The Washington Open is the only professional tennis tournament in the nation’s capital. It takes place every summer at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park, a venue chosen at the urging of Arthur Ashe, an early supporter of the event.
As one of the key lead-up tournaments to the US Open in New York City, the Washington Open holds an important place on the tennis calendar. It is an ATP 500 event on the ATP Tour and a WTA 500 event on the WTA Tour.
The tournament dates back to 1969, when it was called the Washington Star International. It was played on clay courts until 1986, when the surface changed to hard courts. In 2011, the event added its first women’s tournament, held separately in College Park, Maryland. The following year, the men’s and women’s events were consolidated at the Washington venue. In 2023, with the discontinuation of the WTA’s Silicon Valley Classic, the event merged into the Washington Open — creating the first and only joint-500-level event on the ATP and WTA tours.
Notable men’s singles winners include Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, and Andre Agassi. Agassi (1990–91, 1995, 1998–99) holds the records for most titles (five) and most finals (six, including runner-up in 2000). He also shares the record for most consecutive titles (two) with Michael Chang (1996–97), Juan Martín del Potro (2008–09), and Alexander Zverev (2017–18).
On the women’s side, champions have included Sloane Stephens, Jessica Pegula, and Coco Gauff. Magdaléna Rybáriková (2012–13) holds the record for most titles (two) and co-holds the record for most finals (two) with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (runner-up in 2012 and 2015).
I began attending in 2016 as my interest in tennis grew. Over the years, I have watched and photographed many outstanding players at the Washington Open. They are all remarkable athletes and a joy to see compete in person.
I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Berlin twice. The first time was in the early 1980s and the second time in 2018. The transformation was dramatic.
Berlin Before the Fall of the Wall
I visited Berlin in the early 1980s. Berlin was then a divided city. I stayed in the Western zone near the Kurfurstendamm, which at the time was the heart of Berlin. I took a one day bus tour to the East. We crossed through Checkpoint Charlie. The bus was thoroughly searched by East German border guards. In contrast, the American military just let us pass freely.
The West was vibrant with shops, restaurants and people everywhere, In contrast, buildings in the East still showed signs of the bombing it received in the war. There were Soviet style memorials throughout East Berlin.
Our East German guide was openly dispirited and seemed to be reciting a script he was told to speak, especially when he spoke of “warm relations” with the then Soviet Union. At the end of the day, I was glad to be back in the West where I felt free and comfortable.
Berlin in 2018
Kurfurstendamm
In 2018, I went back to Berlin to see an undivided, transformed and reinvented Berlin. The German capital was still under construction 73 years after the end of WWII. I stayed near the Kurfurstendamm so I could compare my experience today with the early 1980s. My hotel — Pension Peters — is a small owner-managed hotel, where I felt more like a temporary resident in a nice Berlin neighborhood rather than a tourist.
I saw the transformation of Berlin immediately. The Kurfurstendamm is no longer the center of town. The heart of Berlin today is in the former East, which was a shambles when I was last there. The Kurfurstendamm is now a nice shopping street in lovely Berlin neighborhood called City West but is no longer the heart of the capital.
The Heart of Berlin
In 2018, Checkpoint Charlie was now nothing more than a tourist attraction with actor guards who, for a few Euros, will pose with you for a nice picture. There was even a “Checkpoint Charlie” McDonald’s across the street. It certainly no longer inspires fear.
David Enzel at Former Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, Germany
The heart of Berlin is dominated by the Brandenburg Gate and government buildings, including the embassies of the four former occupying powers: the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia.
Berlin is no longer occupied but the former occupiers are nearby as if to say: “We are watching.” Each of the four embassies has a rich history.
The Soviet Union was first of the four major occupiers to move into a post-War embassy in Berlin. The Russian Embassy in Berlin was closed in 1941 when the two countries went to war. Its reconstruction was the first project of the post-war years in the East Berlin. The embassy’s official grand opening was held on the national holiday of the former USSR, on November 7, 1951. It’s Europe’s largest embassy which sends a message all by itself. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it became the Russian Embassy. (See also Rick Steves Berlin (p. 105). Avalon Publishing. Kindle Edition.)
France occupied its new embassy in October 2002. However, France formally opened it on January 23, 2003. That date was chosen as it was the 40th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty between Germany and France, declaring friendship between France and the former West Germany. French President Jacques Chirac presided. Marking the occasion, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and President Chirac issued a declaration affirming Franco-German friendship and their joint determination to “re-found Europe”.
