The guys from the Capital City Diner faced a truly unpleasant experienced. First mugged then hesitation in filing a report from MPD. On their Web site they write:

“We were walking down the street, passed by a group of 4-5 young people (one in a wheelchair), one of which asked if we had any money. After we passed about 10-15 feet, he quickly approached us, presented what appeared to be a sawed-off shotgun in his pants, and then demanded money from us. Two of us handed over some money and they fled up L St NE toward Carver/Langston. 911 was called immediately after, but it took some time for a respose and thus the police couldn

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SUC50014, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Remember the historic diner that was relocated to 1050 Bladensburg Rd, NE? Well, sadly they’re having lots of headaches. The owner writes an update:

“Right now, we’re going through the DCRA plan review process and hope to get comments back from the structural and health dept folks, the final two (out of plumbing, fire, electrical, zoning, health, and structural). Once we receive the comments, we’ll modify our plans accordingly, resubmit, and hopefully get building permit approval in a week or so after that.

Once permits are approved, we’ll build out as soon as possible, and hope to be open by September (if all goes well, but that’s a big if).

We heard from Washington Gas today (we submitted an initial inquiry into getting gas service back in April!). Basically, they say that there’s no gas pipe at our location (even though it’s visible and capped off) and want to dig up the street to install a new line from the main.

Here’s the problem: they insist we pay them $5600 to do this, as they claim their projected revenue over the next 2 years from the diner’s operation will not justify them paying for the cost of installation. I’m not sure what calculation was used, but they stated they would send it via e-mail. I would think operating over 100 hours/week (eventually 24/7, if we get open)– more than a lot of other places– and using gas the entire timewould generate enough revenue for them.

This is really shocking and disappointing. If we don’t reach a resolution with them soon, it may come down to us converting to all-electric or not opening at all (we can’t afford to pay rent on the land without being open). Pepco, by the way, has been awesome so far and very responsive, but it would cost us a lot to convert to all electric appliances. Currently, we need gas for: oven, range, warming table, furnace, water heater, and griddle.

We’re just two neighborhood residents trying to do something good. We never imagined it would be so difficult for the little guys.”

Can we do anything to tell Washington Gas they are being unfair? Is Washington Gas being unfair? Should the local Council Member get involved?  How can we help resolve this situation?

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“Dear PoP,

I live at 6th and L NE and yesterday beginning at around 4:30pm, ambulance and cop cars kept speeding down my street headed west. When my roommates got home around 6, my street was totally backed up with traffic apparently because they were re-routing everything from 8th Street NE. When i returned from the grocery store around 7 pm, there were cop cars on L and 7th and on L blocking 8th Street. I saw the news report on the shooting in Trinidad, but that seems to have only happened around 8:30 which doesn’t seem to fit the timeframe for whatever was happening down by me earlier in the afternoon. Any ideas?”

Hmm, I hadn’t heard beyond the Trinidad shooting. Anyone know what happened yesterday?

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SUC50014, originally uploaded by Prince of Petworth.

Thanks to Nichole for snapping some photos of the diner. And for those that missed it in the comments yesterday here’s word from the owner of Jimmy Valentine’s:

“hey y’all, owner of jimmy valentine’s here. this diner is directly between the one-block distance from my house in trinidad to my bar on bladensburg rd. i know matt & patrick well and have watched the course of their project firsthand. i’ve also been watching them try to drop the diner in place all day (it’s approved to go in now). they have bent over backwards to meet DCRA code throughout this process, they have built everything correctly, and have had met with unnecessary ‘frustration’, shall we say most gently, at every turn. the silly difficulty of today’s process has been financially wasteful, and isn’t it remarkable that an attempt to bring a positive business to a blighted neighborhood can attract such negative attention from authorities in a place that can’t otherwise seem to get any?

that being said, i’ve been a home-owner here for nearly 6 years and have never once encountered any problems with my neighbors and people on the street here (jimmy valentine’s has zero police reports to its address in nearly 2 years since opening). simple truth is that where there’s no prey, there are no predators, and i call bullsh*t on whoever commented on “[ducking automatic gunfire]” last time they were in our ‘hood. nobody shot at you “hilltop”, especially next to CVS as you claim (”h and bladensburg”). corner drug dealers trump muggers; dealers won’t allow that kind of crime because of the police attention it draws. of course, now that more businesses are moving here we’ll soon attract the kind of criminals that plague dupont, georgetown, adams morgan, u st., and increasingly on h st…

commentary & rant aside, the diner itself is a bona fide ‘47. it’s deceptively small, it’s way cool, and it actually fits the street/landscape here like it’s been here all along (though honestly it’s currently more like a mirage looking off my back deck after years of nothing but shady used car dealers). matt & patrick are hard-working and honest people pursuing their vision completely out of their own pocket and i’m confident they’ll get the food and menu right. the intense problem-solving you witnessed today is just the tip of the iceburg and they’ve got no safety net in this venture. few people have that kind of fortitude.

best of luck boys, i never thought the day would come when a 20-bag would no longer be the first commodity available walking out my front or back door : )

mark @ jimmy valentine’s lonely hearts club”

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This is one of the freshest things I’ve heard in a while. From an email from one of the owners:

“My partner and I are moving an historic 1940’s diner from New York to Washington, DC tomorrow. We bought a Silk City Diner, manufactured by Paterson Vehicle Company in 1947, that has been in upstate New York ever since it was put into service.

The nation’s capital currently has no true diners that I’m aware of; that is, historic modular diner buildings manufactured during 1930-60. So, we’re bringing one to DC by moving it from New York.

It will arrive sometime tomorrow. Unfortunately, I cannot give a specific time of arrival yet due to the nature of highway transportation of oversized loads.

The diner will be located in the Trinidad neighborhood of DC, at the site of a former used car lot shut down by Mayor Fenty in November 2008 (1050 Bladensburg Rd NE). It will be located across the street from Jimmy Valentine’s and 2 blocks or so from the H street bars/restaurants. The initial hours (once we open) will be from 6am-10pm (we think), but we’ll be open 24 hours on Friday and Saturday evenings.”

Pretty sweet, yeah? More photos after the jump. Read Full Post

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