The Georgetown Metropolitan

As mentioned by GM a couple weeks ago, this weekend to coincide with Georgetown University’s parents weekend, the BID has arranged to widen some sidewalks on M St.

The temporary widening will be accomplished by taking out the parking lanes on both sides of M St. between Wisconsin Ave. and Potomac St. A similar technique has been used to great success up on Book Hill for the French Market the last couple years. Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Some more details on the peeping Rabbi case.
• If Key Bridge were an option at the end of the Oregon Trail, GM would’ve won it a lot more.

1400 block of 33rd St.

A couple weeks ago, GM searched through the classic 80s flick, St. Elmo’s Fire, to capture the shot of the old Georgetown theater neon sign still aglow. For no particular reason, GM’s decided to capture some more Georgetown scenes from that movie.

Towards the beginning of the film, there are some night shots of Georgetown in the 80s. Now these were obviously staged, but it’s probably not so far from how the neighborhood felt in an era when it was the only show in town.

Above you can see the west side of the 1200 block of Wisconsin. On the left is Third Edition. Next to it is the defunct W. Bell & Co. And at the center is the Key Theater. (To the right of the Key Theater was a Roy Rogers in the early 90s, but it doesn’t look like they moved in yet).

Here’s the view across the street, which GM has explored in the past. He’s not sure, but GM believes the Georgetown location of the famous Mr. Henry’s bar can be seen here.

Continue reading →

Photo by Mike.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Chez Billy Sud opens.
• Some creative ways to spruce up the underpasses north of Union Station. Would these ideas work for under the Whitehurst.

Dumbarton Oaks

Upset about how the proposed Circulator changes would negatively affect your commute? Unsure how you feel but want to hear more about it? Just really love the Circulator? If you said yes to any of these questions, you ought to come on out for the Semi-Annual Circulator Open House, which will conveniently be held at Pinstripes next Monday 6-8 pm.

Getting DDOT to hold this meeting in Georgetown in the first place is an achievement. So it’s critical that the voices of Georgetown be heard. Particularly on the question of breaking up the lines, as DDOT has proposed. These changes would take the current Georgetown to Union Station route and have it go no further than Wisconsin and M St. (instead of up to the Safeway). A new route would ply Wisconsin Ave. all the way up to the Cathedral, but it will only go so far east as McPherson. Continue reading →

Photo by Anokarina.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Shocking: Rabbi of Georgetown synagogue arrested for voyeurism.
• A look inside the new Mama Rogue.

3100 block of Congress Court

The local Fox news channel is crowing its success in spurring DDOT to install lane delineators at the northern side of the Key Bridge. (GM tried to embed the report, but was unsuccessful). The channel recently ran a report complaining about drivers that skip the line of cars waiting to turn left. In apparent response to the report, DDOT installed a line of plastic stanchions to prevent the cutters (you can see them installed above).

While this appears to be an example of a nimble agency responding to a fixable problem, it nonetheless rubs GM the wrong way. There are a lot of things wrong with that intersection and the roads that feed to it. Local residents and organizations have been pleading to DDOT to take a holistic look at the entire system for a while, without much success. Many of the recommendations of the Georgetown Transportation study, for example, sit on the shelf collecting dust. Continue reading →