Photo by PoPville flickr user Caitlin H. Faw

“Dear PoPville,

I have been getting my Toyota’s oil changed at the dealership in Arlington for years but it’s quite a hassle and takes up my Saturday morning. Do you have any suggestions for a reliable place in the U Street/Shaw/Logan area to get an oil change?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

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Photo by PoPville flickr user schmiddi

Photo by PoPville flickr user slightlyworn

Photo by PoPville flickr user pablo.raw

“Dear PoPville,

We are at our wits end. I have a suspicion we are not the only city residents dealing with this issue. Our calls and emails to city officials have thus far been helpful in getting us on the right track to navigate DC’s bureaucracy. But we’ve been told the soonest possible date this huge trash heap can be cleaned up is October 3. And that is unlikely as the city will send out yet another inspector to see if the property owner has cleaned up the mess and only then will they hire a contractor to actually do the clean up.

This heap has been in existence at a now vacant home since September 1. It has grown a little every week. The mattress you see on top and the glass cabinet and cardboard box in the foreground are new this week. All of the homes adjacent to the vacant property are now dealing with cockroach and rodent infestations. The picture does not do justice to the depth of the pile.

I want 2 things to happen:

1) This pile needs to be cleaned up and thrown away.
2) Whoever is adding to the pile needs to stop.

I’d be curious to hear from other people who have dealt with similar issues. How did you get it done?

Thanks,
Neighbors on the 900 block of 7th St NE”

I’ve had success with 311 but it seems like this could also be a public health issue with rodent infestations. Has anyone dealt with a similar situation? Anyway (besides contacting your council member) to get the city to expedite the clean up?

This home is located at 1214 Lamont St, NW:

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The flier says:

“Huge, bright end unit with distinctive facade just 3 blocks to metro. 4 very large BR, 3.5 BA, new granite counters, SS appliances, high quality carpet, fresh wood floors. Master suite is oversized and closets are amazing throughout. Basement is unfinished but offers lots of possibilities. New patio and fence and even a deck for grilling.”

You can find more info here and photos here.

$639,000 sound right for this 4 bed/3.5 bath?

North Columbia Heights Green is located in the alley behind 11th St, NW b/w Sherman, Lamont, and Park Rd, NW.

Filomena is located at 1063 Wisconsin Ave, NW. Their Web site says:

“JoAnna transported some of her mother’s furniture to the restaurant and set up a dining room (our Filomena Kitchen) that looked similar to Mother Filomena’s dining rooms over the years, dominated by the large heavy oak table, carved matching chairs and a large intricate sculpted Murano glass grape chandelier.

JoAnna also brought tons of her Mother’s antiques and knick-knacks to give the restaurant her Mother’s style. The music chosen for the restaurant was the type of Italian street songs Antimo liked to play on the Concertina in his youth or listened to because they reminded him of his boyhood home in Abruzzi, Italy.

Filomena, whose family also originated from the Abruzzi region of Italy, was a great cook. She had grown up learning very traditional Italian cooking, but found that sometimes it was very difficult to find many of the traditional ingredients. Being very creative, Filomena adapted many of her recipes to use what was available to her. Many of the original items that JoAnna chose to put on her menu were inspired by Mother Filomena’s simple, yet creative cuisine, as well as those wonderful old world traditional recipes—some that were prepared for the daily meal, for Sunday dinner, or when company called, or for specific holidays.”

You can see their menus here. For the fans – any must order items?

From the MPD 1D listserv:

“There was a shooting on the Freeway that involved a passenger in one moving vehicle firing at another moving vehicle. As a result of that shooting a shot struck and entered a private premise in the 300 block of VA Ave SE, causing damage to the home and the targeted vehicle. Thankfully, no one was injured in the vehicle or the home. The only description that was provided was for a black “luxury” vehicle, occupied by three subjects.

Commander Daniel Hickson”

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There was some potentially awesome late Friday news from the Post’s Jonathan O’Connell:

“a couple of the major movie theater chains are considering opening a theater in the Uline Arena.”

Uline Arena is located at 1140 3rd Street NE in NoMa. Think this long vacant historic property would make a good movie theater?

Smoke and Barrel is the new Craft beer, bourbon and BBQ joint opening up above Asylum at 2471 18th St, NW in Adams Morgan. When we last checked in on them in late Aug. they were still finishing the renovations and finalizing the menu. Well, the renovations have now been completed and some folks who remember what the space used to look like will think they are hallucinating. Contractor Joe Wood did an amazing job with the bar.

They will be having their grand opening on Tuesday. Lots of photos including a look at their menus after the jump. I know there are tons of bbq fans so we’ll def. revisit to see what you guys think of the food.

Ed. Note: Asylum and Smoke & Barrel are owned by the same folks who own Meridian Pint (primarily John Andrade) and is a PoP advertiser.

Lots more photos after the jump. (more…)

Photo by PoPville flickr user slightlyworn

You can talk about whatever is on your mind – quality of life issues, a beautiful tree you spotted, scuttlebutt, or any random questions/thoughts you may have. I’ll open this thread every morning at 10am.

“Dear PoP,

The Bacio Pizzeria storefront now has an overhang with bacio pizzeria printed on it. Have you heard any update on their progress?”

Back in May ’11 we first Bacio Pizzeria was coming to 81 Seaton Pl, NW in Bloomingdale. I’ve spoken with the owner a few times who said the delay was caused by some Pepco problems but that has now been resolved. They are just waiting on finalizing their Certificate of Occupancy and hope to open their doors in about a month to 6 weeks.

The owner, a really nice guy who also runs Green Paws in the upstairs space, said at first the space will only serve full pies and salads. Also, at first, it will be for pick up only but if there is enough demand they could add delivery. Also if there is enough demand they could add pizza by the slice.

So out of curiosity for those that live nearby would you like to see pizza offered by the slice?

Thanks to a reader for sending the heads up about these new mural that went up on Hanover Place NW behind the old Brass Knob Warehouse.

Well, uh, I totally forgot where I took this photo but it’s from somewhere in DC. And it’s new to me. Anyone recognize where it’s from?

And a pretty awesome bench at that (from Shaw):

Great detail in Columbia Heights: