On May 19th, Breena Clarke will be speaking at the City Tavern. It should be a fascinating discussion. Clarke is a native Washingtonian who wrote, among other works, two books set against a backdrop of the historical black community in Georgetown. The first was River, Cross My Heart (which was an Oprah Book Club selection) and the second was Stand a Storm.
The talk will focus on how Clarke learned how she is related to the same family of enslaved former residents of the City Tavern that Yvette LaGonterie has researched. It is always so powerful to hear these personal family stories told and discussed within the walls of the building that once housed them.
This Saturday, the Georgetown Garden Tour will be held once again, after being cancelled by the pandemic since 2020. Tickets can be purchased here or on the day of the tour at Christ Church (all proceeds benefit the Georgetown Garden Club). It runs from 10 – 5.
This really is one of GM’s favorite events of the spring. It lets you peek behind the gates of some of the most impressive properties in the neighborhood. But GM also loves that they don’t just select the grandest gardens. Plenty of small plots find their way on to the map. And that proves that anyone can build a tour-worthy garden if they’ve got a backyard and some elbow grease.
Summer market season has returned to Georgetown along with the beautiful weather. This year two markets will be back: the Rose Park Farmers Market and the Volta Park Market. (The market at Hardy seems to be no more…)
The Rose Park Farmers Market is on Wednesdays from 3 pm to 7 pm. The first day is this week. Here is this year’s lineup:
While the Rose Park Farmer’s Market has been run for many years, the Volta Park Market is still relatively new, returning for just its second year. It has already returned and is open Friday evenings. Here’s more info:
You loved it in the Fall and it’s coming back for spring: the Volta Park Market resumes Fridays, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., running April 22 – June 24.
Our goal is to provide the Georgetown community with a variety of fresh and prepared foods from local farmers and purveyors.
You’ll once again be able to grab delightfully sweet madeleines from J’aime Madeleine and stock-up on fresh, handcrafted pasta from Pasta Ilgatto while your little ones sip on fresh juice or enjoy the frozen sorbet and ice cream from Ana’s Twist. For more information about our vendors for this spring, check out our market website. Support local businesses who sell what they grow, raise or prepare and be sure to stop by this market season. To learn more about our vendors, follow the Market on Instagram (@voltaparkmarket).
The ANC will meet tonight for its May session. It will be a 6:30 and via zoom.
There are a couple of items on the agenda that may be of interest.
The first that caught GM’s eye is a liquor license application for Georgetown Restaurant Group at 3270 M St. This is the address of the historic Georgetown Market, in which Stephen Starr in planning to open an Italian restaurant/market. The plans appeared to have been held up by various layers of approval. But the fact they are lining up the liquor license should give some hope that the project is finally moving forward.
The application itself gives a little more information about the project, but it’s not really info that wasn’t already public:
New Retailer’s Class “C” Restaurant with a seating capacity of 225 and Total Occupancy Load of 375. Summer Garden with 100 seats. Entertainment Endorsement to provide live entertainment indoors only. Licensee is requesting an Alcohol Carry-out and Delivery Endorsement
Another interesting item on the agenda is actually one that the ANC put on the consent calendar (meaning they aren’t actually going to discuss it.) It’s two items actually: the razing of the West Heating Plant and the construction of the new apartment building in its place. This project has been even longer in the planning and approval process. Richard Levy’s group won the property at auction way back in 2013. He’s been pushing for the completion of the project ever since.
The fact that the ANC isn’t even going to discuss it reflects the fact that most of the issues have been largely hammered out and there’s relatively broad support for the project to finally move forward.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
You must be logged in to post a comment.