A Happy Halloween 2012 in Georgetown
• November 6, 2012

It was a calm night with D.C. thankful for being spared the full force of Hurricane Sandy. Accompanied by their parents, adorable little trick-or-treaters dominated the residential streets, east side and west side, in the early evening hours. Then, it was time for the adult parties and the increasingly crowded scene radiating from the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street. Officers from the Metropolitan Police Department were out in force with cruisers, a mobile commander center parked next to Serendipity 3 and officers on horseback. Halloween celebrants walked along the sidewalks, happily meeting and taking photos of any interesting ghoul, monster or fake celebrity. Except for a small Occupy D.C. protest in front of Councilman Jack Evans’s house on P Street around 10 p.m., no other incidents were reported. [gallery ids="101047,136418,136424,136430,136436,136443,136450,136456,136463,136469,136411,136406,136496,136491,136374,136485,136380,136481,136387,136393,136399,136474" nav="thumbs"]

Fabio Trabocchi to Open Restaurant at Washington Harbour; Citronelle to Reopen
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Chef Fabio Trabocchi plans to open his next restaurant, the 7,500-square-foot Fiola Mare, at Washington Harbour in fall 2013, according to the Washington Post. Trabocchi has signed a letter of intent with MRP Realty, which owns the popular waterfront complex on the Potomac River in Georgetown. Trabocchi already has Fiola in downtown. Architects for the new restaurant’s build-out of HapstakDemetriou, which has offices at Q Street and Wisconsin Avenue, the Post added. The fish-happy eatery will have inside and outside dining along with a raw bar.

Meanwhile at Washington Harbour, Farmers Fishers Bakers will open in November in the old Farmers & Fishers space, next to Sequoia and Tony & Joe’s, in front of the soon-to-open ice skating rink. Maintaining the rustic theme, Farmers Fishers Bakers will include a “farmhouse sushi” bar.

One block north of the waterfront complex on K Street, chef Michel Richard has told the Washington Post that he plans to re-open his famed Citronelle on 30th Street.

While Richard will be working on opening his New York restaurant next year in the New York Palace on Madison Avenue behind St. Patrick’s Cathedral, he told the Post: “I want to stay in D.C. My wife would never move to New York.”

Asked if he will reopen Citronelle, Richard told the newspaper: “Oui . . . in ‘May or June’ and in its original Georgetown location, the Latham Hotel.”

Biz Group Hosts Autumn Reception at the Ritz
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After its monthly board meeting on Oct. 17, members and friends of the Georgetown Business Association relaxed at Degrees bar and lounge of the Ritz-Carlton on South Street, catching up with each other and drinking seasonal concoctions like vanilla-infused cognac champagne and spiced Manhattan and sampling finger foods that included beef Wellington, quiche and smores. People were talking about GBA treasurer Karen Ohri’s appearance on a Fox 5 News segment that highlighted the changes in Georgetown retail, especially the reconstruction of the Shops at Georgetown Park which will add discount stores to the M Street commercial scene. Also discussed was GBA’s economic forum at the City Tavern Oct. 18 and GBA’s big annual meeting on Dec. 12.

Check out (GBA’s Karen Ohri on Fox 5)[http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/19837492/changing-business-landscape-in-georgetown] [gallery ids="101026,135829,135824,135820" nav="thumbs"]

Chefs to Meet, Food to Taste at MetroCooking Show
• October 24, 2012

On Nov. 5 and 6, part of the Washington Convention Center was occupied, not by any protesters, but by the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show. The 25,000 guests at the happily overwhelming annual food party got a chance to see food stars Paula Deen, Guy Fieri and Giada De Laurentiis along with such local chefs as Michel Richard and Mike Isabella — and sample products from food companies: beef, sausage, pasta, gelato, chocolates, cookies, cheese, pizza, dipping and rubbing sauces, peanuts . . . you name it. Also, on hand were entertaining experts like CherylStyle with presentations. [gallery ids="100410,113360,113352,113346" nav="thumbs"]

Annie Creamcheese Leaves for L.A.
• October 17, 2012

After seven years, Annie Creamcheese, the vintage clothing store at 3279 M St., N.W., has closed and is moving to Los Angeles. Owner Garrett Bauman, who resides in Las Vegas but is originally from Bethesda could not reached for comment at presstime The sign on the shop window thanked Washington and announced the store would open in L.A.’s Westwood neighborhood, near U.C.L.A. There is also an Annie Creamcheese, originally named for Bauman’s girlfriend at the time in 2004, in Las Vegas.

