Category Archives: Uncategorized

3500 block of O St.

When you’re walking by N and Wisconsin, look up. A new mural has been painted on the building above Paolo’s. It’s a trompe l’oiel, which is French for “deceives the eye”. In other words, it’s a mural that’s meant to slightly trick you into thinking it’s real. In this case, it’s meant to fool you into thinking several windows line the west side of the house, which really is just a blank brick wall.

This is a new version of the mural that used to be on this wall, and which was definitely showing its age:

It’s a lovely addition to the neighborhood, and will hopefully bring a smile to passers-by for many years.

Photo by Beyond DC.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story behind the planned restoration of Julia Child’s Georgetown house.
• Interview with Virginia Burton, the woman behind Georgetown’s Burton Optician.

Georgetown Waterfront

GM walked back from dinner last night and passed this scene. It’s a car up on the sidewalk on the 3200 block of Q St.

From a secondhand report, GM heard that what occurred was that the driver of the silver car was rear-ended and then went to slam on the brakes, but hit the gas instead. Her destruction went halfway down the block. A young tree was totally knocked over. And two historic metal stoops were completely mangled. Continue reading →

Photo by Beyond DC.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Check out a huge collection of old Q&A Cafe interviews.
• The early reviews of the new Blue Bottle coffee shop.

C & O Canal

This week for Now and a Long Time Ago, GM again returns to the marvelous Wymer’s Map collection. In particular, GM is showing what the row of buildings at the foot of Wisconsin Ave. used to look like.

It’s not so different from how it looks today, honestly. The first three of the four buildings show are still around. The center one is called the Dodge Warehouse, but all three are fantastic examples of the commerce-oriented architecture that once dominated lower Georgetown.

The three buildings were built in the late 18th century and are genuine federal style buildings (unlike all the Victorian style homes in Georgetown that real estate agents call federal). The Dodge Warehouse was owned by various Dodge family members throughout the 19th century. Francis Dodge originally bought it (along with his brother Allen) in 1807 for $3,000 (which is supposedly about $56,000 in today’s dollars, but that’s probably not a terribly reliable calculation). Continue reading →

Photo by Beyond DC.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice response from Jerry McCoy to the photo of the Cora lintel.
• Georgetown panhandler laments our increasingly cashless society.

3200 block of O St.