The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Sequoia is planning an “art focused” renovation.
• This is a pretty common example of how people who do work without a permit in Georgetown react to having to get a permit.

The photo above was posted by DDOT to its Tumblr feed earlier this month. It shows M St. in Georgetown at some undetermined date. Surely we can date it!

First off, the block shown here is the 3100 block of M St., just east of Wisconsin Ave. (you can just make out the edge of the Riggs bank on the far left of the photo). Towards the end of the block you can see the notable tall building that now houses Steve Madden.

Just starting from a guesstimate, based upon the cars, GM will say this is probably in the 1930s. The streetcar at the center is a PCC streetcar, which was built starting in the 30s, so that would be consistent.

Where the Urban Outfitters is now you can see the old Woolworth’s. But that’s not much help in dating it because that opened in 1922 (and closed in 1980).

The fact that there were still buildings standing between the Scott’s building and the Riggs bank doesn’t help since there were around in the 1950s. Continue reading →

Dumbarton Oaks

Photo from Eater DC.

New and hip restaurants never open up in Georgetown anymore. At least that’s the common refrain. And there is a lot of truth to it. Even the well regarded restaurants that have opened in Georgetown, like Chez Billy Sud or Fiola Mare, are far from hip. But maybe that’s a good thing?

Recently in Shaw–the epicenter of recently opened hip restaurants in DC–there have been a spate of closings. They’ve even come up with a clever name for it: the Ninth Street Massacre.

While that is (hopefully) a tongue-in-cheek expression, the closings have been a great disappointment. They include Chao Ku, A&D, Table, and the somewhat infamous (and infamously short-lived) Shaw Bijou. The local ANC rep, and unofficial “mayor of Shaw”, chalks up the losses to the “normal course of business” and to bad leases. But there’s also just more risk involved in trying to open an adventurous restaurant in a gentrifying neighborhood. Continue reading →

Photo by J. Maughn.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• New beer director (and first woman to serve in the role) at Pizza Paradiso.
• Speaking of Pizza Paradiso, they will be closed on Thursday in acknowledgement of the Day Without Immigrants protest strike across the country.

Potomac River

Love them or hate them, we can all agree that the 1400 block of Wisconsin Ave. has long been defined by the stretch of shops selling cheap suits, and other somewhat gaudy sundries. It has inspired unproven conspiracy theories about drug dealing and money laundering and angst about why these blocks are being  “held back”. But the reality is that we are probably in the twilight days of these shops.

Spurred on by Robert Bell’s redevelopment of the old Georgetown Theater building, a row of the stores on the east side of Wisconsin has already been vacated and partially renovated. Now change is coming to the west side.

Well actually change came to the west side a while ago. Three of the store fronts of the “old style” were renovated years ago. Now an M & T Bank and the new Boulangerie Christophe operate in two of them (the third is still vacant). Continue reading →

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM decided not to leave it up to fate and went ahead and bought the Old Georgetown sign he discussed yesterday and donate it to the Peabody Room. It’s already there if you want to check it out!
• NPS approves the plans for new boathouses on the Potomac (but they still have a long, long way to go before they get built).

Dumbarton Oaks

Right now for sale at the Opportunity Shop at Wisconsin and P, is a precious piece of Georgetown history. It’s one of the signs that once graced the street signs across Georgetown marking what what the old names were. In this case, it is for Third Street, which was the name of P St. west of Wisconsin (which was then known as High St.). Continue reading →