The Georgetown Metropolitan

3600 block of Prospect St.

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU students vote to establish reparation fund for descendants of enslaved people sold by the university.
• ICYMI: WAMU interviewed GM on how there’s too many damn banks in Georgetown.

Dumbarton Oaks

This week GM is returning to a series that he thought he had just about exhausted: Know Your Trees. Somehow he had forgotten to do cherries! Now’s the time to correct!

Most residents of DC don’t need much information of cherries, it is true. But many just group cherries into one large group, when several distinct varieties dot our city.

The most famous cherry and the one that gets the most attention is the Yoshino cherry. The Tidal Basin is ringed by these beautiful specimens, which turn a lovely pinkish white at peak. Famously, they were originally the gift from Tokyo to Washington in 1912.

Yoshino cherries can grow quite large for a flowering tree. They can grow over forty feet tall. Dumbarton Oaks has one of the best large Yoshino cherry groves in the city. Over the past week (and maybe even as late as today) visitors have come, sprawled on the grass, and luxuriated in the gentle snowfall of spent blossoms. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM makes his case to WAMU that we don’t need no more stinking banks.
• Reverie tried out a pay-what-you-think-is-fair program and the results were somewhat surprising.

Dumbarton Oaks

On May 11th, the 91st annual Georgetown Garden Tour will be held. If you buy your ticket by the end of April, you get them slightly discounted at $40. Afterrwards the price goes up to $45. Tickets can be purchased here or on the day of the tour at Christ Church (all proceeds benefit the Georgetown Garden Club).

This really is one of GM’s favorite events of the spring. It lets you peek behind the gates of some of the most impressive properties in the neighborhood. But GM also loves that they don’t just select the grandest gardens. Plenty of small plots find their way on to the map. And that proves that anyone can build a tour-worthy garden if they’ve got a backyard and some elbow grease. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story behind the restoration of Julia Child’s old house.
• Georgetown still on top in terms of pricey home sales.

Dumbarton Oaks

Despite having been fully reconstructed in 2010, the Georgetown Safeway nonetheless still feels a bit crowded. That situation could get even worse in the near future.

That’s because the nearest other Safeway supermarket, the Palisades one on MacArthur Blvd. is set to close on May 4th. This caps a long fight the supermarket has had with the neighborhood. Early this decade, Safeway wanted to redevelop the property for residential uses, but the neighbors objected. Safeway reportedly responded that they’d just sell the property and put a covenant on the deed preventing another grocery store from moving in. While Council action quickly prohibited that practice, the corporate parents of Safeway made no secret of their wish to get rid of this property. That wish has apparently finally come true. Continue reading →