The Georgetown Metropolitan

3200 block of N St.

As GM mentioned in the morning links yesterday, America Eats Tavern is closing permanently. This adds yet another prominent name to a sadly increasing list of big shops and restaurants that simply aren’t coming back. But if you’ve lost track of which shops that is, Jamie Scott from the BID gave a useful presentation to the ANC Monday night summarizing them.

So far the shops and restaurants that are totally done include (at least):

• America Eats Tavern
• Brooks Brothers (part of a national downsizing)
• Camper (lease expired)
• Cherub Antiques
• Don Lobo’s
• Johnny Rockets (lease expired)
• Le Pain Quotidian (corporate bankruptcy, with this location on the list of those not to be reopened)
• Lucky Brand
• Margaux (lease expired)
• Paul Bakery (national downsizing)
• Pete’s Coffee (national downsizing)
• Roots (bankruptcy)
• Starbucks (national downsizing)
• Uprising Yoga Center
• Washington Sports Club (regional downsizing)

Continue reading →

Photo by Angela N.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• How Pinto won, and what she plans to do now.
• Pinto actually gave her first official ANC visit to the Georgetown ANC Monday night and announce that Sherri Kimbel will remain on as constituent services director for the time being.

Potomac River (not recently, obviously)

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is checking out a photo awfully similar to the one from a few weeks back. Like that photo, it is from the summer of 1931 and of southwest Georgetown, but the camera was pointed more northward for today’s photo. For that reason it captured way more of neighborhood.

Go ahead and click on the photo above to see it in its full resolution glory. Here are some great details:

You can get a great view of the large Dempsey’s Boathouse that once stood between the Washington Canoe Club and the Aqueduct Bridge:

And upstream you can see a bunch more long-gone boathouses, including what looks like a full residential house on the left!:

To the west of the university there used to be a rambling collection of small farm houses:

Continue reading →

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• America Eats Tavern is closing permanently.
• The BID is maintaining a list of what stores and restaurants *are* open.

1600 block of 32nd St.

Summer is here, and this is going to be rough.

Last year, GM extolled the virtues of Georgetown in August, despite the obvious drawbacks:

The streets are empty. You can park your car like it’s a suburb in the 60s. The pools are empty because the interns left. The sidewalks are empty because even tourists have better sense than to visit DC in the summer.

Despite the stifling, turgid air, you can breathe. You can walk into a restaurant at 7:00 on a Friday and get a seat. You can even walk on M St. on a weekend.

And like spring, it is great because it is brief. We don’t ultimately love Georgetown because it’s empty, but because it’s decidedly not. That restaurant walking you to a table would be out of business if it were like that year round. Those streets without parking in September mean more people coming and keeping our thriving businesses thriving. Quiet is nice, but too much is boring.

Knowing August is fleeting is the best way to enjoy it. So enjoy it, it’s already later than you think.

Sadly, the conditions that made Georgetown tolerable–even desirable–in August will be largely gone this year. Parking may continue to be easy, but we’ve got nowhere to drive home from. The pools might eventually open, but only for swimming laps. Restaurants are open, but are you really ready to return to them? Continue reading →

Photo by Bill Starrels.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Paul Bakery appears to have permanently closed.
• GU still leaving their students up in the air about the fall.

The Key Bridge