The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Alyson Hurt.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown is hosting a bunch of African heads of state this week, here’s where they’re staying.
• Temporary mural going up on old Latham hotel.

1500 block of Wisconsin Ave.

The Washington Business Journal reported last week that the long empty former Cellar Door will finally become occupied once again. The new tenant will be Delaware’s own Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop.

The laws of restaurant news reporting require GM to now point out that this restaurant is a particular favorite of Vice President Joe Biden. And he seems like a fella who knows his sandwiches.

The slightly bad news about this is that despite its humble Wilmington origins, the restaurant is a rather large chain with locations 14 states and even one already in the District. So it’s not unique. Continue reading →

Photo by Karie.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• GU students canceling trips to West Africa over Ebola fears.
• Chez Billy looking good and should open this month.

1300 block of 31st St.

Next week community activist and friend of GM, Ken Archer, will pull up stakes and head west to San Francisco with his wife Veronika and son Martin. He’s explained elsewhere the bittersweet reasons he’s leaving town, but today GM wanted to publicly thank Ken for serving as a role model for what positive community engagement can achieve.

Ken assures GM that he has a real job, with responsibilities and meetings, and reports, and schedules, and all the things that go along with a real job. GM mentions that only because he’s never been able to reconcile that observation with another observation: that Ken has a bottomless supply of passion, energy, and, most importantly, time to dedicate to causes and issues that he truly believes matter.

Continue reading →

Photo by internetarchivebookimages.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• 140 years yesterday Patrick Healy became President of GU, the first African American to be president of a white school.
• Where to eat by the water.

3500 block of Water St.

GM received a tip from reader and neighbor, Michael Garawski, about the nifty things you can see when you plug Georgetown-related terms into the Google Trends engine. For those unfamiliar, this program allows you to type in a search phrase and see how many people have searched for the term over time.

For instance, when you search for “Georgetown – Neighborhood in DC” you get this chart:

What you see is a steadily declining rate of searches from 2004 to early 2010. But then it rocketed up in July 2010. Guess what happened that month? DC Cupcakes debuted. GM has always wondered why the reality show based on Georgetown Cupcake wasn’t just called Georgetown Cupcake. Despite this decision, it seems pretty clear that people were able to make the connection from the show to the neighborhood.

That second peak a little doesn’t quite match up with the debut of the second season of the show (which started a few month before) but perhaps some credit can be given to the show.

The interesting thing is if you just search for “Georgetown”, you get a different chart:

It also is a generally downward trending line, but the peaks have a different explanation. The first one is March 2007: the last time the Hoyas made the Final Four.

The other two peaks also relate to GU. The first lines up with the infamous brawl between GU mens basketball team and a professional Chinese team in August 2011. The second lines up with GU’s March 2013 early round loss to Florida Gulf Coast. Continue reading →

Photo by Will Marlowe.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Three Sisters Bridge, and other massive transportation projects that never came to pass.
• Checking in on the homeless teen who has just enrolled with a full ride at GU.