The Georgetown Metropolitan

GM is back with Hoya athletics in this next installment of Old Georgetown in Color.

Specifically, this is the 1922 Georgetown baseball team. Apparently, this was the first sport played by GU students, with the first game played in 1866. Sadly, the team has pretty much never seen any big time success. Although the story goes that they were once called the Stonewalls and may have been the source for the Hoya Saxa cheer.

This is maybe not GM’s best effort, as it looks a little bit Turnerized, but you get the idea.

Photo by Jacquesofalltrades.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Frozen or not, the canal is looking kind of gross these days.
• Banks of Georgetown during Civil War.

1500 block of 33rd St.

Next week will be the February session of the ANC. GM often tries to point out interesting things to expect at ANC meetings in the chance that you might want to attend. But then there are months were even GM can’t muster excitement for the meeting. This is one of those months.

Don’t get GM wrong, if the topic of valet parking at 1789 or Neyla boils your blood, you’ll want to attend.

Or if you’re a spring Grinch and can’t stand the Rose Park Easter Egg Hunt, then you might also be interested. Although you’d be better served using that time for professional counseling.

So without further ado, the boringest ANC agenda GM has seen in a while: Continue reading →

Photo by Tony Brooks.

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Forget about M St. restaurants, it’s the antique shops that are really in trouble.
• A fluffy take on the Montrose Apartments (former Hurt Home)

3000 block of R St.

As GM has noted over the years, there has been a steady attrition of restaurants from M St., and with Qdoba closing recently, the trend does not seem to be abating. Will this cause a long term problem for Georgetown? Lets consider.

When GM originally began the Georgetown Metropolitan, his first task was to take a census of all the stores of Georgetown. Looking back at that original list from December 2008, GM can track how many restaurants on M St. have closed since. And according to this analysis, sixteen restaurants have closed on M St. out of the forty-five that were open at the time. Continue reading →

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Hey if you happen to see a red Jeep Cherokee Sport with DC plate BX-4042 around, call the cops! Somebody stole GM’s car!
• Hockey on the canal.

1600 block of 31st St.

Photo by Melbourne Water.

As GM first reported many, many moons ago, DC Water is under a court decree to address the chronic problem of untreated sewage being dumped into the Potomac and other local waterways. One of the measures it has proposed to tackle the issue is to dig a gigantic tunnel underneath the Georgetown waterfront running all the way to about the Kennedy Center. The agency, however, is now exploring whether it might satisfy its obligations without digging as large a tunnel.

The purpose of the tunnel is to act as a giant underground reservoir to capture excess storm-water during heavy rains. As it is, when the street drains get overflooded, the excess water is directed to a series of overflow sewage drainage pipes which dump into Rock Creek and the Potomac. This wouldn’t be that huge of a problem except for the fact that in older sections of the town like Georgetown, the storm sewers and the household sewers are combined. So after particularly heavy rains, what you flush down the toilet will soon be floating down the Potomac. (Sorry for that graphic image). Continue reading →