The Georgetown Metropolitan

Photo by Vpickering.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Georgetown restaurant institution, Paul Cohn, has branched out from Capitol Restaurant Concepts to open his own place downtown. Bonus points to Paul for naming it after Boss Shepherd.
• A few more details on Pinstripes’ opening this weekend.

Tonight at the House of Sweden, the annual CAG arts show will begin. After the reception tonight, the show will run daily from 11-5 through Sunday.

The show is a great opportunity to see highly talented artists that either live or work in Georgetown. So come on down to the House of Sweden!

Photo by Geoff Livingston.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Eastbanc chosen to redevelop the old Franklin School. They’ve announced they will turn it into a modern art museum. If anyone can pull that off, it’s probably Eastbanc.
• BYOB to Malmaison.

3100 block of M St.

This week on Old Georgetown in Color, GM tries to bring a little pink to Herman Hollerith: Georgetown resident and one of the founders of IBM.

Didn’t realize that IBM was founded (in part) here in Georgetown? It’s true.

GM wrote about this fun fact a few years ago:

It’s true. It all started with the 1890 Census. The prior census almost took an entire decade to compile. Thus to complete the 1890 census on time, the Census Bureau realized that they needed to turn to technology. Serendipitously, just one year earlier, a Buffalo inventor, Herman Hollerith, received a patent on the great-great-great-grandfather of the computer hard-drive: the punched card. Recognizing the benefit of Hollerith’s invention, the Census Bureau hired him. Continue reading →

Photo by Ehpien.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• How much for a top floor duplex on the canal?
• Rhino Bar hosting Phillip Seymour Hoffman marathon.

Potomac River

DC Urban Turf has a great article on the arrival of the short term rental service AirBNB in DC and what legal obstacles homeowners face to use the service. In short, there are rules that apply, which are largely not being followed although even the regulators admit the rules aren’t keeping up with the times.

For those not familiar with AirBNB: it is essentially a service that permits people to list rooms, apartments or whole houses for nightly rental. You can essentially turn your house into a hotel.

GM was fascinated to see how many properties (at least 18) in Georgetown avail themselves of this service. The properties range from full houses to English basement apartments to rooms in a shared house. The prices range from $500 a night for a spacious house to $48 for a couch in what appears to be a basement apartment. Continue reading →

Photo by BKL.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• It got delayed a few months, but Pinstripes is set to open February 8th.
• Speaking of delayed openings, Fiola Mare is aiming for the spring, but they don’t sound too confident about it.