3000 block of Q St.
Other Places Named Georgetown
Photo by Mikerhicks.
For every morning post that GM does, he searches in Flickr for recent photos uploaded tagged with the word “Georgetown”. Most of these photos are of our neighborhood here in DC, but lots are of far more exotic Georgian locales. So for no other reason other than the fact GM’s got nothing else to write about, let’s take a stroll through them.
The shot above is from George Town on Grand Cayman. This town was named after George III. This is a big tourist stop on the Caribbean cruise circuit.
Photo by arichards63.
Staying in the Caribbean, another Georgetown that pops up from time to time is Georgetown, Guyana. It too was named after George III. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by K_dellaquila (whom GM has been using a lot recently, but they’re just great shots)
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- “Irish Travelers” hitting up Georgetown stores?
- Once more into the beaches; GU tries again to build a boat house.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Georgetown Merriment Changes Tactics
Photo by M.V. Jantzen.
On the first weekend in December for the last two years, the Georgetown BID has closed off a portion of Wisconsin Ave. above M St. and hosted a holiday street fair. While the first year suffered from incredibly cold and windy conditions, last year the weather was more favorable and the event appeared to be establishing itself as a fixture in the calendar.
Sadly, the tradition was short lived. The businesses decided that the event did not have enough of a pay-off at the cash registers to justify the cost of such a large event.
But they’re not giving up on the Merriment idea. Rather than focus on a single large event, the BID has stretched the fun out twelve days, starting this weekend.
Here’s the lineup of events:
Merriment in Georgetown Kick-Off Party
Saturday, December 10th, 1 – 4pm
PNC Bank Lot at Wisconsin & M Street12 – 4pm
Complimentary pedicab rides from Dupont Circle and Foggy Bottom metro stations to Georgetown
1pm & 1:50pm
Georgetown University’s a cappella group — The Georgetown Phantoms Continue reading
Filed under Events
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by K_Dellaquila.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Wow, that’s $1,500 a square foot.
- Lamenting the imminent demise of Barnes and Noble.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Myth of the Apple Store
Georgetown is subject to its share of popular but wrong myths. None is more prevalent–or wrong–as the myth that resident opposition to a Metro stop is why there’s no station here. It persists as a myth because it comports with what a lot of people think about Georgetowners (and in turn reinforces those opinions).
Well, GM has noticed another myth is starting to take hold: that the oppressive design review of the Old Georgetown Board is why it took the Apple Store two years to open in Georgetown.
Like many myths, there is a kernel of truth at the heart of it. Namely, it is true that it took Apple a long time to get design approval for the new building. But first of all, it didn’t take two years, it took 19 months. The first design was submitted for review in September 2007 and the final design was approved in March 2009. But, yes, a year and a half is rather a long time to get design approval.
But whose fault was the delay?
This is the design Apple first submitted:
Look familiar? It should, it’s almost exactly the same as the final design. But the Old Georgetown Board rejected this first design, expressing concern over the wall of unbroken windows that would be presented to the street. The focus was on scale, not necessarily style. The board simply thought a wall of glass with no articulation (i.e., window frames, transoms, etc.) was too inconsistent with the buildings around it. They even encouraged Apple to submit a modern design, just one that addressed this concern.
It wasn’t a flat out no, it was simply a request to make some tweaks to the design. Maybe you disagree with that request, but so long as you want any sort of design review of construction in a historic neighborhood, you’ve got to accept that you might not always agree with the design reviewers. (And if you think Georgetown would be better off with no design review, check out this monstrosity in Glover Park and ask whether you’d like to see that in Georgetown).
Besides, this request didn’t need to add materially to the length of the review process. Apple could have come back next month with some options to appease the OGB. But they didn’t.
They waited.
And waited.
It wasn’t until nine months later that Apple came back with new designs. And rather than make a few tweaks, they came back with an ice cube: Continue reading
Filed under Preservation
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by K_dellaquila.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Pop-Up BBQ restaurant going into Furin’s soon.
- When people throw terms like “Georgetown Syndrome” or “Georgetown Cocktail Party” around, GM wonders if they’ve ever actually been to one. Who really thinks Georgetown is some bastion of liberal hostesses anymore?
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
You must be logged in to post a comment.