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Right now–for about $650,000–you have a rare opportunity to own a piece of Pineapple Place. Pineapple Place, of course does not exist. It exists only in the charming children’s story about a boy living in Georgetown who finds a mysterious lane “located” between 3414 and 3415 P St. where the ghosts of children from another age live. Although Pineapple Place doesn’t exist, a house from the street that inspired it–Pomander Walk–is for sale. (GM pointed out in 2015 when another one of the homes was for sale.)

GM only finally read the book this spring with his daughter. It really is a fun book for Georgetown history buffs. The author (who was actually Charles Lindbergh’s daughter) lived in Georgetown at the time she wrote the book (published in 1982). And real streets a locations of Georgetown of that time pepper the book. For example, the main character is enrolled at Hyde and plays in Volta Park. And in one section, the characters are transported back to Georgetown of the 1930s, with accurate locations mentioned. It’s a great book.

Anyway, the street that inspired the book, Pomander Walk, is really a special little street. It’s a group of ten tiny rowhouses on an even tinier alley. Sometimes they accidentally get called former slave homes (GM’s made this mistake) but they were built 1889-90 and as such came decades after emancipation. But they were clearly built for laborers. Of course they now host modern residents who have learned to live small. Continue reading →

Photo by John Weiss.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Revisiting the massive flood of 1918.
• GM is heading out of town tomorrow for the rest of the week, so after today the posts will pick up again next Monday. Happy Fourth!

1300 block of 30st St.

Yesterday, DCist ran in interesting piece identifying various unusual or notable trees around the District. Probably the most impressive on the list is the nearly 400 year old white pine bonsai kept at the arboretum. But several Georgetown trees make the cut too. Including the katsura trees at Dumbarton Oaks:

A couple Himalayan cedars, also at Dumbarton Oaks, and the massive tulip poplar on the northwest corner of Montrose Park (top photo).

These are all great trees, but GM wanted to highlight a few more notable trees in our neighborhood.

The first group are a couple of Chinese dawn redwoods planted at the P St. home of Sophia Owen.

These trees were planted by Owen in the 1960s, and if you get a good wide view of east Georgetown, you will see that they tower over all the buildings and trees. They now stand approximately 110 feet tall. If they’re left alone and healthy, they could eventually grow to over 400 feet tall. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The existential side of Hela spa.
• Two storefronts on M St. are heading to auction.

2900 block of K St.

On the same day that a loving tribute to the departed Current newspapers appeared in the Washington Post, Georgetowners (and other NW DC residents) would be excused for doing a double-take when approaching their front door. Sitting there was what appeared to be a Current newspaper. This would be completely surprising given that the company filed for total liquidation earlier this spring.

But opening the cellophane bag and flipping open the paper would reveal that it wasn’t a Current newspaper, but something that looks almost identical: the Northwest Courier.

The Northwest Courier is the work of several former Current staff members, Brendan Martin and Kaleel Weatherly, who wanted to recreate the service that the beloved Current had delivered for generations. Continue reading →

Photo by Russ Morris.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Loving tribute to the Current.
• New on-street murals on K/Water St.

Georgetown Waterfront Park

NBC reported earlier this week, that WMATA is again studying what can be done to relieve the train congestion in the tunnel between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom. NBC floats the possibility that the solution could ultimately lead to one or even two new Metro stops in Georgetown. Although GGW poured a little cold water on the possibility that the study would ultimately support such an ambitious plan, GM thought it would be a good time to revisit why it is that congestion on the Orange and Blue lines could help justify the Georgetown stations. Here is an article he published in 2013 after another Metro study supported the more ambitious plan:

As GM has written multiple times in the past, WMATA’s long term planners have contemplated bringing the Metro to Georgetown in the distant future. While the future is still distant, the planners nonetheless took an important step recently and endorsed a Metrorail expansion that would create two stations in Georgetown.

The exact details remain somewhat fuzzy, but as you can see above from the map accompanying the announcement, the planners call for a new tunnel under the Potomac and a new subway line heading underneath M St. and onward to Union Station. This part of the plan is very similar to most ideas the planners have floated in the past. But what the train would do after Union Station is dramatically different in this plan than in the earlier ones.

Rather than branch out through H St. and of eastward, the line would head south towards the Capitol, and then curl back through SW DC towards the Pentagon. It would in effect create a loop line, similar to other loop lines around the world. Continue reading →