Garden Tour: Just the Ticket to See Neighbors, Friends and Get Inspired
• May 10, 2012

The 84th Georgetown Garden Tour, held Saturday May 5, showed off eight gardens along with side and back yards of varying scale, cresting at the Allbrittons’ Bowie-Sevier House on Q Street. All eight home gardens were on the east side of town, as some observers noted, due to the O and P Streets reconstruction on the west side.

Anna Fuhrman’s P Street back garden, with its clever use of a small space, surprised and delighted visitors, while the mansion on Q Street is large enough to impress as well as include a garden entrance on P Street. Three homes adjacent to each other on 28th Street contain details to show off their own personalities: Boyden Gray’s old-school Georgetown feel; the Wests’ almost exclusive, energetic use of white flowers and plants; a Hugh Jacobsen addition to the Hodges house that leads to a soothing and cozy patio and garden. The Pillsburys’ sculptures from Bali complete a contemplative green space on O Street.

At Christ Church, the Georgetown Garden Club greeted those on the tour, sold items for gardeners, young and old, and had people lined up for its afternoon tea. As sponsor of the tour, the non-profit Georgetown Garden Club stated: “All proceeds from the tour are returned to Georgetown, to its parks, recreation facilities and green spaces and beautiful trees. We dedicate our efforts to a vibrant, clean environment that can be enjoyed by all who stroll the streets of our village.”

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Meeting at UDC Tonight on Wisconsin Avenue Work in Glover Park
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In response to concerns about the construction work in Glover Park along Wisconsin Avenue, Ward 3 council member Mary Cheh and Terry Bellamy, director of D.C.’s Department of Transportation, will meet with residents in Window’s Lounge at the University of the District of Columbia from 7 to 8:30 p.m., 4200 Connecticut Ave., N.W.

Among other upper northwest D.C. items to be discussed, DDOT will address the Glover Park construction on Wisconsin Avenue. The projects widens sidewalks, includes a median and turn lanes and a reduction in traffic lanes.

Residents and Georgetown’s advisory neighborhood commission contend that there is additional traffic on side streets because of Wisconsin Avenue back-ups and want a traffic study on the problem.

DDOT disagree and wrote: “The original Glover Park Transportation Study did basic modeling of future traffic conditions with the recommended improvements and did not identify any critical problems. For this reason we do not believe it necessary to halt the construction project for further study. As DDOT began construction on the Wisconsin Avenue Streetscape project, we have done some spot traffic and speed counts at Tunlaw and 37th Street. This will provide another data point in addition to the baseline data used in the planning study, and we will continue to monitor conditions both during and after construction.”

To improve information about schedules and other questions, DDOT created a website for the job: WisconsinAvenueProject.com.

Facebook Initiative Encourages Organ Donation
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Inspired by events such as last year’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which left countless Japanese citizens in need of unavailable medical attention, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is attempting to mobilize organ donator registration among company’s community of 900 odd million users.

Facebook is partnering with Donate Life America, a national umbrella organization for local groups working to increase the number of registered organ, eye and tissue donors, adding a new and human depth to the social network’s role in “keeping people connected.” In its announcement last Tuesday, the social networking behemoth said that it will allow its members to share their donor status with friends and family and to link to state databases where people in the United States can register online to officially become donors. And the results have already been staggering.

“It’s absolutely critical at this time when online communication and social media are really the way people are communicating,” said Julia Rivera, director of communications for the New York Organ Donor Network.

“This is great news,” agrees John Green, community relations director for the Gift of Life Donr Program, based in Philadelphia. “It has the potential to be one of the biggest campaigns to increase donor designation that we’ve ever seen.”

According to Donate Life America, Nearly 114,000 men, women and children are currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant, while thousands more are in need of tissue or corneal transplants to resume normal lives or restore sight. Meanwhile, less than 50% of adults in the US have signed up to be an organ donor through their state registry.

The hope is that Facebook’s initiative will bring out the conversation around organ donation and propel it into the realm of social media trends—a far and noble cry from your standard Facebook memes (God knows, I think we’ve all had enough of “FML” and “Texts from Last Night.”)

“We’re hoping people will be excited about the initiative and it will prompt them to take the next step and register to be a donor,” said Aisha Huertas Michel, who works with Donate Life America.

Sure enough, last Tuesday, the first day of the initiative, organ donation registries in 10 states reported as many new volunteer donors as they typically see in one month. According to Donate Life America’s stats, California alone witnessed a 700 percent increase over the number of new volunteers on a typical day.

