The Georgetown Metropolitan

This week for Seven Georgetowns, GM explores the historic district of Herring Hill.

Herring Hill is far eastern Georgetown, basically 29th St. to Rock Creek. Cultural DC has a nice explanation of the name and the history of this quarter:

Tradition has it that the name came from the fish that neighborhood families caught in nearby Rock Creek. According to historian Mary Mitchell, by 1860 Herring Hill was a self-sustaining, even village-like community with a population of 951. Interspersed among the residences by the 1920s were candy stores, “mom and pop groceries,” coal and ice sellers, barbershops and beauty shops, cleaners, movers, feed stores, and everything else necessary to life. Most were black-owned businesses. Laborers lived alongside physicians, lawyers, and other professionals.

Herring Hill’s simple frame dwellings survived the gentrification of the 1930s to become prized, well-located townhouses in the 1960s and beyond.

In choosing this name for Seven Georgetowns (other than, say, Rose Park, or whatever) GM wanted to really emphasize the African American history and how closely it is tied to the homes and shops of this area. Some people occasionally say that all of Georgetown was a “Black ghetto” in the early 20th century. This is wrong on two accounts. The African American population was concentrated in eastern Georgetown, not spread out across the whole neighborhood. And Herring Hill was anything but a ghetto. It was a thriving, healthy neighborhood of families, businesses, churches and schools.

To get a sense for the neighborhood, you should read Black Georgetown Remembered. But for a shorter version, consider this excerpt from a letter sent to the ANC about the 7-11 back in 2011:

The block that housed P Street Pictures and 7-11 had a barber shop, shoe shine parlor and Reed’s Electric Company before Reed’s moved to Wisconsin Avenue. Around the corner on Twenty- Seventh Street, The Diamond Cab Company operated its taxi cabs. In days past, Georgetown housed the Ledo and Dumbarton movie houses, Murphy’s Five & Dime, Galliher & Huguely Lumber Yard, Ladd Mills Esso and the original Georgetown Boys Club…

The churches (most of them at least) still remain. The schools are closed. Phillips, the black school, was turned into condos after the Washington International School sold it in 2002. Corcoran, the white school, was turned into offices in 1982. It’s currently used by the Qatar Defense Ministry. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Signs are finally up on the future Starbucks in the old Cellar Door at M and 34th.
• Does the new all-woman co-working space violate DC’s Human Rights Act? Maybe, but come on.

Tudor Place

As first reported by the Georgetowner, Zara, the discount fashion store located at Prospect and Wisconsin, closed on Good Friday. Assuming no new tenant will quickly move in, this will add a significant amount of vacant retail space to a market that already faced a glut.

Just the Zara building alone is quite massive. (Technically it looks like historically these were separate buildings, but they were combined at some point) Combine the space left behind by Zara to the long vacant space next door, which previously housed Max Studio and that block alone has quite a bit of empty space.

Wisconsin Ave. is pockmarked with vacancies up and down the street. And M St. has some pockets of vacancies (mostly, it seems, are owned by EastBanc, who, to their credit, has sought to use the space for long term “pop-ups”).

On top of these many small empty spaces, the market is going to soon see another large infusion of empty space. The Latham Hotel redevelopment project will make another 25,000 square feet of retail space available. No tenant has been announced. Continue reading →

Photo by Joe Flood.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Zara closed (more on this later).
• GM’s already reported on this, but Georgetown’s got lots of great coffee shops.

Tudor Place

GM noticed over the weekend that Hitched wedding boutique is no more. The shop has been taken over by Modern Trousseau, one of the wedding dress lines carried by Hitched.

Hitched’s website indicates that existing customers will be serviced but new customers will be sent to Modern Trousseau. This is too bad, Hitched was founded in Georgetown in 2005 by Julia Lichtman Kepniss and Carin Rosenberg. It was later run by Katelyn White and Katie Watson. Over the years it garnered a great reputation for wonderful service and high-end offerings. And to neighbors, it was particularly noteworthy for its beautiful storefront and window displays. Continue reading →

Photo by Hillel Steinberg.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Six million dollar house near Dumbarton Oaks goes for sale. (Is it a joke that they have artwork depicting both Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe?)
• WMATA applies to demolish the Foundry Branch trolley trestle, which advocates would like to see refurbished and used as a pedestrian bridge.

Dumbarton Oaks Park

The other day, GM 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 GM’s 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 GM decided to do it himself.

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 relatively recently opened 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. Continue reading →