Nile Cafe: An Oasis of Calm on Germantown Avenue

By Katie Blessing and Kerri Corrado

Tires rumble over the cobblestones in the 6000 block of Germantown Avenue. A siren screams — perhaps a fire, a police chase or another victim of gun violence in a neighborhood that has grown weary of crime. But step  into the Nile Café at 6008 Germantown Ave. and you enter a different world – an [...]

DJ Sean: Making music at Germantown music store

By Dan Brightcliffe and Ken Horner

Halfway down the 5800 block of Greene Street, a three-foot-tall speaker pumps out Rihanna’s “We Found Love,” drowning out the sound of traffic. Inside a small storefront, shopper Jamal Knock asks for the latest rap record by Wale. His mother is looking for Teddy Pendergrass, L.T.D., Freddie Jackson and Jeffrey Osborne — not separate albums, [...]

Fasting as a way to “grow yourself” at Easter

By Ben Fallon

It’s been 35 days and Marie Marthol-Clark is fighting against the temptation to have meat and dairy products for lunch. “It’s really hard,” she said during an interview last week in Germantown. “The temptation is high. But I like struggling with that.” Marthol-Clark is a Germantown resident and member of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, a [...]

At Enon: Sitting on an old mat while weaving a new one

By Adam Stapenell and Justin Walters

Cars are lined up bumper-to-bumper down the street. Parking attendants are turning drivers around at the entrance gate. The immense parking lot is already full. Now both sides of the street are lined with parked vehicles. More and more people arrive, and so cars circle the block looking for anywhere to park. The families who [...]

A corner store as an engine of neighborhood economic development

By Christine Adkins, Ken Horner and Kerri Corrado

As Felix Gomez steadies himself against metal shelving stacked with Tide, Pine-Sol and other home-cleaning products, he smiles at the thought of his business success and the steadfast support he’s received from the Germantown residents who live around his new store. “They tell me, ‘Papi, you do good,’” he says, smiling inside his spiffed-up corner [...]