Tag Archives: Georgetown

Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Night Life, People, Special Events, The District, The Features
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Georgetown Halloween 2009

Photo courtesy of
‘Halloween in Georgetown’
courtesy of ‘ep_jhu’

Ever since moving to DC in 2006, I have managed to miss out on the Georgetown Halloween scene for one reason or another, so this year I vowed to check out the madness and see what all the hubbub was about.

Our method of event transportation from Glover Park was on foot, which was a wise decision give the street closures. We arrived on the scene at around 11pm, and found the M Street inundated with costumers.  The DCPD had temporarily fenced in the sidewalks for crowd control purposes, which created a nice parade-like crowd movement along the M Street corridor.  The bars were jammed packed with waiting lines, and picture takers were everywhere. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Office of Tax & Revenue Revokes Argonaut, Seven Other Local Sales Tax Certificates

Photo courtesy of
‘doesn’t fit the normal stereotype’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

The DC OCFO this afternoon announced that eight restaurants, including H Street anchor Argonaut, and Georgetown’s Mendocino, have had their sales tax certificates revoked for non-remission of sales taxes collected. The eight facilities owe just over $860,000 collectively. The revocation of their tax certificates means they cannot legally collect money for food or drink, which means they’ll likely be closed until such time as they’re settled with the city.

Interestingly enough, Argonaut is saying they’ll be open this evening after a brief closure, as they’re working things out with OCFO. Apparently, there was a problem at the OTR (problems at the Office of Tax and Revenue? Really? I never would have guessed that they might be having problems over there.) that necessitated the demonstration of these payments, and while Joe Englert’s other two businesses were able to quickly do so (the benefits of local banking!), Argonaut was not able to move as quickly thanks to Bank of America. Update: They have been returned their Tax Certificate by the OCFO this morning, according to Twitter.

That does leave these seven other places in hot water with the OCFO:

INTI,1825 18th St., NW
Prince of Georgetown, 3205 Prospect St., NW
Besta Pizza, 5029 Connecticut Ave., NW
Porter’s, 1207 19th St., NW
Prince Café, 1042 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Mendocino Grille, 2917 M St., NW
Café Nema, 1334 U St., NW

If you’ve got reservations, you make want to check them. Full release after the break:

Continue reading →

The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Georgetown

Photo courtesy of
‘loves it’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Where We Live.  This week, we’ll be looking at a DC neighborhood that is older than DC– Georgetown!  Home to beautiful architecture, a thriving commercial district, and a major university, Georgetown probably draws more out-of-towners than any other DC neighborhood (except maybe Adams Morgan on Saturday nights).  Read on to find out what real Georgetown residents think of their neighborhood.

History: Lots of history to cover here.  Way back in 1632, an English fur trader documented a Native American settlement called Tohoga where Georgetown currently is, and he established trade there.  Fast forward to 1751 when the town was incorporated as part of Maryland (interestingly enough, it’s not named after George Washington as I had erroneously assumed– it’s either named after King George II or its founders, George Gordon and George Beall).  Because of its geographic location as the furthest point up on the Potomac River that boats could reach, it became a big port, and warehouses and buildings grew around the tobacco trade (and sadly, the slave trade too).

When Congress created the District of Columbia in 1791, Georgetown was included in the outline of the 10-mile square.  Georgetown continued to grow, with Georgetown University founded in 1789, and much of the area developed with commercial buildings near the water and residential buildings further north on higher ground.  Georgetown retained its identity for quite a while– that is, until its town charter was revoked in 1871, and when it was finally ordered in 1880 to conform with DC’s street naming structure.

Continue reading →

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Georgetown Metro Stop

Photo courtesy of
‘Georgetown Tunnel’
courtesy of ‘MikaAltskan’

Hi and welcome to another edition of Mythbusting!  This week we’ll be tackling the myth of the Georgetown Metro.  The legend explains why Georgetown, a vibrant part of the city with many attractions, does not have a Metro station.  Legend has it that Metro planners had originally planned a station for Georgetown, but Georgetown’s well-connected residents fought to keep the criminals and poor people that would ride Metro away from their exclusive neighborhood.  They successfully defeated the Metro plans, and thus, there’s no Metro station in Georgetown today.  Why else would there not be a Metro station at such a major destination in DC?

