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On Monday, GM speculated about the possibility that the end of the liquor license moratorium was having its intended effect, namely to encourage more high quality restaurants to open in Georgetown. GM has learned that on top of America Eats Tavern and Reverie, the long, long awaited Boulangerie Christophe is also applying for a liquor license.

GM first reported on the coming of the restaurant way back in September of 2015. Work was non-existent on the project for a long time, but eventually signs went up verifying the original tip. Then nothing for a while. Then this summer genuine construction began, and it appears to be getting close to being finished. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Dumbarton House is closed for renovations until next April.
• Want to live in George Mason’s nephew’s house? You do? Really? That’s an oddly specific want. Well, it’s you’re lucky day, weirdo, because the price on that house has been slashed.

Montrose Park

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown Presbyterian Church not opposed to the President elect attending services, but not exactly eager for it either.
• Sign says &Pizza will be open in just a few days.

Dumbarton Oaks Park

Last week, a reader submitted a comment to GM’s post asking Why Not Hold Parades? She pointed out that Georgetown once did host a parade:

Georgetown also was the site of the Trumbull and Core’s Gross National Parade, which was DC’s answer to Pasadena, California’s Doo-Dah Parade. It ran from about 1982 to 1988. The parade route was down M Street from 19th Street to Wisconsin Ave. It featured DC bureaucrats satirizing the bureaucracy. Participants included a precision briefcase drill team, Subversive Fruits and Vegetables (“White House Leeks,” etc.), Conan’s Librarians (NPRs Program Librarians).

The video above is from the 1984 edition of the parade, and it shows the intersection of M and Wisconsin, looking from south of the intersection over to Nathans and the Riggs Bank.

What a weird parade it was.

Photo by Yoann Galiotto.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The Buffalo Exchange shop will close as soon as a new tenant signs a lease.
• Geoff Dawson is still planning on bringing a restaurant to the remaining vacant space in the Georgetown Park.

1700 block of Wisconsin Ave.

Last year the Georgetown liquor license moratorium came to an end. The hope expressed by those facilitating the change was that it would bring new restaurants better than what we have now. While he agreed that the moratorium should end, GM didn’t think the change would have much of an immediate impact:

Will this have immediate effects in Georgetown? Probably not. High rents will continue to be the primary driver of the collapse in the Georgetown restaurant presence on the main drags of M St. and Wisconsin Ave. But it will bring some predictability to restauranteurs interested in moving into the neighborhoods less in-demand areas. And that predictability will attract more legitimate businesses (as opposed to the squatters who have taken up most of the free licenses over the past five years or so).

There is some evidence, however, that the change has had an effect. Just last week, the former head chef at the decadent Minibar announced plans to open a new restaurant in Georgetown called Reverie. In announcing his plans, Johnny Spero specifically cited the end of the moratorium as a contributing factor. (Fun trivia aside: Spero was replaced at Minibar by Josh Hermias, who previously was the Economic Development Director at the Georgetown BID and who had a big role in pushing for the end of the moratorium.) Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Alexander Graham Bell’s house is for sale.
• Big gas leak near the gates of Georgetown University yesterday.