The strangest thing Pixie Windsor ever sold was a stuffed cat.
“I was like, oh, my god, I can’t believe I sold a dead cat,” laughs the longtime proprietor of Miss Pixie’s Furnishings & Whatnot. “But it was early on, when I wanted to be just as weird as I could possibly be. Selling that cat — I mean, that guy moved to New York, and every once in a while he’ll send me a picture. He goes, ‘Fred is still around.’ I think his story was [that] he always wanted a pet but didn’t want to have to take care of it, so there you go!”
Pixie adds she also “sold the big taxidermied groundhog that they used for the Groundhog Day celebration at Dupont Circle.” She has long since moved away from selling stuffed animals at her antique store, known for its eclectic tchotchkes, offbeat art, and gorgeous vintage furniture sourced from regional auctions and estate sales.
After a rent hike forced her to close her huge 14th Street shop in 2022, Pixie relocated to a smaller, more manageable space in Adams Morgan. Now, after 28 years in business, the 65-year-old is preparing to close up for good and settle gently into a less hectic life.
She’s got it all planned out, too. She’s bought a “nice little house in the middle of nowhere” in Denton, Maryland, where she’ll live with her sister, ten years her elder. Pixie plans to keep a toe in the vintage game by selling “five or ten pieces every Monday” on Instagram. “I’ll come to D.C. once or twice a month and just deliver it to people’s houses like I did during COVID — which was really funny, just dropping a chair off at somebody’s front door.”
The current store will close with a public farewell party on Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31.
“I didn’t want it to be a sad occasion,” Pixie says. “I just wanted to go out with a laugh, no tears at all. So I was like, ‘Let’s just pick Halloween. How can Halloween be sad?’ It’s going to be goofy — we’re having Tarot card readers.”
The space’s new occupant will also be a vintage seller — Garlic Girl. “I’ve already seen her merchandise. Great, great stuff. She’s young — probably in her 20s or 30s — and I’m so happy to pass the torch at this point.”
Pixie has enjoyed her few years in the smaller space, but recalls fondly the 14th Street days. “My landlord gave me freedom to do art shows and crazy theater things. We just kind of ran with it and did so many events. We had weddings, we had memorial services, we did whatever we wanted with that big space — and I got to sell a lot of furniture.”
When I tell her that one of our critics has a table from her store, Pixie laughs (she laughs often, even on her voicemail greeting). So many Washingtonians own a piece from Miss Pixie’s, you could almost say she’s left bits of her personality scattered throughout the city.
“It’s so lovely to be part of so many people’s lives,” she says. “Over the last two months, since I announced the closing, everyone’s like, ‘I have this from you, and I have this from you.’ I’m so excited that there were customers who love what I love. I have wacky taste, and everyone really supported me in that.
“It’s really wonderful to be part of people’s lives, to know that something from Pixie’s made their homes cozy. It’s very sweet. I couldn’t have dreamed of a better career.”
Miss Pixie’s Furnishings & Whatnot will close with a public farewell party on Friday, Oct. 31, from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1830 Columbia Rd. NW in Adams Morgan. The event is open to all and will feature music, tarot card readings, and plenty of laughs. Visit misspixies.com or call 202-232-8171. Follow @misspixiesdc on Instagram for updates and post-retirement finds.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating an assault in Logan Circle in which a man allegedly threatened violence against a passerby in what may have been a hate crime.
The incident happened around 10:30 a.m. on September 15 at 14th and R Streets NW. Police say the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Marshall Baxter, jumped in front of the victim -- a neighborhood resident -- and swung his fists, narrowly missing them.
According to an MPD press release, Baxter, who has no fixed address, allegedly shouted a homophobic slur at the victim.
A federal judge has ordered Ruby Corado to be held in custody while she awaits sentencing on a federal wire fraud charge. The founder of the now-shuttered D.C. LGBTQ nonprofit Casa Ruby pleaded guilty in July 2024 and had been under house arrest at her niece's home in Rockville, Maryland, while awaiting sentencing.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden postponed Corado's October 15 sentencing hearing after Elizabeth Mullin, her court-appointed public defender, withdrew from the case, citing "an irreconcilable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship."
At 56, I've seen plenty. Never, of course, have I seen the federal government so batshit bonkers, so desperate to assert itself into every nook and cranny of American life, from the critical to the comical. Take that, Colbert and Kimmel! Gotcha, plaque mentioning Transgender participation at the Stonewall Inn! We're gonna get you, sandwich guy!! We're deporting Bad Bunny! To… ahem… Puerto Rico?
What do you call this clinical level of desperation? Stephen Miller.
We've got masked federal goons playing tough in cities far and wide. Are these Proud Boys? Oath Keepers? Three Percenters? Quite likely, but who the hell knows? Aside from Kristi "Canine Killer" Noem, Tom (sub)Homan, and their colleagues, presumably.
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