The Georgetown Metropolitan

2800 block of Pennsylvania Ave.

Listen, don’t get GM wrong. He loves coffee. He has it every single morning. The stronger, the better. No milk, cream and/or sugar. Just straight, bitter and black as onyx. But it’s really getting out of hand in Georgetown.

Next Monday, the ANC is holding its May meeting. And a variety of items are on the agenda. One item that’s not up for actual discussion is the apparent arrival of yet another coffee shop within a block or so of Wisconsin and M St. This one is an Melbourne, Australia-inspired company called Bluestone Lane. It’s not, to be clear, a Melbourne, Australia-based coffee company. It’s just inspired by Melbourne. Which apparently has a great coffee culture. Which sounds both believable and also something that could easily be complete BS. (“Oooooh, did you hear about the new ice cream shop? It’s Dublin, Ireland-inspired.”) This particular coffee chain so far only has shops where rich New York financiers work, live or summer.

It will apparently be moving in to 1064-66 Wisconsin Ave., which is a bit of a mystery location since 1064 is Pinstripes and 1066 is Frye Company. Perhaps Frye Company is closing or consolidating or decided to co-locate with a Melbourne, Australia-inspired coffee shop.

This will add yet another coffee shop (or cafe that sells coffee) within frothing distance of the center of commercial Georgetown. That list will eventually include:

• Paul Bakery
• Laduree
• Starbucks
• Grace St. Coffee
• Peet’s
• Blue Bottle
• Dean and Deluca
• Simit + Smith
• Pain Quotidien

Here is the rest of the non-Melbourne, Australia-inspired agenda: Continue reading →

Photo by Ontheway Advice.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Lululemon is back to its normal space.
• GM missed this while he was away in New Orleans, but the Lady Godiva store closed.

Tudor Place

This week for now and a long time ago, GM visits the intersection of N and Wisconsin on May 3, 1971. This was a day of wide-spread anti-war protests around Washington. (A wonderful collection of photos from the protest, from which this photo was drawn, is here).

The photo shows protesters blocking traffic, which strikes GM as a pretty level-headed response by young people who were being sent halfway around the world to die in a jungle for a pointless war. We’ve learned so much since then! Now our pointless wars are mostly in the desert. Continue reading →

Photo by Donald West.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Man punches and attempts to sexually assault a woman, is arrested.
• Laduree finally opens.

Photo by German Laulion.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice profile of ANC Commissioner Monica Roache. (Which is part of a new blog by the BID)
• New condos are still super expensive in Georgetown, but existing condo sales prices are now being exceeded by Logan Circle.

GM’s off to New Orleans for the rest of the week for Spring Break. Catch you next week!

Tudor Place

The former Valero gas station at the corner of Pennsylvania and M has shut down and will be torn down to make way for an apartment building. The Exxon at M just west of the Key Bridge is also marked for closure. The other Exxon in Georgetown–at Wisconsin and Q–has also been identified as a possible redevelopment site. There is a chance that within five years or so, there may be just a single gas station left in Georgetown. That might seem to be too few for you, but you’d be hard pressed to justify the number that there used to be.

The photo above shows the intersection of M St. and 30th in 1971 (during a citywide May Day protest that blocked streets everywhere). Aside from its documentation of the historic protest, this photo is also fascinating for showing how many gas stations used to be on M St. There’s one on the southwest corner (it was call Call Carl’s) and another on the northeast corner (that one was an Esso). Two more properties at the corner of 29th and M St. appear to be service stations as well. Continue reading →