-welcome to the premiereof "metrofocus." today, we'll take youbehind the scenes of a few great destinationsmetro proudly serves by rail and bus, answer a few questionsfrom real riders, and introduce youto some of the commuters you might meetalong the way. -hi. i'm lonnie monroewith "metrofocus" tv. today, we are in georgetown
at the well-renownedgeorgetown cupcakes. i'm sitting here with ownersophie. thank you so much, sophie,for having us. -our pleasure.thank you for coming. -thank you. so, i know that you haveso much success. you have a tlc show. please tell ushow it all got started for you. -sure. well,my sister katherine and i
grew up bakingwith our grandmother. she was from greece, and shebaked everything from scratch. and she wasa very strong influence on us in our early childhood. and we love baking,and we always said, "one day, when we grow up,we're gonna open a bakery," and we never thoughtit was possible, 'cause our parents alwayspressured us to, you know, go to collegeand work for large companies.
and then finally, we said,you know, "we want to do this. are we gonna spend the rest ofour life wondering 'what if?'" and so, we just quit our jobsin the summer of 2007. our parents weren't happyabout it. -i'm sure. -and we opened georgetowncupcake on valentine's day 2008. -so much success.-we've had a wonderful time. yeah. all of our bakeries, including the one here ingeorgetown, have open kitchens
where you can seethe cupcakes being baked, you can see the eggs beingcracked, the milk being poured. -how early does it startfor you guys? when we came in,it was clearly -- everything was moving. you guys had been working forquite some time already, so... -you know what's funny? because when we quit our jobsto start georgetown cupcake, my sister and i thought,"oh, we'll have a relaxing time.
we'll have a quiet bakery,drink some coffee, read some magazines,bake some cupcakes, be our own boss." and now our hours are even worsethan they were before. so being a bakeris really tough, because we startearly in the morning. we start at various times, depending on the time of yearand how many orders we have. but, generally, our bakeryis almost a 24/7 operation now.
by the time we close for the dayat 9:00 p.m., we're cleaning the bakeryand preparing for the next day. and then bakers will come inas early as 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. to start fixing the battersfor the next morning, for the early morningdeliveries. -wow.what made you choose georgetown? -our brand is very kind of cozyand small, and there was something very,like, cozy and quaint and charming about georgetown.
i think it's just a good match. it's not a daunting place. when you come into georgetown,everyone's very friendly. it's just --it's very charming and sweet, and we love that feel, and i think it's a good fitfor a bakery. -of course. and not to mention the factthat it's metro-accessible. you have the entire 30 linethat runs on wisconsin avenue.
-yeah, our most common questionon the phone here is, "which metro stop is closest?" we're always saying,"foggy bottom or rosslyn," it's a toss-up becausewe're right between the two. -right. so, you saidyou had other locations. -so, we're openin bethesda, too. so if you take the metroto bethesda, we are right on bethesda row. and then, also, the d.c. area.
we're open in new york citynow and boston, los angeles, and atlanta. we're actually launchinga live-feed camera, 24/7, into our bakery,starting in january. for us, really, it's coolto share that experience, because it is kind of likea little workshop in here. everything's made from scratch. all the fondant,decorations are made by hand, and so viewers can see that.
so if you can't sleepin the middle of the night, you can just log on and just -- and katherine and iwill be popping up and we'll be doingdemonstrations. we'll be announcing our secretflavor on the video, as well. and so, for those of youwho don't know, every day at georgetown cupcake,we give out 100 free cupcakes. so if you follow us online,on facebook or twitter, we announce the secret flavorevery day. it's not on the menu.
but if you come and you askfor it, it's absolutely free. -oh, wow! i will definitely be doing soand coming quite often. so, tell us aboutsome of the cupcakes we have on the table here. -sure. so, the neat thingabout running a bakery is coming upwith all these new flavors, and katherine and ilove doing that. and so we have over 100different flavors on our menu
that rotatethroughout the year. there's someevery day on the menu, like our standard red velvetand chocolates and vanillas, but we mix it upwith seasonals. here we havesome of our most popular ones. our red-velvet cupcake with thevanilla cream cheese frosting is, by far, the most popularcupcake on the menus over the past eight years. has not --it's been the number-one pick.