By Tuesday evening, 100,000 people had declared themselves organ donors on their Facebook profiles, a critical step, physicians said, in speeding the organ donation process because it lets families know their relatives’ wishes.

Among those 100,000 users, 10,000 had linked through Facebook to sign up directly with their state organ donation registries.

Surgeons and transplant advocates have heralded the program, calling the initiative a “game changer.”

In an interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, Zuckerberg also cited his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan, who is studying to become a pediatrician, in inspiring the initiative. “Our dinner conversations are often about Facebook and kids, and the kids that she’s meeting,” he said. “She’ll see them getting sicker, then, all of a sudden, an organ becomes available, and she comes home and her face is all lit up because someone’s life is going to be better because of this.”

Dr. Jeffrey Punch, director of transplant surgery at the University of Michigan, was also complimentary of Facebook’s efforts, though not without emphasizing the severe need for organ donors in the real world, not just online. “This is a huge step forward,” he said. “But nothing is going to solve donation problem overnight.”

Weekend Roundup May 3,2012
• May 7, 2012

The Virginia Gold Cup Celebrates 87 Years

May 5th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | $85 for a car pass (up to 6 passengers) | Event Website

One of the nation’s largest steeplechase races where 50,000 people will gather to see the finest horses in the world compete over the lush green course. Features six hurdle and timber horse races, Jack Russel Terrier races, tent, tailgate and hat contects and 30 vender booths for shopping

Address

Great Meadow

5089 Old Tavern Road

The Plains, VA

African Wildlife Ambassadors: Cheetah Day

May 5th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | Free | zoonj@si.edu | Tel: 202-633-3455 | Event Website

Join the African Wildlife Ambassadors as they celebrate the fastest land animal on the planet—the cheetah—with a day of fun-filled, family-friendly activities. See special animal demos and keeper talks; touch and feel cheetah objects; get a temporary tattoo; take your picture with a life-size cheetah plush or cardboard cutout; learn how cheetahs communicate and leave a message for the cats on the Scent Tree; guess the weight of the animals at the Cheetah Conservation Station and win a prize.

Address

Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park,

3001 Connecticut Ave NW,

Washington DC, 20008

Meet Author Gregory Jordan

May 5th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | jwilliams@ipgbook.com | Tel: 312.337.0747

Meet author Gregory Jordan at a book signing that he will conduct at Politics and Prose for his new book: Willie Mays Aikens: Safe at Home.

About the book:
In 1980, Willie Mays Aikens became the first Major League Baseball player to hit two home runs in one game twice in a World Series and was tabbed by many as the “next Reggie Jackson.” But Aikens drove himself out of baseball and into one of the longest prison sentences ever given to a professional athlete.

Address

Politics and Prose

5015 Connecticut Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20016

Eileen Fisher Styling Event at The Phoenix

May 5th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | 202.338.4404 | Event Website

Enjoy a gift with your Eileen Fisher purchase & giveaways throughout the day! 10% of Eileen Fisher purchase of 4250 or more will be donated to Fair Chance.

Address

The Phoenix

1514 Wisconsin Ave. NW Georgetown

Washington DC 20007

The National Cinco de Mayo Festival

May 5th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Event Website

The Maru Montero Dance Company and LULAC are celebrating 20 years of hosting the festival with a free concert by Luis Enrique, health screenings, healthy food demonstrations with celebrity chefs and important health information

Address

Sylvan Theatre on the National Mall

Will on the Hill, 10th anniversary of Political Satire

May 7th, 2012 at 07:30 PM | $50 | WillontheHill@ShakespeareTheatre.org | Tel: (202) 547-3230

About the play: Director and his stage manager must coral a group of Washington luminaries into giving a benefit performance of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream in a short time and with an inexperienced cast .. but all turns out well in the end.

Address

Shakespeare Theatre Company

516 8th St SE

3 Lives at Their Height in the 1970s Tell Our Contemporary Story
• May 3, 2012

Deaths are like the things that happen in haunted houses, events when you hear of them that immediately bring back memories, stir up ironies and create flickering images or music that’s stayed in your head for decades.

At least that’s the case for three recent passings: Charles W. Colson, one of the more lively characters during the Watergate scandal, considered a deft dirty trickster who went on to jail and redemption as a born-again Christian; Jonathan Frid, the fine actor who couldn’t escape his role as vampire Barnabas Collins on the day-time soap opera, “Dark Shadows”; and Levon Helm, the heart and beat of The Band, arguably one of the best American rock bands ever.

