Category Archives: Uncategorized

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.

The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that a couple recently purchased the street of an exclusive enclave in a tax auction. Yes, you read that right. They bought the street. It’s a private road in the center of a gated home owner’s association with multi-million dollar homes right next to the Presidio. It’s not clear what the couple hopes to achieve with the purchase, but a similar situation in Georgetown could hint that they’ll end up disappointed.

As you may remember, two years ago Kebreab Zere, having acquired ownership of the lots that made up the alleyway between Potomac and 33rd, south of O St., moved to block residents’ access to the garages on the alleyway. He had acquired the lots through tax auctions over the course of several years. Having obtained all of them, he requested permission to put up a fence at the end of the alley. It was an obvious shakedown. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Fascinating painting of 1970 Georgetown riot makes its way to the Peabody Room.
• New farmers market every Saturday at Grace and Wisconsin.

1300 block of 33rd St.

Above is a common sight at the intersection of Wisconsin and O. It’s a supply truck unloading various high fructose corn syrup/nicotine delivery vessels for the 7-11. It’s about 5:30 pm on a weekday and that lane is not a parking lane at that hour. This is not legal, but it happens all the time, causing back-ups for blocks.

Convenience stores need a lot of deliveries to keep the shelves stocked. That’s why it’s important to plan for that need. The 7-11’s plans clearly involve not giving a damn about the law or the impact on congestion. It would make more sense to park along O St., but that’s somewhat inconvenient because due to truck restrictions, the only way for a truck to get to that block is to drive via 35th st. Much better, it seems, to simply set up shop on Wisconsin whenever. Continue reading →