The Georgetown Metropolitan

When is a landmark not a landmark? That is a question that the DC Historical Preservation Review Board is scheduled to decide in December. Specifically, they are being asked to consider removing historic landmark status from the property at 1524 33rd St.

You may recognize the photo above from an article that GM wrote last March questioning the supposed history of the building. In short, it has been long claimed that this property was once a notable 18th century tavern where figures such as Thomas Jefferson once dined. It was supposedly called the Yellow Tavern and/or the White Horse Inn. When the house was put up for sale, GM dug a little into the story, expecting to find evidence of its historic importance. Instead he discovered that this property was almost certainly not either the Yellow Tavern or the White Horse Inn, despite the large brass plaque on the front of the house declaring it to be. It wasn’t even clear to GM that it ever was a tavern at all.

Perhaps inspired by GM’s report, the Post did its own digging into the story and uncovered a hidden history to how the property “became” a landmark. After concluding like GM that there was no evidence it was the Yellow Tavern, writer Kathy Orton wrote:

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Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• Fire at Blues Alley last night!
• Here’s some more info on the fire.

CORRECTION, PREVIOUS POST MENTIONED THE WRONG DATE. IT’S SATURDAY, NOT SUNDAY

Come on out this Saturday afternoon (3-5pm) to Jelleff where CAG will be hosting a halloween party/roller rink. Bring costumes for yourself and your dogs!

Rollerskating has a long tradition a Jelleff, but if you’ve never had the pleasure this is the perfect chance to strap on some skates and take some laps!

Come on out this Saturday afternoon (3-5pm) to Jelleff where CAG will be hosting a halloween party/roller rink. Bring costumes for yourself and your dogs!

Rollerskating has a long tradition a Jelleff, but if you’ve never had the pleasure this is the perfect chance to strap on some skates and take some laps!

As begun last month, GM is running the monthly Hyde-Addison PTA newsletter:

It’s time for the monthly update for neighbors of Hyde Addison Elementary School!  Hyde is in full Autumn/Halloween mode which culminates in the annual costumed procession on the streets around the School on the morning of October 31—cross your fingers for dry weather and wish the kids a happy Halloween if they toddle past you around 9am.

Prospective Family Open Houses

Hyde Addison will be hosting four Prospective Family Open Houses this winter (two virtual, two in-person), with the first one scheduled for Thursday December 15 at 10am.  Please RSVP at: bit.ly/haeopenhouses ; it will begin with a presentation, so plan to be on time!

Hyde has some great news to share about its recent successes:

Last month, The DC ED Fund named Hyde the 2022 recipient of the coveted “DCPS Standing Ovation Award” (which is essentially the school of the year award) and presented Hyde with a check for $10,000.  Hyde received the award for building bridges for students and families (bridges increase access and opportunities for those who might not otherwise have them). 

Separately, the results are in from assessments of students’ English language arts/literacy skills (based on the Common Core State Standards) taken at the end of the 2021/2022 school year, and Hyde students rocked the test! In fact, the average Literacy scores for Hyde students were 44 percentage points higher than the DCPS average.  Congrats to Hyde students, teachers (and parents)!

The Hyde PTA’s largest fundraiser of the year (“The Great Envelope Race,”) is still on-going with a goal of raising $40,000 to cover school needs beyond the basics provided to the school from its budget from the city.  Every donation helps (my wife and I gave $800!) and I encourage you all to consider giving.  Please consider giving here: hydegift.com

While my family is new to Hyde, we already feel part of the Hyde community and have great pride in the school and its teachers.  Our kindergartner started the year with no real reading skills but her teacher says she’ll be reading by winter break!  And our 3-yr old has already learned how to count to 30 in his short time in Hyde’s PK-3 class.  Most of all, they love going to school each day, which is so important to us.

Your support of Hyde is welcome and much appreciated!  Please reach out to me with questions of any kind.

Sincerely,

Phil Mone

R St in Burleith

About Hyde Addison Elementary School

Hyde Addison Elementary School, located at 3219 O St NW in Georgetown, is a public school within the District of Columbia Public School System and currently serves students from PK-3 to Grade 5.  Hyde has 380 total students, with an average class size of 19 (not including Hyde’s PK-3 class which is capped at 16). 

The school’s in-boundary attendance zone includes most residences within the neighborhoods of Georgetown, Burleith, and Hillandale.  For more school news, please visit the school’s website at www.hydeaddisondc.org and follow the school on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hydeaddison

Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:

• The witches of Georgetown.
• A bit more on the extended timeline of the canal repairs.

This week for Georgetown Time Machine, GM is visiting a legendary pharmacy that stood at the southwest corner of O and Wisconsin for many years. It was formally named Georgetown Pharmacy, but it was colloquially known as Doc Dalinksy’s after its longtime owner, Harold “Doc” Dalinsky.

The photo above shows the shop in 1977. Dalinsky retired and sold the shop just six years later in 1983. By that point, though, he had been running the shop for 48 years. And though it had a shabby appearance, it was quite the draw. As described in this New York Times article from the same year as the photo:

(GM would normally just grab some excerpts from old articles like this, but this one was just too full of details to slim down).

Even before Dalinski retired and sold the shop, people were gathering to honor his legacy. In 1982, the Times covered a gala held in Dalinsky’s honor, featuring a photo of the man himself:

Perhaps the gala was organized in anticipation of Dalinsky leaving the shop, because he did so just the next year. When Dalinsky died in 1992, the Post covered an impromptu memorial service held by some old regulars at the corner:

On a soggy corner of Georgetown yesterday, Doc Dalinsky’s friends and family and former customers danced and clapped under umbrellas while a fiddler fiddled and a baritone sang “If I Were a Rich Man” and an 8-by-10 brass plaque to Doc was dedicated while Arab merchants stood outside their shops and watched with puzzled looks.

“Doc,” said his widow, Marion, “would have loved this.”

Seemed like old times: good cigars, good bagels, good coffee, good-looking women (one with a puppy in her Gucci bag), famous newspapermen. It was a wake for Harry “Doc” Dalinsky, who ran the Georgetown Pharmacy on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and O Street NW for 48 years. Dalinsky died earlier this month at the age of 82. He had Alzheimer’s disease. He was a card, a character, a cigar connoisseur, a matchmaker. As Georgetown got busier and glitzier — as the stores began selling thick gold chains, Nike tennis shoes and french fries — Doc’s remained a messy blast from the past until he retired in 1983.

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