CHARLES W. ‘CHUCK’ COLSON

Bob Woodward, who should know, once said the Nixon tapes were a gift that keep on giving. If the tapes are a gift, then Watergate itself was a kind of national curse that keeps rising out of the water like “Swamp Thing.” It remains one of those events–an event that ended in the only resignation of a sitting American president–that has so many dizzying side streets and layers that end up in fog-filled dead ends that it defies clarity. It’s a scandal that seems equal parts comedy and tragedy.

Colson — an owlish, stocky, genial sort was known as Nixon’s hatchet man, which may or may not be a fair judgement — had a lot more to him than the dirty tricks, although he did compile Nixon’s enemies list. He was also considered a sharp (and real) political strategist, who created Nixon’s image as a champion of the conservative working class. Colson died after a brain hemmorage at the age of 80 this month. By that time, in his mind and post-Watergate history, he was no longer Chuck Colson, hatchet man, but a born-again Christian and evangelical who had to some degree redeemed himself by founding a world prison fellowship ministry.

Press stories focused on both things, but always led with his participation in Watergate which led to his going to prison. In some ways, everyone touched by Watergate — from President Richard Nixon and Elliot Richardson to Gerald Ford — had Watergate as a lodestone in their obituary.

In the end, Watergate perhaps needs a Shakespeare. It has a Thomas Mallon, who in his very recent novel, “Watergate,” makes a fiction out of the men and women and events of the scandal, in such a way, that it becomes more real than the known facts.

Colson doesn’t figure strongly as a character in “Watergate,” but he gets talked about a lot by the characters who struggle to escape the aftershocks of every turn and twist of the scandal. Instead, Mallon, who has a gift for historical fiction — he wrote “Henry and Clara,” a moving imagining of the after-assassination life of the couple who sat in Lincoln’s box to see “Our American Cousin” — has create a fictional Watergate, one in which Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the reigning doyen of D.C. at the time and the daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, tosses acerbic barbs at the likes of Joseph Alsop, Richardson and other Georgetown residents of the time, and in which Rosemary Woods and Pat Nixon share vivid and sympathetic center stage with Nixon, Fred LaRue and E. Howard Hunt.

These Nixons, Hunts and La Rues have thoughts and memories, and conversations which are all invented and imagined and thoroughly authentic. The death of Colson makes you think of the book, which makes you think of the haunted house that is Watergate, minus one less resident.

JONATHAN FRID, 87

The death of Jonathan Frid at the age of 87 happened just as trailers and ads for the huge Tim Burton-Johnny Depp movie version of “Dark Shadows” are appearing in theaters and on television, an act of serendipity that is every bit as haunting as the cobwebbed professional life of Frid.

Frid was the resurrected vampire Barnabas, a chilling, if a little schtick-like vampire revived after a 200-year-hiatus, still mourning the death of a lost love as only vampires can. Frid became a star and a kind of cult figure with his portrayal of Barnabas, gaining a kind of Star Trek-like status and after-life at “Dark Shadows” conventions and the like. But he also never escaped the cape of Barnabas into a major television or movie career. Barnabas, for Frid, it turned out was indeed deathless, like Superman was for George Reeves.

His last role was, along with other “Dark Shadows” actors, a cameo in the new “Dark Shadows.”

LEVON HELM, 71

Levon Helm was a dynamo drummer, had bearded-skinny-hippie looks, and a gravelly, gritty voice which resonated with acoustic Americana feelings.

He was in The Band.

Long after the iconic and uber-American rock band dissolved, Helm was still playing, recording, singing, to great acclaim and honors and in some ways turned out to be the Band’s most productive and enduring member. Americana indeed: Helm was still winning Grammy Awards nearly to his dying days with “Dirt Farmer,” which won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Traditional Folk Album, and “Electric Dirt,” which won the first-ever Grammy for Best Americana Album in 2009.

The music from those albums seemed resonant of the legendary Band’s high-water mark successes, first as a backup group for Bob Dylan, and then on its own, a sheer icon of excellence, all between 1968 and 1976, eight years of glory.

The Band was: Garth Hudson, on organ, Robbie Robertson, guitar; Rick Danko, bass, Richard Manuel, piano and Levon Helm, drums.

They performed “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Weight.”

Their songs are ageless. So was Helm, one of the survivors. He kept right on playing, his voice turning into a rasp.

