Last week, GM took a look at M St. and Bank–where Cady’s Alley now is–and several readers asked about the rest of the block. So this week, GM is going to do just that.
Above is the western end of that block. Today it houses (from left to right) L’Eclat de Verre, Citysports, and Bo Concept (the Ukrainian embassy can be seen sticking out the top).
Back in 1993, this block had (left to right): Royal #1 Cleaners, Walker Gallery, Niagara Cafe & Pizza, and Sunny’s Surplus.
GM couldn’t find any mention of the cleaners or Walker Gallery. Niagara Cafe, however, is mentioned in this anachronistic list of Georgetown restaurants (which has, for instance, both Geppetto’s and Mendocino).
Sunny’s was a Maryland-based regional chain that sold military surplus and camping gear. It went bankrupt in 2007, emerged out of bankruptcy later that year, and then went back intro bankruptcy for good in 2008.
GM’s not sure when all of these specific stores closed, but he believes that Anthony Lanier started piecing together Cady’s Alley in the mid-90s, so that’s probably about when these closed.
Here are the photos:
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Lanier’s remaking of the block looks a lot better. But who shops there?
There is no real merchant mix………mostly home furnishings. How many Georgetowners are furnishing their homes these days? Leopold’s in the alley is a welcome sight. But where can you go to buy army boots?
Seeing these photos from the early 1990’s reminds me that I used to actually shop and eat in Georgetown. Now I rarely do either. A lot of these newer upscale home furnishing/decoration stores have all of the energy of mausoleums, even on weekends. We’ve lost so much.
I agree. As a recent Georgetown grad, I know my eyes wouldn’t have glazed over that block quite as much had there been an art gallery, cafe, and army surplus store there to interest me. That stretch of M St approaching the Key Bridge is polished, but frustratingly bland.
Of course, nothing lasts forever, but that doesn’t stop one from recalling the creaking wood floors in Meenahan’s Hardware with bittersweet nostalgia. When I came to Georgetown 46 years ago, the strip was a remarkable mix of restaurants of all sorts, night spots, upscale boutiques, and stores that sold things like regular groceries, work clothes, hardware, saddlery, and even automobiles. Georgetown has, regrettably, become a theme park, a high-end Potemkin Village. Is there any establishment other than Martin’s Tavern that remains from the “old” days?
I miss that stretch the way it was, too. It was great to be able to hit the well-stocked newstand, have dinner at the Afghani restaurant, and buy whatever you needed for a trip at Sunny’s, whether it was giant rubber boots or netted hats for the rainforest. There’s nothing on that stretch anymore that I need, and I’m not the only one: I walk by those home furnishings stores and never seen a soul in them.
Georgetown used to be a lot like the West Village in NYC with a vibrant mix of affordable (non-chain) small retailers, cozy restaurants, newsstands, food markets, bars, etc. Places in which you actually wanted to buy things.
Now it is more like Tribeca or the Meat Packing District in NYC, full of uber-expensive (mostly chain) stores which locals never patronize. But even the West Village isn’t the same anymore. The former diverse and lively mix of storefronts on Bleecker Street is now slowly being replaced by expensive designer stores which cater to well-heeled (mostly foreign) tourists and not to locals. I get depressed every time I visit there and see how homogenized it is becoming (much like our own village)
Sigh…
I don’t know about the others, but I think Sunnys and the newsstand both closed up in the 1998-2001 range (maybe a year or two later for the newsstand). They were both there at the beginning of my time as an undergrad, but the block was starting to change, as Zed’s, and then Little Cafe, and others packed up shop.
I think the newsstand was the first to go. It was two or three doors down from the Surplus store. It carried an eclectic mix of foreign magazines and “adult” titles.
The biggest space on that block is not shown in the photo, and that was owned by a plumbing and heating contractor, IIRC.
As for the Alley, totally run-down, with some buildings near collapse.
There used to be a record shop on the block as well. Also, it would have been nice if Lanier had left or replanted the tree in the first photo. One of the reasons I dislike this entire stretch of M Street is the lack of greenery. It feels very artificial.