-the classic.-exactly. we have, for the moretraditional customer, we have a chocolatewith vanilla buttercream, and this is our chocolatebirthday cupcakes. we have our peanut-butter fudge,which is a cult favorite. it is cored and filledwith fudge in the middle, topped withour peanut-butter frosting. this is my sister'sfavorite flavor. and we have ourcookies-and-cream cupcake,
which is infusedwith oreo cookie, an oreo buttercream, too. so we mix it up.there's something for everyone. if you like lemon,we've got lemon. we have carrot, we have coconut,we have key lime, we have -- the holidays --gingerbread. valentine's day we doall kinds of raspberry, chocolate chips,and strawberries. in the spring, we doa cherry-blossom cupcake.
and so, for us,that's the fun part, coming up with all thesedifferent flavors and keeping it seasonal, so every time you come in,there's something new. we do deliveries all acrossd.c., and we also do pick-up. so if you don't want to waitin line or you're in a rush, just go on our website,choose your pick-up time, and come right in.we'll have them ready for you. -nice.well, thank you so much, sophie.
i can't wait to tryone of my cupcakes. thank you for having us,and great success for you for everythingthat you have going on. -thank you so muchfor having us. -our pleasure. -hi. this is lonnie monroe. i'm here at the world's famousjazz and supper club, blues alley, with the owner,harry schnipper. so, harry, tell me a little bitabout your establishment.
-we are 50 years old this year.-very nice. -lonnie,we are america's oldest continuously operatedjazz supper club, located in the heartof the georgetown community. -give mesome of your notable performers. -everybody, from ella fitzgeraldto count basie to wynton marsalis to -- last week was internationallyrenowned trumpeter arturo sandoval,
who came up through the ranksof dizzy gillespie. they say that this is the housethat dizzy built. -very nice. give us an idea how metroimpacts your community here. -isn't that curiousthat you should say? i would tell you by saying that the universal metrocrossroads intersect just outside my door, because you havethe foggy bottom metro,
you've got the rosslyn metro, you even havethe dupont circle metro. and in between all of that, you have the 30s linesthat intersect outside my door. so you can virtually get aroundfrom chevy chase to anacostia, all points in between, and theygo literally outside my door. anybody of any age and any ilk, as long as they can sit upstraight in a chair, are welcome to come to the club.
we have our own blues alleyyouth orchestra. we have our own summer jazz campfor children. and we encourage children as thenext generation of jazz artists and audiences alike. -music has no limit on age,that's for sure, so... -we are open 360 days a year. we have two sets a night. we have internationally renownedperformers every weekend, and throughout the week,we feature local performers.
i often look at the landscapeof washington, d.c. i dined yesterdayat billy martin's tavern, which is about to celebrateits 85th birthday. -wow.-you look at the tombs and 1789. you look at mr. smith'sin georgetown. there are countlessiconic locations which havean indomitable presence upon the georgetown landscape. they haven't disappeared.
they may have changed locationsa couple of times. they're not only watering holes,but they are haute cuisine, and they tend to attractan international community. we are an iconic and internationally recognizedneighborhood. apart from our name, we were a bustling waterfront250 years ago, and as we've evolved,so, too, has the architecture. so the residents herereally are symbolic.
i mean, we're sittingin a 250-year-old stable. and you have beautifulresidences that surround us. but think about it for a moment,lonnie. you've also gotgeorgetown university, george washington university. so if we didn't have the shopsand the retailers and the bustle here, well, wewould be a college neighborhood. so you have to kind of pick andchoose from your point of view. and then if you drill downa little bit further,
we have embassies. so now we've got maybean ambassador's residence. and as you add these things up,it has international cachet. so, the future is... really developingnew jazz audiences. -not to mention the workthat you do with education and the children,as you were sharing, have your children groups thatcome out and perform, as well, so you're always giving back,which is encouraging.
