Metro Connection

St. Elizabeths in Southeast D.C. began as the "U.S. Government Hospital for the Insane." These days, it's bringing the Federal and District governments together, as the Federal-controlled West Campus and District-controlled East Campus are slated for significant development over the next decade. Rebecca Sheir visits St. Elizabeths with Rebecca Miller of the D.C. Preservation League, to find out how the impending arrival of some massive federal institutions will affect this local and National...

"Green Infrastructure" uses mother nature's original design to control some of the problems we humans create, from pollution-laden storm-water runoff to urban heat islands. The Environmental Protection Agency is gung-ho about it, but it hasn't taken the local streets by storm, yet. Environment reporter Sabri Ben-Achour visits a garden in Northeast D.C. to find out why.

[Music: "It's Not Easy Being Green" by Ray Charles from Hallelujah I Love Her So!]

Dominick Cardella has been selling eclectic African and Asian wares for 40 years at the Artifactory, right by the National Archives. But now the longtime Washingtonian is closing shop. Rebecca Sheir talks with Cardella about how he's seen the neighborhood change outside Artifactory's doors.

[Music: "Seems Like Old Times" by Guy Lombardo from You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To]

It might be hard to pin down the quintessential "D.C. dish," but award-winning chef Scott Drewno of The Source has his own ideas on cooking "distinctively D.C." cuisine. Rebecca Sheir visits The Source's kitchen to dish with Scott about the D.C. food scene, and to cook up an entree that combines local ingredients with the District's international flair.

[Music: "Maximum Consumption" by The Kinks from Everybody's in Showbiz]

Gusty's... Danny's Bakery... Paul Young's... Little Taverns. For longtime Washingtonians, these names conjure up D.C. food memories of yore. Rebecca Sheir visits a standby that's been around more than half a century, Silver Spring's Blair Mansion Restaurant, where she walks down memory lane with Sheilah Kaufman of the Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C., and Ramon Zeender, whose family runs Blair Mansion.

[Music: "Dinner Bell" by They Might Be Giants from Apollo 18]

For all D.C.'s farmer's markets and groceries, you'll still find quite a few "food deserts" in the midst. A local nonprofit is trying to bring farmer's markets to communities that need them most by converting an old school bus in to a vegetable-oil-run, movable market. Reporter Marc Adams hopped aboard to find out more...

[Music: "Caravan" by Rachel Portman from Chocolat: Music From the Miramax Motion Picture]