Weekend Roundup April 26, 2012
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The 9th Annual Georgetown French Market Friday & Saturday

April 27th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | FREE | Event Website

This Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 from 10am to 5pm, the 9th Annual Georgetown French Market will be held in the charming Book Hill neighborhood of Georgetown.

This year, La Maison Française will have its own booth ? located in the TD Bank lot on Wisconsin and Q St., NW (Saturday from 11am – 4pm) ? selling savory and sweet crêpes!

Address

Wisconsin Avenue, NW, between P Street and Reservoir Road

La Maison Française booth: TD Bank lot – 1611 Wisconsin Ave, NW Saturday, April 28 from 11am to 4pm

Christ Church Art Show and Sale

April 27th, 2012 at 05:00 PM | Event Website

The annual Christ Church, Georgetown, Art Show and Sale is coming up on April 27, 28, and 29 in Keith Hall. The opening reception is on Friday, April 27, from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The show and sale continues on Saturday, April 28, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., and on Sunday April 29, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Artists contribute at least 50% of all sales to Christ Church, and the proceeds are used to expand parish outreach.

Address

Christ Church Georgetown

31st and O Streets

“2012 REAL ESTATE ESSENTIALS SEMINAR” and OPEN HOUSE TOUR

April 28th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | Tel: Lynn Mirante at 240-632-6700.

Long & Foster® Real Estate, Inc. has announced that its Georgetown Sales office, located at 1680 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007, will play host to “The 2012 Real Estate Essentials Seminar” jointly sponsored by Prosperity Mortgage, Long & Foster Insurance and RGS Title.

On Saturday, April 28th, 2012, at 10am, the seminar will address how 2012 has the highest buyer affordability ratios since record keeping began in 1970. In addition, attendees will learn the specific criteria for being a smart homebuyer in 2012, such as: “What is happening with local home prices”, “Is my credit good enough to qualify?” and “What are the banks new credit requirements.”

The 2012 Real Estate Essentials Seminar is open to the public, however, space is limited and reservations are advised. Refreshments, door prizes, and self-guided house tours to begin immediately after the Seminar.

Address

Long & Foster® Real Estate, Inc. (Georgetown Sales office)

1680 Wisconsin Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20007

Georgetown House Tour

April 28th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | $45 | Tel: (202) 338-1796 | Event Website

-Featuring 8-12 of Georgetown’s most beautiful homes and their impressive gardens

-Homes are arranged for easy walking at your own pace taken in the order you prefer

-Tickets include a tour booklet full of useful information including a map of the houses which will make it possible to set your own route

Address

3240 O Street N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20007

Yoana Baraschi Trunk Show

April 28th, 2012 at 11:00 AM | everards1@aol.com | Tel: (202) 298-7464 | Event Website

Everard’s Clothing is hosting a private unveiling of the latest collection from Yoana Baraschi www.yoanabaraschi.com, designer of au courant pieces found in some of the most sophisticated closets. The featured Collection will be on display, alongside the boutique’s most celebrated pieces. RSVP directly from the link below to enjoy wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a very privileged experience. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Address

Everard’s Clothing

1802 Wisconsin Ave NW

Washington DC, 20007

Lab School Spring Fair

April 29th, 2012 at 11:00 AM

Join us this Sunday, April 29 from 11AM – 3PM (Rain or Shine) at the LAB SCHOOL SPRING FAIR – The Year of the Dragon. There’s something for everyone! The fair is sponsored by PALS, the Parents Association of the Lab School of Washington and proceeds benefit Lab.

FEATURE ATTRACTIONS include:

Fun Rides & Games – Laser Tag, Bungee Jumping, Rockwall Climb, Human Gyroscope and many more

Entertaining Performances – Live Music and Magician

Fantastic Vendors – Flowers, Books, Jewelry for Sale

Delicious Food

Student Art Show

Address

4759 Reservoir Road, NW

Washington, DC 20007

Tribute to James Brown and Dick Clark

April 29th, 2012 at 08:00 PM | $25.00 | Tel: 202 898 0899 | Event Website

A Tribute to James Brown and Dick Clark at “The New” Howard Theatre featuring live All Star Band, Mousey Thompson and The James Brown Experience. There will also be a screen of the acclaimed film “The Man, The Music, and The Message.”

