Straight Eights February Event: Museum Tour and Lunch
Before anyone starts rolling their eyes at the thought of a museum tour for an event, I’m here to remind you that our events can’t all be naked dancing boys and gun fights. (You know who you are!)
Join the Straight Eights for our February event as we take a tour of a spectacular exhibition: House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.
Our cars – we imagine them always in motion, but they spend most of their time at rest. We have all spent time in parking garages, but we rarely stop to think about what they have meant for our cities and ourselves. House of Cars: Innovation and the Parking Garage explores the unique relationship between parked cars and the built environment and encourages visitors to see these familiar structures in a whole new way.
The parking garage may have a reputation as an eyesore, but House of Cars challenges this notion using examples of well-designed garages that add a creative tapestry to our streetscapes. It concludes with the question, “What does the future hold for parking?” and invites visitors to think about new types of parking solutions.
Make plans to attend on Saturday, February 20, 2010. We are offering two docent-guided tours: one at 10:00 am, and one at 10:30 am. Docent-guided tours of the exhibitions run approximately 45 minutes, are limited to a maximum of 25 people each, and will explore various elements of the exhibition in-depth.
Following our tour, you’ll have an opportunity to visit the rest of the museum and see the other exhibits:
- Investigating Where We Live 2009 – featuring students’ insights and perspectives from the summer outreach program
- Cityscapes Revealed: Highlights from the Collection – highlighting the building materials, architectural styles, and construction practices that defined urban America from the end of the 19th through the first half of the 20th centuries
- Washington: Symbol and City – exploring how residents experience the city and how Washington itself expresses the tension between the demands of a working seat of government and the desire for a national symbol, and the hopes and needs of an evolving city
The National Building Museum is located at 401 F Street NW. Nearby metro stops include Judiciary Square (Red Line) at 4th & E Streets NW; Gallery Place-Chinatown (Green Line at 7th & G Streets NW).
Following our time at the museum, please join us for a deli lunch at the home of Straight Eights members Dan Murray and Chris Gonzales. Dan and Chris have graciously offered to host our lunch for us at 12:30 pm. Dan and Chris’s house is located at 607 Q Street NW. Their home is approximately 12 blocks from the museum (a nice brisk February walk!) and also two blocks from the Shaw-Howard University metro (Green Line) at 7th & R Streets NW.
Please RSVP by February 15 to miltonstern@comcast.net . When responding, please let us know:
- How many people are participating
- Which tour you’d like to take (10:00 am or 10:30 am – limit of 25 per each tour)
- If you are joining us for lunch
We look forward to seeing you there.
