Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

Here are a few recommendations from last year. Anyone know of any particularly good deals?

I’m intrigued by the State of the Union Bingo at The Diner located at 2453 18th St, NW.

My Brother’s Place is located at 237 2nd Street NW. It’s easy to walk right past this section of 2nd St, NW unless you are specifically looking for it. It has more the feel of an alley than a proper street but I know there are some devoted fans of this spot. You can see their menu here. Any fans?

Photo credit (c) Bruce Guthrie, Fragment KBI Wi Kani by Marcel Pinas at the Art Museum of the Americas.

Beth is an art history graduate student at George Mason University and works part-time at an emerging markets investment fund. Originally from Texas via New York, Beth graduated from Georgetown in 2009 with a degree in Spanish and has been living in Columbia Heights since then (and will probably never leave). In her free time, Beth practices amateur darkroom photography and conducts independent research projects, such as assessing where the best Tex-Mex is in D.C.

There aren’t many openings this week, but there are several noteworthy events and ongoing exhibitions around town. Here are some highlights:

DEBT: Simon Gouverneur and Andy Moon Wilson at Curator’s Office: A small and mesmerizing exhibition that asks to what extent an artist is indebted to his predecessors. The show includes dozens of drawings, most of which are just 4″ by 4″, by Atlanta-based artist and carpet designer Andy Moon Wilson. Moon Wilson’s vibrant, optically jarring works are juxtaposed with the more metaphysical (but still pattern-obsessed) paintings by one of his influences, Simon Gouverneur. On view until Feb. 12.

Wrestling with the Image: Caribbean Interventions at the Art Museum of the Americas: I’m reposting this one because I had very little info on it last week. Wrestling with the Image tackles head-on the discourse surrounding Caribbean identity, or to phrase it better, the region’s multiplicity of identities. The media exhibited, including contemporary paintings, prints, drawings, video art, mixed media installations (read: conch shell strobe lights) and photographs, are as diverse as the 36 artists behind them. And it’s no accident that the accompanying labels often demarcate with a slash the artists’ birthplace and current country of residence: the works are inherently global, and they reflect the diasporic nature of art from the past decade. With minimal wall texts, the exhibition catalog, available for download here, is a useful guide. On view until March 10.

Continues after the jump. (more…)

Back in May ’10 we heard that Crepes on the Corner would be opening up a spot at 257 15th St, SE:

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At the time they hoped to open in early Fall but obviously that timeline has been delayed. However, I’m happy to report that they are still coming! Yesterday they received approval today from DCRA to begin construction and build out is expected to take 5-6 weeks. Expect a soft opening in late March/early April.

Yesterday we learned the great news that it looked like Mellow Mushroom pizza was coming to Adams Morgan. I’m happy to report that the speculation has now been confirmed by Mellow Mushroom. In an email they tell me that Mellow Mushroom will be opening up in July 2011 (not May) and they are currently renovating the old 18th and Red space at 2436 18th St, NW.

Another reader writes that a roof deck will likely be included though I haven’t confirmed that info yet.

But for those who were excited about the prospect of a Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria coming to DC – it is now confirmed for July 2011 coming to 2436 18th St, NW. From yesterday’s discussion it sounds like a big score for Adams Morgan.

Petworth’s Proposed Safeway at Georgia Ave (3830 Georgia Ave, NW)

Back in May ’10 I wrote a post titled Battle of the Safeways: Haves Vs. Have Nots comparing the new Georgetown/Glover Park Safeway to Petworth’s Safeway on Georgia Ave (3830 Georgia Ave, NW). I am happy to say that, soon, this argument will no longer apply. Petworth is slated to be home to the city’s newest and largest Safeway at 60,000 square feet. While I’m trying not to exaggerate I believe this is the biggest news to hit Petworth/Georgia Ave since the metro station opened. This news is so huge that I have passed out twice since starting to write this and I’m only on the first paragraph. This is, in the parlance of our times, a true gamechanger.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Marc Dubick, the same guy who brought Mt. Vernon Square the hugely successful City Vista project, who is president of Duball LLC or in plain English the guy who’s gonna develop this project. He has already been talking to neighborhood groups and I’ve received about half a dozen emails from folks who are more excited than I am. And I can understand why. Petworth has been promised redevelopment of this (the Stinky Safeway) Safeway for so many years that to some the prospect has become a fairy tale. However, Dubick made it quite clear to me – the fairy tale has now become a reality. But what was even cooler was the detail in which Dubick explained the project to me and the lengths that have been made to address earlier concerns:

There will be two underground floors of parking removing the current parking lot and curb cuts on Georgia Ave. will be no more. There will be 85 spaces on one floor for shoppers and 135 parking spots on a separate floor for residents. The ground floor will be 60,000 square feet including a full deli, Starbucks and a state of the art pharmacy and will look a lot like the City Vista/ Sexy Safeway and the new ultra modern Safeway in SW-Waterfront. On top of the Safeway there will be 5 floors of market rate apartments that will not exceed the height of the existing apartment building on Randolph (it is looking like rentals though condo is still a possibility).

