Cady’s Alley
Off to the Beach
GM is off to the beach today. But have no fear, there will still be plenty of good stuff here next week. GM will drag himself away to write up the Morning Metropolitan each day and there’ll be a fresh Georgetown Metropolis each afternoon. In between: reruns! Yup, GM will bring back his highly acclaimed (in his head) architecture in Georgetown series. Enjoy!
Filed under Uncategorized
The Morning Metropolitan
Healy Hall by Aurelian.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Nice interview with George Gordon, frequent (and most entertaining) presenter at the ANC.
- Commissioners Lewis, Solomon, Eason, and Starrells and new candidate, Jake Sticka, have picked up petitions to run for ANC. Still no competitive races yet.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Illegal Billboards That Won’t Go Away
Nobody hates to see empty storefronts in Georgetown more than GM. They represent the loss of an establishment and the longer they stay empty, the more they depress the appearance of the block.
But are they worse than billboards?
You may have noticed recently that two storefronts on the 3300 block of M St. have been covered in billboards. The one above covers 3338 and 3340 M St. It is a giant advertisement for Mastercard. On the right is a big screen TV that shows a feed from a camera pointed out at the street. Animated shoes react to movement on the sidewalk.
Across the street at 3335 M St. is this:
It’s a billboard for PNC. It also has a big screen TV, but this one allows you to play a boxing-based game to teach you the power of savings.
While an empty storefront is undesirable, these billboards are eyesores. And frankly they cheapen the look of the neighborhood. Moreover, even if you are ok with these particular ads, do you really want every landlord with an empty store to turn their facade over to Madison Ave.? Continue reading
Filed under Real Estate
The Morning Metropolitan
Canal by aurelian.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Is Dean and Deluca closing? (The evidence was apparently empty shelves. GM checked last night and it looked pretty normal to him, so no, Dean and Deluca is not closing.)
- Despite the rumors, there are no bouncers at Georgetown Cupcake, unless you count 16 year old girls as bouncers.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Interesting Story of Dumbarton Bridge
Dumbarton Bridge by M.V. Jantzen.
It’s easy to ignore a thing of beauty when you pass it every single day. It’s even easier to ignore it when you cruise over on top of it in a bus or car. The “it” in question is the Dumbarton Bridge, and today GM wants to stop and take in the bridge’s beauty and tell its interesting story.
Georgetown was formed in 1751, decades before the founding of the District of Columbia and the city of Washington. Even after the creation of the District, Georgetown remained separated from the city of Washington both as a legal and a infrastructural matter through much of the 19th century. In 1871, however, Georgetown was merged with the city of Washington. In the decades after the legal merger, rapid residential developments directly to the east of Georgetown contributed greatly towards a physical merger as well.
Specifically, in the 1890s construction of the Connecticut Avenue bridge (now known as Taft Bridge) was started, Massachusetts Ave. north of Rock Creek was paved, and the Kalorama Estate was subdivided into residential plots. This inspired Georgetowners to push for a new bridge connecting north Georgetown with the quickly growing Kalorama neighborhood. They asserted that Q st. was the best option, although it came with a couple pretty significant complications (GM will get to that later). Continue reading
Filed under Architecture
The Morning Metropolitan
Photo by the Washington Post.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- Volta Park pool will open two hours early and may stay open later today.
- George and Abe seen on M St.
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
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