SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010


KLMNO


Riverfront plans picking up as Yards Park celebrates opening


riverfront from C1


Credit markets are slowly un- freezing, allowing dormant plans for Southeast Washington to move forward. Foundry Lofts was able to restart after the D.C. Housing Finance Agency provid- ed $47.7million in bond financ- ing, backed by the Treasury De- partment. Much of Southeast’s prime wa-


terfront sites are under varying degrees of planning and con- struction. Sit-down restaurants, high-end apartment buildings and fully stocked Class A office space is still years, if not decades, away. The proposed redevelop- ment of the historic Boilermaker Shop, behind the U.S. Depart- ment of Transportation’s head- quarters and set to house a hand- ful of restaurants and a jazz club, is just a shell. But its developers say the opening of Yards Park, a stone’s throw from Nationals sta- dium, is a small but notable mile- stone. “It’s a great first step, one we feel can anchor the whole devel- opment,” said Ramsey Meiser, Forest City Washington’s senior vice president. At its core, Forest City is at-


tempting to convert several cen- tury-old brick industrial build- ings near the stadium and on the site of the former Southeast Fed- eral City — including work sheds and water pump houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places — into 42 acres of office buildings, retail outlets and apartments. The trick now, Stevens said, is


to attract young urban profes- sionals and empty-nesters, with promises of future shopping and grocery stores, including a Harris Teeter, and the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a “great new opportunity that will look like a steal a few years from now.” In December, Ed and Deanna


Chabay moved to Capitol Quar- ter, a new townhouse community with homes starting at $600,000, from Manassas. With the couple’s two children leaving home for college, the Chabays down-sized, trading in a 3,100-square-foot house on 21


⁄2 acres for a two-


bedroom townhouse near Ed’s engineering job at theNavy Yard. “We’ve been season ticket hold- ers with the Nationals when they first came to town, and this neighborhood is so different and so close to everything,” said Cha-


bay, 43, who regularly walks to church and local eateries. “We’ve been watching the transforma- tion from our rooftop terrace and it’s just exciting. You can feel the energy of this place picking up.” In 2007, about 1,000 people lived in the apartment buildings that surrounded many of South- east’s offices. That figure jumped to 3,200 people last year before leveling off in 2009 as rental and condo buildings filled up, accord- ing to Capitol Riverfront plan- ners. About 35,000 people work in the “Near Southeast” neigh- borhood. Second-quarter statis- tics of Southeast’s residential properties show that most build- ings have occupancy rates of 90 percent or higher. But next year is not expected to


be particularly kind to devel- opment plans on the water. Development had also stalled along Southwest Washington’s waterfront, a concrete-heavy product of 1960s urban renewal long defined by high-rise apart- ment blocks, federal office build- ings and modern-looking town- houses and churches. At a cost of $1.5 billion, South- west builders are planning to turn 26 acres along Maine Av-


JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST


enue SW into three hotels, 800 apartments and condominiums, new offices, a marina, under- ground parking and a mile’s worth of parks and promenades looking out onto the Washington Channel. In three parts, the in- tersection of Fourth and M streets SW will be the “neighbor-


OBITUARIES A LOCAL LIFE: MADELEINE RIZIK CURY, 89


adeleine R. Cury grew up in old Washington — where ladies wore white gloves to debutante balls and were introduced to society dressed in gowns that, more than likely, came from the boutique co- founded by her father at the turn of the century: Rizik Brothers. The Riziks were Lebanese im-


migrants who got into the fash- ion business selling imported lace from France and Italy to Washington dressmakers. In 1908, the brothers opened a three-story dress shop on F Street NW. Salesmen in formal cutaway coats escorted ladies arriving by carriage past marble columns and cherry-wood accessories cases into large dressing rooms


A legacy of catering to D.C.’s fashion elite M


by T. Rees Shapiro


with cushy love seats. The shop catered to an elite set, and women who visited the Ri- ziks were treated to a genteel ex- perience, in which clothes were brought to the relaxing customer. First ladies Eleanor Roosevelt and Mamie Eisenhower bought dresses at the store for White Ho- sue state dinners, and British roy- alty visited during trips toWash- ington. Orders were often deliv- ered to mansions around the city by bicycle. Eventually the business moved to Connecticut Avenue and L Street NW, where the store ech- oed with the splashes of a large fountain that had plump goldfish swimming in it, while bowls of fresh flowers scented the dress- ing rooms. The business, now called Ri- zik’s, is in its 102nd year of opera-


tion, and as a purveyor of high fashion is still run by the family. Mrs. Cury, 89, who died Aug. 13 at her home in Purcellville after a stroke, spent much of her life working at the family boutique. As the eldest daughter, Mrs.


