The Georgetown Metropolitan

Recently, GM finally got around to reading The Georgtown Set, the 2014 book about the power brokers who once lived in Georgetown, with a particular emphasis on the Alsop brothers. The book seems tog o out of its way to emphasize just how geographically close all these important people were who lived in Georgetown in the middle part of the 20th century. And in doing so, it repeatedly refers to Joe Alsop’s home on Dumbarton. Rather, it calls it Dumbarton Ave., not Dumbarton St. This brings up an issue GM has explored in the past, and the result of that is reprinted below.

But in summary, GM concluded that the official name for the road is Dumbarton St. For some periods throughout the last 150 years or so, it has been, at least, colloquially, if not formally, as Dumbarton Ave. The best GM can guess is that the odd old Georgetown street names that survived renaming were temporarily given avenue status (including, for example, Olive and Prospect). But that was only a fleeting designation. Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• In the early 80s there were sculptures outside the Four Seasons, including of a man hailing a taxis. This apparently caused a problem as taxis pulled over to pick him up.
• The renovated Sequoia is going to have a ton of outdoor seating.

1500 block of 33rd St.

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, which GM is surprised even exists, is interested in moving to Georgetown.
• More on the ANC’s objection to the Circulator stop elimination proposal.

Potomac River

This week for the Georgetown Time Machine, GM visits this photo of a relatively young Whitehurst Freeway. Come check out what interesting scenes it contains.

The first question is of dating. The DDOT website does not list a date, so it will take a little sleuthing. First of all, the Whitehurst wasn’t built until 1949, so that’s the earliest point. In the distance, as discussed more below, the old Huerich Brewery still stands. That was demolished in 1961 to make way for the Roosevelt Bridge. Also, that large white building that’s in front of the Washington Monument is what is now the Saudi embassy. It was built in 1959. So this photo is from between 1959 and 1961.

The first striking thing about this photo is how the waterfront was a rail yard, there’s even a caboose down there:

The next most obvious it is the massive Capital Traction Power House, which looks a little worse for wear with so many windows smashed out:

The main reason it was smashed up is that it wasn’t in operation anymore. It stopped providing power for the streetcar system in 1933, and was decommissioned in 1944. It nonetheless sat an empty shell until it was demolished in 1968. Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice walk-through of all the work planned for the C & O Canal.
• Interview with owner of the new shop Take Care.

Potomac River

Over the last several years, DC’s transportation department, DDOT, has been conducting the Downtown West Transportation Planning Study. It looked at the area encircle by the black line in the picture above, specifically Pennsylvania Ave. between Washington Circle and the White House, and H St. between Pennsylvania Ave and New York Ave. The staff has produced a final report, and among the recommendations is a call to construct some excellent bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave.

This is obviously not in Georgetown, but for Georgetowners commuting by bike, these changes could lead to a different course to work, much like the 15th St. lanes drew nearby bike traffic.

You may be familiar with the bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. east of the White House. They were installed under Adrian Fenty. While they were a dramatic improvement at the time, and were installed rapidly, they certainly have their issues. The greatest issue is that drivers often try to drive a u-turn across the bike lanes, which is both illegal and really dangerous. The city has tried different approaches to discourage this behaviour, most recently settling on small rubber curb-like barriers, but it’s still not ideal. The new recommendations would lead to far superior lanes west of the White House. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• 15 things to do in Georgetown in the fall. (Sadly, “go to Dumbarton Oaks” is not an option this year).
• Tom Sietsema loves the new Sweetgreen in Georgetown.