The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is checking out a photo of the old M St. Bridge. The photo, from the DDOT archives, shows the bridge in 1911 before it was rebuilt into its current form fifteen years later.

GM would try to sum up the history of this bridge, but Wikipedia does it well enough already:

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The DC indoor mask mandate ends next week, but Georgetown University has already stated it will continue on campus.
• Robbery Monday night at 29th and M, just feet from the deadly shooting last month. Seems bad!

Last decade, Mayor Adrian Fenty announced an ambitious plan to create a 37-mile streetcar network throughout DC. It would, in part, recreate the network that existed in the city prior to its demise in 1962. And the plan called for a line to Georgetown. Unfortunately, after Fenty’s successor, Vincent Gray, bungled the first leg of the system, the whole plan got shelved beyond that stub line.

So Georgetown seems unlikely to see streetcars rumbling through any time soon. But this was but the second time that the city seriously considered restoring streetcar service to Georgetown. In the late 70s, DDOT commissioned a study to bring back a trolley to the neighborhood. Needless to say, it didn’t come to fruition.

The study came about after an effort from Georgetown businesses looking to improve the transit connection to the neighborhood. And prior to that, several citizens groups, including the Citizens Association of Georgetown, had produced their own report promoting the restoration of rail service.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Jerry McCoy retells the story of how he saved precious relics from the fire.
• Everlane opens up in the former Coach space.

As you get ready for a (more) normal Thanksgiving next week week, it’s important to take some time to think about those that have much less than us to be thankful for. And to turn those thoughts into action, please consider giving to Georgetown Ministry Center.

The institution, based right in the heart of Georgetown, offer services and programs to the area’s homeless. And in cold winter nights, it offers a place to sleep, which can be a question of life or death. As GM wrote back in October, the center is trying to adjust to the challenges of Covid, and could certainly use your help in doing so.

If you’re a federal employee who participates in the Combined Federal Campaign, please add the center (CFC# 31661) to your list of charities. Then pass the gravy!

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Developer shifting from condos to hotel for Berliner Hall building.
• Nice article on the history and potential future of the Georgetown metro stop (or lack thereof).

GM was browsing Ebay looking for a vintage postcard to feature in Georgetown Time Machine when he came across a cache of fantastic (mostly) old matchbooks from Georgetown establishments. As far as cultural ephemera go, they’re pretty easy to overlook, but it’s a trip down memory lane either way. So here they are:

This legendary college bar was famously the shooting location for the interior bar shots from St. Elmo’s Fire. It closed in 2013 after 44 years.

This French restaurant occupied 3057 M St. It closed in the 90s and was replaced by Miss Saigon.

This is an older matchbook from the George Town Club. It’s from when the club mistakenly asserted that it occupied the former Suter’s Tavern building (which was actually down on Water St.).