-yes, we had theblues alley youth orchestra here on monday night,and i was presented with the 2015 jazz educatorof the year award, so, frankly, i think,if you live long enough, lonnie, you get acknowledged thatyour efforts and contributions and giving backare all appreciated. -well, you're doing somethingright, that's for sure. -well, ride metro.-[ laughs ] -i do.-thank you so much, harry.
thank you for having us. -indeed. -the name is paul wiedefeld. my dad would always tellthe story or when peopletripped over our name, he'd say, "if you and iwere standing on a balcony, and we fell off, we'd a feld."[ laughs ] and so it sort of stuck.[ chuckles ] i come from a large family.
there's six of us,very close-knit family. you know,my dad was a firefighter. my mom was a secretary. so we just have been --it's an extended family that still remains relativelyclose, geographically. as a child, as a young man,when i came to washington, it was about, you know, someof the government buildings, the mall, and the metro. the metro, to me, it has been --
and to people i would bringfrom out of state -- it's like a disney ride. it's like the monorail. it was something you had to do. when you think of one of ourstations, it is an iconic photo. when you seeone of our stations anywhere, it's immediate,you know what it is, you know it's like,"okay, that's washington. that's a cool system,"and that's the way that --
that's the way that i thinkabout the system today, still. to maintain that pride is -- we have to perform better in some of the decisions, youknow, that we've been making. the publici've got to work with, the media i've got to work with,the stakeholders. besides the riders, there'sa lot of people out there. they want to see us succeed,though. that is one thing i've noticed,across the board.
i've met with, you know, alltypes of people in the region, and they want to seethis agency succeed. i need to understandwhere people come from. i think they need to understandwhere i'm coming from, so i just want -- you know, any chance i getto communicate that, i think, is very important. to me, if we build on respect, you know, that brings a lotof people along the way.
will we get all 13,000?you know, no, of course not. you know, that's -- i wish i could get my family just to moveall in one direction. that's not --that does not happen. [ chuckles ] but, you know,at the end of the day, you know, i know that,you know, the vast majority of the 13,000 are just so positiveabout what we do.
they need that reinforced. they want to be proudwhen they go home. treat each other with respect, treat the customeras you would want to be treated, you know, just continue to chipaway at those types of things. that starts to changethe culture, and i think that will go a verylong way in getting us there. i'm a bit of a bulldog, andi'm not gonna [laughs] let go of what i'm tryingto achieve here,
and i will continue to do that. and we will turn this thingaround, for sure. -hi, i'm lonnie monroe. i'm here at thephillips collection museum with rogelio,membership manager. thank you so much for having us.-thank you for coming, and welcometo the phillips collection. -yes. i'm so excited. pleasetell us everything about here. -well, the phillips collectionis america's first museum
of modern art. we were founded in 1921by duncan phillips right here in dupont circle. he opened his home on qand 21st street to the public to share his collection of work. today,we have 4,000 works of art. they include frenchimpressionist work, american modernist workthat duncan phillips collected, and some contemporary worksof art that we are acquiring.
and every year, we welcomeabout 150,000 visitors. -so, we're always opento the public. tuesdays through friday, ourpermanent collection is free. if you'd like to seeone of our special exhibitions or you're visitingon the weekend, it's $12 for the public. so, we do havea membership program, which is my role hereat the institution. members are our donors,our closest friends.
membership isa charitable contribution. starts at $60 for an individual. we have different levelswith different benefits, depending on your interestsand your ability to join. -so, coming here this morning,i took the train, obviously, and i got offat the dupont circle exit. it's so close, i have to say.-just a couple minutes, right? -yes,literally walking distance. once you get off that q streetexit, it's right there.
