Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Georgetowners like Evans a lot more than they like Gray.
- Great story about Georgetown family businesses staying in the family.
Monthly Archives: October 2011
The Morning Metropolitan
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Georgetown Bootlegger Honored By Ken Burns
Vodpod videos no longer available.
The other night, during part II of Ken Burns fantastic documentary on Prohibition, the camera turns to M St. and the story of Paul Ward, a bootlegger.
The clip shows a photo of the Thomas Sims Lee corner at 30th and M. But that’s not necessarily where the activity took place, since the basement of those buildings doesn’t go out to the alley. There are, however, a bunch of buildings down on the west end of M St., including Cady’s Alley, where that is the case. Either way, what a great story.
The series itself was absolutely fantastic, with photography and film from the period as captivating as we’ve come to expect from Burns’ work. If you missed it, watch the whole thing right here.
Here’s another clip of Donald Ward telling an even better story from his dad, which kicked off the episode:
Vodpod videos no longer available.GM really, really wishes he knew Donald Ward, he seems like he’s got a lot of great stories.
Filed under History
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by qspeaks.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- New student center planned.
- A bit more information on the bright future of Scheeles.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
ANC Round Up: Kissing Up Edition
Last year, Georgetown voted overwhelmingly for Adrian Fenty (84%) over Vincent Gray (14%) for mayor. And by most accounts, Jack Evans is somewhat on the outs with Gray for supporting Fenty. But you wouldn’t know either of those two things by attending last night’s ANC meeting.
In a rare occurrence, the mayor stopped by ANC2E’s meeting last night. He was introduced as some length by Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (who does stop by ANC meetings once or twice a year). Despite the reported chilliness between the two politicians, last night it was all warmth.
And maybe it was simply out of respect for the office, but the crowd was similarly warm to Gray despite not voting for him, even giving him two standing ovations. Bygones were bygones last night.
As for the substance, GM posted the audio below if you want to listen, but in summation it was basically a typical stump-like speech touting the budget that was passed and some of his accomplishments in expanding universal pre-K and limiting special education costs, among other things.
But this being ANC2E, it wouldn’t be a community event without the issue of students being put to the forefront. But on this occasion, it was actually the students doing the pushing. Two students stood and asked a question during the mayor’s Q&A. The first asked him to weigh in on the controversial ANC redistricting. Gray punted, but then Evans stood up and basically explained the process that occurred and how it was open to everyone who wanted to participate. The message between the lines was “hey, you didn’t get enough people on the committee to draw the map as you wanted, so that’s why you’re disappointed.” Continue reading
Filed under ANC
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Update on potentially bad news from yesterday: hopefully Scheele’s will remain open.
- In East Village market news: the Georgetowner gets more details on Jamie Stachowski’s new butcher shop to replace Griffin Market. GM hopes they also offer prepared foods like Griffin did.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Not So Long Ago: Wisconsin and Prospect
Vodpod videos no longer available.
This week for Not So Long Ago, in honor of the new iPhone 5 that probably will be announced this week, GM stops by the Apple store.
Nowadays this stretch of Wisconsin Ave. hosts Ann Taylor Loft, the Apple store, and Nine West. GM can’t make out what was in the Ann Taylor Loft. It appears that there was a store called “Black and White” on the upper floors.
As for the actual Apple store address itself, there stood a building that Apple knocked down to build its store. GM believes that building was built in the 1980s and replaced a parking lot. In 1993, it hosted a diner called Boogies. One commentator described it thusly:
In the early 1990s, there was a branch of Boogies Diner in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC. They tried to sell trendy clothes in a diner atmosphere.
The clothes smelled like grease, and the restaurant area smelled like leather. Suffice to say, the concept did not work.
It lasted less than a year. Enough said.
According to this article, it opened in 1990, so the 1993 photo testifies to at least three years of greasy leather and leathery food. Sometime after 1993, the French Connection UK moved into this space (and occupied it until Apple bought the property). GM’s not sure if anything was in here between Boogies and FCUK, but if there was it probably wasn’t for long.
Finally, on the right in the space where Nine West currently is there was nothing. Continue reading
Filed under Not So Long Ago
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by Jeffrey – D5000.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Carol Joynt reports that Scheele’s might close by the end of November. No word on whether the new landlord plans to bring in a new market.
- On the good news (but not as good as the previous news was bad) Hook has a sign up in its window saying they’ll be open soon.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
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