The Georgetown Metropolitan

GM was reminded of a fantastic article from Deadspin a few years ago by the great DC writer Dave McKenna. It is all about the decades-long grudge between John Thompson Jr., the legendary Hoya basketball coach, and Morgan Wootten, the equally legendary basketball coach from Dematha high school. And perhaps the most pointed moment of the rivalry took place at the Jelleff Boys and Girls Club here in Georgetown.

As the article explains, Wootten was already a legend when Thompson, a DC native, took over the coaching job at St. Anthony’s high school in the late 1960s. Thompson was quickly successful at building a program at St. Anthony’s, and Wootten allegedly wasn’t interested in doing anything to help Thompson. The story goes that Wootten actively undermined Thompson and took steps to avoid playing St. Anthony’s. Continue reading →

Photo by BKL Art.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• High school students pitch in to clean up Mt. Zion Cemetery.
• The Committee of 100 doesn’t like the proposed changes to the C&O Canal, even though (because?) they believe the changes would be popular.

1000 block of Wisconsin Ave.

As part of an effort to refresh its brand, the Georgetown BID released a new video that genuinely makes Georgetown look way cooler that it actually is. With plenty of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shots, it’s a tad overwhelming. But if it helps turn around the vacancies, all the better!

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• What the weirdest food at a GU convenience store tastes like.
• How alleyways, like those in Georgetown, got hip. (It’s a somewhat positive spin on a story that actually mostly involved African Americans getting evicted and displaced.)

Montrose Park

The mural honoring JFK’s speech at Berlin that was being painted last week on the side of 3401 Water St. is complete. The allusion to Kennedy’s speech is now clearer, with the phrase “Ich Bin Ein Berliner” now written.

Other than the text, the mural has added quite a dash of color since GM first saw it being painted. (And, no, the phrase doesn’t really mean “I’m a jelly doughnut“). It’s quite attractive now. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Always fun to see old photos of the waterfront and remember just how different it used to be.
• Bank of Georgetown is getting the band back together.

Georgetown Waterfront

Washingtonian magazine published a piece last week about an interesting project that uses Wikipedia data to identify the most famous person associated with each city, town, and (in some cases) neighborhood. For Georgetown, that person turns out to be John F. Kennedy. While this comes at no surprise, it doesn’t answer a more interesting question: who is the most famous person who’s actually from Georgetown?

GM doesn’t have a definitive answer, but he’s got a couple candidates:

Olivia Wilde

Olivia Wilde is a successful television and Hollywood actress, most famous for her role on the medical drama House. She has also performed on stage and even directed a recently released movie (Booksmart).

Wilde was born in New York, but raised in Georgetown. She is the daughter of Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, DC-based journalists and prominent socialites. (Leslie Cockburn ran unsuccessfully for Congress representing Rappahannock County, VA last year). She attended Georgetown Day School for high school.

Rostam Batmanglij

Rostam Batmanglij is a musician most famous for being in Vampire Weekend, a group he helped form at Columbia University. In that band he contributed significantly towards the group’s sound by handling keyboards and backing vocals. He split with the band in 2016 and is now a solo artist performing simply under the name Rostam.

Like Wilde, Batmanglij is also the child of talented parentage. His mother is Najmieh Batmanglij, who is a famous cook and author specializing in Iranian cooking. The family lived on 35th St. (the house just sold for $3 million). Batmanglij also attended Georgetown Day School Potomac School. Continue reading →