EVELYN: We are in Logan Circle, which the neighborhood gets its name from.

It's not fair to say that this is the heart of the neighborhood, but I, I would say that this is the lungs.

It's just a great green space, and there's the statue of General John Logan.

Every park needs its little bit of heroistic iconography.

Ours is in the form of this Civil War general who fought on the right side.

He was a Union General.

Development really didn't really take off here until after the Civil War when people like General Logan came and took up residence here.

He and his wife are largely credited with getting Memorial Day started.

Logan Circle is special because it's sort of the first residential neighborhood that you get to once you leave downtown that was a completely residential circle, which is a little unusual here.

Especially compared to Dupont Circle, which is, like, extremely commercial.

The neighborhood when I first moved here was edgy, to be polite.

There were a few businesses around, like a lot of them were African American owned businesses.

Many of the larger, stately mansions had fallen into disrepair and were rooming houses or "sporting houses."

It's just a house of prostitution.

(laughs) So yeah, this was kind of ground central for the sex trade.

Maybe that's when the drug activity entered and, you know, it really started to feel more menacing, uh, than friendly like a neighborhood.

The Logan Circle Community Association formed in the 70s.

Homeowners, um, got impatient with the rampant and brazen prostitution, and also wanted to restore the neighborhood to residential use.

They actually created bumper stickers to put on cars.

Of course, the guy doesn't have any idea his night's activities are broadcast on his bumper.

And, it ultimately worked.

PIXIE: Before I moved here, 14th Street had kind of fallen on hard times.

The city worked really hard to straighten that all that out, and when I came in 2008, um, it was just starting.

There were, you know, if you can believe it, there were no restaurants.

The only place we could go get lunch was at McDonald's on the corner.

This was kind of automotive row in the 30s.

This was a carburetor store and the, the back area was actually a garage and you, they would drive cars right in there.

Um, and when you see the bigger buildings, I think Studio Theater might have been a showroom.

And, apparently, at one point it had a giant elevator that they'd actually put cars on.

So, that's why there are so many big, wonderful spaces.

It's a very interesting neighborhood.

Miss Pixie's is very whimsical and fun and we like to kind of make it a little bit of a, a party atmosphere.

It's just been a really exciting, I think it's 25, almost 26 years.

And it's just a fun place to come hang out.

You know, I've heard people say, "Oh, it's a great place to take a date.

You just come in and wander around and look at things."

I was like, "Oh.

Oh, I like that."

EVELYN: A lot of people wonder if maybe we're a little too vibrant now.

We've become a bit of a poster child for gentrification, which is perhaps fair, but, you know, I think people need to remember that gentrification is the result of policies that were put in place decades ago and have now come to fruition.

And you have to take the good with the bad.

14th and P, I would consider the commercial heart of the neighborhood, but I still say that Logan Circle is the lungs.

(doorbell) Ribbit, ribbit.