Walking Washington, D.C.. Barbara J. Saffir
violated the city’s antidiscrimination law and the Supreme Court broadened “the power of cities and states to ban discrimination against women and minorities,” the Associated Press wrote at the time. “Until 1973, women guests were required to enter the club through a side door.”
Across the street is The Society of the Cincinnati’s museum and headquarters in a monumental mansion with arched gates and a semicircular portico. It was founded in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army and their French counterparts who served in the American Revolution. Member and diplomat Larz Anderson and his author wife, Isabel, built the 50-room villa with a tennis court and three-story carriage house as a winter home in 1904.
One door down at 21st Street NW is the Embassy of Indonesia, the regal mansion where the last private owner of the Hope Diamond lived. Socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean didn’t let the 45.52-carat blue beauty surrounded by 16 white diamonds gather dust in her jewelry box. Now it’s one of the hottest draws at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.
Turn left on 21st Street NW for The Phillips Collection on the left. More than 3,000 impressionist and modern works of art by Rothko, van Gogh, and other artists grace this private museum. It opened in 1921 and was expanded in 2006. The museum says its best-known artwork is Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party, a painting of friends sharing food and wine on a balcony overlooking the Seine River.
Hindu goddess Saraswati at the Embassy of Indonesia
GETTING INSIDE EMBASSY GATES
Even if you aren’t a VIP or your job isn’t listed in the Plum Book (of presidentially appointed positions), you can still find ways to venture inside some embassies. First, tap their websites. Some countries encourage visitors to subscribe to their mailing lists for movies, tango lessons, wine tastings, and other cultural events. Check out groups that offer entrée onto the embassies’ foreign soil, including alumni associations, work-related groups, The Embassy Series concerts, international clubs, and even online Meetups. D.C. also hosts two free embassy festivals each spring. Passport DC’s Around the World tour features more than 50 embassies. Cultural Tourism DC started it in 2008 because “it’s fun,” said Executive Director Steven Shulman. “Where else can you go in the world and capture the culture of different countries from different continents all in an afternoon?” The European Union began its Open House day for its 28 member states in 2007. It’s similar to the EU’s Europe Day open houses abroad to celebrate peace and unity. Before that, the main way ordinary Washingtonians could visit a slew of embassies was on the annual Goodwill embassy tour. The nonprofit began its famous fundraisers on April 26, 1958, and halted them for security reasons after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. For the most current diplomatic list of the 171 embassies on Embassy Row, the International Chancery Center, and elsewhere, visit the State Department’s website at state.gov/s/cpr/rls/dpl.
POINTS OF INTEREST
(Private) Embassy of the Russian Federation 2650 Wisconsin Ave. NW, 202-298-5700, russianembassy.org
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