I'm George Worrell.

For more than 30 years, I've been sharing stories that connect people, community, and culture.

Join me as we explor neighborhoods and discover the local businesses, people, and places that help them thrive.

Celebrating local culture, strengthening communities, and connecting people across every neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

This episode of Neighborhoo Favorites is proudly sponsored by Humanities DC.

[music] Welcome back to season three of Neighborhood Favorites.

I am your host, George Worrell.

Today we're back in Mount Pleasant and exploring Shaw.

We're going to check out Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home and Urban Garden Brewhouse.

We're beginning today in Mount Pleasant, Washington, D.C., at an institution that ha given back for over 100 years.

Join me at Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home.

[upbeat music] - ¡Hola!

¿Cómo estás?

- Yes.

- How are you?

- I'm good.

How you doing - Good, good, good, good, good.

Thank you for seeing me today.

And we've heard so much about this beautiful, beautiful facility and look a the floors and look how lovely it is.

I mean, I want to know more about it.

I want to know more about the history.

Although I heard that Abraha Lincoln had his horses stabled here and all of that.

- Like, I want to talk about it.

- Well, I have the best storyteller for you.

- I have Mr.

Steven Nash.

Let me take you to him.

- Oh, perfect.

Okay.

[upbeat music] Wow, this is nice.

Look at all the artwork.

Hello, sir.

- Good to see you.

- Hey, how are you?

- All right.

How are you, George?

- Welcome, welcome to Stoddard.

- Thank you so much.

Thank you for taking the time.

- Yeah, this is awesome to have you here.

- To see me.

You know, I've been in Washington on and off for 30 years.

- Okay.

And I did not know about Stoddard Baptist.

- Yeah, a lot of people don't know about Stoddard.

So we're in this beautifu mansion that was built back in 1850.

And it was built by one of th most premier architects of the time.

- And what I'm seeing is like, you're right in the heart of the neighborhood of Mount Pleasant.

- Yes.

This mansion was the center of Mount Pleasant.

And we are the longest-running, since 1890, Black-owned and Black-run, not-for-profit nursing home.

And the only one in the country, right here in the District o Columbia.

We have our mission, but our value statement is, every person that comes through our door is sacred.

That we're here to take care of someone who's sacred, who has a loved one that is trusting us.

- What are the challenges that you see as a CEO over this great institution?

finding that great employee that fits in our mission, understands our values.

You know, my grandmother use to have a saying about people, about preaching.

She would say that some were called and some just went.

[laughing] - So if you were not doing this what would you do?

- Oh my God.

You know, I'm very spiritual and I listen to the Lord tell me this.

I gave you a gift and you better use it and you better use it for Stoddard.

I've taken that extremely seriously and that's why I've been here since 2001.

And it was a calling, because went just to go for a summer job and I met a resident there.

And he told me, he just met me.

We need young people like you.

And one day you're gonna be in charge of all of this.

- What did you say?

- He said, "Young man, just hang in there.

I can see it all over you."

You know, "This is a summer job," he said, but-- - He saw something in you.

- And you're needed.

- Well, I thank you sir for taking the time.

- Thank you for coming here.

[upbeat music] - I'm excited here to be talking with Courtney Arnold.

What has it meant to you to be here as a resident of Mount Pleasant?

- Well, it's a marvelous community And we were so happy to find it.

You had a resident, a family member who was here.

Why did you choose to come, an what was the decision--why did you want to put your family member in a nursing home?

My mother was visiting me from Missouri, and she was just getting ready to go back to Missouri, and she fell.

She ended up being in th hospital and having hip surgery and she was 94 years old but it just changed her life.

She had always said when she came to visit, "There is a place in your neighborhood."

And she said, "I think I need a little bit more care."

I was nearby, I was close an I could come and see her easily and so we had family here near enough that we could come and visit her every day.

And we came over and we played games and we participated in things.

Wonderful events that they have for all the holidays and the staff was excellent.

I mean, they were so good to us as a family.

And some of the staff members are still here.

In fact, I just had a wonderful conversation with one and we spent a lot of time talkin about my mother because she knew her.

- So this is great.

think--thank you for taking the time to sit down and give me your experience.

- It's been very nice to talk with you.

[music] - Ms.

Quarles, you ar legendary in what you do here.

I want you to tell our audience how you started.

- As the geriatric cosmetologist here in the District of Columbia, the place was so warm and was so welcoming, and I was very glad to be here.

How did you know that' something that you wanted to do?

From a young age in school, I was studying psychology and business at one of the universities, HBCU in Augusta, Georgia.

And so I started doing cosmetology and working on business management.

