The Georgetown Metropolitan

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the celebrated author Roald Dahl. GM has mentioned before about how Dahl lived for a short time in Georgetown (and supposedly painted the family jewels of the Dumbarton Bridge buffaloes white). But he didn’t mention where he lived. And that address is 1610 34th St. Continue reading →

Photo by L. Current.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Looks like Stachowski’s has some competition in the pastrami department.
• Could a Michelen Three Star Parisian restaurant come to Georgetown? (Prolly not…)

Potomac River

One of GM’s guilty summer pleasures is to read spy novels. This summer was no different, as he returned to John le Carré for a mid period book GM had previously overlooked: The Perfect Spy. The semi-autobiographical work tells the story of Magnus Pym who (spoiler alert) rises up through the British secret service while operating as a double agent for Czechoslovakia. And towards the end of the book Georgetown makes a cameo appearance.

The book is structured intermittently as a book-within-a-book as Pym writes a coming-clean narrative to his family and colleagues explaining his actions. At one point he describes his time in Washington where he lived with his wife in a small Georgetown home. And he explains to his son that one of the locations of the “dropboxes” that he used to communicate with his Czechoslovakian handlers was in Oak Hill Cemetery. Pym writes to his son Tom [it gets a little confusing because in his “book” to his family and colleagues, Pym refers to himself in the third-person. It’s the same tiresome affectation that GM uses.]:

He wandered Georgetown’s beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery and imagined he was with Dorothy at The Glades, confined to the dripping orchard where his guilty face could be hidden from the passers-by. Minnie Wilson was our letter box at Oak Hill, Tom. Our first in all America–go and take a look at her one day. She lies on a curled plinth a short way down the terraced bowl, a small dead Victorian girl in marble drapes. We left our messages in a leafy recess between Minnie’s backside and he protector, one Thomas Entwistle, who had died in later age.

The reference was so specific that GM was convinced that it must be a real place. So recently he headed over for a much overdue visit to Oak Hill and search for the gravestone.

GM immediately found several small sculptures of babies or children, but none with that name. He walked up and down looking, about to give up hope he finally spotted the name Thomas Entwisle (not Entwistle, like in the book).

Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown University getting pressure to not only give preferential treatment to the descendants of the slaves the school sold, but also offer them scholarships.
• Speaking of GU, here’s a fascinating story about a class bringing GU students and prisoners together.

1800 block of Wisconsin Ave.

Will Georgetowners and those to the west soon get some relief from airplane noise? They may, if a plan floated by the FAA to change the routes of planes leaving National Airport is adopted.

While planes have been flying in and out of National Airport for generations, locals began complaining about the noise more in the last several years. The problem’s gotten worse, they say, because of the “Next Gen” procedures that allow the planes to cut over land more and not stay directly above the Potomac. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• After coming back from a corporate bankruptcy, the Pinkberry is closed again.
• New coffee and juice bar now open on Grace. Sundevich coming soon.

Cady’s Alley

Starting this summer, a new farmers market has been setting up every Sunday morning in front of the old Marvelous Market at P and Wisconsin. It’s by Licking Creek Farms and offers a variety of produce and other items. Maybe you’ve visited it, but chances are you haven’t because the market won’t keep coming unless more customers come. GM has heard that the vendor is considering closing the market unless business improves.

That’s the thing with commercial amenities like farmers markets or specialty grocery stores. Everyone says they want them, but when they do actually open, often there’s not enough actual demand to keep it open. Of course, it’s not solely the fault of the fickle public. Continue reading →