The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More on the Le Bon Vache fire.
• Spooky walking tour.
• Georgetown Ministry Center celebrates my wonderful colleague, Mimsy Lindner.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m dipping back into the DC Historical Society’s archive. This particular shot shows the south side of the M and Thomas Jefferson intersection. It’s from 1959.

Where now stands the Barnes and Noble, once a Ford car dealership once stood. In fact, the whole shape of the building, with its huge open spaces and big windows, reflects that the building was purpose-built to sell cars. It was constructed in 1929 as the location of the first Ford dealership in DC. For many years it was called Parkway Ford.

Later it was Parkway Dodge before closing up in the late 60s. In 1970 it was converted to a three-screen movie theater, the Cerebus (get it?). That remained until 1993. After several years of renovations, Barnes and Noble open in 1995. They remained until closing in 2011. The Nike Store moved in in 2012 and remained for about ten years before Barnes and Noble moved back in in 2024.

So remarkably this large building has housed just four different businesses since the 20s.

Popular French burger bistro, La Bonne Vache, went up in flames Sunday night. As reported elsewhere, the fire was started by a spontaneous explosion in the circuit breaker. Thankfully, despite the large amount of fire damage, no one was hurt. The fire started late in the evening as dinner service was winding down and the restaurant was (presumably) not as packed as it typically is. I shudder to think what the story would be if it happened during their busy rush, with the dozens of people in line outside possibly hampering the emergency exit.

This is a big blow to owners Claire and Ari Wilder, who opened the restaurant to immediate rave reviews and crowds in 2024. And to their credit they immediately started a Go Fund Me for the benefit of the restaurant’s staffers possibly put out of work due to the fire.

Also harmed by this are the two residents who live in the unit above the restaurant, who were evacuated as well. It is unclear from reports when they will be able to return to their homes. I hope it’s soon

And let’s also hope the restaurant comes back soon! Although the recent precedence of a fire at Wingo’s is not great. Long fights with the insurance company kept that spot closed for years. Here’s hoping this case resolves much faster.

Every month (except January and August), the Old Georgetown Board’s agenda and the applicants’ submitted materials offers a window into what retail stores are coming. That’s because the stores need to submit the signs for approval and they generally like to have signs up before they open.

But sadly this month there is just one such store: Guizio. This store is coming to 3061 M St. As I write this, I have no idea what Guizio sells. So I’m going to make a guess then check. Ok, here goes: women’s clothing from an Italian brand.

[checks the Internet]

Ok, not quite on the nose. It’s a NYC based brand from a woman named Danielle Guizio (who is presumably Italian American but not actually an Italian). And while it sells clothing to women, it seems its customers are generally quite young women drawn to its “edgy” style. According to Google, it’s fair to call it the upscale aspirational shop that inspired more teen-oriented brands (that Georgetown is also getting) Garage and Edikted.

Next month I give it another go with new stores to see if I can redeem myself a bit…

Photo by Ajay Suresh.

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

• I missed this, but the Dutch stroopwaffle place seems to finally have opened after a long delay.
• Waterside Drive closure will continue to cause added congestion in Georgetown.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m checking out another photo from the DC Historical Society. It’s a photo of Q and 31st from 1950.

In a lot of ways, the scene hasn’t really changed much in 75+ years. This stretch of Q St. still is a cathedral of trees with dozens of American elms still around:

The giant elm that used to be on the northeast corner of the intersection (and can be seen prominently in the 1950 photo) sadly came down within the last ten years. But many remain. I would guess that the skinny tall tree second from the right in the 1950 photo is the tall one you can still see today.

This is remarkable for a couple reasons. Of course it’s always striking to see the same tree standing in two photos so long apart in years. But it’s especially notable that they’re American elms. This beautiful tree once covered city streets across the country (hence why “Elm Street” is one of the most popular street names in the US). Its shape is especially well suited to city sidewalks. It has a vase-like shape that fans out at the top with a massive spread, covering a huge area with shade.

But they are susceptible to Dutch elm’s disease, which first reached America from Asia in the early part of the 20th century. But it really took off after WWII and it decimated the tree canopy of countless cities. It reached DC somewhat later than it did in the northeast or midwest. And an aggressive response from NPS and the Forestry Service meant that a lot more of them survived here than in other cities.

And Q street is one of the stretches that can brag of a particularly healthy group of mature American elms. So that’s why the photos are so alike.

And better yet, scientists have identified new sub-species of American elm, like the Princeton elm, that are seemingly more resistant to the disease. These new specimens have been planted along Q St. to eventually fill in the spaces left once the giants finally fall. That is what you can now see on the left in the new photo. (There’s also a bunch of them that were planted in front of the White House about ten years ago).

So with some luck and some time, this view will continue to be essentially the same for a long while yet.

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

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

• New juice bar open.
• Canal Day returns this weekend.

This week on Georgetown Time Machine, I’m checking out another photo from the DC Historical Society. It was taken just west of the Old Aqueduct abutment.

While much of the scene is at least similar to what you’d see today, the obvious difference is that there’s a goddam freight train passing by.That’s because what we now know as the Capital Crescent Trail was for a long time a railroad spur known as the Georgetown Branch.

I’ve written about it many time before, but in case you’re new here, the train line ran from Silver Spring all the way down to where this photo was taken, and then onward to where the House of Sweden is now. It was a freight line, not a passenger one, and it was mostly used to bring coal to buildings like the West Heating Plant.

The tracks ran right down the middle of the road, as you can see from this striking shot:

(There are more great shots of this train line at this wonderful website).

The top photo was apparently taken in 1961. While they became increasingly infrequent, the last train rumbled away from Georgetown in 1985, i.e. the same year they were filming St. Elmo’s Fire up the hill. It’s wild to think the era of Brat Pack Georgetown overlapped with the last vestiges of industrial Georgetown.

Twenty-five years ago, in the wake of 9/11 Georgetowner Carol Joynt merged her background as a journalist with her then livelihood as a pub-owner and started the Q & A Cafe. For years the interview show was filmed right within the hallowed walls of that pub, Nathans. After an unforgiving landlord eventually sent the restaurant packing, Joynt eventually settled in at the George Town Club and kept going.

She starts her 25th year today with an interview with Carol Leonig, of the Washington Post. On election Day she will interview Chuck Todd. And on December 1st she interviews the head of GU Hospital Lisa Bolye. Call the George Town Club at 202-333-9330 for tickets!