My first assignment was St.

Elizabeth to understand th concept of residents with some form of dementia, and then Mason's Funeral Home t understand the concept of death and dying.

How are you able to internalize that and still be able to do your job?

Sometimes you have to grieve just like the families do.

You talk to the families and you continue to talk to the families.

Because once you have had that person for so long, that person becomes part of you as well, but you also have to understan that you have quite a few other families too.

And if you let that one take you too low, it will have a terrible effect on you.

So you definitely have to know when to say, "I have to back up a little bi in order to do the job that I'm hired to do."

- Walk us through what th residents expect when they come in to get groomed and to feel good.

My job is to make sure they look good.

And when you look good, you feel good.

You're more apt to go out on outings.

You're more apt to go to rehab.

- I love that.

So it must be inspiring to you.

What is the inspiration?

- My job is to make sure that the resident understands that we are here for them each and every day.

If a resident wants a cup of te at two o'clock in the afternoon and they ask me for that cup o tea, they get that cup of tea.

It's very few of us.

We have residents in long-ter care nursing homes that are on blood thinners.

And you have to be very careful.

You have to know everything about that resident.

And if that resident is on blood thinners, we cannot cut the fingernails.

If that resident is a diabetic, we cannot cut the resident's fingernails.

Only licensed nursing staff ca cut the resident's fingernails.

Because if you nick tha resident nine times out of 10, that resident is gonna have to go out to the hospital to stop the bleeding.

So upstairs when thei resident is on blood thinners, they send them down here t the beauty shop because I don't nick.

[laughing] - I love it.

- So these are some of the things that you have to know when you're working as a certified geriatric cosmetologist and how to properly take care of that resident.

And here at Stoddard, we'r going to take care of each and every one of the residents.

I've enjoyed doing it completely.

And of course it's been over 50 years.

And I don't want to say--it's been about 54 years.

- Okay.

[laughing] - Well, you don't look like it.

It truly looks like it's something you love.

- I do.

- And I think that people feel it.

We feel it in here.

What they say is, keep doing what you're doing.

And we're hoping that someone out there will be viewing and say, "Hey, this is something I want to do, because we need to pass it on."

- And I look forward to some of the young people getting into this field.

I really do.

As long as we're getting older, we're gonna need that service because someone, somewhere, is gonna wake up one morning and say, "I want to look good today, but I'm sick, and I need someone to take care of me, but I want someone to take care of me that knows how."

- I love it.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- You're very welcome.

- We've had a great time a Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home, where they continue thei remarkable legacy of caring for generations.

On to our next spot.

Here we are in Shaw, where everything is developed and created with purpose.

Let's see what's brewing here at Urban Garden Brewhouse.

[upbeat music] Oh my goodness, Eamoni.

- Hi, welcome.

- How are you?

- So good to see you.

- So good to see you.

This looks amazing.

I didn't know it was this huge.

This is fabulous.

- It's Auntie's house.

- Yeah, I am ready to eat, ready to taste, and I'm looking forward to tour.

- Absolutely, let's do it.

- Let's do it.

- All right, yes.

- Wow, so your guests come in and there's this wonderful, wonderful feeling, like how we're walking with these wonderful cocktails.

I have my mocktail and what do you have?

- I have Chamolite.

This was the beer that made it all happen.

So this is my original homebrew recipe that I brewed in my uncle's backyard.

And my aunts, my mom, they al tried it and said they liked it.

And I was like, oh, okay, so I might have a product here.

- Wow.

What was the incentive for yo to say that you wanted to start brewing beer?

- Well, I wanted to brew beer because when I was inspired by the ancient Egyptian practices, beer was originated by women.

So once I found that out, I was like, okay, we gotta bring it back.

And I wanted to see more women, especially women of color involved in this craft beer industry.

'Cause it's not just about the beer, it's about the community that craft beer brings together.

- So let's go further back here.

- So you'll see there's many, many plants, lots and lots of plants.

My aunt, every time she comes, she brings more plants.

Okay.

So next time you come, there will be more We're about to head into one of my other favorite artists in D.C., Philip Arcinell.

So he designed this mural, which we call the Jasmine Wall.

So this whole wall-- so before owning a brick-and-mortar, I was a contract-brewing craft beer brand, where I contracted other production facilities to brew my beer.

So we were all-can distribution.

So this wall is basically an art wall mashup of all of the different can art that we've released prior to owning our brick-and-mortar.

- So people can come and just spread out.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

- The wood tables, look at the length of this bar.

Tell me, you said this was in memory of your grandfather?

- Yes, this space used to be a pool hall.