Continue reading →

Farm Fresh, Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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Farm Fresh: Bourbon Steak

P9230130

Here’s another installment in the series where WeLoveDC authors Donna (greenie) and Katie (foodie) pair up to bring you a double-hitting feature about local area restaurants that take on the challenge of being green. Donna will explain the logic behind the environmentally friendly trends and Katie will tell you if the food tastes any good. It’s a rough life, but someone has to do it, right?

Katie: So you don’t always think of a steakhouse as environmentally-conscientious, right? Well, Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak goes above and beyond the green call of duty, and plants their own vegetables, and works all of them into the dishes at the restaurant. Donna and I were invited over to the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown to take a tour of the garden and sample some dishes that used the herbs and veggies grown there on the property.

Donna: Last spring, Bourbon Steak created a small garden on its property, in a peaceable little spot just across from the C&O Canal. I was happy we were invited to tour this terraced plot and sample the dishes it flavors. It supplies the restaurant with 62 varieties of herbs, vegetables and flowers — 400 plants in all, some of which came from Amish farms. Look around, and up front you’ll see some plants you recognize, such as thyme, chives, marigold and different kinds of basil. Farther back are the harder-to-find plants that produce curries and other unusual spices.

Katie: So with all these herbs and vegetables grown on the property, could you taste the difference in the food? We headed inside for dinner to find out. Continue reading →

Adventures, News, The Daily Feed
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Accident at Georgetown Whole Foods

Fire trucks arrive

Fire trucks arrive

At around 7pm last night, an elderly driver crashed into the underground garage entrance of the Whole Foods at 2323 Wisconsin Avenue NW.  Details are still emerging as to what caused the accident, but The Examiner reports that the elderly woman driving the car had minor injuries, there were no other injuries reported and that the building structure suffered minor damages.

According to an eyewitness report, who was in the Whole Foods by the meat counter, there was a loud collision-like noise and a rumble from the impact.  Immediately, a Whole Foods employee came running up the garage stairwell, yelling for the entire store to clear out and customers began heading (in a somewhat civil manner) to the Wisconsin Avenue exit.

When I interviewed a Whole Foods’ employee, who was a witness to the accident, they  said the elderly driver had been coming down the garage entrance and had sped directly into the wall. The employee speculated that perhaps the driver had stepped on the gas instead of the brake.  From the picture I took from the top of the garage ramp (which is as good as I could get from my pauper cell phone,) the entire front of the driver’s car was smashed in, indicating to me, that the car was going very fast at the time of impact. That no one was seriously injured in the accident is a great fortuity considering the amount of Whole Foods’ employees and customers present at this high volume shopping time. Continue reading →

Business and Money, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District
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Safeway Gets Web Savvy

Photo courtesy of
‘New Social Safeway Coming Soon to Burleith’
courtesy of ‘TreyDanger’

The Social Safeway has gone all social media on us, and got themselves a website.  Yes, we’re still only about half way through the nine month long renovation, but now we can track progress and developments.

The site offers a real time WEBCAM with time lapse, split screen and overlay functions, schematics of the supermarket and commercial area, and photos detailing the new and improved department offerings.

As a regular user of the former Social Safeway, I am pumped for the new grocery store and the additional offerings it will bring to an already vibrant and awesome DC neighborhood.

The Daily Feed
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The C&O, Refilled. The boats… soon.

Photo courtesy of brownpau
C&O Canal, refilled
courtesy of brownpau

Paulo took a shot of what I consider one of the happiest sights of the day: the C&O canal in Georgetown has been refilled.

Also happy news, I called the National Parks Service’s Georgetown visitor center and a representative said that boat tours will resume this Sunday. They happen three times a day, at 11am, 1:30pm and 3pm Wednesdays through Sundays, with the mules that pull the boat taking Monday & Tuesday off. If you’ve never taken one I highly suggest it. The canal is lovely and the tour very informative.

All Politics is Local, Downtown, Foggy Bottom, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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Save The Georgetown Circulator

Photo courtesy of
‘Driving, Not Reading!!! :)’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

The Georgetown Monitor reported yesterday that the DDOT is seriously considering a significant cut to the Circulator’s Georgetown service based on budgetary concerns and ridership totals.  Despite Ward 2 DC Councilman Jack Evans’ protests, City Administrator Neil Albert has apparently already signed off on the plan.

