Photo by Psgreen01.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
- The recently closed Crepe Amour is moving to the ‘burbs.
- The story behind the Latham Hotel flooding is getting more complicated.
Photo by Psgreen01.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Peach Crepes by sonicwalker.
The ANC met for its May session last night. Heavy on liquor discussions and mercifully short on residential permit issues, the meeting was a lively one. But are you even reading this or are just thinking about how much you’d love some peach crepes right now?
About Those Crepes
Sometimes words said just cannot be unsaid. Exhibit A: Last month the proprietors of the new Crepe Amour restaurant on M St. described their restaurant as a “grab and go”-type restaurant while asking to get approval to remain open 24-7. There are probably few phrases that they would be worse off using than “grab and go” if they ever hope to get approval as an all-night dining option. For that reason, the owners were back this month desperately explaining all the ways in which they are neither grab nor go.
The commissioners weren’t buying it. They believe that if Crepe Amour is permitted to go to 24-7 operation, they will become Philly Pizza redux. While GM can sympathize with the fact that that part of Georgetown might be sensing a bit of deja vu all over again, he believes that there are fundamental differences. Most importantly, Crepe Amour is on M St. not a side street like Potomac. This is a key difference. The reason that Philly Pizza was such a problem was that it attracted drunk and loud revelers off of M St. who then congregated outside of the restaurant, which happened to also be the outside of a bunch of homes. The commissioners kept harping on the idea that Crepe Amour would “attract” only drunks. But so what? If a drunk student is going to walk back to the campus or their off-campus home through the lower West Village, they are going to do so regardless of whether they stop by for a crepe on M St. beforehand. Maybe 24 hour service is unacceptable for other reasons, but GM thinks the ANC is making an illogical comparison to Philly Pizza in this instance. Continue reading
Filed under ANC
Photo by Uggboy.
As announced in GM’s ANC Preview last week, Ugg Australia will be moving to the old Diesel location on Wisconsin. GM’s already had his say about his take on the popular boots, but he will add that the store design presented last night was down right tasteful. And it’s this balance of the sublime and the profane that seemed to define last night’s meeting.
Trolley Tracks
DDOT came by to update the community on their plans to rehab the trolley tracks on O and P Streets (actually, technically these are streetcar tracks since trolleys are streetcars that use overhead wires, which weren’t used on these streets).
The Sublime: What these streets will look like. Eventually. The tracks will be ripped up, repaired, and replaced with a newly secured foundation. The cobblestones will be ripped up, cleaned up, and replaced. The tracks will be flush with the cobblestones, hopefully preventing any more dangerous driving conditions. The sidewalks will be repaired and the trees protected or replaced.
The Profane: It’ll take a long time to finish. DDOT is estimating 18 months. GM is estimating at least two years. During which travel will be severely disrupted on those streets. Continue reading
Filed under ANC
View out Georgetown Cupcake by Rosa Say.
Good morning Georgetown, here’s the latest:
Filed under The Morning Metropolitan
Last month the Old Georgetown Board did not meet. This had the fortunate by-product of making January’s ANC meeting short and sweet. Unfortunately, as the bender is followed by the hangover, so is the short ANC meeting followed by the tedious marathon.
The February ANC meeting must address all the Old Georgetown Board applications that have been queuing up for the last two months. As a result, we’ve got 15 different projects to trudge through next week. But nestled in that morass are several interesting items.
The first item that jumped out at GM as soon as he saw it is Brooks Brothers’ application to redo the Pottery Barn storefront. At the meeting we’ll find out whether Brooks Brothers is going to occupy the entire building or just one of the sections (the building has the Pottery Barn and the old Smith and Hawken spaces). Also, we ought to get a decent idea on when the store will open up.
The second item that ought to cause some interest is the presentation of the plan to renovate the Jelleff sports fields. GM has weighed in on his opinions, but at the meeting the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Maret School will be present to explain/defend the proposal. Continue reading
Filed under ANC