So that's why you see like the open brick.

This is like from the original pool hall where my grandfather also, he was here.

So this whole room is kind of is dedicated to him and the music that he produced.

If you're familiar with Go-Go.

So he produced the first Chuck Brown album.

And so he's one of the pioneers for Go-Go in D.C.

So we want to have this room.

- Wow, so look, what's against this wall, I like.

- We did an artist competition, a mural competition, and we had thousands of submissions.

We chose Dooga.

Dooga's from North Carolina.

And, yeah, Dooga-- - I like when I hear North Carolina, that's where my parents are from, yeah.

- Yeah, so Dooga came up in one weekend.

He came up on a Thursday, called us on Sunday, and said he was done.

- Wow.

- And when I came in, I just, I was in tears.

So this white line to me represents the journey, the lifeline, the timeline, and it's kind of like you're flowing through this forest, herbs and spices and-- - And all the things that we're experiencing.

- Yeah, and the journey.

bu then here, these are the hands that represent the nurturin of the dream.

And it's just so, it's so beautiful to me.

- Chef Ayris.

- Yes, sir.

- Thank you so much.

I thin it's a privilege to be able to come in your kitchen and see all of these wonderful dishes that you make.

Tell me, what was your star point?

What inspired you to say, "Hey, I want to create"?

- With my grandma making Thanksgiving, and I was captivated by al the food and the family and the galvanation.

And I was like, "I want to do that."

- And that started your road.

Passions overrule, my friend.

Don't you think?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- You know, and that's the purpose of what we do here on Neighborhood Favorites is to go and hear these wonderful stories about doing something that's totally different and then that passion one da hits and it's just like I gotta do this.

But I see one of my favorit dishes in this bowl right here, my brother.

What do we have here?

- Okay, these are my wings.

They're very, very special t me because they're gluten-free wings.

- And what kind of sauce is this?

- So basically, it's an aioli.

So basically, what I did is, w made our own herb oil in house, added a ton of herbs.

- So I'm looking forward to sitting down with Eamoni and having some of your wonderful food.

I am excited to have some food.

This looks so well - Absolutely.

- I commend you.

Thank you for having me in your kitchen, my friend.

- Thank you, sir.

- All right.

Eamoni, I feel at home I feel like I'm at your house.

And this is amazing to be welcomed by my favorite dish.

Wow.

And these wonderful mocktails.

You have an amazing story of being a Washingtonian, being a woman of color and having a dream and of entrepreneurship.

And tell me a little bit about what was the motivation for you to say, this is my dream, I wanna be here.

- Being motivation for others, because I started from like, what you will call the bottom up, I just hope that like, I can pursue a journey that will inspire and uplift others.

- That's the best way.

So your career as, you know, working in restaurants, did that kind of lead the pathway to here too?

So you knew how to run a restaurant, you knew what kind of restauran that you wanted to have, right?

- Yes.

So I always had the entrepreneurial spirit.

So when I embarked on my journey into the hospitality, food, beverage industry, I started as a runner, a host, a server, a bartender, events manager, manager, and you know, to owner.

And that took, like, 13-plus years of experience.

- And coming every day and just learning.

- Coming every day and learning.

- I love that.

So I don't wan these chicken wings to get cold.

Tell me what we have here.

Lik the fried chicken--we were just with Chef Ayris.

On top of it, you know, you probably come from this place here that food is love.

And when you make it with love, you feel it, you see it.

And that's what I see here.

I'm specifically born and raised in DC.

Chef grew up here, and we used to go to the carryout.

And in the carryout, you alway get the whole wings with mumbo sauce.

It is like just a thing her that we used to do after school.

So we wanted to have some sens of like nostalgia on the menu, but then as you can see, it's a little elevated.

We have it with the garden sauce, the herb oils, and we have the Urban Bowl.

So this is another twist on like our comfort food.

Dirty rice is something that, you know, we had, you know, in the house.

We'll whip it up.

- Talk amongst yourselves.

I'm like, this is really good.

- And then we have our dessert, our funnel cake bites.

This is also nostalgia.

And I just was--Chef, I was like, we have to have a funnel cake o the menu.

It's just such a fun, nostalgic dish.

- So we have our bourbon-infused peaches, our strawberry compote.

- If you can taste the flavor and not just the sugar, this is really, really good How do you feel about that every day that you come in to say, "I have the keys to this, and I have the opportunity of being in the community and serving the community" How do you feel when you come in every day?

- I literally feel like home, like every day.

I grew up in this space.

I've worked in this space.

The space helped motivate my passion for craft beer.

