loni monroe: welcome to "metro focus. in thisepisode, we are back in virginia. we're gonna visit some places that are loved by localsin the community and you'll definitely want to take those out-of-town guests that cometo visit during the holiday season. we will hop on the silver line and visit the practicefacility for the d and d's beloved hockey team, the washington capitals, have some warmand delicious coffee and chai tea at an eclectic coffee shop in alexandria, visit a historiclandmark that served as a pharmacy in the late 1700s, and spend some time learning aboutthe arts at a local gallery. of course, we're gonna show you how metro can take you to allof these destinations, and we'll tell you the story behind the giant art installationat the spring hill metro station. so sit back,
get comfortable, and enjoy this "metro focus"ride. john bordner: i'm john bordner, and we'rehere at del ray artisans, anchoring the north end of mount vernon street. there's a veryunique culture here, a very art-centric culture in del ray. we get a lot of traffic just becauseof the vibrancy of this neighborhood and the artistic, eclectic feel of it. it makes ita real tourist destination in the local area, and we're basically a 501(c)(3) gallery wherewe try to be the incubator for new talent and also offer a place for experienced artiststo show their work. we have people that work in glass, ceramics, in oils and watercolors,sketches, you name it. we have all kinds of artists here.
what drew me to this place was just the vibrantnature of the people, just very open, fun-loving artists that want to be able to show theirwork. it's a small yearly fee to become a member, and you get to participate in allof the shows. we have coursework as well. dra, we have a new show every month, everymonth, and we have an opening, a show opening, the first friday of every month except two,december and july, and actually, we're really excited because next year is our 25th anniversary.that's 25 years in del ray that we've been here helping create what is del ray and bringup the art scene here, and we're marching right through to the 25th year and beyond. del ray artisans actually got their startfrom a group of locals that were walking their
dogs together, and they just shared theirlove of art and dogs, and they go, "you know what? we need to come up with a group thatsupports arts in the community and helps new people get into the art scene and be ableto express themselves," and they founded del ray artisans 25 years ago. people that come and visit oftentimes willtake advantage of the metro bus, and we have a stop on the number 10 line, which is feetoutside the door. you can exit the bus, and you don't even get wet if it's raining, justboom, right in. if it wasn't for metro, we would be just a local, tiny gallery that onlygets people from across the street or down the road a little bit. metro really opensup our viewership, our membership, to the
whole area, the whole d. c.-maryland-virginiametro area. and especially as congested as we're starting to get around here, peopleare more and more relying on that public transportation. everybody showing here are local artists,and we love supporting them, one, because they're your friends and neighbors, right?and it also helps promote the artistic community that we have here. some of these artists areprofessional artists. that's how they make their living, and it really gives you a greatsense of accomplishment when someone comes in and buys your artwork and hangs it in theirhome. loni monroe: i am sitting in the very chilly--excuseme if i'm shivering--kettler's capital iceplex with the director of marketing and events,danielle, and the front desk manager, colton.
thank you guys for having us. danielle mchugh: thanks for coming. colton callahan: yeah, definitely. it's apleasure. loni monroe: tell us all about the iceplex. danielle mchugh: we are actually located onthe top of the ballston common mall, which is actually going under construction, andit's gonna be all-new in 2018. colton callahan: the facility was built in2006 just to kind of create a new recreational area in the city. we're actually a two-rinkfacility. there's two sheets of ice so that there's plenty of, like, activities that peoplecan do year-round, the entire time.
danielle mchugh: we have public skating everysingle day, and it's open to all ages, which is great. young or old, you can come, getsome skates, get on the ice, and just enjoy some music, have fun with your friends. it'sgreat. colton callahan: $9 for an adult, $8 for achild, and if you need to rent skates, it's $5 extra. we've actually partnered with arlingtoncounty for a couple special sessions. on those sessions, they're called the arlington countysponsored dollar skate. it's just a dollar including your admission and rental. that'stuesday afternoons 2:00 to 3:30 right now. always check the schedule before you comein. and then the first friday of every month, that evening skate is also a dollar.
