For the holiday season, the Georgetown BID is introducing a new exciting event: the Georgetown Jingle. While I was hoping this would be a tribute to the classic Conan O’Brien sketches where an Arnold Schwartzenegger constantly steers the conversation back to his classic film Jingle All the Way, it turns out that’s not what’s on tap. Which is probably for the better.
What they are actually putting on is an ambitious festive event featuring live music and special discounts and food a dozens of shops around the neighborhood. Check out the map of participating stores!
It will take place this Saturday from 1pm tp 4pm and there will be a special event at 5:30 pm at the House of Sweden where a St. Lucia Choir will proceed from the embassy to the Georgetown Harbour.
Should add up to a wonderfully festive day, even if Arnold doesn’t show up….
Hello, and welcome to your Northwest Georgetown December ANC update! Happy holidays!
Leaf Collection
Before we get to winter, we need to clean up from the fall. And the city is still working through its annual leaf collection. The city is currently working through “zone c”, which includes east Georgetown. West Georgetown (i.e. homes west of Wisconsin Ave.) is in “zone d” and will be next. This is the first pass. There will be a second pass later.
When you receive notice that DPW is coming, the guidance is to pile the leaves out front. We received some mixed guidance on whether you could bag the leaves. If you have bagged them, it’s probably ok, but it’s probably safer to just pile them up.
If you have bagged garden waste that needs to be picked up, remember that you still need to place a request through 311. Due to it being leaf collection season, there is likely to be a delay between your request and the target pick up date. So it might help to plan ahead if you don’t want to keep the bags around.
Volta Park Update
Looking back to my update a year ago, I described the planned renovation for Volta Park. I was hopeful the work would get done last winter. Those hopes were dashed. Over and over again. Most recently I heard possibly a November start. That obviously didn’t happen. Repeated requests to DPW have received no firm answers, so I won’t make any promises to you when it might happen. Or, frankly, if it will happen. I’ve not heard any hints that the project was scotched, but obviously DC is facing a tight budget environment, so I would not be surprised if it delay is being driven by money concerns. If I finally hear anything concrete, or even semi-concrete, I will pass it on.
AT&T Construction
Two weeks ago, blocks around 33rd between Volta and Q were subject to a disruptive construction without much notice. The no parking signs covered several blocks around and listed a ridiculous 30 day time frame. As the work began, it was clear that it involved digging a new trench from (at least) Volta up to Q on 33rd. This was particularly galling since this stretch of road was only just paved last year.
I dug into the permit and learned that AT&T was behind it. They are apparently laying cable for some sort of a business internet service. This only makes the aggravation worse, honestly, since our freshly paved street is getting torn up for a private company to make a buck selling a service that residents aren’t even likely to be eligible for.
I lodged a complaint with DDOT, who acknowledged that this was against the stated policy of requiring utility work to be completed prior to a street getting repaved. Sometimes things go “through the cracks” was the literal explanation.
What’s additionally annoying is that as part of the work, crews leave dozens of spray painted lines across the sidewalk and street (see above). This is required to alert the crews to sewer and gas lines, but the paint lasts far longer than needed. And, if course, these sidewalks were only just redone also within the last couple years.
I understand that this work is going to continue up 33rd this week. It is also being done on the other side of Georgetown by Thomas Jefferson St. I have reached out to AT&T to try to get a clear idea how much more of this destructive and disruptive construction we can expect. I will pass on what I hear.
Call Your Mother obtained the zoning relief is needed to remain open at 35th and O St. However opponents are likely to appeal the decision, so there is more likely to come for that story.
As you get ready for Thanksgiving this 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.
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!
This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m checking out the one and only Stombock’s.
The photo is from the late 1950s and shows 3278 M St. Nowadays it’s J. McLaughlin and Pizzeria Paradiso. But in the middle part of last century it host W.H. Stombock and Sons. And it was a horse saddle shop, of all things. You can even see the model horse it famously kept on the sidewalk.
I wrote about the store back in 2016:
According to Capital Losses, the store opened in Georgetown in 1895 across the street at 3293 M St. But only a few years later it moved into 3278 M St. (which now houses J. McLaughlin).
At the turn of the century, a saddle shop in the middle of the city wasn’t an odd thing, seeing as so many people still got around by horse and buggy. But as the automobile took over, the shop switched to the equestrian sport business.
To grab the attention of passersby, the store installed a cast iron life-sized horse, seen above, that they’d roll out every morning.
The store finally left Georgetown in 1970 and moved to Poolesville, MD, and then later Gaithersburg. It closed for good in 1990.
Every month, the Old Georgetown Board publishes the plans they will be reviewing that month. And since stores have to apply to do something as small as install a sign, it is often a great place to get the first tip for a new store or restaurant coming to the neighborhood.
But for some months there’s simply not much revealed. That’s the case this month. The only interesting piece of news I could extract was that Warby Parker is moving (or expanding) next door.
They currently occupy 3225 M St. They are applying to take over 3233 M St., which is the long vacant storefront that last hosted a souvenir shop about ten years ago:
It will be good to see this ling empty storefront finally returned to life. Although that leaves open the question of what will happen to the current Warby Parker space. My guess is that if the store is really leaving the space, the landlord probably won’t have much trouble filling it again.
PBS published this wonderful piece on Georgetown’s Yarrow Mamout. It’s goes wonderfully deep on Yarrow and his identity as a muslim in early America. Enjoy!
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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