The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Happy Birthday Georgetown University!
• An argument for a Roosevelt Island bridge from Georgetown. (An argument GM’s made before.)

3200 block of Q St.

In honor of the legalization of marijuana in DC, GM is turning back to a curious period of Georgetown history: when a group of beatniks brought the first pot party to DC. The article, from 2009, it reprinted below:

Think Georgetown in the 1950’s and 60’s and most people think of JFK and socialite doyennes.  Almost totally forgotten from those days in Georgetown is a coffeehouse and a community of beatniks and free-spirits once located in a small courtyard off 31st st. Nowadays it’s the office complex called Hamilton Court at 1232 31st. St. Find out the wine-soaked pot-scented history of this perfectly ordinary looking office complex after the jump:

Continue reading →

Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Bidding starting on contents of Rhino Bar.
• A couple scary carjackings.

1700 block of 32nd St.

Photo by M01229.

Washingtonian has an absolutely saucy story out this week on the sorry story of the train wreck that was Serendipity 3 in Georgetown. It’s a fantastic read, and for many Georgetowners like GM it helps fill in the story that we knew the contours of, but not the details. (And this makes two stories in three months where Washingtonian dished on Georgetown’s dirt laundry. Let’s hope that’s a sign of more good things to come.)

But the article missed the saddest part of the story: that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Nathan’s shouldn’t have closed in the first place. As you may recall, the last months of Nathans’ existence involved Carol Joynt fighting with the landlord to work out a deal to stay open. Her rent was $30,000 a month. That was too much for her, but the landlord was unwilling to agree to an arrangement that was acceptable to Nathans. So despite a temporary lease extension, Joynt exercised a termination clause and closed Nathans. Continue reading →

Photo by Mike Maguire.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM’s prediction was right! Beard Papa is coming to Georgetown.
• Building fire on M St. yesterday.

Volta Park

Several weeks ago, WMATA released a draft budget that contained dramatic cuts to service across rail and bus lines. The message in the budget was clear: Virginia, Maryland and DC need to contribute more to the agency’s budget or the cuts will come.

Some have speculated that this is nothing more than “budget chicken“, i.e. propose intentionally painful cuts as a means to bargain for the most money. And there is likely something to that.

But if the threatened cuts do fall, they will hit Georgetown bus riders (including GM). Among the lengthy list of bus service reductions, WMATA includes this:

D1 Glover ParkFederal Triangle Line Shorten route, eliminate segment between Franklin Square and Federal Triangle, reduce span

D2 Glover Park – Dupont Circle Line Reduce Saturday, Sunday, and weekday peak and midday frequency

G2 P St- LeDroit Park Reduce Sunday frequency

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Photo by Bex Walton.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Seems like college newspapers ought to just give up drawing editorial cartoons. When they’re not enraging half the campus, they’re just generally bad.
• The time an unfaithful husband drowned his wife in the canal.