The Georgetown Metropolitan

In a move as shameless as it is cynical, Jack Evans is running to reclaim the Council seat he just quit under imminent threat of expulsion.

With six candidates already running for the seat, Evans’ strategy is a clear as it is Trumpian: allow the vote to be split and win a small plurality. By taking this step, whatever withered husk of a reputation remained has been covered in a pile of excrement and set aflame.

And it reveals as true what GM has been saying all along: Evans is only sorry for being caught. He has never once expressed any true contrition for any of his serious ethical violations, despite there being plenty to choose from.

This man is an embarrassment and he’s aiming to make Ward 2 as much of an embarrassment. Frankly, he shouldn’t even be thinking about running for office until he pays back to the city the $1 million that the special election will cost–a special election made necessary by his years of unethical behavior finally coming to light. Continue reading →

Photo by Geoff Livingston.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• An album composed by Caroline Shaw inspired by her stay at Dumbarton Oaks won a Grammy this week.
• And yes, yes, f*cking Jack Evans is trying to win back the seat he just quit. (GM will have more to say about this later).

3200 block of P St.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is checking out a photo of the Vigilant Firehouse at 1066 Wisconsin Ave. It is from the archives of the Historical Society of Washington DC. The record indicates that it is from between 1923 and 1927.

Like many buildings in Georgetown, it is blessed with a wikipedia page, which states:

The current building was built in 1844 as a two-story 22 feet (6.7 m) by 44 feet (13 m) rectangle with a single room on each floor, a square wooden cupola and a gable facing the street. An early addition was a two-story shed in the rear, likely used as a stable on the first floor and for hay storage on the second. A single story shed was added to the south, and a two-story addition to the north, both of which run the full depth of the building. Including the additions, the building measures 56 feet (17 m) by 81 feet (25 m).

On the front gable a stone is inscribed “Vigilant, Instituted, 1817” and below this is a wrought iron “V”, likely a trademark for the Vigilants. The “V” also serves as a tension rod tie and is matched by an “S” on the back of the building.

The Vigilants was a private fire company that operated in Georgetown from 1817. In 1867 it was absorbed into the government of the city of Georgetown. And then later it was reorganized under the DC government, which didn’t have a professional municipal fire department until 1871. (Side note: often you’ll see fire insurance badges on houses like this:

When there were only private fire brigades, you needed this on the front of your house in order to assure the brigades that they’d get paid for their services. The thing is, you often see them on homes in Georgetown built after 1871. This is an attempt, essentially, to add anachronistic bric-a-brac to the house, like a fake water pump or never-used horse tie-up post). Continue reading →

Photo by Elvert Barnes.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU students call for school to recognize Lunar New Year.
• The two places you can get beef tartare around Georgetown (and elsewhere). Now why you would, is another question.

3100 block of Blues Alley

If there’s one thing people complained most about Jack Evans, it was his parking habits (it even inspired an Instragram account). And if there was anything that got Evans upset most to hear, it was complaints about his parking.

Relying on legal immunity, Evans often parked his iconic blue Chrysler Seabring on 32nd St. and P, just past the no parking sign. That immunity is no more. He has relinquished his Ward 2 Councilmember plates and now sports generic plates (apparently not ponying up for vanity plates, or specialty plates). Continue reading →

Photo by Thomas Hawk.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Turns out the Papyrus closing is part of a chain-wide closure.
• On the positive side for that block, apparently 1254 Wisconsin Ave. finally has a tenant. It’s a women’s clothing store, which used to be something GM would complain about, but now anything that’s not a bank seems like a godsend.

1500 block of 28th St.

Photo by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• A more in-depth history of why streetcar to Georgetown is dead (for now).
• The Harper Macaw store is open now.