we're actually the practice facility for thewashington capitals. we have the caps practice here pretty much every morning. you can checktheir schedule, actually, on their own website. it's called capstoday.com. danielle mchugh: so they'll have after-practiceinterviews, and they do all of that here, and they have their locker rooms and all ofthat on their side, but it's really great 'cause their practices are free and open tothe public, so they can come in, watch in our bleachers, and it's pretty awesome. loni monroe: tell us a little bit about thespecial events that you guys host here. danielle mchugh: so we actually have a tonof different events. we've had anywhere from
bat mitzvahs to reunions to even a weddingthis past summer, and we do birthday parties every weekend, so you can either rent theice or rent one of our rooms for any event. it's up to you. just contact us, and we'lllet you know available dates. colton callahan: we have a lot of events comingup. we host a blood drive here about every three months just so that people can get donationsin. we're a great space for big events like that just because we have this open spaceup top here on the mezzanine, and then if people want to do something fun while they'rewaiting or have something else going on, we have our stores where they can go shoppingor even skate here on the ice. we also have a couple other events that are really funfor families. one that i really like is called
recess at the rink. it's specifically for,you know, the little tots, the little munchkins to go out there and really develop a lovefor skating. it's $12 for admission for an adult chaperone and for the kid and to renttheir skates, so it's a pretty good deal too. once they get out there, we throw out foampucks and mini nets so they can try their hand at hockey a little bit, some beanie babiesso they can practice skating around or picking stuff up. we just try to make it really funfor the kids, and it's a great session that i enjoy. danielle mchugh: so we run a 'learn to skate'series every seven weeks, so if you miss one session, it's okay. the next seven weeks,you can start from the beginning. we have
all ages starting from three years old allthe way to adults. loni monroe: and it's so nice that you guysare metro accessible. colton callahan: i love that we're metro accessible.i take the metro into work every day. i take the orange line usually, and, you know, theballston stop is literally two blocks north of us. it's, like, right there. it's justa quick walk from the metro, and then you're right here. i've taken some of the buses too.the 38b, i think, is the one that runs to farragut. they always run pretty on time,so it's really convenient for me. danielle mchugh: i love it 'cause i get togo to caps games. whenever i'm at work, i look at the clock, and i'm just like, "okay,now i can just walk over, head to the metro,
and then head to a game." it's awesome. colton callahan: the nice thing, though, isthat even if you're not taking the metro, it's still pretty easy to get here. we havetons of parking 'cause we're located on top of a parking garage, and it's actually prettyaffordable. it's only a dollar for your first three hours, or if you get here in the evenings,for, like, evening sessions, after 6:00 it's a dollar the whole night. loni monroe: colton, you have to tell ourviewers about your experience. one of your fondest memories here. colton callahan: this is one of my favoritestories to tell people just to kind of give
you an idea of what kind of rink it is. sothe capitals practice here, so you get to see them a lot, honestly, so one of them,i don't know if you know--his name's justin williams. loni monroe: mm-hmm. colton callahan: he came in one day, and hesigned his kid up for rhl, which is our rooftop hockey league. it's a hockey league that wehave for the kids here, goes all the way from, like, age 6 up to, like, age 14, and he'slike, "oh, and i work for the caps, so i get the discount, "and so i said without eventhinking about it--it was just, like, an automatic reflex--i was like, "could you show me proofof id, sir?" so he just responded. he was
like, "well, my name's on the jerseys in thestore over there," and i was--i was very apologetic, and that's when the penny dropped, and i waslike, "oh, i just asked a capital who they were." loni monroe: tell our viewers where to findyou guys, website, social media. give us all your information. how can we get in touchwith kettler's? colton callahan: yeah, if you guys have anyquestions or concerns, you can always reach us on the website, kettlercapitalsiceplex.com. danielle mchugh: and we're also on twitterand facebook and even instagram. loni monroe: oh.
