The Georgetown Metropolitan

Last June I reported that there was a new permit application for a retail cannabis shop at 1658 33rd St. This confused me because there is another licensed cannabis shop at 1641 Wisconsin Ave. Cannabis retail shops are not allowed to open within 400 feet of another licensed cannabis shop. And by a quick look at Google Maps, it’s pretty clear the buildings are well under 400 feet apart:

I complained to ABCA and they duly responded that: “yes, you’re right these properties are too close” and the application was revoked. Here’s the board’s decision on that:

ABCA doesn’t rely on Google Maps, they use the city’s geographic software. But it came to about the same number:

First, how come the application even got this far? Well the board’s decision sheds some light on that. Instead of using a map, they sent out an inspector with a measuring device. He couldn’t walk a straight line between the buildings because the African Union building is in the way. And moreover, it’s pretty hard for a hum to walk a straight line diagonally across a busy street like Wisconsin Ave. So he meandered a bit and ended up over 400 feet. The board disregarded his measure and relied on the mapping software and tossed the application.

No harm, no foul, right? Well it seems the applicant decided to take matters into their own hands. They hired an architect to make his own measurements, and wouldn’t you know it, he somehow discovered and extra 25 feet. As you can see from his report, he utilized the pythagorean theory (i.e. a^2+b^2=c^2) to conclude that the two properties are actually 400.4 feet apart:

Basically this report claims that if you overlaid a right triangle where the two points just touch the two properties, the hypotenuse would be 400.4 feet long. Therefore the applicant’s location is permissible.

A couple things about this report: The long blue line of the report is supposedly 384.1 feet long. I attempted to recreate this line in Google maps and I got a much shorter figure: 363 feet. (For what it’s worth, I arrived at the same figure for the other blue line.)

That’s not remotely close. So when I plug my own numbers into the Pythagorean theory I get: 379 feet, i.e., basically what I said it was in the first place! These two buildings are definitely not 400 feet apart!

But how could a licensed surveyor make this mistake? I don’t know, but perhaps it’s because the person hired by the applicant isn’t a licensed surveyor in DC. He is only a licensed architect and that’s how he signed the report. This is where I’ll note that it’s against the law to perform survey work in DC without a license.

Did he make an honest mistake when he magically reached a conclusion that the two properties are exactly far enough apart or was it something else? I’ll let you decide!

Despite the fact that this report flies in the face of the city’s own geographic data, the ABC Board decided to reinstate the application and leave the dispute to the protest hearing to decide. This is unfortunate, since it will require time and, likely, money to have this obviously invalid application thrown out again.

In any event, I plan to recommend that the ANC protest this license and I will recommend that we hire an actual surveyor to submit an actually legal survey report that tells us what we already know: these two buildings are within 400 feet apart.

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.