-it's very commuter-friendly, so anyone who's comingfrom maryland or virginia who wants to see the phillips,it's an easy ride. we have a lotof international tourists who cometo the phillips collection. -not to mention,when you leave the doors, there's so much lifethat is going on here in dupont circle -- restaurants, dinners, bars.
you know, so much to dohere in dupont circle. matter of fact, how do you likebeing in dupont circle? -yeah, i think dupont circle'sfantastic. always lots to do,lots of energy. it's nice when members or guestsare here in the institution and they spend a couple hourslooking at art and they just want to takea break and need a treat. we have lots to recommend for them to dooutside of the museum.
there's a great sort of energyin this neighborhood, and you definitely feel ithere in the institution, particularly in some of ourevents, like phillips after 5, which isone of our evening events. you know, it's very full,very popular, and lots of great energy.-nice. -our current special exhibition is "gauguin to picasso:masterworks from switzerland." it's a very popular exhibition.
it's visiting usfrom the kunstmuseum, and it's gotsome works of art that are makingtheir only stop in america here at the phillips collection, and i think, you know, it's definitely a treatyou don't want to miss. in february, we'll be openinga new exhibition -- "seeing nature." it's paul allen'spersonal collection of works.
landscape works -- very compelling paintingsof the grand canyon and venice. it's gonna bea really lovely exhibition. -what have been someof your favorite exhibitions and, i guess, some of yourmost notable artists? -sure. well, in 2013,we had an exhibition, "van gogh repetitions," which was just a huge hitfor the institution. i think everybody loved it.
we had tons of people coming --local and international. and definitely a staff favorite. and we also partneredwith metro. some of the worksfrom that exhibition were being featuredon the metro cards, and i think that was likea nice little treat. -for sure. for sure. it'sdefinitely a collector's piece, and i know a lot of ourcustomers still use them today. -oh, yeah?-yes.
and give me a little bit of ideaof, like, the layout here. so, i know we're hereon the first floor. -mm-hmm. so, you are in thefirst floor of our new building. so, the phillips collection is actually two buildingsjoined together. -the first building is theoriginal georgian revival home of duncan phillips. and then the buildingthat we're in now is our annex, sort of new building.
and right in this floorwhere we're standing now, as i mentioned,is recent acquisitions. all contemporary art. if you head up to the top floorof this building, you'll seeour special exhibition. right now "gauguin to picasso," and in february,"seeing nature." and then it links of course toduncan phillips's original home. and in that building,
you'll see a lot moreof our permanent collections, including our very famousrenoir painting, "luncheon of the boating party,"which is, i think, one of the must-sees hereat the phillips collection. -so, i know, like you said, parking's tougharound this area. we're right hereby dupont circle. how has that impactedyour museum here having that metro stationright there?
-i think it'sa very commuter-friendly city, and most peopleare using the metro, and i would say a lotof our visitors, if not most, are using the metroto get here, as well. so, i think in termsof our growth and our reach and how many people get tovisit us, it's definitely a boon to be next tothe dupont metro station. -sounds like i need a membershipfor sure. -yeah.[ both laugh ]
-well, thank you so muchfor having us, rogelio. -of course.thank you for coming. -this is a beautiful exhibithere. thank you. -of course. thank you forcoming. so happy to have you. -we are sitting inthe ultra-chic, beautiful calabash tea & tonic with its beautiful owner,sunyatta. thank you so much for having us. -my pleasure to have you here.-thank you.
so, please tell ushow you got started. -well, i ama fifth-generation herbalist. and the other side of my family, i'm a fourth- orfifth-generation allopath in terms of them being medicaldoctors or dentists, et cetera. so i feel likei'm the intersection point of the those two things. so, what we have, really, isa thinly disguised apothecary. you know, so when people come in
and they say, "well,what's your favorite tea?" or "what's the best tea here?" i ask them,"well, how do you feel?" and then,"how do you want to feel?" and that's how we judgewhat we give people. -so, there's a lot of healthbenefits, obviously. -everything we do --the food, the drink -- everything is engineered forgreater health and happiness. -mm-hmm. mm-hmm.-[ laughs ]
-i must sayi had some chai tea when i came, and i'm feeling quite happyand healthy. -thank you. you hadthe love potion number 10, which is my grandmother'soriginal recipe. so i can't be held responsiblefor what might happen later. -[ laughs ] so, tell me, how did you choosethis neighborhood? you're sitting in shaw-howard. you're metro accessible.