The only hope for keeping the service is for DC residents and businesses to appeal to Mayor Fenty directly.  If you’re interested in joining the petition to prevent further Circulator service cuts to this area, GM has a sample letter you can sign.

***For clarification, the DDOT’s proposal would eliminate the Wisconsin Avenue portion of the Georgetown-Union Station Circulator’s route, specifically from M Street to Whitehaven Street.

Fun & Games, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors
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Sprint Four The Cure

Photo courtesy of
‘Running Against the Grain’
courtesy of ‘john w’

Interested in getting a little exercise this weekend, AND raising money for a good cause?  Then sign up ASAP (by Thursday, September 10) for the Sprint Four the Cure to benefit the Washington Hospital Center.

The 5k run starts near the Four Seasons Hotel and takes you along the scenic C&O Canal.  Your $25 registration not only goes to a fantastic DC-based cause, but also gets you a t-shirt, raffle ticket and Four Seasons breakfast. YUM!

Additionally, Georgetown Cupcake will be providing post-race sweets and a number of local Georgetown establishments have donated raffle prizes including: the Four Seasons Spa, Clyde’s, Peacock Cafe and  more. Grand Prize is two American Airlines tickets, two night stay at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale with Daily Breakfast and two 50 minute Spa Treatments.

So be sure to register by tomorrow either via Active.com or by calling  202.944.9163.

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors
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Full Moon Bike Ride Tonight!

Photo courtesy of
‘and their (clothes are) off!’
courtesy of ‘m hoek’

Sorry for the semi-disturbing picture.  Avert your eyes! Avert your eyes! But I couldn’t help it. I mean the event’s title is the Full “Corn Moon” Bike Ride. So, you’re better blaming the Washington Area Bicyclists Association who will be leading this nighttime tour of the Capital Crescent/Georgetown Branch Trail.  The ride starts at 8:15pm  right next to Cycle Life under the Whitehurst Freeway at the Georgetown Waterfront by moonlight starting from the Georgetown Waterfront.  You’ll bike the non-hilly, cement paved trail all the way up to City Bikes in Chevy Chase, where you can feast on some BBQ before heading back.

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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The Bridges Over The Canal C&O

Photo courtesy of
‘New Year’s Day Sunshine’
courtesy of ‘Karon’
This past Monday, August 24, marked the beginning of Operation: Remove, Restore and Replace Georgetown’s C&O Canal Bridges.  The project’s three targets, the 29th Street, 30th Street and Thomas Jefferson Street development bridges will be undergoing some serious work over the next 36 months.  Yup. That’s right. According to the DDOT, each bridge will take one full year to complete and DDOT is conducting the work on one bridge at a time.

The first on the docket is the 30th Street bridge, which as of Monday, will be closed to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic until July 2010.  Thomas Jefferson Street and 29th Street are the designated detour routes, the “open” part of 30th Street has two-way traffic, and the closure does not limit access to the business and residences located along 30th Street. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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Paolo’s Georgetown Catches Fire

Photo courtesy of
‘Paolo’s Ristorante’
courtesy of ‘john w’

At around 10pm Saturday night, Paolo’s Ristorante on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and N Street NW caught on fire.  I happened to be sitting across the street having a drink at Martin’s Tavern, when I noticed black smoke billowing out the  back roof of the restaurant; shortly thereafter we saw flames.  At the time, Paolo’s was in full swing, packed with diners and DCers prepping for a night out.  Two fire engines promptly appeared and the small blaze was adeptly extinguished–it took about an hour or so, for the whole operation to be over.  It was very cool to see the DCFD is full action. This included two ladders in operation, hooks pulling down flaming debris, and multiple fire extinguishers.  I even spotted a female firefighter. Yeh, chick, represent!

