I know I’ll upset some readers with the following statement but – this is insane. Monday afternoon we spoke about some mysterious car fires in Columbia Heights. A reader from Adams Morgan writes in after reading that post:

“My car also mysteriously caught on fire on Wednesday night (or technically Thursday morning). Picture attached.

The fire department and police department came and woke us up to let us know our Ford Escape was on fire – it looks eerily similar to some of these pictures. We’re hoping to get a copy of the police report today, but at the scene the cops/fire department said they didn’t see an signs of arson. Our insurance company towed the car on Friday and is doing their own investigation now.

I also have out of state tags – Indiana – but was parked right next to a car with Ohio tags that was untouched. It was in a small parking area in the alley behind my house in Adam’s Morgan.

I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it was a random electrical issue (even though it had been parked for 7 hours with no one driving it or coming near it).

I’m not saying I’ve now changed my mind, but this is at least interesting.”

Another reader writes in saying that an investigation is now ongoing involving the fire and police departments. Hopefully there will be an update soon.

The folks from Subway send the good word (and photos):

“I am very please to tell you that we are finally opening the Petworth Subway Tuesday morning (Sept. 28) at 7am. The hours of operation will be Monday – Friday 7am – 10pm, Sat. 8am – 10pm and Sun. 9am -10pm.”

The inside is looking good. It is located on Georgia Ave, NW above the Petworth metro (next to Sala Thai.)

Wow, I thought this looked good back back in July. I had no idea it wasn’t nearly completed. Nicely done! It is located behind the Ethiopian Restaurant, Zenebech Injera, located at 608 Florida Ave, NW.

I don’t really care for the ‘Onion’ graffiti but the planted cactus is beyond cool. It’s from 1st St, NW in Bloomingdale.

Mt. Pleasant is home to some of my all-time favorite row houses.

This sounds awesome:

“ Portraits After 5

Skip rush hour, and join us for “Portraits After 5″ at the National Portrait Gallery. This free happy hour event combines art and music with a contemporary twist. Check out projections on the walls of the Kogod Courtyard by artist Claire Scoville, a pop-up photo booth with photographer Rob Northway, musical guest DJ Todd Threats (a.k.a. toddlovesupreme), and our special exhibition “Americans Now.”

Located in the Courtyard Café, “Portraits After 5″ is the perfect way to start your weekend.

Friday, October 1, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
8th & F Street NW“

I had noticed that Sweet Magnolia Pink November had gone out of business at 1534 U St, NW but just noticed last weekend that a sign has gone up announcing the arrival of Dr. K’s Vintage clothing store will be opening soon. Stay tuned.

“Dear PoP,

Have you talked about “district modular” on GA Ave a few stores up from petworth liquors at kenyon? It looks like an art gallery.”

I’ve been getting a number of emails about this and walked by on Saturday. The display at 3216 Georgia Ave, NW is quite cool. Unfortunately the doors were locked and there was nobody to talk to, to get more info. According to the Pinkline Project:

“District Modular is a growing artists-collective with the goal of creating collaborative installation and experimental media projects to join/complicate/carry-on the cultural conversation at a local level.”

If you have any fun or interesting animal/pet photos or news please shoot me an email to princeofpetworth(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Animal Fix’ in the title or upload to the PoPville flickr pool.

“Cat Catterson takes a break from putting together furniture. Hard labor sure beats languishing at the New York Ave Humane Society though!”

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

Lost Dog after the jump. (more…)

This rental is located at 1629 Columbia Rd, NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“Studio Dream Space!
Hardwood and Stainless appliances
Soaring Ceilings with large dressing room
All new appliances and views of 16th Street
All utilities included in the rent
Sorry, No Dogs”

Does $1399 sound reasonable for a studio at this location?

“Dear PoP,

I thought you and your readers would enjoy a picture of our historic ceiling light fixture. It always brightens my day.”

Hahaha, that is hilarious.

“Dear PoP,

I recently moved into a house (mt pleasant) with no parking & a large lawn. We would like to put in a driveway, but keep a grass surface. Since this is the case, we don’t even have to worry about DC restrictions on impermeable surfaces. It looks like it is easy enough to put in, but a google search (and a craigslist search) comes up with no contractors specializing in this type of driveway.

It seems like these are showing up in places like Cleveland park: Does anyone have recommendations on installers?”

Anyone put this type of driveway into their house?

Photo by PoPville flickr user sciascia

Submit your photos to the PoPville flickr pool here. Follow PoPville on twitter here.

Photo by PoPville flickr user Mr. T in DC

“Dear PoP,

On Sunday, September 26 my new 2010 Mini Cooper burst into flames at around 4:30 a.m.

I parked the car just down the block from my home at 9:30 pm on Saturday night. I parked it at 16th and Oak directly in front of 1523 Oak Street NW. When I passed by the car on Sunday around 1pm we found that the entire front of the car was destroyed (photo attached.) I spoke to the residents of 1523 and they told me that the noise and flames had woken them up around 4:30 a.m. at which point they called 911 and started throwing buckets of water on the car to try and stop the fire. The fire department and police came, put out the fire, and left.

Officer Richardson answered our call on Sunday afternoon, when my partner and I first discovered the damage to the car, and tried to help us track down a report number. At first, fire dispatch said there was no record of an incident at that time and location. Several phone calls later, she was able to talk to Investigator Ford at the Fire Investigation Unit who told her that a call was made at 4:47 am and Engine 11 (located at 14th and Newton) responded to the call and put out the fire. Investigator Ford said that he was at the scene at that time and called the fire mechanical, not arson. When pressed, he said that the fire on the 3600 block of 16th Street on August 25th which involved several vehicles was also mechanical.

I cannot accept that the cause of our car being incinerated was “mechanical”. Our car is barely 3 weeks old and had been turned off and parked for roughly 6 hours prior to catching on fire. As I waited for an officer to respond to my call on Sunday afternoon, several community members mentioned cars being set on fire on neighboring streets, Otis, Kenyon, and Monroe in the past few weeks. One neighbor stopped and showed me a picture of his car which burned while parked on Otis Street this past Thursday and was also deemed “mechanical” (2nd attachment below.) The damage to his car looked exactly like ours and also happened around 4 am. It is ridiculous that none of these incidents are being properly investigated.

The damage to our car is already done, but I am afraid that since the Fire Investigation Unit is not finding any of these fires suspicious, vehicles in the Columbia Heights area will continue to burn until one of them explodes and the fire spread to someone’s home or a passerby is injured or worse.

Firefighters returned to our car this morning because someone called to say that gas was leaking down the street. When we spoke with them they said that all the cars that have been burned have Maryland or Virginia tags. We’re DC residents but bought our car in Maryland so it had MD temp tags.”

I also got the following brief note from a reader on Friday:

“Saw this Jeep burned out between 14th and 16th on Monroe.”

This home is located at 748 Princeton Place, NW:

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The flier says:

“Total Renovation, 2 blocks from metro. New roof, new plumbing, electrical, drywall. .. attached garage, huge deck, gourmet kitchen, gas fireplace, tray ceilings, master bedroom w20 ft ceiling, 6″ bamboo flooring, new copper water line out to meter, 3 large bedrooms upstairs, one block from new CVS and restaurants. .. a must see.”

You can find more info here and photos here.

The reader writes, “I’m curious to hear what your readers think about this one. Yet another case of “flip yellow”!”

What do you guys think of the reno itself? Does $598,000 sound reasonable for this 3 bed/3.5 bath?