danielle mchugh: yes. we are located at 627north glebe road, suite 800. we're just at the top of the mall. you can see us if youdrive by. colton callahan: there's, like, these bigbanners with the caps players on them so everyone knows that there's an ice rink here. danielle mchugh: right. colton callahan: the facility itself is openpretty much from 5:00 a. m. until whenever our adult league gets out, which is, like,midnight, 1:00, that kind of time. loni monroe: a full day? colton callahan: yeah, and then the frontdesk itself is staffed from 7:30 to 10:00,
so if you ever have any questions about programsor want to get in touch with someone, you can just call the desk at 571-224-0555, andanyone at the desk will be happy to help you. loni monroe: well, i look forward to comingback. don't be too much embarrassed about me when i bust something out there, but i'llhave fun. danielle mchugh: you can sign up for lessons. loni monroe: absolutely, absolutely. well,thank you guys so much for having us. colton callahan: of course. colton callahan: yeah. lauren cleason: hello. i'm lauren gleason.i'm the site manager of the stabler-leadbeater
apothecary museum. this was a real pharmacythat opened here in 1792 in alexandria, virginia, and it was run by the same family for 141years until they went bankrupt during the great depression. it closed down and was savedby locals and turned into a museum immediately. it's been a museum ever since, so everythingin this museum is original to this old pharmacy, the furnishings, even the ingredients insidethe bottles sitting on the shelves. this isn't a collection of objects taken from pharmaciesaround the country or even pharmacies around the state of virginia. it's this one specificfamily business that was here on this site. we even have the archives from the business,so their record books, their accounts, their prescription books, and we don't have everything,but we have most of it. our best piece is
a note from martha washington that she sentto mr. stabler, the owner of the pharmacy, asking for castor oil in 1802. we have so many original contents inside thebottles and inside the drawers and the tin cans as well. we also have a laboratory onthe second floor of the museum that has barely been touched since the pharmacy closed downin 1933, and it would have been employees only. visitors, customers would not have beencoming in this room, and this room is entirely original, just as it was when it closed in1933, and it was probably fairly old-fashioned by 1933. maybe it's looked like this since1850 or so. about 20% to 30% of all of the drawers, tin cans, jugs around this room havetheir original contents in them still, whatever
was left behind in 1933. people are awestruck when they come in thismuseum. the room that i'm currently standing in, the old retail shop of the pharmacy, isvery beautiful, but when visitors go upstairs to the laboratory, they frequently gasp asthey step into the room. i have done thousands of tours. i have a lot of volunteer tour guideswho give tours here at the museum. some are retired pharmacists. some are history buffswho like to volunteer here on the weekends, and when i don't have volunteers, then i givethe tours myself, so there have been many tours that i have led in this museum. we also do a lot of special programs for children,for girl scouts, and we do girl scout media
journeys. we do harry potter-themed birthdayparties, or we do magical-themed birthday parties. this museum has a lot of links toharry potter. when j. k. rowling wrote her harry potter books, she used historic medicineas the inspiration for potions and herbology, so there are about 30 ingredients in thismuseum that are mentioned as potions ingredients in harry potter, in the books, the movies,the video game, or j. k. rowling has mentioned them in interviews. dragon's blood is definitelythe most loved ingredient at the museum. the regular tour is a 30-minute-long tour,and we unfortunately can't let visitors touch too much in the museum since it's all original,but we try and give a few hands-on items. we have one of the original mortars and pestlesout that we always have some kind of spice
in it. we've got lavender in it today, andso visitors young and old are welcome to grind up the lavender, and it not only makes theroom smell nice but gives busy hands something to touch, and we always have a few other hands-onvials that are ingredients that are on the shelves in the historic bottles, and licoricesticks, which don't fit very well into a bottle, but myrrh sap, which you can open and touch,get an idea what dried sap is like, nutmeg. nutmeg was mostly used as a flavoring or tohelp counteract another ingredient in a drug that would induce nausea. we are on the king street metro station. thismuseum is just one building off of king street itself, so we get a lot of visitors that cometo the d. c. region, and they stay maybe in
d. c. or crystal city, often in alexandria,but they can take metro blue or yellow line to the king street metro station, and thenthere is a free trolley that goes from the metro station all the way down king streetup to the potomac river, and there's also a number of buses that go up and down kingstreet and throughout old town to get visitors to all the historic sites in alexandria. ifwe were not very easily accessible by metro, we would have much lower visitation. we getabout 15,000 visitors a year at this point, and it is certainly because we are so metroaccessible. if visitors had to drive here, a lot of visitors would not come 'cause peoplecome to d. c., and they're told by the guide books, "don't rent a car."
old town alexandria is delightful. there area lot of locals who live here, so this isn't just a tourist setting. there are regularswho walk by every day. the apothecary museum is guided tour only on most days. that meanstours begin on the 15s and 45s. they're half-hour-long tours, and they are $5 per person, $3 forchildren. the volunteer tour guides and i love to share stories about how it's so muchfun to give tours here because visitors are so impressed by the space, by how originalthis museum is. loni monroe: i am standing in the middle ofst. elmo's coffee pub with the general manager, willis nichols. thank you for having us. willis nichols: oh, absolutely. thank youfor coming.
loni monroe: it's such a treat to be herein the virginia community, obviously. tell us what made you choose virginia for st. elmo'scoffee pub. willis nichols: well, st. elmo's has beenhere for almost 20 years. loni monroe: wow. willis nichols: there's been growth. there'sbeen opportunities, lots of new businesses, and the area is fantastic because it's locatedclose to washington. it's close to maryland and obviously virginia. loni monroe: tell us a little bit more aboutst. elmo's coffee pub. what happens during the week? what's the community like? what'sthe feel here?
