The popular (if not a bit omnipresent) Tatte Bakery is taking over the former Capital One Bank branch at the corner of Wisconsin and Q St., according to a building permit filed this month.
The bank closed last year after having occupied the lot since the 90s. (Prior to that it was a gas station for many years). Built in the house style of Chevy Chase Bank, the building is attractive but not actually historic. As such it could be razed. But when Roadside Development purchased the property this summer, they announced plans to keep the building and bring in retail. That’s where Tatte comes in.
The Boston-based bakery has been on a rapid expansion into the DC market in the last couple years. There have long been rumors of it finally cracking into Georgetown, but this is the first concrete sign I’ve seen of it actually coming.
In response to a request for a follow-up meeting concerning the plans to renovate Volta Park, DPR and DGS will be hosting a community information session November 27th at the Georgetown Library. (A virtual option will also be available here.)
There is a great deal of interest in the designs of what the city is planning for the park, particularly with regards to potential fencing. I look forward to seeing the plans and hearing the response from the public. If you’re interested in learning more, please come!
There will be a public meeting to discuss the status of the plans for the major Jelleff Rec Center renovation. It will be Wednesday night from 6pm to 7:30pm. It will be both in-person, at the Georgetown Library, and virtual (at this link).
This budget and scope of this project has grown quite a bit as a result of strong advocacy. This meeting will reveal the updated status of the design concept for the project. So if you want to hear and weigh in, don’t miss this meeting!
I’ve got an embarrassing secret I have to admit. Despite living in Georgetown 20 years, I only just finally watched the Exorcist this weekend. Me being me, my primary focus (beyond enjoying the film) was to detect all the fascinating time capsules of early 1970s Georgetown that the film captures. While most of the shots frankly could be recreated today without much difference, a few captured scenes or features that are no more. Here are some of them!
The first shot of Georgetown is…mostly the same as now. It’s the view across from Rosslyn (which itself looked way different back then). What’s obviously different on the Georgetown side is that the old Key Bridge Exxon still had a garage, which disappeared long before the gas station closed. (In fact, if the garage still were open, it may have prevented the gas station from closing at all due to DC law.) Additionally, this was before Arthur Cotton Moore’s 3633 M St. was constructed just to the west of the gas station.
There is something else interesting in this shot. In order to explain the multiple falls from the house to the steps, the film crews created a false wing on 3605 Prospect Street:
The left side of the house shown above doesn’t really exist on the actual house. In fact a whole fake mansard roof was constructed just to cover the attic sub-plot:
In the long shot above, you can see that they built a whole south facade for the fake wing and carried the mansard roof around. But it was only visible for this one shot, I believe. That’s a lot of effort for just a fleeting moment that only crazies like me would even notice!
(Later in the film, the camera makes it look like this false wing literally abuts the steps, but as this shot shows, it still would have taken a pretty big jump to get from the house to the steps…)
This shot along 37th St. shows just how big those trees have gotten in 50 years:
I loved this little scene as well. It shows Ellen Burstyn’s character eavesdropping on a conversation between Father Karras and another priest. The previous shots establish that this is supposed to happen on or immediately next to the campus. But Georgetown residents will immediately recognize this as actually being Christ Church in the east village. It’s amusing that they went so far to make this Episcopal Church look Catholic by announcing the confessional schedule on the board. (While Episcopalians do perform confessions, it’s not something you’d see regularly scheduled on a sign like that. Although maybe it would be more likely back then.)
Later in the film, you see Father Karras running laps at the old Keough Field. It was replaced by the construction of Yate Field House later in the 1970s.
In the 15th century Britain, if you committed a particularly bad crime or got cross-wise with the local bigwig, you might be subjected to a torture device called the rack. Your arms and legs would be bound and slowly pulled apart, like a Daddy Longlegs in the hands of a vicious child. No fee! They’d do it to you for free.
In our modern backwards times, however, you’ve got to pay up. And that brings me to the new shop that’s opening underneath the Safeway: Stretch Lab. It’s a place where you can be professionally stretched. Presumably not to the same lengths (figuratively or literally) as those poor souls in the 1400s.
Our proprietary Flexologist Training Program is an intensive and thorough series that each of our Flexologists must complete prior to joining StretchLab. During their required 60-70+ hours of theory and hands-on training, our Flexologists learn the muscular system, a variety of assisted stretches and how to work with a variety of clients of all ages and body types.
These flexing sessions can be one-on-one or group sessions.
In all seriousness, it sounds like it could be a good option for people struggling with mobility challenges. Trying to perform stretches at home alone is sometimes just not enough to address serious problems. Having a professional assist you likely could make a real improvement. So check it out if that sounds interesting to you!
It’s time for a monthly update for neighbors of Hyde Addison Elementary School, Georgetown’s only public elementary school!Â
Hyde is in full Autumn/Halloween mode which culminates in the annual costumed procession on the streets around Hyde on the morning of October 31—cross your fingers for dry weather and wish the kids a happy Halloween if they toddle past you around 9am on Tuesday.
Prospective Family Open Houses Start Next Week!
Hyde’s principal, Dr. Calvin Hooks, and other Hyde leaders will be hosting five Prospective Family Open Houses over the next few months (two virtual, three in-person), with the first one scheduled for Friday November 3rd at 2pm. This in-person open house will begin with a presentation from Dr. Hooks and other members of the instructional leadership team and include a Q&A session and building tour.
Parents are Welcomed to Be Part of Hyde
This is our second year at Hyde, with our oldest in 1st grade and our 2nd oldest in PK4. One thing I have enjoyed is the opportunities I have to visit Hyde during the school day and get a sense of what our children are learning, and build connections with the teachers, other parents, and my children’s classmates. Last Wednesday I was a chaperone on a field trip with my son’s PK4 class to an orchard/pumpkin patch. And this past Friday, all parents were welcomed into the classrooms for the first half hour of school to see what their students have been working on for the first two months of school.
My Children are Learning Critical Skills at Hyde
When I visited my 1st grader’s classroom this past Friday, four of the students did a short presentation on their most recent writing lesson: opinion writing. I enjoyed seeing them improve on their public speaking. They explained that opinion writing is meant to persuade the reader of something the writer believes, and it must be backed up with at least 3 reasons. Then parents sat at tables with their student and read some opinion essays their student had recently written (which started with an outline!). As someone who is paid to write persuasively every day for clients (I’m an attorney), the importance of this lesson and these skills resonated with me. Frankly, I am often instructing junior attorneys to outline first and then structure their paragraphs correctly: a topic sentence which declares something, followed by sentences which support the topic sentence/declaration (yes, its that basic even for attorneys). You’d think they’d teach this in law school but…
Hyde’s Playground is Open All Weekend Long!
The playground at Hyde is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays. Please
enjoy this community resource (but please don’t leave behind trash or any other items).
Your support of Hyde is welcome and much appreciated! Hyde’s PTA contributes essential financial support to Hyde and greatly appreciates the financial support some Georgetown and Burleith community members have already given this fall. Please consider donating at https://hydeaddisondc.org/donate and be on the lookout for some of our upcoming fundraisers tied to the winter holidays.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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