Address

Howard Theatre Box Office

620 T ST NW

Washington, DC 20001

Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo to perform at National Gallery

April 29th, 2012 at 06:30 PM | FREE

For the first U.S. tour, Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo will be performing pieces by Mozart and Beethoven and visiting D.C. to help celebrate the 100th anniversary of Japan’s gift of cherry blossom trees to our city.

Address

National Gallery

4 Constitution Ave NW, DC

My Soul Look Back and Wonder: Life Stories from Women in Recovery

April 30th, 2012 at 07:30 PM | $25-$100 | jeff@theatrelab.org | Tel: 202-824-0449 | Event Website

The Theatre Lab presents the premiere of an inspiring original theatrical work developed and performed by participants from The Theatre Lab’s Life Stories at N Street Village, a drama program serving homeless women in substance abuse recovery. The performance, which includes music, poetry, and drama based on the women’s personal experiences, will be followed by a panel discussion featuring R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Address

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Terrace Theater,

2700 F Street, NW

Washington, DC 20566

Secret Service Scandal: Agents’ Fantasies Become a National Nightmare
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While U.S. Secret Service agents were throwing back whiskey and paying up to $200 for services from the women at Pley Club, a brothel in Cartagena, Colombia, they revealed their identity by bragging about being the ones who “protect Obama,” ABC News reported.

Each of the agents took a woman back to his room, according to Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), who is chairman of House Homeland Security Committee and member of the House Permanent Selection Committee on Intelligence. “A number [of the agents] are saying they did not consider them prostitutes,” King said.

The Americans were in Colombia to prepare for President Barack Obama’s April 13 visit to the Summit of the Americas, when they ventured down for some late-night entertainment. Up to 21 persons have been implicated since the investigation began last Thursday, after one of the women at the brothel complained about not getting paid. Eleven Secret Service members and as many as 10 U.S. military personnel are being questioned about potential involvement, according to military officials. The Secret Service revoked the top security clearances of its 11 agents and placed each of them on administrative leave due to the incident. Two government officials announced Monday that those involved range in experience from relatively new to nearly 20-year veterans.

“The president has confidence in [Secret Service] Director [Mark] Sullivan,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “The director acted swiftly in response to this incident and is overseeing an investigation.” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said she was told by the Secret Service that just as many women were involved. She questioned whether the incident could have endangered the president. While the department argues over the number of individuals involved, Senator Collins’s press secretary, Kevin Kelley, said the number is not the issue.

“It’s outrageous that the department is arguing about the number when, clearly, this incident never should have happened in the first place,” Kelley said. Collins said the most prominent issue was, and always is, the safety of our country. “Who were these women? Could they have been members of groups hostile to the United States? Could they have planted bugs, disabled weapons or in any other [ways] jeopardized security of the president or our country?” she asked.

After speaking to Sullivan, Collins questioned if there were any evidence of previous misconduct. She further asked, “Given the number of agents involved, does this indicate a problem with the culture of the Secret Service?” Sullivan has promised to provide updated reports to Collins, as he continues to investigate and “pursue appropriate action against the agents should the allegations prove true.”

Is This a Bit Too Much?
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The latest buzz circling around the Mall isn’t this week’s congressional goings-on, a new display at the National Gallery of Art, or a festival taking place on the green. It’s PETA’s newest, shockingly graphic promotional display titled “Glass Walls,” an initiative backed by Sir Paul McCartney to convince people to go vegetarian or vegan.

Situated across from the Museum of Natural History, the display will be in place through Sept. 3 and features 12 large panels that draw similarities between slavery, child labor and female oppression, and animal cruelty in its various forms. It also boasts a large-screen TV playing McCartney’s “Glass Walls” DVD, which gets its name from its tagline, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian.” The video shows some incredibly horrific and heart-wrenching scenes, enough to put a damper on any passerby’s day – I had to watch the whole thing through my fingers.

Needless to say, PETA is making a huge statement with this. While there are definitely some major flaws and inhumane practices going on in the meatpacking industry, is it necessary to slam the thousands of tourists and residents that cross the Mall daily with such grotesque images?

We asked our followers on Twitter if they though PETA’s display was a bit too much and so far have heard an almost unanimous answer: yes. Nikki Burdine said the display is “a bit disturbing,” and Margarita Noriega responded with a definitive “Yes. A bit too much.” Kayleigh Irby, an intern at the Georgetowner and a vegetarian, responded to the tweet with “Ugh PETA is THE WORST.”