willis nichols: well, we start early in theday. we start 6:00 a. m. in the morning monday through friday, so we get commuters in rightat 6:00 a. m. we open the door; they're here 'cause they're people who have to catch themetro. they're people who are driving in or doing carpooling. they come here. they gettheir coffee. they may do a little work here first and then head off to the metro. thebus line is right outside our door, which is fantastic. during the week, we're busyfrom 6:00 to about 10:00, dies down a little bit. sometimes during the evening, we haveevening performances. we've done poetry readings here. we have a wonderful group, the not-so-modernjazz band, that's been playing here for 20 years.
loni monroe: wow. willis nichols: they're here at night. youcan come in and see seniors dancing, and now we have the kids coming in and dancing aswell too. we're known as the other living room, so you don't have to stay at home. loni monroe: right. willis nichols: you can come here. you canhang out. you can be comfortable. and this is your home. this is your second home. loni monroe: so you've mentioned, obviously,being metro accessible is very important for you. we have the metro bus 10 lines that runacross mt. vernon avenue. tell us what that
means for your customers and your employees,how important it is being metro accessible. willis nichols: well, for the customers, it'seasy for them to get here. for employees, when they're excited to be hired at st. elmo'sbut they're afraid of not getting here when we open, since we open so early, i tell themthe bus line's right outside, and the metro's 15 minutes away. loni monroe: so tell us what makes st. elmo'scoffee pub different than another coffee shop. obviously it's a smaller community, and ithas a much more closer feel to it, but tell us exactly what you think makes it different. willis nichols: we really care about whatwe do, and we try to do our best. i'm not
saying that others don't, but we focus onwhat we do and try to do what we do the best we can. we're carrying a new line of coffee,stumptown coffee, out of portland, oregon, which is one of the best coffees around. wehave baristas here who have gone through extensive training to give the absolute best cup ofcoffee. if you don't like coffee, we have chai tea. we've got a new line of teas, benjaminteas, out of austria that are amazing. we care about what we do, bottom line. loni monroe: what would you say is a customerfavorite? give me some of the top items that i have to try when i come to st. elmo's. willis nichols: all right, coffee is numberone.
loni monroe: okay. willis nichols: if you don't drink coffee,the chai tea is fantastic. loni monroe: and i had that. it was amazing.so i can definitely attest. willis nichols: it's rich. it's smooth. it'screamy. you're really gonna enjoy it. and you'll still get your caffeine buzz from that,not a crazy buzz, but a nice caffeine buzz. we're known for our muffins as well too. they'rea little on the big side, but they're absolutely delicious. and we've got bagels. we just starteddoing breakfast sandwiches too. there is a burrito with spinach and roasted red peppersand eggs, turkey sausage and cheddar cheese. oh, it's so good, so delicious.
loni monroe: it sounds good. what's in thefuture for st. elmo's? what can we expect? willis nichols: we're working on expandingour evening entertainment. we've added beer and wine, so we have seven taps going rightnow, and these are all from small craft breweries in the neighborhood, preferably, and we'relooking to really build our evening business 'cause we have a fantastic morning business,but now we want to get people to come here at night, relax, have a beer, see a nice show,and then go home and--without having to go too far, which is kind of nice, you know? loni monroe: right, right. willis nichols: a year ago, st. elmo's wasactually bought out by another company, so
we're now larger than we used to be. we'rea part of market to market, which is next door, which is a deli where you can get freshdeli sandwiches. now you can get fresh deli sandwiches here at st. elmo's as well. we'relike sister stores, so you can go back and forth. we got a fantastic selection of beerthere as well. you can come over here, have your beer, have your sandwich, all one-stopeating and drinking. loni monroe: nice. so tell our viewers howthey can get in touch with st. elmo's, where it's located. give us all the things we needto know to get here. willis nichols: now, we like to say that we'rein the heart of del ray. they can go on our website, which is stelmoscoffeepub.com. theycan get all the information on how to get
here. we have directions on there as well.we're right at the corner of mt. vernon avenue and east del ray. loni monroe: well, thank you again so muchfor having us. willis nichols: loni, it's been a pleasure.thank you. announcer: securing the homeland, protectingthe environment, educating a nation, every day metro riders take on the toughest problemson the planet. they come to the nation's capital driven by a sense of duty, a desire to makethings better, and a commitment to their cause. the entire world depends on them doing theirjobs, and at metro, we are well aware that they depend on us to do ours. we want ourriders to know that we recognize the hard