Other steps that have been taken to address earlier concerns are:

*Placing all parking, loading, and trash inside a completely enclosed two-story building to be built in the location where the back parking lot is now;
*Placing a green roof on the enclosed two-story parking structure to provide an attractive view out the rear of neighboring houses;
*Stopping the parking structure short of the end of the parking lot to provide some buffer space;
*Stepping down the housing portion of the structure as it approaches the existing apartment building in the 900 block of Randolph, so there is a smoother flow between the buildings;
* Placing all the housing toward the front of the property, so it doesn’t conflict with the residential housing;
* using the grade of the property to reduce the impact on neighboring properties;
* Using a “quiet” technique to drive the piles for the new building.

Additionally, the Safeway will increase from 40-50 employees to 150-160.

The entire process should take about 2 and 1/2 – 3 years.

After all the permits are collected construction will likely begin in 6-8 months.

When completed Petworth will finally be home to the type of Safeway it deserves. And we’ll soon have to think up a new nickname!

Petworth’s Safeway on Georgia Ave (3830 Georgia Ave, NW)

Congrats again to subpolka who won tickets to the Dr. Dog show.

I’m happy to say that I have 2 more tickets courtesy of the 9:30 club for the Lissie show this Sunday.

Su 1/30
Lissie
w/ Dylan LeBlanc
8:00 PM Doors

If you don’t win you can purchase tickets here.

Simply let me know why you’d like to go in the comments and I’ll pick a winner on Friday.

This is one of the stranger sights I’ve seen. It’s from 9th St, NW a few blocks south of U Street. I’m thinking it clearly had to be placed there but it’s so high up. It’s just nuts. Right?

Should I have saved this for a caption contest?

This is from Biltmore St, NW that many folks were fond of last week.

This is def. one of the more unusual (but equally cool) transoms I’ve seen in DC.

I’ve got a few more historical ones for us this week. This one from Mt. Vernon Sq. near the Convention Center is the Blanche K. Bruce House:

“The Blanche K. Bruce House is a historic house in Washington, D.C.. It was a home of slave-born Blanche K. Bruce (1 March 1841 – 17 March 1898), who represented Mississippi as a U.S. Senator from 1875 to 1881 and was the first African-American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate.”

Image of potential future streetcar system from Streetcars for DC facebook page.

From an email:

On Thursday, January 27 at 6:00 p.m., the Sierra Club’ s Washington, D.C. Chapter will hold a streetcar happy hour at SOVA (1359 H Street NE).

Please join fellow streetcar supporters to have a drink and celebrate recent streetcar successes while informally discussing next steps for our campaign to make streetcars a reality in D.C.

The Sierra Club plans to begin holding streetcar happy hours on a regular basis, and we hope to reach out to as many parts of the city as possible. If you would like to see a happy hour take place in your neighborhood, please contact Jason Broehm, chair of the Chapter’s transportation committee, at jason_broehm@earthlink.net.

To learn more about DC’s streetcar initiative, visit here.

The lunch options at Union Station are going through the roof. In addition to the gigantic food court downstairs – upstairs a Chipotle and Chop’t have recently opened in addition to this Potbelly’s opening Tuesday.

Though, I still love the Greek place downstairs. Of course now they also have a taco bell…

In honor of today’s ‘Dear PoP’ about the best place to watch hockey and drink Canadian beer, please accept a judging of the Canadian Embassy. It is located on Pennsylvania Ave, NW next to the Newseum. It blows me away every time I pass it.

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 and say what neighborhood you’re from or upload to the PoPville flickr pool. I can’t guarantee I’ll get them all posted but I’ll do my best.  I’m aware not everyone loves pets.  But they bring me (and others) a lot of pleasure.  It’s cool, hold tight, a new post is coming in a half hour, you can make it!

“Purrsey Cat takes a nap on a towel fresh out of the dryer!”

Photo by PoPville flickr user Gosia_K

Photo by PoPville flickr user EmailRamon

This rental is located at 14th and Meridian Pl, NW:

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The Craigslist ad says:

“Sunny and stylish(fully furnished (VERY high end)) 2Bd/2Ba in Columbia Heights with outdoor space. $2400 rent includes all utilities (water, electric (no gas), HD cable with Tivo & high speed wireless internet). Wall mounted high definition flat screen television in living room with built in speakers. Screened in balcony off master bedroom. Large capacity washer/dryer in unit. Full size dishwasher in kitchen. Off street parking is available in public lot (free) across street with AMPLE spaces.”

Does $2400 sound reasonable for this 2Bd/2Ba?