This week on Not So Long Ago, GM sticks with the same block he’s been covering the last couple weeks: Wisconsin and S.

Nowadays, this stretch boasts Baytok Tailors, Talio hair salon, Collins Hospital for Animals and a Starbucks.

Eighteen years ago the space that contains Baytok appears to have been empty (the windows are covered). There is red fretwork in the windows that makes it look like it might have hosted a Chinese restaurant at one point, but that’s a wild guess. By 2004 at the latest, Baytok was already occupying this space.

Next door, 18 years ago the space now occupied by Talio was occupied by, well, Talio. They may be the longest standing business on this block.

Or it could be Collins animal hospital, which was also open next door in 1993.

So to a large extent, other than some design changes, much of this part of this block has stayed very much the same.

That is except for the Starbucks. As covered in an earlier Not So Long Ago, the Starbucks used to be a used car dealership of all things.

The Washington Business Journal reports that Ralph Lauren specialty store RRL (apparently pronounced “Double-R L”) will close this coming weekend. Apparently three different Ralph Lauren stores on Wisconsin is one too much. The vintage-ish store has been open since June 2007. 

GM has never gone to RRL (it’s awfully easy to walk right by the place without even noticing it), but maybe there’ll be specials this weekend to make it worth the first and last visit.

Neither Rugby nor the normal Ralph Lauren store at 1245 Wisconsin will be affected by the closing.

Seen on Wisconsin Ave.:  UglyDolls. Anyone know the correct term for a grouping of UglyDolls? Is it a gaggle? A bevy? A school?

Courtesy of Shorpy.com

The Georgetown Current has a bit more detail on the shocking possibility that gun stores could open in Georgetown. Two things are clearer now: Where they could be and how little the neighborhood can do to stop them. Read more after the jump:

In the wake of the Heller decision, the Zoning Commission issued rules governing the opening of gun stores in the District. They will be allowed in spaces zoned for industrial and “non-neighborhood commercial use” so long as they are more than 300 feet away from residential areas, schools, libraries, churches and playgrounds.

According to the Current, there are a bunch of spaces in Georgetown that meet those requirements. They are those stores immediately around Wisconsin and M St. and those on the south side of M St. from Wisconsin to 29th. In short they include the spaces currently housing:

• Bennetton
• Bannana Republic
• PNC Bank
• Nathan’s
• Lacoste
• Georgetown Tobacco
• Sports Zone
• Bistro Francais
• Starbucks
• Haagen Dazs
• Bodega
• Kiehls
• P&C  Fine Arts
• L’Occitane
• Mr. Smith’s
• Potomac Wine and Spirits
• Innovations Lounge
• Lush
• Annie’s Nails
• Ritz Camera
• News Cafe
• Barnes and Noble
• La Madelene
• La Belle Florist
• Cusp
• Juicy Couture
• Vietnam Restaurant
• Keith Lipert Gallery
• Bobbie Medlin Art
• Micheal Getz
• Georgetown Valet
• Dutch Lady Linens
• Frank Milwee
• Georgetown Pet Boutique
• Ed Chasen Fine Art
• Celine de Paris
• Georgetown Frame Shoppee
• Ann Hand

While plenty of these stores would never house a gun shop (e.g. Barnes and Noble) some are not exactly blue chip stores that wouldn’t get thrown out by a landlord looking to trade a frame shop or a dry cleaner for the only gun shop in northwest D.C.

Which leads to the second point: there does not seem to be much the neighborhood could do if a gun store wished to open in these spaces. According to the Current, a gun store can be opened in these spaces as a matter of right. That means that the decision is not subject to BZA or ANC approval.

Any attempt to open a gun store in Georgetown would face voicerferous opposition. But it appears that a determined party could open a gun store in our neighborhood, and there may not anything we can do to stop it.

For what it’s worth, no one has stepped forward to say they want to open a gun store in Georgetown, but it’s early.

Although widespread bridge and street closures will restrict personal vehicle access, Metrobuses will be allowed to use both and will use special bus-only lanes through Georgetown from Wisconsin Avenue to Washington Circle (23rd Street and Pennsylvania Avenue), for example, bypassing regular traffic.

