The Georgetown Metropolitan

3200 block of N St.

Last night at the ANC meeting, the commission considered the BID’s proposal to construct a gondola between Rosslyn and Georgetown. Following an abbreviated presentation by Joe Sternlieb, the BID CEO, the ANC passed a resolution in favor of the project moving forward, with certain reservations.

Much of the talk regarding the gondola over the last couple weeks has been about the fact that the Arlington County Board wrote a letter stating that they did not intend to provide any money for the project. The reticence on the part of the board has much to do with the fact that the board has recently been taken over by Tea Party-like members who are intent of stopping, or significantly diminishing, all significant capital projects in the county. Most central to their effort was the plan to kill the Columbia Pike Streetcar project, which they did once elected. They also promised a replacement plan that would provide improved transit to the corridor. Spoiler alert: they didn’t.

This Tea Party-like spasm will likely subside long before the gondola project would be constructed, and a future Arlington board may be more willing to chip in. But it may not really be necessary, as some sort of private funding may be able to take care of the Virginia side. Continue reading →

Photo by Marc Andre.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Under Armour’s CEO is taking over the old Lacoste store next to his project at the old Nathan’s building. As far as GM knows, the only store that could possible afford this space is Under Armour itself (in that it would simply be a trophy location, and not remotely profitable).
• The incredible story of how a Georgetown dropout got on an ocean liner during WWI correctly predicting it would get sunk by German subs.

Volta Park

Way back in 2009, GM expressed a healthy dose of skepticism for a Georgetown startup called LivingSocial. Why that skepticism seems ill-placed for a little while, the inevitable came about: last week it was revealed that Living Social was sold to its ostensible rival, Groupon, for $0.

So although there was some rather eye-catching valuations between GM’s original skepticism and the zero dollar valuation, GM still feels justified. And for that reason (and because he doesn’t have any other article ideas at hand) GM will re-run his 2009 article below:

What are your five favorite bands? How about your five favorite movies? How about your five favorite fast food restaurants? If you’re a Facebook user, these inane questions probably sound awfully familiar. That’s because the ubiquitous social networking site has been lousy recently with people announcing to the world their top five favorite-things-that-nobody-else-cares-about. The application that enables this pointless ranking system is called LivingSocial, and surprisingly enough it was developed by a start-up company based right here in Georgetown.

And as of this week, LivingSocial became the number one Facebook application, registering 20 million active users. In doing so, it knocked out of the top spot another application called Causes that helps charities raise money.

Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The story of how the first time African American men voted in DC, they voted in Georgetown.
• A look at the home that was converted from the Alexander Memorial Baptist Church.

3000 block of R St.

                                                                              Photo by Tchamber236.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• If you’ve been holding out for a better price for Alexander Graham Bell’s old carriage house, that’s a good strategy.
• Hey, this isn’t really “news” but with spring basically arrived 2 months early, you might as well head up to Dumbarton Oaks and get the early spring display for free. Fees don’t start until mid March.

2900 block of M St.

As GM foretold, yet another of the “suit shops” on the 1300 block of Wisconsin Ave. has closed. This one is Studio.

A sign says that the store has moved to 1251 Wisconsin, which is the former Reebok store. It’s not clear whether that is a permanent move, or just a temporary stay.

This leaves just two (or three if you count Riccardi, which is certainly in better physical shape than the others, but which also partakes of the skeezy “Going Out of Business” scam sales) inexpensive suit shops on this block. This is truly a sea change for that stretch of Wisconsin. Continue reading →