Old Town Alexandria

January 16, 2011

Yesterday was a cold sunny mid-January Sunday – a perfect day to stretch our legs, have a bit of lunch and see Old Town Alexandria. It's been years since I roamed Alexandria; and even then it was only a quick bike ride down Duke Street on my way to Mount Vernon. I've never visited the Torpedo Factory – after so many years I’m not sure how I’ve avoided it.

It was a choice between Eastern Market, Annapolis, and Old Town Alexandria. Annapolis was too far for my mood, and I’ve visited Eastern Market more times than I care to remember, so Old Town Alexandria was the choice. Alexandria is on the Potomac River just south of National Airport (officially Reagan National Airport but since I am not a fan of the Reagan presidency I still refer to it as National Airport).

Old Town is manufactured quaint - period architecture, quaint (read expensive) shops, restaurants, a river side boardwalk, and art to boot. I may sound a bit sarcastic; it’s nice, clean, safe, modular, and relaxing on a Sunday afternoon stroll. Nothing exciting about the walk; we roamed and had brunch and toured the Torpedo Factory. Old Town is laid out in a grid with names like King Street, Duke Street, Prince Street, and Washington Street as homage to our first president. Straight down Washington Street for 11 miles is Mount Vernon.

The Torpedo Factory is a cooperative of artist studios and galleries. As you might guess the name comes from its history – it was originally a torpedo factory. I’ll avoid the history and just leave you with a link (http://www.torpedofactory.org/history.htm).

Just about all the galleries and studios were displaying beautiful works but ….

It is not a place for deep or innovated work. Don’t get me wrong it’s a nice place to visit, but it is more of a place for tourist, natives strolling on a quiet afternoon and maybe corporate art buyers looking for art with class but nothing controversial. That said there is nothing wrong with derivative art, or even imitation art; hell, I love when song are covered, sometimes even better than the original version. What they created is better than rows of sports bars, pawn shops, or tattoo parlors (let’s put a hold on the tattoo parlor - they can be interesting). Old town is nothing original; many cities have similar areas – the Inner Harbor in Baltimore to name one. If you are looking for a unique experience keep looking, but if you want to spend a relaxing afternoon, get a bit to eat, or just stretch your legs it just might be the ticket.

A disclaimer to avoid hypocrisy:

It you go to my photo site (www.flickr.com/billshields) or my video site (www.youtube.com/sheds1127) I doubt if you will find anything there that is innovative, but give it a look anyway.