From my vantage point, the fire was not very big and most likely started in the kitchen at the back of the restaurant.  It looked to be near some sort of chimey-esque vent.  Given the fire’s size and location, and the fast response of the DCFD, I assumed everyone (staff and patrons) got out OK.  This conjecture was furthered when I walked by Paolo’s at 1:30am and saw the staff sitting at the restaurant’s bar having drinks and chilling out.  When it’s 11pm on a Saturday night and your workplace, which happens to be a bar, closes unexpectedly, what else should you do besides grab a drink, enjoy the weather and hit up the nightlife? Continue reading →

Dupont Circle, History, Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: The DC Streetcar System

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington, DC View east down F Street NW no date’
courtesy of ‘army.arch’

Welcome to another edition of DC Mythbusting.  In order to avoid thinking about the terrible accident on Metro yesterday, I’m going to transport you back in time to when DC had another transit system.  That’s right, our fair city was served by a streetcar system beginning in 1862, and the last of the trains ran a hundred years later in 1962.  Then, as was the trend at the time, the transit system was forced to switch to buses, and the streetcars were no more.  There are many legends about the streetcar– it’s hard to imagine a transit system just leaving town with no marks, but you look around the city today and it’s hard to imagine the thriving streetcar system that existed just a few generations ago.  However, we’re lucky enough to have some very cool remnants of the old streetcar system.

Have you ever walked around Dupont Circle and seen those things that look just like New York City subway entrances?  Well, those are old streetcar entrances.  They were not all fancy like our Metro entrances (no one is standing to the right on escalators here), they’re just simple stairwells down to the streetcar platforms.  Passengers would descend into the station, where the streetcar would run in half-circles.  The Mount Pleasant Line of the streetcar system shut down in 1961, and by 1964 the station entrances were paved over.  But that’s not the end of the story for Dupont’s old streetcar station– in 1995, the station opened as a food court called Dupont Down Under, but apparently people don’t like eating in windowless underground lairs when they could be eating outside in one of DC’s great urban parks.  The project failed within a year, and the area was once again abandoned.  A couple years back, Jim Graham suggested that the space be used for adult clubs; however, neighborhood residents weren’t too excited about that and the space has remained vacant.

Continue reading →

Essential DC, Foggy Bottom, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Our Time Is Now, Georgetown

Photo courtesy of
‘Georgetown Waterfront’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

In Monday’s print edition of the Express, there was an article called “Reclaim Your Territory” by Fiona Zublin. (If the Express web site wasn’t so darn hard to use, I’d be able to find it and link to you, but I quit after 5 minutes of searching. But that is a whole ‘nother Daily Feed.) The article gleefully stated that since this past weekend was the end of the Georgetown school year, and the summer interns haven’t descended upon DC quite yet, those of you usually skittish of M Street and Wisconsin should head there now to take part in the momentary peace.

I’ll second this suggestion to head to G-town, but up the ante on recommendations. Zublin said to head over to Third Edition and Paulo’s, but I’m going to go farther out on a limb, since I don’t think of Paulo’s as generally mobbed by the GU crowd. I have to admit, some of my most fun nights of going all-out have been at Mr. Smiths, and if I can do that without getting hit on by a 20-year old psych major? Yes, please.

I’m also partial to the Georgetown waterfront, you all know how I feel about things on the water, though after a weird night at the beginning of last summer with a slightly euro-trashy main-chain-wearing crowd, I haven’t returned since. I’d happily give it a go during this down time. So what about you? Any Georgetown bars or places you’d like to hit up while we’ve got a respite from the ususal smattering of denim mini skirts and Miller Lite drinking frat boys?

The Daily Feed
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First Couple Date Night

_MG_0727 by dbking

Between tackling the swine flu pandemic, appointing a new Supreme Court justice, saving the faltering economy, and walking the family dog, the first couple found some time to spend together away from the pressures of the White House.  Barack and Michelle Obama reportedly had an early dinner at Citronelle in Georgetown Saturday night, followed up by a private, hand-in-hand stroll around the White House grounds.  When was the last time you heard of a president and his wife going on a date together?  Did anyone witness the big crowd of onlookers outside of the restaurant?

Judging by the apparent love between POTUS and FLOTUS, this is surely not their last romantic excursion into DC’s restaurant scene.  We’d love to hear about some of our readers’ most memorable dates and recommendations for the Obamas’ next night out on the town.  Barack if you’re listening, I highly recommend taking Michelle to Lauriol Plaza for a refreshing pitcher of margaritas and queso dip some time.  You don’t always have to take her to a five star restaurant you know.