issues facing our system. we know that beforewe can regain their trust, we need to restore their service. we'll do that first by gettingback to good, then eventually returning metro to the world-class transit system it oncewas, and our promise to the region is that we will bring the same passion and commitmentto our job as our riders bring to theirs. barbara grygutis: my name is barbara grygutis.i live in tucson, arizona. i am an artist, and i work in the public realm. this pieceis called "eccentricity." in this particular instance, we have circles that kind of overlap,and that's what "eccentricity" is about, is our kind of lives running around and overlappingall these things that are going on. this piece is 40 feet tall. the building is36 feet tall. i definitely wanted to trump
the building. i thought that that was veryimportant for art to trump the building, and i want the work of art to stand on its ownand make its own statement. drawings that we did, computer renderings of this, and itlooks exactly like it looks, and so looks exactly the same, so it's been in my headfor a long time, so this is actually a thrilling moment for me to see it all come togetherfinally. the light flows through the piece. it's not a solid piece. the light comes throughthe piece. every view you have at a different time of a day, it looks a little bit different.there's more ray patterns, and then at night the piece is lit up and has changing coloredlights, and it looks different from every vantage point.wmata commissioned a few virginia poets, so
i had to incorporate that poetry. i hope that this tiny, little place next tothe station, when people get off the train, if they're, like, harried or really busy,maybe they'll take five seconds to stop here. we put some seating that fits into these eccentriccircles. it's for everybody. what i try to do as a public artist is give the built environmenta little bit of oomph, a little bit of extra twist. loni monroe: we are standing in the metroheadquarters in washington, d. c. i am joined today by a strategic planning advisor hereat metro, michael. thank you for having us. michael: thanks for having me.
loni monroe: today we're gonna talk all aboutthe new pass called selectpass, right, here in metro? michael: mm-hmm, yup. selectpass is a newpass program that we created as a way to give our customers something back. we know thatthere are a lot of challenges right now with our service and track work program, and sowe crafted a pass that will allow our customers to pay for 18 days' worth of their normalcommute trips and then travel the whole month for that one price. during a month, you generallyhave 20 to 23 workdays, so you can save up to, you know, 20% on a given month. we dida lot of research internally. we did some customer survey work and discovered that thepass would be desirable to customers even
who didn't actually travel every day. maybethey only traveled four days a week, but they still found it a desirable product. we thinkfor some customers it's a savings, and for other customers, it's more they don't haveto worry about whether they have enough value on their card or constantly rolling in another$5 at the fare machine or getting stuck at the fare gates. so it gives them the peaceof mind that is also of value to them, maybe even beyond the value of the trips they'retaking, so there's a saving of dollars, and there's also a saving of worry and anxietytoo. that's part of it. loni monroe: peace of mind, you can't buythat sometimes. michael: exactly. people are telling us thatthey don't have to worry anymore, that they're
saving money, that it's providing them optionsthat they didn't have before. loni monroe: how can you obtain a selectpass?what's the information how to get it? michael: sure, go online, and you choose theprice point that you're interested in, and that's generally the price point of your usualtrip. so let's say your usual trip is from union station to farragut north. it's actuallythe most popular trip in the system. loni monroe: that's such a short trip. michael: it is a short trip, but we have alot of customers coming in on commuter rail, and then they want to just go to farragutnorth, so that trip is--i think it's $2.15, so the base fare pass at $2.25 will accommodatethose trips. you go online. you choose the
fare that's best for you, and then at thecheckout, it loads it onto your card the next time you tap your card on the fare system,and you're good to go for the rest of the month. loni monroe: now, with the selectpass, isit a different pass? does it look different than my normal smartrip, or is it just likean add-on kind of like the smart benefits is? michael: sure, yeah, it's actually a virtualproduct. there's no physical product. you simply just buy it online, and it's a passthat's loaded onto your current smartrip card. in addition, there is a bus option. for $45,you can add unlimited bus to your pass. that
bus option is only currently available onmetrobus, so hopefully within the next six months or so, we'll be able to work with ourlocal bus providers, including montgomery county ride on, circulator, art in arlington,and actually have the bus add-on work on all of the regional bus operators, so that's anotherstep that we can take to provide even more value to our customers. loni monroe: well, thank you again, michael. michael: sure thing. thank you. loni monroe: welcome back. hope you enjoyedthe ride and learning more about fun and exciting things to do in virginia that, of course,are all metro accessible. i know you don't
want to go, but don't worry. we'll be back,and we'll be exploring more neighborhoods that make this wonderful place we call homeso great. till the next time we meet, take care.