The Georgetown Metropolitan

Sure you could celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this Saturday getting drunk on Guinness at a chain bar, but why not take an opportunity to explore Georgetown’s Irish history?

As you may know, during the early 20th century, parts of Georgetown were heavily Irish. The center of it was on the west side, close to the Catholic landmarks of GU, Trinity and Visitation.

The Irish concentration is long gone, but with the help of old photos you can imagine the ghosts still walking the streets. In the 30s, photographer Carl Mydans walked through the poor and heavily Irish blocks of west Georgetown and captured the scene of children treating the sidewalks as their playroom:

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Photo by Hamburger Helper.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The new Amazon Bookstore has kombucha on tap, if that’s your thing.
• If you earned a plaque from the Old Glory Bourbon Club, go to J. Paul’s to pick it up.

3000 block of K St.

This week for GM’s series “Seven Georgetowns” GM is exploring the most overlooked corner of Georgetown: lower Georgetown.

As a quick reminder, this series is about demonstrating how Georgetown is really made up of seven distinct sub-neighborhoods that each could stand on their own as a neighborhood even if they weren’t surrounded by the other six sevenths of Georgetown.

When GM says that lower Georgetown is overlooked, what he means is that to people who live north of M St., it is a bit of a mystery. We know people live there, but they seem separate and apart from the rest of Georgetown. This, in fact, is a complaint GM has heard multiple times from residents of lower Georgetown.

And to be fair, it really is quite different from the rest of Georgetown. While there are a small handful of small rowhouses–which look much like small rowhouses north of M St.–the vast majority of households south of M St. are in apartment buildings. These range from modestly priced to some of the most expensive properties in DC. Continue reading →

Photo by John Sonderman

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The Amazon Bookstore opens today. (Close enough to what GM predicted)
• The economic case to redevelop the West Heating Plant.

1600 block of 30th St.

Last week, the annual Trees for Georgetown tree planting took place. You may have noticed seeing a brand new tree on your block (there are about five within a block of GM). Now it’s up to you to make sure it survives.

This year the group planted 70 trees, which is a bit more than last year. Of the trees GM noticed, he saw London planes, a swamp oak, a white birch, a cypress tree, a linden tree and a rubber tree. On his own block there is a London plane, which replaced a maple that was cut down last year.

Neither Trees for Georgetown nor the city is going to provide the care necessary to make sure these new trees survive. That is entirely up to the residents who live near the tree. So if there is a new tree on your block, make sure somebody adopts it (or just adopt it yourself). The crucial goal is this: 25 to stay alive. In other words, the new tree needs 25 gallons of water every week to survive. If you don’t have a hose bib on the front of your house and can’t water the tree yourself, try to find a neighbor who can, or who will let you use their spigot. Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Just a rumor, but a good one: Balducci’s to Georgetown?
• Will this ridiculous security theater come to Georgetown the next time a marathon comes through?

3100 block of Blues Alley

In January, GM reported that the Georgetown (and original) location of Dolcezza was closed for renovations. The sign on the door announced they’d be reopened by March. For several reasons, it doesn’t look like they’ll meet that promise.

GM was a bit surprised that they were closed for renovations in the first place. Back in 2013, GM learned that the long term plan for the Georgetown location was to move to a spot closer to M St. The building was temporarily for sale at the time. Ultimately they decided to stay at this address for now, and even did some renovations. The fact that the long term plan was to move on top of the fact they so recently did some renovations was a bit odd, but maybe they changed their long term plans? Continue reading →