The Georgetown Metropolitan

At last week’s ANC meeting, BID CEO Joe Sternleib gave a presentation on the state of retail in Georgetown. During his presentation he displayed an updated version of the BID’s list of recent closings and openings.

The list above (click on it to enlarge) shows 63 shops and restaurants that have closed over the past year or so. That’s about twice the rate Georgetown normally sees. That’s obviously bad news, but in a way it’s good news in that it’s only twice as bad. Given the devastation that the pandemic has wrought on commercial activity, it could be a lot worse.

On an even more optimistic front, Sterneib put up a slide showing recent and future openings too: Continue reading →

Photo by Victoria Pickering.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• More on how GU plans to punish any medical students who got the Covid vaccine when they shouldn’t have.
• Wisemiller’s shifting to cookie delivery to maintain their business during the pandemic.

2900 block of R St.

The New York Times published an absolutely fascinating map this week gathering election data from every election precinct they could from across the country. It shows at a glance how each precinct voted, and more interestingly, how that vote differed from 2016. Georgetown’s map reflects a slight shift towards Trump for east Georgetown. While this is true in a sense, drilling down into the numbers tells a slightly more complicated story.

First off: in either event the vast majority of Georgetowners voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020. Here are the vote totals for the combined precincts for each election:

• 2016
  • Clinton – 4355
  • Trump – 578
• 2020
  • Biden – 4393
  • Trump – 697

While Trump added over 100 more votes across Georgetown from 2016 to 2020, Biden added almost 40. So across the neighborhood, the voters nudged towards Biden. Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Luxurious cakes now for sale at Cut restaurant.
• Public meeting next Wednesday on the Jelleff renovation feasibility study.

Dumbarton Oaks Park

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is visiting what was essentially the mid-20th century version of Georgetown Time Machine. It is an article from 1952 documenting the effort to erect supplemental street signs to identify the old Georgetown street names.

GM has written about these signs before. Here is a photo of them from a National Geographic article from the same time period:

The article that GM is speaking about today was from before the signs were erected. It documents who was behind the effort and why: Continue reading →

Photo by Vincent.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Amigio Mio, a new Mexican restaurant where Miss Saigon was, has opened.
• Some more coverage of Take Out Tuesday.

2900 block of R St.

A group of Georgetowners concerned about the threat of widespread restaurant closures in the neighborhood have organized a new effort: Georgetown Takeout Tuesday.

The plan is to select two different restaurants in Georgetown each Tuesday (a generally slow day for restaurants) and get a group of residents to order a meal from them. Some restaurants will even offer special add-ons or discounts if you mention Takeout Tuesday when you order.

A message will be sent out weekly via NextDoor and local listservs notifying the community of the two restaurants, any discounts they’re offering, and a small message from the restaurants letting you know how important this is to them.

This week the restaurants are Chaia and Peacock Cafe. Peacock Cafe is offering 30% off bottled still wine when you order and mention Takeout Tuesday. Continue reading →