SYMHM: Weekend Red Carpet Edition
VIDA Fitness put on a party at its new U Street location Saturday night. Among the evening’s festivities was a team of three Cirque du Soleil acrobats from Las Vegas. The location formerly housed the Results Gym U Street location. (Matty Rhoades)
From Mike Kohn. Email him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter @mike_kohn.
VIDA Fitness (Literally) Rolls Out the Red Carpet on U Street
David von Storch threw a party Saturday night to celebrate his Urban Adventures Companies’ flagship venue of gym-spa-salon-restaurant, VIDA, on U Street NW. There was a red carpet, spotlights, six floors of cocktails, Company Brewery beer, acrobats (!) – see above, and, yes, a fresh glimpse of the new rooftop pool — the pool that caused much consternation among residents of neighboring buildings when first proposed. (Unfortunately, the lighting in the pool area was too poor for clear photos.)
Red carpet, spotlights, acrobats, security and a packed house were on tap at the new VIDA Fitness facility Saturday night on U Street NW.
The event will billed as “A Night of Urban Adventure” — the premier launch party for David von Storch’s U Street lifestyle complex, including VIDA Fitness, Bang Salon, soon-to-open Penthouse Pool Club, Aura Spa and 901 Restaurant and Bar. Among the evening’s festivities were three cable-suspended performance artists from Cirque du Soleil (who flew in from Las Vegas) who performed from top-floor windows and down the side of the building.
Results Gym had formerly occupied the U Street VIDA space – up until early this year when VIDA completely gutted the interior and grew the space three levels.
Bye Bye DADT
At long last, the time is here for the official repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Thanks to President Obama’s July signature, the policy will be coming to a close tomorrow, 60 days after the measure went through. Looking for ways to celebrate? Washington Blade has you covered with some great spots. Let us know if you have any alternatives for readers.
Those Dorm Kids
Catholic University might have thought it would be smooth sailing following its decision to institute same-sex dorms, citing a study that random hookups happen less frequently in those kinds of dorms. But that decision has since led to a conversation with the DC Office of Human Rights, according to DCist. At the instigation of law professor John Banzhaf, Catholic University now faces scrutiny and pressure in explaining how that policy does not violate the DC Human Rights Act. According to Banzhaf, “the District’s statute prohibits discrimination unless it is a ‘business necessity’ without which an institution could not function.” Yeah, good luck with that one.
Donuts Galore
Word has it that Dunkin’ Donuts will soon be up and running in the Borderstan ‘hood. U Street Girl caught word of the impending opening, so keep your fingers crossed. We’ll keep you posted with more details.
Parking for Good
We caught two interesting stories about turning your parking adventures in the District into some social good. The first comes from DCist, which encourages you to literally pay your parking meter change forward by passing any extra time along to the next person. The other comes from Greater Greater Washington, which discusses how a few officials opted to turn their Councilmember-only spaces downtown into parks for the day.
