The Georgetown Metropolitan

In connection with the sudden closure of Sea Catch, GM thought it would be interesting to revisit his article about how the space that Sea Catch occupied was, in part, where the IBM corporation was founded.):

Today GM introduces yet another in his long line of occasional series: Did You Realize? As he digs into the history of Georgetown, GM sometimes comes across a fact or story that is surprising and not widely known.

For the first installment of this new series, GM asks you this: Did you realize that IBM was started here?

It’s true. It all started with the 1890 Census. The prior census almost took an entire decade to compile. Thus to complete the 1890 census on time, the Census Bureau realized that they needed to turn to technology. Serendipitously, just one year earlier, a Buffalo inventor, Herman Hollerith, received a patent on the great-great-great-grandfather of the computer hard-drive: the punched card. Recognizing the benefit of Hollerith’s invention, the Census Bureau hired him. Continue reading →

Photo by Kin Lane.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Nice culinary tour of DC, which starts out at Georgetown’s Das.
• Portrait of Yarrow Marmout is on display at the National Portrait gallery right now.

Oak Hill Cemetery

After a long wait, the highly anticipated (by GM at least) French bakery Boulangerie Christophe will open this Saturday.

GM first reported on the possible opening of the store way back in 2015. Apparently it will have an “all day bakery and cafe downstairs. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the upstairs restaurant.” The restaurant’s website has some pictures, but no menu yet. Continue reading →

Photo by Bob M.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Sea Catch has closed.
• Some Valentine’s Day specials around Georgetown.

3200 block of Volta Place

Recently after the election, many have been speculating that Georgetown’s position as the epicenter of the Washington political social life would return. The idea was not that Sally Quinn’s dinner parties would be relevant again, but rather that Republicans, back in power, would return to the boozy bars they prowled in during the W. Bush years. Notwithstanding these speculations, Fritz Brogan, one of the movers behind that early aughts nightlife, argued that, no actually neither scene would return to Georgetown.

GM is here to argue that regardless of who and where, the Georgetown-centered political era is finished. And good riddance to it.

GM started the Georgetown Metropolitan eight years ago with one particular goal in mind: to advance the radical notion that Georgetown is occupied by normal people, living mostly normal lives that happen to be located in Georgetown. Continue reading →

Photo by BKL.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• When M St. rocked.
• Interim MPD chief at the next Q&A Cafe, Feb. 16.

3300 block of Water St.

Another shop has closed on upper Wisconsin Ave. in Georgetown. The Jos. A. Banks store has cleared out.

The store only just opened at the end of 2012. It was part of the new Safeway-owned development that the grocery store built following the reconstruction of the Social Safeway.

It would be tempting to ascribe this closing to the general malaise of that strip of stores. While it probably did not help that this is such a economically challenged couple of blocks, this particular closing probably more relates to the decision by the company to close 250 stores in 2016. Continue reading →