The United States was the last of the four major occupiers to move into a post-War embassy in Berlin. The history of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin is especially complicated. During WWII, the U.S. Embassy in Berlin was severely damaged by Allied bombing. After the war, the embassy ended up just barely inside East Berlin in divided Berlin’s Soviet zone, straddling the demarcation between the Soviet and American sectors.
The Berlin Wall made the site of the former U.S. Embassy, still owned by the U.S. government, an inaccessible vacant lot. It was part of the security zone separating east and west Berliners. In 1967, the East German government demolished the ruins of the US Embassy building. However, the site became accessible after the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989. Even so, it remained a vacant lot until the 2004 groundbreaking for construction of a brand new U.S. Embassy. The newly constructed embassy opened on July 4, 2008.
The Brandenburg Gate is nearby. This is the center of Berlin. Since the 18th Century, the Brandenburg Gate has been a site for major historical events and today is an important symbol of the history of Europe and Germany.
Also nearby — and not to be missed — is Germany’s parliament — the Reichstag — which was opened in 1894 and remained in service until 1933, when it was severely damaged after being set on fire. The Reichstag fire occurred one month after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. After World War II, the building fell into disuse; the parliament of the German Democratic Republic (the Volkskammer) met in the Palast der Republik in East Berlin, while the parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (the Bundestag) met in the Bundeshaus in Bonn.
The building was not properly restored until after German reunification on October 3, 1990. And what a glorious restoration it was. The German government chose British architect Norman Foster to lead the effort. Foster constructed is a large glass dome atop the Reichstag with a 360 degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The debating chamber of the Bundestag, the German parliament, can be seen below. A mirrored cone in the center of the dome directs sunlight into the building, and so that visitors can see the working of the chamber. The dome is open to the public and can be reached by climbing two steel, spiraling ramps that are reminiscent of a double helix. The Dome sends a message that the people are above the government, as was not the case during the Nazi era. After its completion in 1999, it once again became the meeting place of the German parliament: the modern Bundestag. The views are impressive. Entry is free but advance registration is required.
Hitler’s Bunker (Führerbunker), where Adolf Hitler committed suicide at the end of the war. It’s now an ordinary parking lot. Germany does not want to create a shrine out the place where Hitler perished.
Topography of Terror (Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre) has interesting exhibits documenting Nazi crimes. During the Nazi era, the headquarters of the Secret State Police, the SS and the Reich Security Main Office were located at the site.
Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, the site of the main political prison of the former East German Communist Ministry of State Security, the Stasi. I found the visit informative and chilling. East Germany went from one form of oppression to another form of oppression. It’s sad, terrifying and once again demonstrates what unchecked power can do.
Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (Holocaust Memorial) has almost 3,000 symbolic pillars next to the U.S. Embassy in the heart of Berlin. It was designed by New York architect Peter Eisenman, who is Jewish. It opened in 2005. Eisenman explains that the “project manifests the instability inherent in what seems to be a system, here a rational grid, and its potential for dissolution in time.” The Memorial brings home the magnitude of the Holocaust.
Germany is creatively and thoughtfully reinventing its capital city. The transformation since the end of WWII is astounding. In the following video, you can see how Berlin looked after the Red Army occupied the German capital.
I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and hope to return to see more of Berlin and how it evolves. If you visit Berlin, these videos are worth watching before your visit.
The French Embassy in Washington is demonstrating France’s long historic ties to the United States and its support for Ukraine. A replica of Statue of Liberty is on the lawn in front of at the French Ambassador’s Residence in Washington.
The bronze statue, dubbed “Lady Liberty’s Little Sister,” was crafted from the original 1878 plaster model that French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi used in his designs for the Statue of Liberty in New York. The replica stands at 9 feet and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds. It is one-sixteenth the size of the original.
Following the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine “Lady Liberty’s Little Sister” has been sporting a Ukrainian flag. It’s a bold symbol of support.
The Turkish Navy received its largest vessel on April 10, 2023. I had the good fortune to see it up close while I was visiting Istanbul. The new ship was docked very near my cruise ship.
According to Reuters, Turkey aims to extend its drone capabilities from land-based to naval operations amid increased regional tensions as war rages in Ukraine on the other side of the Black Sea.
The ship is called the Anadolu (L-400). It is an amphibious assault ship that can be configured as a V/STOL (vertical and/or short take-off and landing) aircraft carrier. It is named after the peninsula of Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu) which forms the majority of the landmass of Turkey. Construction began in 2016 in Istanbul. The TCG Anadolu was commissioned on April 10, 2023.
