The Georgetown Metropolitan

Yesterday GM proposed the adoption of new street signs to indicate the Georgetown Historic District as well as the old name of the street. GM got an email afterwards from the BID reminding him that Georgetown actually used to have signs that did just that.

Above you can see a photo from a 1953 National Geographic article about the neighborhood. It shows the signs, in this case it was on 31st St. It also shows the cool old street signs that DC used to us at the top of the lamp post (they were made of glass so at night the light would illuminate the letters and numbers). GM should have remembered these signs as he has mentioned them before. Continue reading →

Photo by Lindsay Maizland.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Fancy variant of Tom Haverford’s Rent-a-Swag coming to Cady’s Alley.
• Mr. Smith’s auctioning off all its interior fixtures.
• Gypsy Sally’s reaches one year anniversary.

Dumbarton Oaks

Courtesy of the New York Times.

GM was recently in New York, and spending a lot of time in and around SoHo. One thing that caught his eye is how New York City uses different street signs for historic districts. Why not bring something like that here?

Above you’ll see an example of normal New York street signs on the left and historic district street signs on the right. In this case, it’s for the Cast Iron Historic District, which encompasses SoHo and Tribeca. It’s a small difference, but it does help signify the neighborhood. This comes in handy especially in New York, where there are tons of historic districts, large and small (there are dozens in Manhattan alone). Continue reading →

Photo by Michael Cisneros.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GM heard through the grapevine that Macaron Bee is closing. That was always a tough location, GM’s not terribly surprised. What is surprising is the rumor that yet another Vietnamese restaurant is planning to move in (which would be the third one on the block).
• The BID’s Georgetown 2028 plan receives award!

2700 block of P St.

Photo by Daniel Lu.

A couple weeks ago, word broke that Georgetown’s mainstay piano bar, Mr. Smith’s, was closing. Who knew that now instead of marking the end of the last piano bar in Georgetown, we’d be talking about two different piano bars?

Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that not only will Mr. Smith’s reopen on K St., but a group of ex-Mr. Smith’s staff and an accountant from Virginia are opening a second piano bar where the Modern was on M near 33rd.* Rebecca Cooper writes:

A group of partners, including a former piano player, a former manager and a former employee of Mr. Smith’s — whichannounced it would close last week — have teamed up to open Georgetown Piano Bar in the former Modern nightclub space at 3287 M St. NW.

The new spot, which is aiming to open Sept. 12, comes from Hunter Lang (the piano man), former Mr. Smith’s managerGene McGrath, former Mr. Smith’s employee Morgan Williams and his uncle,Bill Thoet. Another regular Mr. Smith’s piano player, Spencer Bates, will also be a featured player at Georgetown Piano Bar.

The article explains that since the bar plans to take over the Modern’s tavern license, they won’t even bother with food, but will be a straight bar:

“We’re a piano bar pure and simple, not a restaurant that has a piano bar,” he said. There won’t be any food, in fact; Georgetown Piano Bar was able to buy Modern’s tavern license, which means no food sales requirements under D.C. liquor laws.

Here’s the thing about that, though. Modern Lounge operates under a settlement agreement (what used to be called a voluntary agreement) that dates back to 2001:

Check out some of those agreement provisions:

• The license holder needs to make its best efforts to build a kitchen and have at least 15% of its revenues come from food sales
• The license holder will not provide live music

Oops.

(Also, there’s GM’s favorite voluntary agreement clause: no wet t-shirt or “beefcake” contests).

Either the folks behind Georgetown Piano Bar didn’t do their research or they plan to amend their agreement. It’s not beyond belief that such a change would be granted (and full disclosure: one of the agreement’s parties is CAG. GM is on the board of CAG and would likely vote on any amendment to the agreement.)

Either way, before cheesy 70’s schlock rock can be belted out by the suburbanites who still think Georgetown is the hippest place in town, a lot of t’s need to be crossed and i’s dotted.

*And who knew that the Modern closed? Honestly, GM was never sure it was ever open. Brit Swan, owner of the Modern and Serendipity 3, has not had a good year…

Photo by Lorenzo Tlacaelel.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Some more details about Chez Billy Sud, which is replacing Cafe LaRouche.
• What you can get renting in Georgetown for $3,500 – $4,000

3500 block of O St.

Wisconsin and M St. is the heart of Georgetown, yet it’s an incredibly unpleasant place to be. Whether on foot, bike or in a car, it’s an intersection that you just want to get through as quickly as possible. There are possible schemes that could address one type of user or the other, but most diminish the intersection’s utility to the other types of users. But is there a way to improve the intersection for all users? If there is, a rotary is probably it.

If you’re immediately skeptical, view the film above. It shows how an unusual traffic solution took an intersection at the heart of an English town-an intersection that had all the unpleasant characteristics of Wisconsin and M-and turned it into a shared space, where car speeds reduced, pedestrian access increased, and overall traffic flow was not worsened. It sounds impossible, but really just watch the film. Continue reading →