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1500 block of 33rd St.

While GM was taking his July 4th break, the second spate of Wonder Woman filming blew through the neighborhood. And in case you missed it, GM gathered all the fake store fronts the set designers created for the movie.

Above you’ll see a the lovely outdoor restaurant called the Dumbarton Cafe. It was located (very temporarily) at 3214 O St., a vacant space the previously held a pilates studio. They even had a sandwich board with 80’s prices:

More than one neighbor commented that this fake cafe looked so good it ought to become real.

What’s funny is that the exact same property was used in St. Elmo’s Fire, where it hosted a a fake sidewalk antiques market, with another fake sidewalk cafe next door:

Here are some of the other fake stores or signage they created:

They turned Vaporfi into an ice cream shop (another great idea).

Insomnia Cookies became “Northwest Diner”.

The building next to the “Dumbarton Cafe” (which houses O Salon) became the “O St. Bistro”, another fake restaurant.

Wingo’s (which suffered a severe fire days before shooting) was given a retro sign. The English Rose, next door, was given a bunch of flowers for the sidewalk.

Down the block, several stores on Wisconsin got a makeover. The historic Georgetown Theater was transformed into, well, a theater, with posters for Ghostbusters and Footloose (both accurate for the 1984 setting), and a box office:

Of course, the theater itself didn’t really look like this in the 80s. It looked as it did just a few years ago before the renovation, with lots of formstone. It also appeared in St. Elmo’s Fire with that look:

Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Last Concert in the Park this Sunday at Rose Park from 2 to 5.
• Get your ticket to see the bassist from Spinal Tap interviewed at the Georgetown Club.

GM’s going to sign off a bit early for the Fourth this year. Call it laziness or call it depression at the never ending awfulness that is the current state of affairs, but GM will see you on the flip side.

1500 block of 33rd St.

Reminder: The crews filming Wonder Woman 2 (now known as Wonder Woman 1984) will be returning to Georgetown this weekend.

The details are below, but in summary it will call for Wisconsin Ave. from M up to Volta to be closed July 1st at 6pm until 5am the following morning. This has the potential to be more disruptive than the last closure, which didn’t turn out to be that bad really since it was in the middle of a work day. Sunday evenings aren’t typically heavy, heavy traffic evenings, but it could be a bit of a hassle. We’ll see!

No word or hint yet on whether they’ll do another historical recreation like they did with Commander Salamander. GM’s guess is that they will use the Georgetown Theater heavily. (Although the facade will not be at all like it was in the 80s, now that it’s been restored to what it looked like in the 1940’s).

Here are the details: Continue reading →

Photo by Daniel Lobo.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Wingo’s and English Rose suffer a devastating fire.
• Where you can watch movies outside, including at the Georgetown waterfront.

Dumbarton Oaks

Just and FYI: Some of you have subscribed to receive the Georgetown Metropolitan via email. Fantastic! It’s a great way to keep up with the neighborhood news (if GM doesn’t say so himself). But there’s a little quirk in how WordPress handles these emails and GM wants to point it out.

If you reply directly to the email you receive containing the post, it will be turned into a comment and posted to the site. GM has had to go back and take down some comments that were clearly meant as private emails to him. Happily nothing too embarrassing yet, but just keep it in mind!

It’s a silly feature, and GM would love to turn it off, but he’s not sure how to. So for the time being, if you want to send an email directly to GM, send it to editor@georgetownmetropolitan.

Photo by Wayne Thume.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• So-so review for America Eats Tavern.
• Speaking of restaurants, apparently around Georgetown, and the rest of DC, spritzes are popular this summer. (GM would rather a pilsner or a mai tai, but different strokes…)