D.C. Council At-Large Candidate Debate, Oct. 4, at St. John’s
• October 11, 2012

A night following the U.S. presidential debate, the Georgetown Business Association will host a panel-style candidate forum Oct. 4 for candidates vying for D.C.’s two contested At-Large seats on the District Council.

Mary Brooks Beatty, Michael A. Brown, David Grosso and Vincent Orange, will answer questions and make their case to the Georgetown residential and business community, Oct. 4, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church (3240 O St., N.W.).

The forum, moderated by Davis Kennedy, publisher-editor of the Current Newspapers, and co-sponsored by the Citizens Association of Georgetown, will include questions submitted by the community, the audience, and the event’s local media sponsors: the Georgetowner, the Georgetown Current, the Georgetown Dish and the Georgetown Patch.

Incumbent Michael A. Brown (Ward 4) was first elected in 2008 and currently serves as the District Council Chairman Pro-Tempore and as an at-large councilmember alongside D.C.’s other at-large councilman, Vincent Orange (Ward 5), who was elected in the April 2011 Special Election. Mary Brooks Beatty (Ward 6) and David Grosso (Ward 5) round out the field as challengers.

Event RSVPs should be forwarded to admin@otimwilliams.com for confirmed seating. [gallery ids="101000,133132,133121,133129" nav="thumbs"]

Ins & Outs 10.3.12
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IN: Opening in October — Jonathan Adler Store at Wisconsin Avenue and N Street. Opening in November — Farmers Fishers Bakers at Washington Harbour in the old Farmers & Fishers space. Also opening in November will a new spot for Sweetgreen, as previously reported in these pages, at 2200 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., which once housed BodySmith. Also on the block across the avenue at 2233 Wisconsin’s first-floor retail (partly vacant for four years in the old Vespa space) will be a new Einstein’s Bagels, which left its space near Georgetown Safeway last year during the reconstruction work of the store and other shops.

OUT: Arrivederci, Georgetown. Fino’s Italian Restaurant has closed. The eatery at 3011 M St., N.W., will decamp to be near the convention center downtown. The block will have soon a clothing store open: Scotch & Soda. The corner reconstruction continues. This is the third Italian restaurant to leave town after the exits of Papa-Razzi and Uno’s Pizzeria.

Georgetown Park Signs T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods; No DMV
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After much discussion in the local media, a Sept. 24 Washington Business Journal story reported that “T.J. Maxx and sister company HomeGoods have signed on as anchor tenants at the Shops at Georgetown Park as owner Vornado Realty Trust seeks to reformat the aging retail emporium for larger-format stores. The discount retail chains have signed a combined lease for 47,800 square feet, according to a source familiar with the deal. They will have a storefront entrance on M Street, Georgetown’s main shopping drag, as well as larger space on the lower Wisconsin Avenue level of the building.”

As previously reported in the Georgetowner from a Aug. 20 hard-hat tour of the on-going reconstruction of the Shops at Georgetown Park by Vornado Realty Trust’s Jennifer Nettles, who is manager of the huge 3222 M St., NW, retail space: “According to Nettles, the Georgetown office of D.C.’s Department of Motor Vehicles — which closed May 19 and was located in the lower level — will not return to the property.”

Meridian Ball Dances Into the Night
• October 10, 2012

The 43rd Meridian Ball at the Meridian International Center off 16th Street gathered guests from the White-Meyer and ambassador-hosted dinners Oct. 14 and got down to real diplomatic fun: dancing, drinks and international desserts. Ball chair Mary Ourisman was joined by Susanna Quinn, Clara Brillembourg Chopivsky and Mary Kathryn Covert to direct another social smash for Meridian, a global leadership non-profit dedicated to strengthening international understanding. [gallery ids="100341,108698,108677,108694,108682,108690,108687" nav="thumbs"]

Rev. Moon’s Lasting Legacy in D.C.: the Washington Times
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The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Korean religious leader, businessman and founder of the Unification Church died Sept. 3 in South Korea. He was 92. Moon considered himself the second coming of Jesus Christ, an idea directly heretical to mainstream Christianity.

In the popular mind, his Unification Church provoked images of mass marriages performed by Moon and his wife — the “True Parents” — and of young promoters who sold flowers at the airport or on the streets. And his Moonies, a word church members do not like, have been accused of being part of a religious cult.

His attendant business interests ranged widely from media and automobiles to supplying fresh fish to local restaurants, namely, sushi.

