Bipeds of Brookland: Tom Kirlin

Tom Kirlin

Tom Kirlin moved to Brookland in 1979 and having grown up in the country “missed the Midwestern open space and wanted light on all four sides.” He found a house, built in 1907 on a half-acre lot with over 20 kinds of trees, being sold by the estate of a Howard University Doctor. He bought it completely furnished, including a harp and a baby grand piano, but on the first night he found the attic was filled with pans collecting water leaking from the roof. He fixed up the house and got to know Brookland playing basketball with the neighborhood kids.

 

Tom is a writer whose career has included teaching literature at the University in Wisconsin.

 

“I last taught ‘science fiction and fantasy as mythology’ though…

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Bipeds of Brookland: John Feeley

Bipeds of Brookland: John Feeley

John Feeley remembers playing in the woods as a child. “There were a few hobo camps that added a little excitement, that you might run into someone vaguely threatening. There was creek back there, where Providence Hospital’s parking lot is now.”

 

He moved into the  neighborhood when his parents bought a house in 1960. Later, when John began teaching in Philadelphia, his mother would send him job ads from the newspaper in DC. “When I called my mother to say I was taking a job in DC, she said, ‘Well, you can live in the family house. I took a job in Pittsburgh so your father and I are leaving.’ ” He lives in that same house today.

 

John taught in DC Public Schools and received training in Montessori…

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Bipeds of Brookland: Margaret Johnson
Margaret Johnson

Margaret Johnson learned of a tap dance program called  ‘Seniors on the Move’ and thought, “I would like to try it, because I always had two left feet. You had to be 65 or older before you joined, and it was stressless. The teacher is 91 years old.” She started practicing once a week a year ago. “Last Thanksgiving I had enough confidence to perform for my family.” She has performed with the group of seniors four times in Retirement homes and schools in Maryland.

 

Ms. Johnson was born in DC, but lived for a while in New Orleans with her husband who was a professor. They came back to DC when he took a job with the federal government. They bought a house in Brookland in 1969. She worked as a medical technician…

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Bipeds of Brookland: Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews

Chris Matthews studied undergraduate dietetics because “I liked to eat. I went into grad school in libraries because I like to read.” She and her husband, Ken, constructed a little free library, her love, in front of their house, in the shape of his love, a train car. “People leave books and I go to yard sales and used book sales.”  Chris recently retired as a librarian from Bread for the World, which does advocacy on food security and poverty issues, both internationally and in the United States. Part of her job was to help with research for their annual hunger report.

 

Chris and Ken moved to Brookland because it was affordable, near a Metro and a diverse neighborhood. “Back then, in ‘88, a lot of the…

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1204 Franklin ST NE DC
$669,000
Open House Sunday 1-4 PM

Virtual Tour
YouTube Video

1204 Franklin St NE Exterior Front

 

Brookland Elegance!  Stepping onto the welcoming front porch is only the beginning of grandeur.  Enter through the custom glass doorway into a charming foyer anchored by the finely crafted original wood stairs.  The Brazilian cherry hardwood floors throughout extend a sense of warmth throughout the home. Plenty of space to entertain with the large neighboring living room and dining room.  The elegance of the rooms are connected with crown molding.  The kitchen is complete with granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances and a walk in pantry.  The half bath on the first floor round out all your needs.  The grand stairs lead you to four large bedrooms and…

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Bipeds of Brookland: Bobby Caballero
Bobby Caballero

Bobby Caballero came with his family from Cuba to Los Angeles as a baby. He moved to DC to study at Howard University. Mr. Bobby is the Director of Student Support at  Elsie Whitlow Stokes Public Charter School in Brookland which “prepares 350 culturally diverse elementary school students in the District of Columbia to be leaders, scholars and responsible citizens who are committed to social justice.”

 

“Washington Post rated us as one of the most diverse schools in DC.”  Stokes has Spanish immersion and French immersion classes for Pre-K through 5th grade. “We have a partner school in Martinique and a partner school in Panama. They start with e-mail pals. They communicate and then get to meet eventually.”…

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Bipeds of Brookland: Alan Meyers
Alan Meyers

Alan Meyers met his wife, Allegra, in an improv class in New York City. When she got an internship at the Federal Government, he said, "I’ll move down. So I quit my job in NY and we both moved down here.” That was 11 years ago. They always thought they would move back to New York City where both of their families live in Manhattan. However, after renting apartments in DC and searching for houses for 11 months they bought a home in Brookland.  “We are transplanted New Yorkers that could not be happier and more delighted to be now hopefully permanent DC residents... We were looking every year to move back to NYC and then decided to live in Brookland. We found everything and more [here in DC rather than] moving back to NY…

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Live in the heart of Shaw!
1620 5th ST NW #B Washington DC.
$720,000
Open House Sunday 1-4 pm
Virtual Tour

1620 5th St NW B Exterior Front

Here is your opportunity to be in the heart of Shaw, in the center of the city. This newly renovated condo lives like a townhouse and  has four large bedrooms, two renovated bathrooms and occupies the top two floors with private entrance. Tons of natural light pour through the large windows on both level. Newly installed wood floors throughout connect the rooms and warm the space. Central AC and heat will keep you comfortable all year long. Cook to your hearts content in this brand new kitchen with granite counters and stainless steel appliances. Invite your friends over for massive dinner parties in the dining room that flows into the massive living…

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1216 Michigan Ave NE Washington DC. Beautiful Brookland: Live Here!

1216 Michigan Ave NE Washington DC painting

Virtual Tour

YouTube

What an amazing Brookland Bungalow! Feel right at home as you step onto the inviting front porch and enjoy city living. Enter into the living room welcoming you with lots of windows that flood the space with light. Wood floors throughout the house extend the warmth, while central air keeps you cool. Elegance abounds with picture frame wall moulding in the neighboring living room and dining room. The eat-in kitchen is updated with stainless steel appliances.  One of the two bedrooms on the main level connects to an enclosed porch that overlooks the large back yard; it’s the perfect place to start your morning. Upstairs greets you with window seating and…

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Bipeds of Brookland: Rick Edwards
Rick Edwards

Rick Edwards moved into Brookland in 1950 when he was four years old. His mother purchased a house in what was then a primarily white neighborhood.  Many houses at that time had racial covenants written into the contracts that Rick recalls, “Prohibited sale or rent to people of African blood or Jewish faith. Those racial covenants were binding until the Civil Rights era.  But you can still read them in many of the old deeds.” Rick says his mother had very light skin and “They didn’t know she was black until I came.  It was completely white when we moved in, the area I was aware of.  Many of the whites were antagonistic but many weren’t.  Murray and Paul had a delicatessen.  I remember parking my bicycle and going in…

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