It’s a little unfortunate that the Washington Post feels the need to explain to its readers where Washington Circle is. But that aside, what they don’t do is say what road will have the bus-only lane. It could be either M St. or K St. Which is it? Find out that and how you might want to get used to the lane for the future, after the jump:

It appears from the inaugural bus corridors map that the bus line in question is the normal 31 bus rather than some ad hoc K St. line. Thus it is M St. and then Pennsylvania Ave. that will have one lane closed to personal cars. A bus-only lane on K St. to Washington Circle would probably be less disruptive. But then again, one bus lane will be just a rain drop to the rest of the street closure tempest that day. Unless you have some dire medically required need to drive that day, you’d be nuts getting behind a wheel.

So why might you want to get used to these lanes? Well, last year DDOT conducted a comprehensive study of Georgetown’s transportation issues. In their final report, the consultants recommended the creation of a bus-only lane on M St. and Wisconsin. See the plans below:

This recommendation was in the “Long Term” category, so don’t expect bus-only lanes within the next five years or so. Eventually though, DDOT may install something along those lines.

GM definitely supports the idea of bus-only lanes. It will speed the 30s and Circulator through Georgetown, and will encourage more Georgetowners and people visiting Georgetown to leave their car at home. Plus, we may eventually get a streetcar on this route. If we had a streetcar with its own lane going through Georgetown, that would cut down significantly on the demand of people to drive here, which would benefit everyone.

The New Social Safeway

As described earlier, the Social Safeway as it currently exists isn’t long for this world. They have put forward a dramatic new design whereby the whole building will be moved up to front Wisconsin. However, Safeway plans to keep the same ingress and egress. DDOT may have something to say about that though. Will there be one or two driveways for Social Safeway, Mark II? More after the jump:

As covered in depth over at GGW, DDOT has adopted a progressive stance towards curb cuts, which are where a driveway crosses a sidewalk. As seen below, Safeway currently has two curb cuts:

Curb cuts in red

Generally speaking, curb cuts are not desirable. They are dangerous because they involve drivers and pedestrians sharing the same space, frequently without any crossing lights. Moreover, they are unsightly and contribute to a sense that “this space is for cars, not people”.

For these reasons, DDOT has taken a newly critical view of curb cuts. As GGW reported, whenever a building is renovated, the landowner needs to reapply to DDOT to maintain any existing curb cuts.

GM supports DDOT’s approach to curb cuts. Many curb cuts proliferated in our city under administrations that were not particularly sensitive to what goes into good urban design. To the extent that construction like Safeway’s offers DDOT a chance to approach the issue anew, it’s wise to take that opportunity since it likely won’t come again for decades.

So that said, should DDOT push a one driveway solution on Safeway? At Tuesday’s ANC meeting, Safeway representatives came to request ANC support in keeping both driveways notwithstanding DDOT’s new approach. Not terribly surprisingly, the ANC passed a motion unanimously in Safeway’s favor.

In GM’s opinion, to simply keep the two driveways as is would be a lost opportunity. The current situation is not preferable. The south driveway is governed by a traffic light that allows only a few cars out at a time (that is unless cars stopped going north of Wisconsin aren’t blocking the exit). The brick wall lining the sidewalk seriously limits visibility for both drivers and pedestrians and there is no signal specifically alerting pedestrians that the cars leaving Safeway have the green light.

The north exit is not much better. The visibility problems continue. Further, there is no traffic signal so most of the time it is only useful for drivers heading north on Wisconsin.

For these reasons, neither of these exits could serve all drivers: taking a left from the north exit is difficult and the south exit would get backed up if it were the only way out.

Keeping the current two exits (with some improvements to visibility) is only really an adequate solution. A complete reengineering of the way traffic flows through Wisconsin, Safeway, and 34th St. is necessary. Ultimately, a well designed traffic system could support a single exit for Safeway (and thus a single undesirable curb cut). Just look at Whole Foods. while it may get backed up a bit more than Safeway, the overall traffic flow is well designed and in the meantime only one curb cut is necessary For that reason, GM recommends that if DDOT does insist on a single curb cut for Safeway that the move be part of a radical redesign of the traffic flow for that intersection. If no radical changes are in the offing, then two exits ought to remain.

One last thought: would it be completely impossible for traffic to be directed behind the British School to Whitehaven? It seems that that would be legally and logistically difficult, but would it be impossible?

1. The Georgetown Mall’s shops were added
2. Several stores were left off simply by mistake
3. The Beatles song is “Baby’s Got Me Locked up in Chains” not “Wrapped”.

With these revisions, the overall stats are not really different (the Georgetown Mall actually has many independent shops, although that may change with Lanier’s Bloomingdale’s proposal). Here is some of the revised data, with some further breakdown: