The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m swinging down to the waterfront. The photo, from the DC Historical Society archives, shows “a group of fishermen” at a boathouse on the water, across from Analostan Island (the old name for Roosevelt Island). The photo is dated to 1921.

There’s not much more I can add, really. The scene is fairly ramshackle, which is what the waterfront was like for most of its existence. There were docks and warehouses, shanties and boathouses, just like these humble structures.

At least that’s all I thought I could add until I took a closer look at the photo’s record. It mentions that the photographer was J. Harry Shannon, who wrote as “the Rambler” in the Sunday Star newspaper from 1912 to 1927. Armed with that info, I dove into the Library of Congress’ newspaper archive and found the photo:

It’s from April 10, 1921. You can read it here. It was part of a surprisingly long series he was writing on the history of Analostan Island and the Columbia Athletic Club, which maintained a clubhouse on the island at the time. This particular article is more of the same, with a fittingly rambling account of a rowing regatta in August 1888 that was interrupted by a sudden storm that threatened to drown the boaters. It seems no one died, thankfully.

The article goes on to describe the various rowing clubs along the river, including Columbia, Analoston, and Potomac Boat Club. Even then Potomac Boat Club was spoken of as the old man of the river, having already existed over 60 years.

As for the picture itself, its connection to the article appears to tangential. It’s labeled “Some of the Rambler’s Friends at Reynold’s Boathouse.” That’s a bit different from the label in the DCHS file, which claims they’re “fishermen”. I would guess that to the extent they’re fishermen, it was more of a pastime not a profession.

Reynold’s Boathouse appears to have been located just upriver from the Aqueduct Bridge and was run by Captain William Reynolds. It seems to have specialized in renting out boats and selling fishing supplies to anglers. It’s mentioned in this 1912 piece describing old Washington fishing holes:

And just for fun, here’s the photo colorized:

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s your weekly news round-up:

• Friends of Rose Park holding their gala at the Alsop House.
• Nice review of the new Alfie’s restaurant.

New architectural plans are in this month for Old Georgetown Board review. As is usually the case that also includes plans that include new stores. This month it’s two stores I haven’t reported on previously.

The first, above, is Adriana Hoyos (not Hoyas) at 3328 M St. It’s an expensive furniture store that will fit in perfectly at Cady’s Alley, where it’s going (or perhaps has already open?)

The next store is Spicewalla, going in to 1317 Wisconsin Ave. It’s a spice store, which is genuinely a refreshing change from what we normally get! We haven’t had a proper spice store since the spice store one Wisconsin south of M closed a while back. So welcome!

A Hulu show will be shooting some scenes around Georgetown next week. The crew’s rep won’t say exactly what show it is, but based on the few things they did say (Hulu show shooting its third and last season) I can confidently say it’s Paradise.

The scene will be shooting a car driving around west Georgetown. There’s even a map:

The scenes are modern day, so there’s no need bring in old fashioned cars. There will be some no parking for a day or so, but most cars can stay. So if you want your car to maybe get a split second of Hulu exposure, park your car on O st. next week.

Speaking of movies filmed in Georgetown, here’s an article I wrote a while back about some of the more notable films shot here:

To compensate for the fact that no clips of Georgetown made it into the first trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 (despite lots of filming here) GM thought he’d take the opportunity to run through some of the other notable movies filmed in Georgetown.

The Exorcist – 1973

Arguably the most famous movie filmed in (and about) Georgetown, The Exorcist still brings tourists to those iconic steps. The movie itself is a treasure trove of scenes of Georgetown in the early 70s:

Notice how much shorter the trees are here compared with today.

And of course the famous house next to the steps. The whole left side of the house in this photo was just a set built for the movie in order to have a window of the house open out right to the steps.

St. Elmo’s Fire – 1985

Close behind The Exorcist in terms of famous Georgetown movies is St. Elmo’s Fire. GM wrote about it awhile back and here are some of the outdoor scenes shot around the neighborhood:

The Man With One Red Shoe – 1985

The exact same year another film was released with a notable Georgetown locale: The Man With One Red Shoe. Despite having a red hot young Tom Hanks fresh from Splash and Bachelor Party, the film was a box office failure. GM wrote about that one even further back. Here are some notable shots:

No Way Out – 1987

This Kevin Costner movie is famous for depicting the non-existent Georgetown Metro Stop, which was actually just the southwest corner of the Georgetown Park Mall:

The movie also has a couple other scenes shot around Georgetown:

A Few Good Men – 1992

This movie shot a couple scenes on Dent Place:

The money given by the production helped establish the Dent Place Association, a community group that sadly is no more.

Georgetown also has a brief cameo in Wedding Crashers, Burn After Reading, and True Lies. Any other notable movies?

A new doggy daycare/dog training location is apparently coming to 1723 Wisconsin Ave. The facility appears to be called Glover Bark, and from the signage will offer traiing, boarding, and doggy daycare.

The sign lists a website connected with Scott Dancer, a Glover Park-based dog walker and trainer. That, of course, brings up one funny angle in all of this: Is this the first time something located in Georgetown is trading on the Glover Park name? Forever there have been plenty of the reverse situations, the most notable being that the Whole Foods in Glover Park for many years called itself the Georgetown Glover Park. Perhaps it says something that not only does the Whole Foods now embrace the Glover Park name but a business in Georgetown now also claims it!

To be fair, this stretch of Wisconsin Ave. has previously confused people about what neighborhood it’s actually in. It’s squarely within the boundaries of the Georgetown historic district, and it was within the boundaries of the municipality of Georgetown prior to its disolution:

The only other time I’ve seen this sort of reversal was when we had the short-lived Burleith-Glover Park farmers market at Hardy, which is also squarely in Georgetown.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s your weekly news round-up:

• Georgetown’s Art All Night is this Saturday night.
• The Four Seasons bar got a revamp at a very Four Seasons price of $1.5 million.

The forthcoming Book Hill Park renovations will begin next week and will cause the park to be temporarily closed starting Monday. The final presentation describing the renovation is below, but in short the work will restore the steps and benches, add lighting for safety and bring a new water spout down to the bottom of the hill.

It’s nice to see a renovation come together so quickly. The first public meeting was last October, where the planners proposed a group of ambitious changes for the park, including the construction of a new terrace. But most of the people interested in the park weren’t terribly interested in those changes and the planners trimmed it back accordingly. The final plans were presented last spring, and were well received. The work should be done in a couple months.

Here is the final presentation:

Sure the United States of America finally reached the passé age of 250 this year. Bo-ring! Your neighborhood reached the much classier age of 275 this year. Time to celebrate!

The Citizens Association of Georgetown is throwing a party to mark the occasion September 17th at the City Tavern. That’s an incredibly fitting location for such a party, as the City Tavern is itself 230 years old and served an important role in Georgetown during the first years of the new District of Columbia. Come to the party and you’ll be getting tipsy within the same walls that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams tossed back a few.

Tickets are available here. Special events like this are a great opportunity to keep the spirit of Georgetown as its own small city alive. I hope you can make it!

The prodigal son has returned: Dolcezza gelateria is coming home to Georgetown. Signs up at 1300 Wisconsin Ave. now announce the store’s return scheduled for this winter. (Sorry for the poor photo with the car blocking the shot.)

Dolcezza was founded in Georgetown in 2004 and operated at 1560 Wisconsin Ave. for many years. Even as the store opened other locations, it continued to actually make the gelato in the basement of its original location. But as the chain took off like a rocket opening multiple fancy locations across the District and beyond, the original spot was somewhat left behind and finally closed in 2018 to my great chagrin.

By 2019, the chain had nine locations, including a massive production facility in Union Market which opened in 2014 and replaced the tiny cramped Georgetown basement. But the double whammy of perhaps an over expansion coupled with Covid led the chain to trim five locations in late 2020.

But they are back to expanding, with a new location on H St. NE opened earlier this year. And now they are finally ready to come home.

When they left Georgetown I spoke with their retail broker who was hopeful they’d be back soon at a more busy location. Wisconsin and N is definitely a lot busier. So hopefully this homecoming will stick.

As for the building they left, it has seen a series of restaurants open and sadly fail. Fingers crossed for the newest entrant, Delhi Belly, but its success would be a surprise frankly. The location is simply not particularly well suited to a restaurant, except, ironically, for a gelato or ice cream shop.

So I took my annual August break from the Georgetown Metropolitan, and it sure seems that I missed a ton of stuff!

Here is my attempt to summarize all the notable openings and closing in Georgetown since late July:

• Donsak Thai — 3251 Prospect St. (former Mai Thai space). Soft opening in August.
• Bombas — 1400 Wisconsin Ave. (the former Dolce Vita). Opened Aug. 14. (another DTC to bricks-and-mortar!)
• Café Tulúm — 3210 Grace St. NW. Mexican tacos, tostadas, oysters and ceviche.
• Flavor Hive — 3287½ M St. NW. Halal chip bags and rice bowls. Opened Aug. 27.
• Uniqlo — 3262 M St. NW (opened in the old J.Crew space). Opened Aug. 28.
• 7th Street Burger — 1424 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Reopened after renovations.
• Ciao Bella Nail Salon — 1436 Wisconsin Ave. NW (formerly Casabella Salon). New ownership.
• Delhi Belly — 1560 Wisconsin Ave. NW Finally opened a couple weeks ago.

Here are some announced newcomers but that haven’t opened yet:

• Alfie’s — 1228½ 31st St. NW (Congress Court alley). Northern Thai restaurant and natural wine bar from chef Alex McCoy. set to open Sept. 2.
• Kith — 3040 M St. NW (next to Barnes & Noble). Cult sneaker/streetwear brand, also plans a Kith Treats cereal bar.
• Pop Mart — 3221 M St. NW (former Barbour). The company that sells the infamous Labubus that kids are obsessed over
• Edikted — 3135 M St. NW (former Allbirds). Teen girl clothes.
• Flora Pizzeria — Congress Court alley, next to Alfie’s. From Pluma/Bluebird Bakery.
• Bizzeria — 3246 Prospect St. NW. Wood-fired pizza and natural wine from Yellow’s Michael Rafidi.
• Meermin — 3001 M St. NW. Spanish handcrafted footwear.
• Hill House Home — 1338 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Known for Nap Dresses.
• East Fork Pottery — 1313 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Fall opening.

That’s a lot to miss!