Remembering the Circle

Very sad to hear that the historic art deco restaurant, The Circle, has been demolished. They had a beautiful mural of Hollywood stars above the bar, originally painted during the 1940s. It was Al Hirschfeld in style. The Circle was a beautiful venue for live music, and had a great history of mixing people from all different backgrounds. In the center of the circle, sat a baby grand piano, on a rotating platform. I have many fond memories of dining at the circle, with its menu offering a variety of food from fried chicken, to seafood, to soul food. How sad that it was demolished to make way for commercial development. Thank you Lily Monir Matini Esq and Jon Woodruff for sharing the news with me.

New Vigilant Gin & Tender is the Night

I am currently reading #TenderIsTheNight, a book by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I picked the book up at my favorite used bookstore, Capitol Hill books, a place that may oddly remind one of the wand shop in the Harry Potter movies. Reading this book coincides with watching my favorite movie, #MidnightInParis . It's a coincidence thatreading also coincides with the debut of the new Amazon mini series #ZTheBeginningOfEverything  Now six episodes into the miniseries, I am finding it difficult to read the book. F. Scott Fitzgerald is characterized in such a negative light, that it's now difficult to find the book enjoyable. I guess I've been ignorant all these years,  but these aspects of the Fitzgeralds life were never mentioned by my high school or college literature teachers. F. Scott Fitzgerald's alcoholism, particularly his gin drinking,  is featured throughout the series. It's hard to imagine that later in life, he tried to wean off of gin by drinking beer.  I have listened to a lot to talk about gin this week. On the subject of gin, The District of Columbia now has its own gin distributor.  We are now serving Vigilant Gin at Mr. Henry's. I am ashamed admit that I haven't tried it yet. I am not a big drinker, and I've stayed away from alcohol for the most part of winter... At some point I need to try it, since we often make suggestions to the customers at the pub. The gin has a good reputation, and an interesting backstory behind the family ownership of the brewing/distillery.

Z, The Beginning of Everything

So I started watching the miniseries, Z, The Beginning of Everything. It started off slow but it gets really interesting. It was hard to me to accept a suspension of disbelief, after having first watched #MidnightInParis,a film which does a better job of casting the part of F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Still now six episodes in, I find it riveting. The backdrops and film locations are as fascinating as the story. Having watched the scene where Zelda first arrives in New York City, I am still trying to guess the location in New York, when Zelda departs the train station. I am wondering if this is the old Penn station, the sign says 33rd St.