The Georgetown Metropolitan

It’s been a while, but GM is back with Know Your Trees. This week he’s talking about a tree you don’t see on the street much, but you see in parks: the black walnut.

The lack walnut is a tree native to the eastern United States, including around Washington, DC. It is a giant tree, growing as tall as 130 feet and a crown just as wide. The tree is most easily identifiable by its leaves and fruit:

Courtesy of the Missouri Dept. of Conv.

The leaves are about 1-2 feet long and have 10-20 small leaflets growing off the stem. And in the fall, the ground around the tree is typically covered with green husky fruit about 1 1/2 inches across.

And yes, the fruit has a walnut in it, but it’s a real pain to get at, as this video demonstrates:

The nuts are edible, but there are not grown commercially. When you got to the store and buy a bag of walnuts, they are most likely from a variety of English or Persian walnuts.

If you want to see a huge black walnut tree, head up to Montrose Park back just to the west of the playground. Has anyone ever tried to eat its nuts?

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Two individuals found dead in their apartment on Wisconsin Ave, but no foul play alleged.
• Hey, have you seen this wooden pumpkin? The Yost family had it stolen from their porch and it has a lot of sentimental value. Chime in if you’ve seen it around:

Yesterday workers were out in front of the soon-to-be-a-Chase-Bank at Wisconsin and P to repave the parking lot. This was inevitable, but it is still a shame and a huge missed opportunity.

Street facing surface parking lots should not exist in Georgetown. It is a huge waste of precious commercial real estate and reflects a misplaced suburban mindset that customers must drive.

Nowhere is that more clear than with this property. When there was still a chance this property would revert to a market use, there was talk of either turning the parking lot into a small condo building, or otherwise repurposing the space for pedestrian use. Just imagine an outdoor cafe, or beer garden, or really anything designed for humans, not cars.

But when Chase bought the property it was inevitable that this gigantic corporation would bring with that suburban mindset. And yesterday put a thick layer of asphalt over the hopes that this could be used for anything but the storage of a couple people’s SUVs. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Another public meeting on the future of the canal coming up in November.
• What better place to watch tonight’s World Series game one than at the only bar that was open the last time a DC team was in the World Series?

3100 block of Q St.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits a playful photo in the archives of the DC Historical Society.

The information for the photo indicates that it is of an unknown location in Georgetown, but it is dated to 1964. GM scoured Google Maps trying to pin down the exact address, but couldn’t find a match. Anyone recognize the home?

We’ll just have to speculate as to the colors. At first it looks like a group of paint swatches from a homeowner trying to decide on a final paint color. But the design seems too finished for that. Plus, there’s the white flower in the center. Maybe some hippies?