Cury learned the fashion trade by accompanying her father, A.M. Rizik, on trips to Manhattan to buy dresses wholesale. Later Mrs. Cury modeled clothes, helped de- sign the store’s window displays and maintained the boutique’s sacred stockroom — only family members and a select group of employees were allowed inside. There was no more fitting oc- casion to present the fine wares offered at Rizik Brothers than at Mrs. Cury’s debutante ball on Dec. 13, 1941. The Washington Post covered the fete at her parents’ home,


“where about a hundred couples danced to the strains of an eight- piece orchestra” underneath “crystal chandeliers ashining with light” until early morning. “In shiny silver lame, glittering


to match her spirits, was she,” The Post reported about Mrs. Cu- ry’s attire. “Sable fur outlined the neck of the gown’s tight fitting bodice; short sleeves made it properly proper; and of course, it had a full swirling skirt.” Madeleine Marie Rizik was born Oct. 24, 1920, in the District. She graduated from the Holton- Arms School, and was a graduate of Briarcliff College in New York. In 1947, she married Dahar Cu-


ry Jr., an Army doctor, in a cer- emony at the Fort Myer Chapel. Embassy officials from Lebanon, Saudia Arabia, Syria and Egypt were present at the wedding,


where Mrs. Cury wore “a trained gown of silver lace over white sat- in,” and carried an “ostrich feath- er fan with streamers of small white orchids,” according to a Post article.


She lived in New York, Virginia and Southern California before returning to Washington in the early 1980s, when she worked as a saleswoman at Rizik’s. She moved to Purcellville in recent years to be closer to family. Her husband died in 1977. Sur- vivors include her children, Val- erie Cury of Purcellville, Joe Cury of Dana Point, Calif., and David Cury of Santa Cruz, Calif.; five siblings, Jacqueline Rizik, Philip Rizik and Denyse Malouf, all of Washington, and Maxine Tanous and Renee Kalil, both of Beth- esda; and four grandchildren. According to a Post profile of


Rizik’s, some of the boutique’s most loyal customers include families that have been shopping there for four generations. While


Yards Park is designed to accommodate as many as 6,000 people for festivals and public events. Southwest Waterfront.


hood center” of Southwest. Seven free-standing buildings will in- clude more than 2.1million square feet of office, residential, retail and parking space. But those carefully hatched plans are “eight to 10 years out, at least,” said Shawn Seaman, PN Hoffman’s project director for the


kravitzd@washpost.com


For more information, Jacqueline DuPree, the intranet editor at The Washington Post, runs the popular JDLand blog about redevelopment in “Near Southeast.”


S


C7


COURTESY OF FAMILY


Madeleine Rizik Cury was the eldest daughter of A.M. Rizik, co-founder of Rizik Brothers.


the store stays true to its roots, some things have changed during its century of operation. New and tailored dresses are


no longer sent out by bicycle mes- senger. Instead, they are hand- delivered by car and driver. shapirot@washpost.com


OF NOTE


Cammie King Conlon Actress


Cammie King Conlon, 76, who jokingly lamented that she was fa- mous for an experience she barely remembered — portraying Scar- lett O’Hara and Rhett Butler’s ill- fated young daughter in the film “Gone With the Wind” — died Sept. 1 of cancer at her home in Fort Bragg, Calif.


PASTORS FOR PEACE VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS


Pastors for Peace members the Rev. Lucius Walker, left, Ellen Bernstein and the Rev. Tom Smith meet with Fidel Castro in 2009.


LUCIUS WALKER JR., 80


Aid group leader helped needy Cubans


The Rev. Lucius Walker Jr., who led an annual pilgrimage of American aid volunteers to Cuba in defiance of the U.S. govern- ment’s nearly half-century trade embargo, died Sept. 7 of a heart attack in New York. He was 80. Rev. Walker headed the non-


profit Pastors for Peace, which since 1992 has taken tons of sup- plies to Cuba via Mexico and Can- ada — everything from walkers and wheelchairs to computer monitors and clothing. Pastors for Peace violates the


embargo by refusing to apply to the U.S. government for permis- sion to export humanitarian goods to Cuba, instead traveling through intermediary countries to deliver supplies donated by people in the United States. Rev. Walker led the last of his 21 relief trips to Cuba in July. Many Cuban Americans crit- icized Rev. Walker as an apologist for Cuba’s communist govern- ment. In response, he said, “The Bible tells us to meet the needs of all who suffer, not just people who happen to be of our own po- litical persuasion.” Pastors for Peace is one of sev- eral groups that take goods to Cu-


ba in open defiance of the em- bargo, which took its current form in February 1962. Most are allowed to leave and return to the United States without incident, although some participants have received letters threatening fines and other sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department. Lucius Walker Jr. was born


Aug. 3, 1930, in Roselle, N.J. He graduated from Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C., in 1954 and four years later received a master of divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Mass. In addition to organizing sup- ply missions, Rev. Walker was founding director of the Inter- religious Foundation for Com- munity Organization and negoti- ated an agreement with Cuban officials allowing dozens of American children from poor areas to study at Havana’s Latin American School of Medicine. As part of that program, Amer-


ican graduates are expected to return to the United States, get medical licenses and provide care in underserved communi- ties.


