The Georgetown Metropolitan

Rock Creek

The National Park Service, in conjunction with Arlington County, has proposed to build a new boathouse along the Potomac just across from Georgetown. Comment is open until July 30th on the plan.

This proposal calls for two buildings along the channel behind Roosevelt Island. As reported by ARLNow, the Park Service considered two locations, the Roosevelt Island site and Gravelly Point by the airport, and chose the former. Here is a map of the preferred alternative:

The proposal calls for a 14,000 square foot boat storage facility with a floating dock along the river. Uphill and on the other side of the GW Parkway is a second building that will provide showers, lockers, etc. The facilities would primarily be used for rowing, however it is anticipated that canoes and other paddled boats would be available for rent by the public as well. Continue reading →

Photo by Daniel Lobo.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The cookie dough shop is set to open next month.
• After all the ballots were counted, Ward 2 actually came out in favor of Initiative 77, which Jack Evans is dead set to overturn.

Georgetown Waterfront Park

Georgetown’s long wait for Fios may be coming to an end soon. Verizon first started rolling the service (which essentially brings fiber optic-level telecom services right to your door) in DC way back in 2009. At the time it was clear that Georgetown would be last on the list. But even considering that, it has taken even longer than GM expected. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The cycletrack on K St. and Water St. is getting closer to being fully finished, and it already looks great.
• A pizza place is opening in the old Simit and Smith place.

1500 block of 33rd St.

While GM was taking his July 4th break, the second spate of Wonder Woman filming blew through the neighborhood. And in case you missed it, GM gathered all the fake store fronts the set designers created for the movie.

Above you’ll see a the lovely outdoor restaurant called the Dumbarton Cafe. It was located (very temporarily) at 3214 O St., a vacant space the previously held a pilates studio. They even had a sandwich board with 80’s prices:

More than one neighbor commented that this fake cafe looked so good it ought to become real.

What’s funny is that the exact same property was used in St. Elmo’s Fire, where it hosted a a fake sidewalk antiques market, with another fake sidewalk cafe next door:

Here are some of the other fake stores or signage they created:

They turned Vaporfi into an ice cream shop (another great idea).

Insomnia Cookies became “Northwest Diner”.

The building next to the “Dumbarton Cafe” (which houses O Salon) became the “O St. Bistro”, another fake restaurant.

Wingo’s (which suffered a severe fire days before shooting) was given a retro sign. The English Rose, next door, was given a bunch of flowers for the sidewalk.

Down the block, several stores on Wisconsin got a makeover. The historic Georgetown Theater was transformed into, well, a theater, with posters for Ghostbusters and Footloose (both accurate for the 1984 setting), and a box office:

Of course, the theater itself didn’t really look like this in the 80s. It looked as it did just a few years ago before the renovation, with lots of formstone. It also appeared in St. Elmo’s Fire with that look:

Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Last Concert in the Park this Sunday at Rose Park from 2 to 5.
• Get your ticket to see the bassist from Spinal Tap interviewed at the Georgetown Club.

GM’s going to sign off a bit early for the Fourth this year. Call it laziness or call it depression at the never ending awfulness that is the current state of affairs, but GM will see you on the flip side.