04 Jun 2025 5 min read

Living in History

Annapolis, MD

I was born in Washington D.C., our nation's capital – a place rich with history architecture, and artifacts. My niece’s wedding recently brought me back to D.C. and Annapolis, two cities that carry a lot of our country's building blocks as well as a few of my own. Though I visit D.C. on occasion, the last time I remember being in Annapolis was for the graduation of the class of '87 at the Naval Academy. Because my ex attended the Academy, I watched David Robinson receive his degree and then-Vice-President George Bush address the new officers. So imagine my surprise when we walked into the lobby of the Graduate hotel and saw a life-sized painting of Robinson.

Apparently, the "Graduate by Hilton" hotels take on the theme of the culture of their location – so there were ships and midshipmen everywhere. The ballroom was my favorite. Even my keycard featured Napoleon McCallum, who'd played football with my ex back in the day.

We happened to arrive in Annapolis just as this year's graduation was finishing. Roads were blocked and there were midshipmen everywhere as we headed to meet family at lunch then go for some exploring and window-shopping. I was delighted to see that Hats in the Belfry was still in business and had to try on a few fabulous chapeaus.

St John's College Est. 1696, Shiplap House 1715, and more

Though I'd certainly watched the Roots mini-series, the 2002 Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Memorial was new to me. One of the many privileges of my acting career is meeting amazing people and I'd met two generations of Haley's descendants while shooting Flipper in Australia. The memorial of Haley reading to children was thoughtful, showing the importance of storytelling and keeping history alive in our memories.

Like my home of New Orleans, Annapolis is a port town. Both cities feature great seafood, but Marylanders use Old Bay on-and-in everything in the same way that Louisianans use cayenne. Except Marylanders put the spices on the outside of their crabs rather than boiling flavor into the meat the way Louisianans do. The most famous dish is crab cakes and we found the best ones at the Boatyard Bar & Grill. Our server, Joy, was just that – a knowledgeable, fun, hard-working, patient joy.

The wedding was at the Philip Merrill Environmental Center which houses the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The beach ceremony was followed by festivities inside the Platinum-rated energy-efficient structure.

Growing up around D.C. gives you the privilege of having all your childhood field trips take you to museums people fly from all over the world to visit. I didn’t stop inside any of them on this trip, but I did walk The Mall as preparations were being made for the Memorial Day parade the following day .

I used to joke that I’ve spent my entire life in tourist attractions, sitting in traffic behind somebody staring at a map. But I’ve always known what a privilege it is to live in a place that people want to explore. Sharing your city with visitors can be hard, but every place I’ve lived – I’ve wanted to share with others. Even cities like Los Angeles help hold a piece of the textured history of this country. I love being part of the story of film and television. For better or worse, my industry has helped shape the entire globe's perspective on our relatively young country. Bonus points – I got to live in places that were owned by historic icons like Errol Flynn.

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Some of the homes I’ve lived in throughout the country have been 200 or more years old. I currently live in 307-year-old New Orleans and historic homes are common. Preserving my city is so important to me that it's even written into my wedding vows, "I promise to give back and to preserve the culture of New Orleans and to love my city, my home, my team and my Dome with you."

Whether I'm in New York or New Orleans, historic American cities have always fascinated me. They've become so much a part of me that I recently made a documentary about New Orleans. Wasted: Overtourism & the French Quarter has just finished its festival run (winning a couple awards in the process), and we hope to make it available for streaming soon. The documentary shines a light on the beauty of our city's history and culture and explores the balance between the needs of locals and the desires of tourists. Remember, wherever you're traveling – that's also someone's home.