The Barcroft Apartments on Columbia Pike (via Arlington County)
Arlington County Board members and advocates were split this weekend on how many units at the Barcroft Apartments should be set aside for Arlington’s lowest-income earners.
Two years ago, the county and Amazon loaned $150 million and $160 million, respectively, to developer Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners to purchase the aging garden apartment complex, located on 60 acres near the corner of S. George Mason Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive.
Police on scene of robbery at the Clarendon Metro station (staff photo)
Two men could be seen in handcuffs near the Clarendon Metro station this afternoon, after a reported robbery that left one person injured.
Initial reports suggest the robbery happened inside the Metro station just before 1 p.m. Police converged on the scene amid 911 calls about a pair of suspects in ski masks running through Clarendon following the robbery.
The concrete spheres and steel poles of Dark Star Park create more than a striking sculpture. Photo by Elman Studios.
Visitors gather each year to witness the annual Dark Star Park Day alignment. Photo by Elman Studios.
Dark Star Park in Rosslyn, designed by artist Nancy Holt, was created to connect art, time and place. Photo by Elman Studios.
Every year, for just a few minutes, one of Arlington’s most iconic works of public art comes to life exactly as its artist intended.
On Saturday, Aug. 1, at approximately 9:32 a.m., visitors will gather in Rosslyn to witness the annual shadow alignment at Nancy Holt’s Dark Star Park (1979–84). At that precise moment, the shadows cast by the sculpture’s spheres and poles align with permanent shadow forms embedded in the ground—a phenomenon Holt designed to commemorate the anniversary of Rosslyn’s founding.
The alignment lasts only a few moments, but it has become a beloved Arlington tradition, drawing residents, visitors, artists and architecture enthusiasts alike to experience the intersection of art, astronomy, and history. If the weather cooperates, the park transforms into a striking demonstration of how light, time and place can become part of a work of art.
Created between 1979 and 1984, Dark Star Park was Arlington’s first County-commissioned public artwork and remains one of the nation’s earliest examples of integrated public art—where sculpture, landscape architecture and the surrounding environment function as a single work. Rather than placing an object within a park, Holt made the entire park the artwork, incorporating spheres, pools, steel poles, tunnels, earthworks and carefully positioned plantings into an immersive landscape.
Nancy Holt (1938–2014) was a pioneering artist whose work spanned poetry, film, photography, land art and large-scale public sculpture. Throughout her career, she explored perception, time and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Dark Star Park remains her most significant urban installation and one of the few major works by the artist that can be experienced in an accessible city setting.
Whether you’ve attended for years or have never visited before, Dark Star Park Day offers a rare opportunity to experience a public artwork that changes with the movement of the sun—and reminds us that some of the most memorable moments in art happen not inside a museum, but out in the world around us.
Dark Star Park Day
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, beginning around 9 a.m.; shadow alignment at approximately 9:32 a.m. Where: Dark Star Park, 1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Rosslyn
Pupatella in South Arlington (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Arlington’s Pupatella has been recognized by an international pizza ranking guide as one of the premier pizza chains worldwide.
The Italy-based guide 50 Top Pizza gave Pupatella and a few dozen other notable pizza chains special mention alongside its “50 Top World Artisan Pizza Chains 2023” list, an annual selection of the best pizzerias in the world.
Police officer conducts traffic stop during ACPD's November 2023 Street Smart campaign in Courthouse (staff photo by James Jarvis)
Expect more cops on Arlington roads through New Year’s Day.
As part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign — tagline this year: “Drink and drive and you’ll see more than holiday lights” — Arlington County police have increased patrols through Jan. 1.
Gun caught by TSA officers on Dec. 15, 2023 at National Airport (photo courtesy TSA)
The banner year for gun confiscations at Reagan National Airport is continuing.
TSA agents stopped not one, not two, but three guns from being brought onto planes in carry-on baggage this past Friday. The three separate incidents — involving men from Rockville, Md.; Georgia; and Stafford, Va. — are not related, the TSA said.
Rain and umbrellas and holiday lights in Shirlington (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Teen Arrested for Green Valley Shooting — “The Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit is announcing an arrest in the shooting that occurred on December 9, 2023, at S. Kemper Road and S. Oxford Street.” [ACPD]
Creepy Gingerbread Man Mystery — “Imagine sitting down for dinner with your family, and you get a Ring notification. You check the camera, but it’s not a delivery person or a neighbor, it’s a gingerbread man. That is exactly what happened to one Arlington family who lives along N George Mason Drive on Wednesday.” [WUSA 9]