The TCG Anadolu can handle only light aircraft, chiefly helicopters and jets that can take off from shorter runways. Even so, the ship is impressive. It has a 5,440 m2 (58,600 sq ft) flight deck and a 990 m2 (10,700 sq ft) aviation hangar which can accommodate either 12 medium-sized helicopters or 8 Boeing CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. When the aviation hangar and the light cargo garage are unified, the ship can carry up to 25 medium-sized helicopters. Alternatively, the ship can carry up to 10 American-made F-35B STOVL fighter jets and 12 medium-sized helicopters, with the possibility of hosting six more helicopters on the flight deck of the ship.
The new ship is a source of national pride for Turkey.
The 50-acre park was originally beneath the Potomac River. Near the end of the nineteenth century, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated a dredging project that created the land that became Potomac Park. The U.S. Navy built the Main Navy and Munitions Buildings as temporary offices on the land during World WarI. The buildings were demolished in 1971. President Nixon later ordered that a park be established on the land, and in 1976, Constitution Gardens was dedicated as a “living legacy American Revolution Bicentennial tribute.” Constitution Gardens has been a separate park unit since 1982.
In 1868, a statue of 16th President Abraham Lincoln sculpted by Lot Flannery was erected on the south side of the former District of Columbia City Hall building (“Old City Hall”) at Judiciary Square. This became the first public monument in Lincoln’s honor. The monument appeared just three years after Lincoln’s assassination on April 15, 1865, at the age of 56.
The Washington Post reports that 20,000 people gathered to witness the monument’s dedication. All federal and municipal offices were closed. Flags flew at half-mast and cannons boomed every half-hour. Many consider this monument to be the best likeness of Lincoln.
The building itself was built in 1820. It was designed by George Hadfield, who supervised construction of the United States Capitol from October 1795 to May 1798. Hadfield was born in Livorno, Italy in 1763.
The building now houses the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest court of the District of Columbia. Established in 1970, it is equivalent to a state supreme court, except that its authority is derived from the United States Congress rather than from the inherent sovereignty of the states.
The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine in Paris. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city. It has been classified as a French monument historique since 1975.
The Beaux-Arts style bridge, with its exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses at either end, was built between 1896 and 1900. It is named after Tsar Alexander III, who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance in 1892. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. The style of the bridge reflects that of the Grand Palais, to which it leads on the right bank.
The next bridge upstream on the Seine is Pont de la Concorde and the next bridge downstream is Pont des Invalides, which is the lowest bridge crossing the Seine.
I visited Washington for the first time as part of a weekend trip organized by my high school’s French club in the 1970s. We ate at Maison des Crêpes. I enjoyed it. The restaurant is long gone but I remember it and my trip when I pass by its former location in Georgetown.
The Streets of Washington blog recently shared this photograph of the Maison des Crêpes on Flickr and explained its history:
Maison des Crepes originally opened as La Crepe in 1967 at 1305 Wisconsin Avenue NW in Georgetown. It was the creation of Paris-born Jacques Vivien (1925-2010), who began his Washington career as the maitre d’ at The Jockey Club. Vivien was riding a fashion craze for creperies when he opened Washington’s first. He decorated the restaurant in French provincial style and had his waitresses decked out in Breton costumes. Eventually two other locations would open, and all would remain popular, especially with tourists, despite sometimes poor reviews from local dining critics. The original restaurant in Georgetown closed in the early 1980s.
This brought back nice memories. That weekend trip was wonderful.
The Streets of Washington blog and Flickr feed show many vintage and hard to find images from postcards and other ephemera about historic places in the Washington, D.C. area. It is fascinating to see how the nation’s capital has evolved.
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. I attended the University of Pittsburgh, which is an urban campus. After moving to Washington, I always liked the George Washington University (GW) campus. I could relate to it as an urban campus in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington.
For years I enjoyed the burgers and fries at Lindy’s Red Lion (“The Best Little Carry-Out in Washington”). It was an institution on the GW campus. It was rumored that President Gerald Ford liked Lindy’s burgers and as President would send Secret Service agents to pick up burgers for him from Lindy’s. In 2008, The GW Hatchet confirmed this rumor with the owner of Lindy’s. I sure hope it’s true. I have fond memories of Lindy’s and the friendly people who worked there.
Lindy’s closed in June of 2018 and was then vacant. It is now a barber shop.
