There was a stabbing near the Safeway yesterday. Early reports indicate it was an argument that got out of hand. In other crime news, there was a robbery on O St. near 30th in the middle of the day on Tuesday.
This week for Georgetown Time Machine, I’m visiting one of the quintessential commercial pockets buried deep in the Georgetown neighborhood. This particular pocket is the 1200 block of 36th St. It comes from the DC Historical Society archives.
The information with the photo states that it comes from February 1965. And that should help us identify some of the shops on this stretch. Just to the left of the center of the photo is Wisemiller’s Deli. Even at 1965, Wisemiller’s was already a stalwart, having opened twelve years earlier.
Moreover, the 1789 Restaurant and the Tombs were also open by the mid 60s. But their sister bar, F. Scott’s, was not open by 1965. According to the Post archives, a barber shop occupied 1234 36th St. (the north half of what would become F. Scott’s). The other half of what would become F. Scott’s was already a restaurant, as you can see when you zoom in:
The restaurant was named Tehaan’s (which is sometimes mistakenly spelled “Tehan’s”). It operated at this location starting in 1911, according to this matchbook:
How can one forget the place where he had his first beer? I’ll never forget where my friends and I gathered: Sam Tehan’s on 36th Street in Georgetown (next to what is now the 1789). Ernestine, our waitress, made sure we were well taken care of and, as one of our group after devouring two cheeseburgers and a large plate of fries would say, “Once around again, Ernie.”
It was my freshman year at Georgetown, and I spent frequent evenings with my classmates at Tehan’s. On one of those evenings, after consuming several glasses of draft beer while listening to repeated playings of Jo Stafford’s rendition of “You Belong to Me” on the jukebox, I stood, in a burst of youthful exuberance, to propose a toast. Before I could utter a word, nearly everyone in the place shouted, “Sit down! You can’t stand up with a drink in D.C.”
Puzzled but chastened, I shrank back into my chair, where it was then explained to me that there was a District law prohibiting anyone other than bartenders and servers from standing or walking while carrying an alcoholic beverage. I never felt quite so much like the newcomer from Ohio that I was.
— Jim Smith,Potomac
That leaves the rest of the block between Wisemiller’s and N St. As far as I can tell, this whole building was operated as the Georgetown University Shop, which specialized in clothes for college students:
On July 3rd, the ABC Board issued two orders directed at unlicensed pot shops in Georgetown: HotBox (at 1564 Wisconsin Ave.) and Smoke Island (at 1326 Wisconsin Ave.). The orders were cease and desist orders demanding the shops stop selling cannabis products.
As mentioned above, both these shops are unlicensed. Up until recently, all pot shops were unlicensed. But the city made a shift towards legalizing the commercial sale of cannabis under the ambit of the medical cannabis program. It has begun issuing retailer’s licenses for this purpose. But, as anyone can see, we have a large number of shops that opened before this new regulatory regime. They operated in a gray zone with a tenuous legal status. Now that the city is standing up a genuinely legal regime, the plan was that these gray market shops would either get a license or shut down. (For a much more detailed explanation of all this, please see my constituent update from last May.)
A surprising (to me, at least) number of unlicensed shops simply did not apply for a license. But there could be lots of reasons. The biggest reason is probably that they can’t get a license if they’re located within 300 feet of school or rec center (or within 400 feet of another Cannabis retailer that got their application in first). Also some might not think they can pass the license review process. Or they don’t want to source their cannabis from growers based in the District (as the new law requires).
In any event, many did not apply to get a retailer’s license. Earlier this year, ABCA (the regulatory arm of the ABC Board) was given legal authority from the DC Council to go after these shops. They have taken a deliberative approach to exercising that authority. While I would love quicker action, I certainly appreciate the agency taking the time to do it right.
In line with this deliberative approach, in March ABCA issued warning letters to six unlicensed shops in Georgetown warning them against selling pot without a license. While the agency did not share the names of these shops, I will note that several unlicensed shops have closed in the last six months.
But these cease and desist orders should amp up the pressure on the hold-outs. HotBox was an especially egregious case. It opened this location months after the city decreed the gray market shops to be no longer allowed. It opened at a location that is too close to Volta Park Rec Center to ever get a license. And worse of all, based on reports I received, the pot smoke generated by the store was so bad the patrons to Los Cuates downstairs were getting up a leaving.
I should note that the orders do not command the shops to actually close. I don’t believe ABCA has that authority. But the orders tell the shops that they can’t sell cannabis anymore. Since that’s basically the whole point of these shops existing, it should lead to them actually closing. Moreover, ABCA is working closely with other agencies, like DLCP and MPD, to ramp up the pressure if the shops ignore the orders.
For the last year, whenever people have complained to me about the pot stores, I have been counseling patience. The days of the skeezy gray market pot shops will end. They will be replaced by far fewer, but much cleaner and well regulated shops. Ultimately I think there will be about 4-5 of these shops across all of Georgetown. That compares with the nearly two dozen we’ve had at some points.
But it will take time. These orders are evidence to me that ABCA is still moving forward with the plan. In that they have my strong backing.
In a case of horrible timing, over the hottest weekend of the year (so far) the Volta Park Pool was closed. I heard word that the pool was closed due to a sewage issue, although I did not confirm that.
I did, however, hear word that whatever issue the pool was experiencing has been resolved and that it would reopen today as normal. So it should be open in two hours from now!
This morning I linked to an article that described the writer’s perfect Georgetown staycation. It reminded me of an article I wrote back in 2018 about how to experience Georgetown like a local. I thought I would update and reprint it below:
The other day, I linked to an article that offered to list 25 places around DC for a tourist to do non-touristy things. The lone Georgetown mention on the list was of Dumbarton House, which is a fine mention (most famous for hosting my wedding). But there are many other spots around Georgetown that a tourist ought to hit to be able to say they got to see a local’s view of the neighborhood. So I decided to do it myself.
The list is structured loosely around how to spend a day taking in the sights. Starting with morning:
Morning
Hopefully you skipped the too expensive breakfast at your hotel and arrived at Georgetown hungry. That’s great because there are lots of fantastic options to satisfy that hunger. Yes you could go looking for senators or NBC talking heads at Four Seasons, or you could join the visiting college parents at Clyde’s, but you’re here to experience the neighborhood as a local. And there are several spots that you’ll find them.
The first is the local favorite, Boulangerie Christophe, at 1422 Wisconsin Ave. This French bakery offers pastries and bread and other European delights, along with the obligatory coffee. Or you could go to their more formal upstairs dining area where they serve more fancy fare. Either one will be a great way to start the day.
Staying on the French theme, you should also consider Patesserie Poupon at 1645 Wisconsin Ave. They also offer tasty breaded pastries and quiches, etc. You’ll almost certainly find yourself sitting next to some old friends meeting up for a coffee, and they’ll probably be speaking a foreign language. In fact there is probably no place in Georgetown that more feels like it’s not in America than Patesserie Poupon.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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