it's a prime location. -i just felt all the history of this being a traditionalneighborhood of color. these businesses hereand going down "u" street -- this isa very vibrant community. we see peoplefrom all walks of life. we see lots of studentsfrom howard university as they come off the metroand they come past us. we see doctors and nurses.
it's a place where people liveand work and play in this area. -wow.so, i have to know -- what's your favorite thingon the menu? if i had one thing i could pick,what would you suggest to me? -the one thing. the chai that you had earlieris like the queen of the shop. it's warm, it's rich,it's warming to the insides, and it's a foundational elementof our shop because it'sone of the first teas
that i learned to makefrom my grandmother. so i love it above all others. but don't tell the others. it's like children -- you can'ttell them you favorite. -they'll get jealous.-yes. -and you also have baked goods. i see that you have salads,as well, so you can get pretty mucheverything you need here. -we do,and the same thing applies,
where what's in the salads are things that are goodfor your health. even our baked goodsare infused with herbs that we have in our shop. some teas are also infusedinto the foods. so we make it our businessto give people what they need. -mm-hmm. and you think aboutyour competitors -- you're offering a much moreorganic, natural product that you're not ableto find in some places.
-that's true. first of all,there's no competition. -oh. -but seriously,we have farmers from jamaica. we have farmers from cuba. we have farmers from brazil. these peoplesend product to us or through our distributorsto us. and we really like the abilityto call them personally and say, you know, we're happyto serve your product
in a very vibrant city and thatpeople enjoy what you're making. -and when people come in, they'll actually seesome beautiful artifacts. your salon here is very vibrant,had a lot of history, i know, so tell us where you gotmost of your pieces from. -well,there are local artists who provided some of the artworkthat's here. and we're proud thatthey love our place so much that sometimes they paint stuffand just bring it
and hang it up.and it's so great. but a lot of the furniturewas things that, you know,my grandparents had. my great-grandparents camefrom syria, and they brought all these. i'm like,"how did you travel with rugs?" i don't even understand. but we had more rugsthan we had floor in our homes, so we decidedto make the place homey,
to make it look likea sort of glammed-up version of what our houses look like.-right. -and that's our goal, is to havepeople feel comfortable here. -right.and like you said, we're minutes away fromshaw-howard's metro station. you also have the 70 buses, the"g" buses that run through here. tell us how being that closeto a metro, the bus capability, how that's impactedyour business. -oh, it's tremendous.
just imagining thatit's right on the same block, and so it's steps away is reallyeasy to have people navigate. when we say we're atthe howard shaw metro station, we really mean it.-for sure. -and so when they get out, they have no trouble at allnavigating to our door. -well, thank you so muchfor having us. -thank you.-we look forward to coming back. love potion.-love potion.
we've got all kindsof other naughty bits. -okay, thank you so muchfor having us. -part of the ntsb earlyrecommendations -- we've committed to doinga quarterly drill. so our first drillwas in the spring -- april. we did that in prince george'scounty, maryland, at greenbelt station. then again in the summertime, we did it at d.c. armorywith d.c. fire department.
and the today, we'rewith montgomery county police department. a bus operator came acrossthis baggage deemed suspicious, evacuated as his busper the protocols, called in themetro transit police department. -do you wanttwo stations set up? -we in turnsent a police k-9 there. the k-9 indicatedthat there was something definitely suspicious there.
-when we set upto do a remote shot... -called in our explosiveordinance disposal team, our e.o.d. they came in, x-rayedthe package, and deemed it suspicious. -well, see the patchgot to be sitting on the ground, doesn't it? -and then they disrupt. -track 2 full. let's go in.
i got train 9800. approaching silver springs. third car back,report of flames. -the train came across smoke. -there are two peopleor three people on the train that are visually impaired. -there's a fireon the third car. we should go backand investigate. -the fire department had to doan evacuation.
