One other local chain I’d love to see have a presence around Georgia Ave. — the BB&P / Eatonville folks. I think Eatonville is gorgeous, has a fairly priced menu with pretty high quality (though nothing spectacular) grub, and would do quite well in, for example, the new Donatelli building. BB&P would also be cool, and no one can claim that doesn’t attract a racially diverse crowd …

And I mean for all, don’t presume I mean for white people. Busboys and Poets is one of the coolest spots in town and tends to be more black than white customers.

Yes, some people will get priced out as things change, but that’s just reality. Ideally you find ways to mitigate suffering without dampening healthy city growth. I can’t afford a condo in CH or U Street, but I’m still happy they’re there. I’m a 43-year-old DC native and I’ve never seen the city as diverse and healthy and blossoming as it is now, despite its lingering problems.

We need to stop being provincial and expect a DC that is on par with other world capitals. That includes helping those who get left behind.

So, while it may not be affordable to everyone on a daily basis as a dining option, it will be to many — and others will find it a great place to earn an income.

Right now, that location is an eyesore and a liability to the District. I say “yeah” to Donatelli and to Marvin for re-doing it. My guess is that it will be cheaper than Marvin too.

I know this might be hard for you but just try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes for just a minute. I would like to give you an example to help you expand your self-centered view here. I know a neighbor who commutes by metro and bus over an hour and a half every day to work in a restaurant for a few dollars above minimum age and then does the same hour and a half commute back; he loses an hour of his pay each day for transportation costs alone. Then think about how difficult it is to be on your feet all day working. You would probably want a beer! How nice would it be if you could go to your neighborhood bar, in a welcoming atmosphere and find something affordable to sip on while you chit chat and talk with your friends and everyone else from the neighborhood.

SCRATCH that:

Think about how difficult it is to be on your feet all day. You would probably want a beer! You walk by and see this new place opening up in your neighborhood! You are really excited because how nice to grab a beer walking distance from your house. You try to go inside but you are turned away at the door because you don’t have the right shoes on–or let’s say you DO make it past the door and then you go in sit down and you are ready to relax until you realize that you cannot find a beer that will cost you less than a full hour of your after tax pay. You get up and have to leave because you can’t justify spending the money when you have food and other necessary items to buy. So your only option for a beer after work is to go to the liquor store because there’s no bar that welcomes you with its policies or prices. So it’s back to the same old thing.. drinking beer on the porch outside in the heat while you are sipping on your $7 Hennepin surrounded only by people exactly like you.

Yup, I agree it’s really “bwhahaha” hilarious.

I don’t want to get into an ongoing back and forth with you and I respect your opinions, but I think you need to make another trip to Marvin.

Your assertion that it is somehow exclusive or even predominantly “white” is just dead wrong. If you take a peak into the dining room on any given night, I think you will see that it is the type of place that I, a 37 year lifelong resident of Washington DC, wants to see: a thorough melting pot of all the wonderful diversity that this town has to offer.

Now, I can’t speak to their door policies; frankly, I avoid the late night roofdeck crowds on weekend nights, but places have to have dress codes sometimes. In a perfect world, people would understand that they should dress appropriately for any given venue but alas, some people just aren’t that sharp.

Anyhow, to the owners of Marvin (and the Gibson, 18th Street Lounge and other spots that have put DC on the nightlife map), I say welcome to our little corner of the city.