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Potomac River

This week for the Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits this photo of a relatively young Whitehurst Freeway. Come check out what interesting scenes it contains.

The first question is of dating. The DDOT website does not list a date, so it will take a little sleuthing. First of all, the Whitehurst wasn’t built until 1949, so that’s the earliest point. In the distance, as discussed more below, the old Huerich Brewery still stands. That was demolished in 1961 to make way for the Roosevelt Bridge. Also, that large white building that’s in front of the Washington Monument is what is now the Saudi embassy. It was built in 1959. So this photo is from between 1959 and 1961.

The first striking thing about this photo is how the waterfront was a rail yard, there’s even a caboose down there:

The next most obvious it is the massive Capital Traction Power House, which looks a little worse for wear with so many windows smashed out:

The main reason it was smashed up is that it wasn’t in operation anymore. It stopped providing power for the streetcar system in 1933, and was decommissioned in 1944. It nonetheless sat an empty shell until it was demolished in 1968. Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice walk-through of all the work planned for the C & O Canal.
• Interview with owner of the new shop Take Care.

Potomac River

Over the last several years, DC’s transportation department, DDOT, has been conducting the Downtown West Transportation Planning Study. It looked at the area encircle by the black line in the picture above, specifically Pennsylvania Ave. between Washington Circle and the White House, and H St. between Pennsylvania Ave and New York Ave. The staff has produced a final report, and among the recommendations is a call to construct some excellent bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave.

This is obviously not in Georgetown, but for Georgetowners commuting by bike, these changes could lead to a different course to work, much like the 15th St. lanes drew nearby bike traffic.

You may be familiar with the bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. east of the White House. They were installed under Adrian Fenty. While they were a dramatic improvement at the time, and were installed rapidly, they certainly have their issues. The greatest issue is that drivers often try to drive a u-turn across the bike lanes, which is both illegal and really dangerous. The city has tried different approaches to discourage this behaviour, most recently settling on small rubber curb-like barriers, but it’s still not ideal. The new recommendations would lead to far superior lanes west of the White House. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• 15 things to do in Georgetown in the fall. (Sadly, “go to Dumbarton Oaks” is not an option this year).
• Tom Sietsema loves the new Sweetgreen in Georgetown.

Potomac River

All yes, the dreaded ginkgoes. This week GM tackles his long stinky nemesis. If you live here, you’re probably already familiar with these trees, but if not, here we go.

The ginkgo is an old tree. A really, really old tree. It has been around for at least 270 million years. That’s 9.8 billion Scaramuccis.

The tree is only found in the wild in China, but it has long been chosen as an ornamental tree throughout the globe. It is chosen primarily for the brilliant yellow fall foliage it displays. You’ll be able to see this around Rose Park, R St. by Montrose Park and Potomac St. in about 4-6 weeks.

You can recognize the tree during the summer months from it’s distinctive and quite beautiful fan-shaped leaf:

Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown-based company developing a method of fiber optic wires that can be laid directly on the road.
• GM had to miss the ANC meeting last night, but apparently the commission came out against the proposed cutting of Circulator stops.

Potomac Boat Club