But the powerful ambitions and personality of Moon sought more: he wanted influence throughout the world, East to West. Where was the best place to set up his own version of a heaven-on-earth lobbying firm? In America. And the best place there? Of course, the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

Beside his religious activities, the fiercely anti-communist Moon become known in the United States for strongly supporting then-enbattled President Richard Nixon, who later resigned. He led a huge rally at the National Mall, complete with fireworks, in the late 1970s. People here took notice, even as a few young Unification Church missionaries spoke casually with Georgetown University students in the lobby of Lauinger Library. (A new religion which unites the peoples and churches of Christianity can sound fresh, pure and worthy to a young mind.)

Moon’s church and businesses continued to grow, and he was ready to stake his claim as a major Washington influencer by establishing the Washington Times in 1982. While it was during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, it came along before many other popular media outlets which trumpeted conservative issues.

I got the opportunity to work as an editor at the Washington Times during the 1990s — the Bill Clinton years — working in special sections. We wrote and edited varied features, anything from travel, history, dining, real estate, jobs to specials on inaugurations, Martin Luther King, Jr., Apollo XI and World War II. Our bailiwick did not involve any ideological comments, specifically speaking, although we were aware of the preferences of the editor at the time, Wesley Pruden. Just being in the newsroom, it was instructive for a centrist Democrat like myself to learn a bit of the thinking from the conservative — and increasingly Republican — playbook.

Now, the Washington Times newsroom is off the beaten path, as far as media offices go. While the Washington Post — and the Washington Star (many staffers went to the Times when it folded) in its heyday — chose downtown D.C., the Times is in Northeast D.C. on New York Avenue between the National Arboretum and the train tracks.

There was that one day in the mid-90s when Rev. Moon, who would visit occasionally and go straight to the executive offices, walked around the voluminous newsroom meeting each editor and writer individually at his or her desk. One veteran writer, surprised at this never-before greeting, said that it was either really bad or really good. (The Times could wait for about another 15 years before things might go really bad.) Moon smiled as he joked about a top investigative reporter’s weight and poked him in the belly, saying he liked to eat as much fish as Moon liked to. At least, that’s what what the translator told the reporter who was not used to being messed with and who, I imagined, had to restrain himself as I also imagined steam coming out of his ears.

Like most newsroom creatures, Times employees were skeptical of authority and would make a quip as easily as those on 15th Street. They called their paper “little scrappy,” which did more with less and whose editors encouraged new hires to take chances. One said he was glad people believed in God, because he knew along with others that companies affiliated with the Unification Church had worked with News World Communications to spend more $1 billion over the years on the newspaper, which was one of the first to report regularly on religion, spirituality and, yes, God.

Of course, that other newspaper on 15th Street — “the OP” as Times editors said — looked down at Moon’s creation as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee vowed never to visit — until a birthday party for Arnaud de Borchgrave, a former editor-in-chief of the Times. Bradlee had worked with de Borchgrave at Newsweek in Europe and was happy to go to the New York Avenue newsroom as the Times printing presses produced a Times parody version for de Borchgrave’s party in the Arbor Ballroom; the banner headline aptly read: “A legend in his own mind.”

The Washington Times persevered in its quest to bring an alternative voice to the Washington and national scene, even as it sometimes beat the Post on local news stories. It was not afraid to make mistakes and offered many reporters who went on to bigger media groups a great start. Allow me to mention a few (mostly former) staffers who made the newspaper shine and had an impact for me, professionally and personally: Patrick Butters, Peter VanDevanter, Kevin Chaffee, Ann Geracimos, Tracy Woodward, Jim Brantley, Denise Barnes, John McCaslin, Lorraine Woellert, Tony Blankley, Deborah Simmons, Adrienne Washington, Cathryn Donohoe, Thom Loverro, Susan Ferrechio and Jerry Seper.

After the Times fell victim to squabbles within the Moon family, its staff and sections were cut a few years ago — and it looked like the end was near. But Moon did not want to lose face, as it were, and intervened two years ago and took the newspaper away from one of his sons who had controlled it. Today, the Times remains a strong conservative and journalistic voice amid the newer ones, such as the Washington Examiner, adding to a more dynamic media landscape. It is trying for a comeback. Whatever your opinion of its ideological bent, you know the Times kept D.C. from being a one-newspaper town. And you can thank its writers, editors, photographers, artists and pressmen — and a self-proclaimed messiah — for that bit of journalistic luck. [gallery ids="100969,130854" nav="thumbs"]