14th Street Finds

I love walking, geared with my ipod and my two feet; I walk all over the District. I recently ventured further than usual on 14th Street and I found some amazing finds that I’ve been missing.

Hemphill Gallery

This art gallery has been around since 1993 but it has recently moved to 1515 14th Street in Logan Circle. The gallery itself is impressive, you would never think of such a place on 14th Street. Even more impressive, is the Bob Johnson Presents Selections from The Barnett-Aden Collection- A Homecoming Celebration.

The Barnett-Aden Collection features collected work by artists who painted and sculptured pieces from their own lives as an African Americans living in America and dealing with what that means. It is a wonderful collection of the African American life by artists such as Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, and Archibald Motley.

Bob Johnson made an effort to preserve and maintain the collection and it is showing through March 7.

Please take time to stop by and check out the gallery, the pieces are lively, the artistic range is impressive and the struggle of being Black in America is still relevant.

Click here to learn more about the Gallery and hours.







ACKA Cocoa Bar D.C

It’s like a grown up candy store but much more. ACKA (Artfully Chocolate Kingsbury Confections) is a cocoa bar for those chocolate lovers. The concept is popular in cities such as New York, Paris and Madrid and now D.C.!

It’s like a classy Starbucks were coffee isn’t the focus but delectable hot cocoa drinks. This isn’t your average hot cocoa, where you take a Swiss Mix packet and add water, ACKA’s hot cocoa is made with fine chocolate and the drinks are named after divas and starlets. Such as The Lucy (named after Lucille Ball), which comes, infused with chipotle peppers and cinnamon. The Liz (Liz Taylor) is hot cocoa infused with lavender. The Joan (Joan Crawford) is mixed with a shot of espresso.

This quaint cocoa bar also features pastries from local bakeries, owner Eric Nelson’s artwork and novelty items such as chocolate voodoo dolls, chocolate scented candles and chocolate massage oil.

www.thecocoagallery.com





Universal Gear for Fly Boys

The window displays drew me into this men’s shop. Universal Gear is for the trendy, metrosexual man. It has a large section of designer jeans such as D&G, Diesel, and Ben Sherman. Universal Gear also features American Apparel, Scotch and Soda, and G-Star.

Ladies, if your man is just as fly as you, then you definitely should put him on to this store.

Located at 1525 14th Street.

www.universalgear.com