However, I dare say that this is exactly what PETA is going for and from their standpoint, the venture could be labeled a huge success. The longer the display stays up, the more it affects, disturbs and inflames people’s opinions. Positive or negative, any response is, in the end, better than none, right? According to the PETA website, 10,000 copies of the “Glass Walls” DVD were distributed in the first month of the venture alone. The site also tells stories of people who saw the display and vowed never to eat meat again. Couldn’t that be called effective?

One commenter named Carla posted on the PETA saying “Awesome Peta!! Way to go!! If you can change a few minds, it’s all worth it!!”

Please keep in mind that the video below is graphic.

But what do you think? Post your comment below and become part of the buzz.

Screen on the Green Returns
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A D.C. summer favorite, Screen on the Green, returns to the National Mall tonight with “In the Heat of the Night.” Screen on the Green gives families the chance to curl up on the grass and enjoy an outdoor evening together. And it’s totally free.

Sponsor HBO had considered cutting the event a few years ago, but the D.C. Film Alliance rallied with such community support and Facebook feedback that Screen on the Green is back with gusto.

This season’s movie lineup consists of four Hollywood Classics. Films begin every Monday night at dusk. Crowds begin to arrive around 5:30 p.m., so claim a spot early. No rain dates have been scheduled; Screen on the Green is taking a cue from Hollywood and “the show must go on” even if extreme weather occurs.

The location has changed this year, but only slightly. Still on the National Mall, the movies will be seen between 8th and 14th streets, not 4th and 7th as in previous years. However, the docket and atmosphere of the evenings should remain the same.

So grab a blanket and fill up your cooler for an evening of family fun. If you bring chairs be sure they are the low-sitting or camping style. You may be asked to collapse regular lawn chairs, so others can see behind you.

2011 Screen on the Green Line-up:

July 25 – In the Heat of the Night
August 1 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
August 8 – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
August 15 – Cool Hand Luke

Scientist Couple Ryuji Ueno and Sachiko Kuno Are New Owners of Evermay
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Ryuji Ueno and his wife, Sachiko Kuno, founders of Bethesda-based Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and S&R Technology Holdings, have purchased Evermay, for $22 million, 55 percent off its 2008 asking price of $49 million. The purchase price of the historic 3.5-acre estate on 28th Street, which borders Oak Hill Cemetery at R Street, is a record sale for D.C.

The names of the new Evermay owners were first reported in the Wall Street Journal on July 22 in its “Private Properties” section. The buyers’ representative Mark McFadden of Washington Fine Properties spoke with the Georgetowner and confirmed that, indeed, Ueno and Kuno are the new owners of the 12,000-square-foot house and grounds, adding that they will continue the preservation of the estate, founded by Samuel Davidson in 1792 and sold by the Belin family two weeks ago, through a limited-liability company, Evermay LLC. The listing agent was Jeanne Livingston of Long and Foster, a Christie’s International Real Estate affiliate, whose other big sale was Katharine Graham’s estate on R Street. Livingston said the new owners would be “good stewards” of Evermay, a property which was once rumored to have caught the interest of Oprah Winfrey.

While the Japanese-born drug researchers Ueno and Kuno – who own a house on P Street – are not well known to most Washingtonians, they are known in philanthropic circles, such as the Washington Opera and the Smithsonian. The couple founded the S&R Foundation in 2000, a non-profit whose mission is to encourage and stimulate scientific research and artistic endeavors among young individuals – and “to recognize talented young scientists and artists for their distinguished work in fields of science and fine arts, especially those who contribute to U.S.-Japanese understanding.” Their foundation awards the S&R Washington Award and the S&R Ueno Award.

Ueno and Kuno’s Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company on Wisconsin Avenue in Bethesda, focuses on the development and commercialization of medicines based on prostones. Ueno, who is also a medical doctor, discovered “the therapeutic potential of prostones, which are bio-lipids that occur naturally in the human body.” The company markets the drug Amitiza for gastrointestinal disorders. One of the couple’s first successes was Rescula eye drops, the first bioactive lipid used to treat glaucoma.

Together, the accomplished couple holds several degrees from universities in Japan and the U.S. and have other interests as well. A Class A race car driver, Ueno is a member of the Leica Historical Society of America, Ferrari Club of America and Miles River Yacht Club. Involved in fundraising for the Washington Opera, Kuno was also cited by the Washington Business Journal two years ago in its list, “Women Who Mean Business.” She even studied in the neighborhood at Georgetown University’s International Business Management Certificate Program. Add to their resumes: “Keepers of Evermay.”
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