The Georgetown Metropolitan

1300 block of Wisconsin Ave.

Photos by Jerrold Bennett.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Profile on the Georgetown-born Blue Mercury.
• This house has a great sleeping porch.

3000 block of P St.

In honor of GM’s recent article on the name of Dumbarton St. (not really) the Citizens Association of Georgetown is holding its annual gala on October 21st with a theme of “Streets of Georgetown”.

Here’s a bit more on the event:

Washington, DC, September 11, 2017 – The “Streets of Georgetown” will be celebrated at the annual Georgetown Gala sponsored by the
Citizens Association of Georgetown (CAG) on Saturday, October 21, at the Four Seasons Hotel. This community event brings together over 450
residents, organizations, businesses, and politicos to celebrate Georgetown and CAG’s mission of historic preservation and improving
the life of the community.

This year’s event, titled “The Streets of Georgetown,” will highlight  Georgetown’s unique and historic neighborhood blocks in the
neighborhood. The gala committee, chaired by Michelle Korsmo, Colman Riddell and Amy Porter Stroh, is planning a special evening that
will include cocktails, a high end silent auction, a phenomenal dinner buffet, cigar bar on the terrace, and live music from the band, For The
Win, one of DC’s premiere party bands.

The high-end silent auction will include: vacations in Paris, Costa Rica, San Francisco and Aspen; Wizards courtside seats; a dinner party for
eight by Susan Gage Catering; a rooftop party catered by Via Umbria; and a high end wine pull and dinner with author Kitty Kelley. More
silent auction items are being added. Check CAG’s website for details and the most up-to-date listing.

Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Disabled bus on the Key Bridge is probably why there was gridlock all over Georgetown last night.
• The Alex bar wants your cocktail recipe. (So long as it has bourbon, gin or vodka. Boo, says this rum fan.)

1200 block of 31st St.

This week for Know Your Trees, GM will consider a group of trees known primarily for their flowers: the magnolias.

While there are a wide variety of species and sub-species of magnolias throughout the world, in Georgetown you are likely to see three basic types: southern magnolias, saucer magnolias, and the Yulan magnolia.

The southern magnolia is quite different from the other two. It is easier identified by its big waxy green leaves with cinnamon brown undersides:

Despite having a deciduous look, southern magnolias are actually evergreens. They keep their leaves through the winter, and only start shedding them once new leaves are ready to replace them. (The shedding is a feature that leads many to dislike this tree.)

In the early summer they sport large showy white flowers, although typically they appear only a few at a time on the tree:

There are not a ton of southern magnolias in tree boxes along the sidewalks in Georgetown, but they are everywhere around Georgetown and DC.

Other than the fact that the flowers are similar, the other two magnolias are quite different. Continue reading →

Photo by Omar Bárcena.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• New water taxi with service between the new wharf complex and Alexandria starts this week.
• The Graham Hotel hooks up with Hilton.

1000 block of Cecil Pl.

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 →