—From wire and staff reports


At 4, she was cast as Bonnie Blue Butler for her resemblance to her film-screen parents — Vivi- en Leigh and Clark Gable — but her memories of making the epic 1939 Civil War saga were vague, more like “snapshots,” she often said.


She also recalled how director


Victor Fleming had lectured her to remember her lines. He said, “Cammie, I have a daughter your age and all these men here have families, too, that depend on them to work here. They need to feed those children. But if you don’t say your lines, they can’t work,’ ” she told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in 1998. Mrs. Conlon — born Eleanore Cammack King and billed as Cammie King in the movie — said she never flubbed another line. As an adult, she appeared reg- ularly with other actors from “Gone With the Wind” at retro- spectives and events honoring the movie. After “Gone With the Wind,” she had one more role,


Stern’s radio show, died Sept. 3 in a Phoenix hospital after suffering serious injuries in a car crash. He was 60. Mr. Schimmel was a passenger


Aug. 26 in a car driven by his 19- year-old daughter, Aliyah, who was hospitalized in stable condi- tion. His 11-year-old son survived the accident in good condition. Mr. Schimmel, who lived in


Scottsdale, Ariz., was a frequent guest on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and on Howard Stern’s radio show. He starred in a Fox sitcom that was picked up in 2000 but had to be canceled after he learned he had cancer and needed to begin chemotherapy immedi- ately, according to his Web site. Mr. Schimmel, who was born in


COURTESY PHOTO


Cammie King Conlon, with Clark Gable, in “Gone With the Wind.” Commerce.


voicing Faline, who frolics with the title character in another clas- sic, the 1942 Disney film “Bambi.” She had a long public-relations career that included working for the Mendocino Coast Chamber of


THOMAS GUINZBURG, 84 Founding managing editor of the Paris Review


Thomas Guinzburg, 84, who helped found the Paris Review, a celebrated literary journal, and later ran the Viking Press publish- ing house, died Sept. 8 in New York. He had complications from heart surgery. Mr. Guinzburg, a Yale graduate


and World War II veteran, helped launch the Paris Review in 1953 with George Plimpton, who served for nearly five decades as the magazine’s editor until his death in 2003. As one of America’s leading


venues for fiction and poetry, the Paris Review has published work by some of literature’s great stars, including Philip Roth, Jack Ker- ouac and V.S. Naipaul. Mr. Guinzburg served as the magazine’s first managing editor and later as president of its board. He started at Viking Press, the publisher founded by his father, Harold Guinzburg, in 1954, even- tually becoming its president. Pearson, the British conglomer- ate that owns Penguin Books, bought Viking in 1975, and Mr.


Guinzburg left the company in 1978.


Robert Silvers, editor of the


New York Review of Books, served with Mr. Guinzburg on the Paris Review’s board and remem- bered him as a “very strong source of advice and encourage- ment” for young writers. In his later years, Mr. Guinz- burg shifted his attention from literature to philanthropy. He helped form a group of donors called the “Dream Team” at the Society of Memorial Sloan-Ketter-


ing Cancer Center, which grants wishes to adult cancer patients, much as the Make-A-Wish Foun- dation does for children. He also sponsored the “I Have a Dream” Foundation, created to help cover the cost of college tuition for low- income students. Survivors include Victoria An- stead, his companion of the past 15 years; two children from his first marriage to actress Rita Gam; and a daughter from his marriage to Rusty Unger. —Associated Press


Robert Schimmel Comedian


Standup comic Robert Schim- mel, a frequent guest on Howard


New York and was the son of Holocaust survivors, modeled his humor after such comic legends as Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Richard Pryor. His provoca- tive, sexually explicit comedy style was often too graphic for network television. His 2008 memoir, “Cancer on $5 a Day,” chronicled his battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He also suffered a heart attack in 1998 and lost a son to cancer. Mr. Schimmel recently had a Showtime special called “Life Since Then,” which combined his experiences with comedy and sought to raise cancer awareness. —From news services


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