The Georgetown Metropolitan

Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued a wide ranging proposal to revamp the city’s liquor laws, including the removal of a long standing cap on tavern licenses in Georgetown.

The proposal, sent to the Council in January, covers a broad array of topics. Most notably it would allow for open containers in certain newly licensed “lifestyle centers”, which would likely include the Wharf and Washington Harbour. But for Georgetown, the biggest impact would be the removal of the tavern cap.

A tavern license and a restaurant license are similar in many ways, but different in one significant feature. That feature is the requirement to sell food. Restaurant liquor licenses in DC require an establishment to receive at least 45 percent of its revenues from the sale of food. This requirement exists to ensure that restaurants really are what they say they are. So you can’t get a restaurant license and then turn around and just run a bar. This obviously limits what a licensee can do with it, and it also adds a burden of record-keeping and compliance.

Taverns, on the other hand, have no food requirements. So you can just have a bar when you have a tavern license. This can obviously lead to a very different type of operation! And it was a proliferation back in the 1980’s of these types of bars in Georgetown, and the rowdy behavior associated with them, that led the city to adopt a cap on tavern (and nightclub) licenses in 1994. No more such licenses could be issued or transferred into Georgetown until the total for the whole neighborhood dropped below six. At the time, there were more than six, but the number steadily decreased over the years as licenses were cancelled. (This created a huge demand for those existing licenses, which could be held on to even after a bar was closed.) Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Kojo Nnamdi discussed the buried bodies of Q St. issue on his show yesterday.
• GM gave them a hard time last week, so he should point out that GU students recorded fewer Covid positive test this week.

1300 block of 33rd St.

Photo by noware.

There are few cities in America that are quite as different as Santa Fe is from Georgetown. The New Mexico city is full of adobe structures in the style of those built by the Pueblo people for centuries, and Georgetown is full of brick homes mostly built in various Victorian styles. But there is a common thread woven in both communities, and it’s one that has had unforeseen consequences in each: historical preservation. GM was alerted to this connection by a fascinating recent podcast by 99% Invisible: Stuccoed in Time.

GM has discussed the history of preservation in Georgetown often, but in short: the neighborhood experienced an economic decline in the late 19th century into the 20th, which left the neighborhood somewhat frozen in time, architecturally speaking. With the rise of interest in early colonial design and architecture in the 1930s (particularly with the restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia) coupled with the arrival of a great number of New Dealers attracted to Georgetown’s old homes and convenience to downtown, a movement to preserve Georgetown began. This movement culminated in 1951 with the adoption of the Old Georgetown Act, which has governed how the neighborhood has developed ever since. Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Gutting: The future of Blues Alley Jazz Club in doubt.
• The story of all the bodies buried in and around Q St. and 33rd.

3100 block of K St.

There has been a recent spike in Covid cases in west Georgetown since the new year, and data suggests that Georgetown University students are the primary drivers.

This conclusion comes from comparing data released by the city and data released by Georgetown University. Specifically, the city releases neighborhood level information on the number of positive Covid tests every day. And the university releases weekly information concerning its population.

The first thing to understand is that there has been a spike in Covid cases in west Georgetown since the New Year. Since then there have been 126 positive tests. This compares with 276 cases from the beginning of the crisis through to December 31st. And the increase has been concentrated in the the last two weeks, with 87 cases since January 27th. The seven day average positive rate per 10,000 people hit a peak on February 2nd with 9.3 (on a day when the citywide number was just 2.8). This put west Georgetown as, by far, the worst neighborhood in DC on that day, with it’s rate more than double the next worst neighborhood.
Continue reading →

Towpath

This week on Georgetown Time Machine, GM looks to the opening of a new gym on GU’s campus from 1906.

The photo appeared in the Washington Times November 11, 1906. The caption reads:

Interior of Recently Opened Gymnasium Which Is Expected to Be a Big Boost for All Sports at the Old University

The gym was named Ryan Gym, after benefactor Ida M. Ryan. Here is a clearer photo of the inside from GU’s archives taken four years later:

The balcony seen above the floor was actually a hanging running track, a feature you often see in gyms from the era. But it posed a serious problem for basketball players, as recounted in GU’s archives:

Note the elevated running track around its perimeter which created shooting problems for the basketball players. A ‘Hoya’ article of January 10, 1940, reports the track’s removal and notes: “This structure had long been a hindrance to basketball players . . . as students know, it was impossible to make a shot from the corner of the court as the ball was blocked by the overhanging balcony.”

Georgetown played home basketball games here from 1915 until 1931. They played at other locations around DC, including Uline Arena, until the construction of McDonough Gym in 1950. Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice review of Lutece, the former Cafe Bonaparte.
• Great old photo of the Georgetown waterfront after a flood.