro-brews and spirits

TIME TO CHARGE AHEAD AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE!      BEING THE NEW YEAR OF 2011 I HAVE DECIDED to make this an extraordinary year on all fronts, all levels and for everyone that I touch through working here at Cleveland Park Wines by harnessing all the energies, the creative impulses, the daring feats, the ideas and the aspirations and plans of those that work here and share them with us here to make this the very best place for us all to be and to meet and to work together mostly in bliss and in harmony as often as possible with as few interruptions and discords as humanly possible. That's one of my biggest New Year's resolutions and to make it possible to both envision and complete I will take it step-by-step and have many daily as well as by-the-minute goal completions as possible so as to neither get discouraged or dispirited.

Moving On / Onwards - Ahead - Getting On : Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Tues. Oct 25th, 2011

Walking my dog and thinking about the here and the now and my plans for my future? More time off to decide what I want to do with that time, that's what! More time do go off and complete my many planned and not fully-hatched projects, more time to do things with my wife, more time to simply " be " and revel and bask and glow in that " Tony-being-my-own-selfness "! That's what I want and am working for now. Simple. Get started. NOW.

I had a talk with my boss and clearly we are not on the same page about certain things and I spend too much time there and though I produce and am active and productive it's time to have more time to better focus and direct my time and my energies. Time to look out for my wife and I and our retirement in the sense of financial stability and that money that it takes. Simple.

I'm feeling good about all of this, simply must stay focused and not lose all of my energy on needless and stupid things. Must produce whatever it will be to gain all of this for me?

I have ideas : I'm going to start combining all of my efforts and include music. I'm going to draw the pieces together and draw attention to me and thus also draw the money to me/ us somehow. Can't wait! Am busting at the seams - bursting with enthusiasm for all of this.

When can I start!?! How about right NOW. Cheers, tell you more later.

Time's a wastin' and I have to get started.

NOW : with the rest of my life. Cheers, Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

I love Donna St. George's Washington Post Newspaper Article ( 10/18/2011, Style ) : " He Wants Kids In Class - Not In Court " / I Agree Wholeheartedly

I read this article entitled : " He wants kids in class - not in court " this morning written by Donna St George in today's Style front page of the Washington Post newspaper about judge Steve Deske. The preface reads : " Judge says juveniles with minor problems should face school discipline, not arrest ". I agree with this, too.

The article starts : " GREENVILLE , N.C. Steve Deske doesn't hold back. He's a Southern judge, with the boom and flair of a preacher, who has risen to national prominence arguing that too many students get arrested or kicked out of school for minor trouble ".

I agree again. Everyone should read this article : it's essential reading I believe for everyone and should not be missed. Go and buy a copy of the Washington Post newspaper. I will write more shortly. Cheers and bravo to both judge Steve Teske and to Donna St Clair for writing this. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

Finally a moment to finish this. It's now Wednesday one day later at 10:21AM. Here is more of the article :

" Zero tolerance is zero intelligence, " he likes to say. That's Steve Teske.

His plea for common sense follows two decades of increased police presence at schools across the country, including in the Washington region, and coincides with a growing concern nationally about campus arrests and suspensions.

Teske wants people to know that students regularly show up in courtroom who shouldn't be there. That a schoolyard fight or a moment of mouthing off at a teacher is no reason to pull out handcuffs. That African American and Hispanic students are sent to court in disproportionate numbers.

" Kids are wired to do stupid things , " he tells a North Carolina crowd here one fall day.

ANYWAY, Donna St. George continues to write and I believe that everyone should take time out of their busy days to read this. It's important to address this once and for all. Let the schools deal with a lot of this in school. Has it really gotten that bad that they cannot? Have kids gotten that much worse than when we were in school? Are people so afraid of being sued today that we can no longer individually or collectively do the right thing and keep things in perspective and always attempt to see the bigger picture?

SO I say BRAVO, bravo, bravo. It's time to rise above fear and law suits, being sued and see kids in the right light that need our help and for us to do the right thing and not just hall them all off in handcuffs to jail and to court and to prison as if they are all worse than hardened criminals.

Steve Jobs Passes Away Wednesday, Oct. 5th, 2011 / I Remember Gift From Son & Family Of I-Pod 6GB That's Loved/ Old That Son Downloaded 7-8 Hundred S

ongs I Love! Thanks Son / Family : I Treasure Listening To These Songs ...