they evacuated 55 customers without incidentalong the railway. -evacuate the customersfrom the affected cars to the non-affected car.you copy that? -this should bethe last one going out. -four on the tech cart. the one with the dog walked. -i got permission to callat this time clear. -just let us knowwhen you're clear
and you got everybodyout of here. -primary, secondary searchesof the train car are negative. the last of the five occupantsare on their way out now. -these drillsare very important to us, not just to metro and... it brings all thefirst responders together, interacting with the policedepartment, the fire department, metro operations, and gettingeverybody in lock step, so if and when these incidentsoccur, we're better off for it.
the drills help prepare us forthose days unfortunately that do happen sometimes, but i think the things we haveto continue to strive on is communication,not just internally, externally, obviously,with our riders, how situations like this havea ripple effect on the system and how they're impacteddown the line. so, really, communication's onething we always strive for, unified command,accountability.
those are all the things,objectives we're always trying to meetin each one of these drills. -my name is tony stevens,and this is palmer. i'm a father, an advocate. i'm marriedand have two young sons -- a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old. and i'm a daily rider of metro. i'm originally from atlanta,but we moved down here five, six years agofrom new york city.
i work for a nonprofitin virginia that focuses on advocacyfor people who are blind. and so i do a lot of workup on capitol hill and with different coalitionsfor disability issues in and outside the beltway. i pretty much ride metroevery day. i definitely am a rail person. you know, the bus is niceand convenient. there's nothing more nice thanon a nice, cold, snowy day,
you get on one of thosereally nice, warm buses with the heat blasting out. but you know, when werelooking for a place to live, we wanted to be as closeto the rail as we could. just mainly for reliability,for convenience. you don't worry about traffic. moving down from new york city, where the city's so, you know,sort of accessible via rail, we wanted something similar whenwe moved down to washington.
one of the thingsabout being blind is, you know, i can't drive a car. i have to rely on, you know,bus or rail. i don't use metroaccess. i try to be as independentas i can. so pretty much i use rail or busto really do all i can to get anywhere i need to gothroughout the district. i take the kids out.we go on adventures on weekends. i like my boys to knowhow to use public transit,
and to know that, you know, it's somethingthat they can also maybe do when they get older. you don't have to have a carto be able to get around. so we pretty much use publictransit for everything to get around in the town. one of the thingsabout transportation is you really interactwith people on a daily basis. i'm constantly humbledand pleased
by a sense that people are veryaccommodating on the trains. you know, when i get on,and i have my dog, people are constantly saying,you know, "do you want a seat here?" or "this train'sgoing to, you know, greenbelt." or this train's goingto virginia or branch avenue or wherever it is. you know, people are alwayswilling to help, especially the conductorswhen they're, you know,
walking to and fromthe platform. they're always good to tell mewhat train is what. you know, it's very rarethat i'll get on a train and i get kind of the silentperson sitting in the seat that refuses to move. you know, that's the exception,not the rule. palmer here, he's pretty goodwith transit. he was trainedup in new york city, so he knowshow to get on the subway.
he knows how to ride buses. you know, one of the hardestthings about the animal is that people constantlywant to come up and pet him. and when he's in harness,he's on the clock, he's working. the nice thing is when we gethome, the harness comes off, and he gets to be a dog again. and he gets to playwith the kids and run through the backyard. you know, for me,it's not just a way of life
because sincei can't drive a car, you know, it's kind ofa philosophy, as well. i mean, i like to think that,you know, not only people who cannot drivea car have to rely on it. i'd like to thinkthat public transportation is important for everybody. you know, the more we use it, the better it ison the environment, the better is, you know,
to just reduce trafficand to make it easier. it brings people together. you know, it makes usnot isolated in a box. all in all, i thinkthat transportation, for me, it's a thing for independence,you know? it's important to be ableto find a job that's near transportationfor me. otherwise, you know,the choices are greatly limited. so the places i choose to livehave to be accessible,
and the places i choose to workhave to be accessible. so without transportation, thatshuts the whole puzzle down, and you know, it really affectsthe quality of life. -thanks for riding with usat "metrofocus." in our next edition, we'll visit the old and newin northern virginia.