So every time I walk in, I'm just like, I feel like a breath of fresh air.

Like I belong here.

Like this was supposed to happen.

And the people who are here wit me are also supposed to be here as well.

And I couldn't have been here without my family and my community and my friends.

It just feels like very blessed.

I just feel blessed.

- It's just welcoming.

And what I love is, we have mocktails here.

So can you tell me what we have here?

- All of our mocktails are infused with adaptogen types of like herbs.

So we have Miss Basil.

This one was named after me.

'Cause when I used to work here, they used to call me Basil.

So this one has lion's mane.

Every syrup that's in these mocktails were handcrafted by our beverage director.

So we have a pandan syrup.

That one has the maca in it and toasted coconut flakes.

- Oh, I gotta bring a friend here.

He loves coconut and pineapple.

And I can taste the pineapple.

- We have the Mint Condition.

- And how did you come up with the name for the-- because I think of the group Mint Condition.

- our beverage director He came up with all the names.

He came up with the flavors.

What I enjoy about this space is that like, I really allow the people in this space-- - To develop it.

- They develop, and they come up with their own ideas and passions and creativity that reflects the space.

That's the key to success, because if you think that you can do everything, then yo really don't need other people.

Yeah.

So it is, I think, it's a good business model t get creative people to come in and let them be them and explore, because it enhances the business.

- Yes, it does, and I'm proud of the team.

- Also, while we're sitting here, I feel a sense of community when I come.

You're here on T Street, next to the Howard Theatre.

All of these things are iconic and legendary to people of color.

How does it feel for you to be in this community, serving the community on a daily basis?

How was that for you?

- I feel honored, I would say, and so I was, like, warml welcomed into this neighborhood.

And I just feel honored to be able to have a space that people have access to, you know.

We do more than just again, serve beer, alcohol and food, like we're a space for people to also showcase their own art.

- We were here earlier and I was able to meet one of the artists, and everybody just seems happy, right?

And so when you feel it, it exudes.

So when your guests come in, they feel like they're at home.

If we're talking and people are looking, like, yes, this is wonderful, this is-- what challenges do you think that you face?

Because it's not all, you know, just glamorous and lovely.

As a woman of color owning this wonderful restaurant what do you think that you face, or just in the restaurant industry, that you face on a daily basis that you are able to share with us and then look at the remedy for it?

- So that's a great question.

So craft beer specifically--so we are a craft brewery, so we do brew on site, and-- Black-owned businesses make up 2% of the craft beer industry nationally.

And it's so sad to say this, but D.C.

has the highest rate of breweries, and it's only two of us.

- Okay.

- So it's crazy.

So it's a huge gap in representation and also beverage that is marketed to certain types of demographics and consumers.

So for me, being Black in beer is one challenge.

Being a woman in beer is another challenge.

Being Black and a woman is its own monster.

And I think the challenges were mostly like having to, either, one, prove you deserve to be in the space that you are in You're literally in this space, and people are still like, "Oh, wait, where's the owner?"

And they're like, "It's me."

Or becoming a spectacle.

So I've been in craft beer conferences, festivals, where it was less about the beer, the product, the real issue of the disparities, and more like, "The Black girl who brews beer.

She's Black, she's Black, she's Black."

[laughing] It's like, okay, you know so it's-- - How do you balance that?

So do you--you don't internalize it?

You just-- well, one, you keep moving forward, right?

That's one.

And then you're spreading th word and hopefully people that are watching, young Black women, women, are saying, "Okay, there is someone out there doing this.

I've never thought of this.

I've never heard this."

Is that how we're going to be able to combat that?

- Yeah, so I think one is, like you said, you have to keep showing up but the more people who show up that look like you, it changes the landscape.

So now--and I can, you know, can cry--but the opening of this space, it didn't feel like all of one demographic.

It wasn't all black, it wasn't all white.

It was everybody.

- Everybody.

It was a community.

- It was a community, and it didn't feel like a spectacle.

It felt like--it just felt right.

So I think that is one of th things that we can do is to just keep being visible.

And when you get in these type of spaces, bring the others up.

- So that's encouraging, 'cause it's such a wonderful space.

Well, thank you for having us today.

- Thank you, cheers.

- Thank you.

Cheers to you.

Much success.

Thank you for joining us toda as we visited Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home and Urban Garden Brewhouse, two organizations creating community in very different ways, but equally meaningful.

Join us next time as we go to Buzzard Point to check out D.C.

Centra Kitchen and Dreaming Out Loud.

I'm your host, George Worrell.

We'll see you next time on Neighborhood Favorites.

[upbeat music]