That's how the headline should finish. Wow, what a great i-pod / journey this all has been. I am sorry to have heard late last night of Steve Job's passing away from his brave and courageous fight with pancreatic cancer for years.

Steve, yo have meant a whole lot for many years to my son and I will include some of these personal stories that tie me to my son and to you indirectly.

We would visit the Apple store in Tyson's Corner for many years. I would drive him. That was before he got his licence. It was my way to be able to spend some valuable and special time with my son and it always included a stop at the Apple store.

My son and family one year gave me an i-pod that when they gave me was already replaced by a newer and more flashy version. I did not care. It was a 6GB version in silver and white and I still have and love it and turn to it for an escape and a certain amount of solace and pleasure - guilty - frivolous - rollicking - loud and intense, emotional and spiritual : music that lifts and cradles and massages and pleases and teases my heart, soul, guts and brain and reaches to all the fibers-sinews-muscles and membranes and stretches of my already very elastic senses : ALL of them. Thanks family, son and Steve. My son downloaded 7-8 hundred of these songs for me : some his choices and many mine. I love it. I will love and cherish and listen to it till I die or until it dies on me : whichever comes first.

No, I cannot see color pictures of the great old album covers : but hey! I want to listen to the music, eyes closed and spirit and body and all that is me soaring to the music into the stratospheres of multiple realities. Wow, thanks Steve for all of this ...

I remember discussing the packaging of stylish, simple, sleek boxes that your products come in Steve. My son called this brilliant merchandising. He went into rhapsodies over this with big smiles, intense facial expressions and his whole body in movement championing you, your packaging and your forward thinking. Bravo to you and your team. You worked as a team and together you all have accomplished a legacy that will always live on. Thanks for all of that. More to come later, stay-tuned.

Thanks my family and my son for this treasure of the 6GB i-pod that I have here right now before me. TONY

Our Father Harry Alan Quinn, Retired Career Foreign Service Officer With The American Embassy Died 14 Years Ago On President's Day : Remebering Him

This was pretty emotional for me when my brother announced at lunch that our father had passed away fourteen years ago today on President's Day. It caught me off guard this bit of information and I must say that I paused and teared up inside away from the notice of my mother and younger brother.
It was a very emotional time for me fourteen years ago and the armor went up not down as I flew out to California, to San Leandro outside of San Fransisco to be exact to be a part of the last moments with my father's ashes and all those that were coming to pay their respects to him as a man, a friend, a family man and father and a business associate. I was both moved and touched by the warmth and the display of respect and the stories that were shared with us about him - many of which we had no idea about and yet which were so very welcome.
Our father was always rather quite a private man. It may have all started way back when he returned from doing his military service during World War II and his experience in France which must have deeply scarred him. He never spoke about it : no details just the names of a few of the places that he had been in France but never any details about his experience there in France.
I would have loved to have heard about them. I would have loved to have heard more about his life before I was born. Being the first son born in 1953 it would have been nice to have heard more about his experiences in California when he met our mother that is still alive and was at lunch with us earlier today in West Virginia, Martinsburg to be exact.
Mostly what returned earlier today at the mention of our father's death being today on President's Day was the last few years of conversations over the phone. He would call me here in northern Virginia as he went back to school at Berkeley and he would simply tell me about his wine discoveries there in California and ask me how I was as well as how was my family? I liked that, no judgment : just warmth and concern and interest in me , my life, food and wine and of course my family. We would talk ballet and art and culture, too. I liked that : little or no stress, just good building blocks to luxuriate in and grow from. Thanks Dad.
At lunch my brother gave me a copy of his book of poems that he's just published ( a copy for me and one for my son that he was thinking was going to join us for lunch ) called " AMASSUNU " : Poems by Eric Quinn & Ampersand Press 2010. As he writes : " Ammassunu " is an Ameridian word meaning " the sound of water ". Both the Amazon river and Amazonas State in Brazil take their names from it. My brother was born in Brazil. I look forward to reading these thirty or so odd poems and will include more about them soon.
It was great to see both my mother and my brother today and we all looked and felt great. It was a real treat. We spoke both of our other brother and of our father and it was a very enriching time for the three of us which is always the five of us as we have been a family of five for forever and each one of us carries the other four with them always.
Cheers to us all that are still alive and cheers to you Dad that is still alive in the four of us. I hope that this reaches others that you have known besides us and that you and your presence and example have influenced and touched over the nearly seventy years that you lived here on this earth with us. Take care, TONY