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Gary Tischler • January 11, 2016

It appears that former District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray’s long political and legal nightmare is over.

The nearly five-year investigation into Gray’s victorious 2010 campaign against incumbent Mayor Adrian is over with no charges filed against Gray.

The office of the U.S. District Attorney, headed by Channing Phillips, who took over after then District Attorney Ronald Machen stepped down this year, issued a statement saying, “Based on a thorough review of the available evidence and applicable law, the U.S. Attorney’s Office has concluded that the admissible evidence is likely insufficient to obtain and sustain a criminal conviction against any other individuals.”  This means that Gray, although his name was not mentioned, will not face prosecution or charges.

The announcement amounted to a bittersweet victory for Gray.  Federal prosecutors, after all, did uncover a slush fund or “shadow campaign,” presumed to be headed by businessman Jeffrey Thompson, an ally of Gray.  Several Gray campaign aides have already been indicted and await sentencing, along with Thompson, who insisted in negotiations with the prosecutor that Gray knew about the “shadow campaign”.

The investigation into the campaign exploded at the start of Gray’s administration, dogging and shadowing him throughout his tenure, right up to and including his campaign for re-election.  Machen all alone suggested that Gray’s victory over Fenty was suspect and went to great lengths to prove it, snaring aides and Thompson—but without in the end being able to charge Gray.

What the investigation did manage to do was perhaps cause Gray to lose his re-election campaign against Muriel Bowser, who went on to become mayor. Three weeks before the Democratic primary—which is still tantamount to a guarantor of victory in the general election– Thompson pleaded guilty. Prosecutors and Thompson said in court and in public that Gray knew about the illegal funds that fueled his 2010 campaign.  At the time, while Bowser had been surging, the primary still appeared to be in the very least too close to call. That changed quickly with the late-campaign contratemps around Thompson.

While most observers would suggest that Gray’s tenure by and large was a successful one, he was in some ways wounded politically.  With the investigation making constant news as revelations about the “shadow campaign” continuing to erupt in the media and in the courts with every indictment, Gray was dogged by the press and the media about the campaign and had difficulty getting out the news about his policies and programs.

There is probably no question that a slush fund existed—but it also appeared then and appears now that prosecutors had no meaningful or solid evidence against the mayor.

There is an irony in that, of course, several.  Most District political observers suggest that even though it appears that illegal funds were being used, they were most likely unnecessary to defeat Fenty who had been behind in the in the polls for weeks leading up to the election. 

Gray obviously recognized the might-have-been aspects of what transpired, in terms of the 2014 election, in terms of how his tenure was affected.

In a statement released through his former campaign manager Chuck Thies, Gray said, “Here in the District and around the country, many people had had their faith in our justice system tested. Justice delayed is justice denied, but I cannot change history. I look forward to getting on with the next chapter of my life, which will no doubt be dedicated to service.”

The population increase and shift in the  city, and a building boom that came with it, as well the burgeoning reputation of the city as a destination spot can probably be traced back to Mayor Anthony Williams, Fenty and most certainly Gray, who can take considerable credit for the rise of the city. But it was also during his time in office that the investigation put a cloud of distrust over the government.  The convictions of three council members on other matters, did nothing to reduce that impression.

Mayor Bowser released a curt statement Dec. 9 in response to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia’s announcement on the 2010 mayoral election investigation:
 
“The U.S. Attorney is responsible for bringing cases and securing justice.  The new U.S. Attorney for the District has concluded that justice has been secured with seven convictions in the 2010 Gray mayoral campaign and a dozen in total. It is not my job to question his actions but to continue to do the job that the residents elected me to do: expand opportunity to more D.C. residents. And that’s what we do — not just today but every day.”

Georgetowner •

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier announced Thursday that her department would conduct new searches around the city for Relisha Rudd, a little girl who was eight years old when she went missing in March 2014.

“There’s nothing more important than trying to locate a missing child, and we want to make sure that we haven’t missed anything,” said Lanier, announcing that her department would search a construction site at New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road in Northeast and other areas that Lanier declined to provide details about. “We don’t want to leave any stone unturned here. This is our highest priority,” she said. According to MPD, the new searches were not prompted by tip from the public.

Relisha lived at a homeless shelter with her mother and siblings in SE D.C., and was last seen with Khalil Tatum, a janitor that worked at the shelter. After Relisha was reported missing, Tatum was found dead of a self-inflicted gun wound in a park in Northeast. In addition, police found Tatum’s wife’s body in a suburban Maryland motel shortly.

At time of print, Relisha, who would’ve turned 10 on Oct. 29, had not been found.

Georgetowner •

Sinatra’s Night at Living Room Live

December 10th, 2015 at 07:00 PM | Free | info@artsoiree.com | Tel: 202-470-2642 | Event Website

Celebrate 100th Birthday of Frank Sinatra with a one-night-only performance – Sinatra’s Centennial by Friends of Frank.

From “New York, New York” to “That’s Life”, Friends of Frank will perform Sinatra classics and audience favorites!

Seating is on the first come basis. Doors open 7pm. Live Performance start 8pm.

Address

The Ritz-Carlton, Georgetown; 3100 South Street NW

Hoppy Holidays presented by Drink The District

December 11th, 2015 at 06:00 PM | $35-$50 | tickets@drinkthedistrict.com | Tel: 202-618-3663 | Event Website

‘Tis the season to celebrate good friends and good fun with a bevy of beverages and live music. Keep warm with savory and sweet treats while you sample stouts, lagers and ales and ponder who’s been naughty or nice. Enjoy 3 hours of unlimited tastings of over 30 beers and unlimited full pours of 2 beers.

Session 1: FRIDAY, Dec 11th, 7pm-10pm

Session 2: SATURDAY, Dec 12th, 2pm–5pm

Session 3: SATURDAY, Dec 12th, 7pm-10pm

Address

The Ring Building; 1200 18th Street NW

Gas Station Horror

December 11th, 2015 at 10:00 PM

From NYC, Gas Station Horror is a high-energy improv show that turns terrible horror movies into excellent comedy. For this special edition they are bringing horror to the Holiday with films like Silent Night, Zombie Night.

Address

Source, 1835 14th St. NW

Age-Friendly DC Info Session

December 11th, 2015 at 10:00 AM | FREE | rebekah.smith@dc.gov | Tel: 202-727-0232 | Event Website

D.C. is on the way to becoming an age-friendly city. Come learn about the city’s Age-Friendly DC 2015 Progress Report and what you can do to help transform D.C. into an easier city to grow up and older.

The Age-Friendly D.C. plan includes 75 strategies that District agencies are implementing with support from community partners to make life easier for residents of all ages. For more information please visit the Age-Friendly D.C. website: http://agefriendly.dc.gov/

Address

Georgetown Neighborhood Library; 3260 R St NW

National Building Museum’s 35th Birthday!

December 12th, 2015 at 10:00 AM | Free

Thirty-five years ago today, an Act of Congress established the nation’s only museum dedicated to the history and impact of the built environment. To celebrate our birthday, we’re throwing open our doors and offering free admission to all, as well as birthday festivities throughout the day. Learn more at go.nbm.org/35years.

Address

401 F St NW

Christmas Mart

December 12th, 2015 at 10:00 AM | – | dumbartonpastor@yahoo.com | Tel: 202-333-7212 | Event Website

You can find holiday gifts and help with world peace and understanding by shopping at Dumbarton’s Christmas Mart on Saturday, December 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The Dumbarton United Methodist Church Youth group will be selling global, hand-made, fair trade items from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Local artists will offer a variety of their art, jewelry, and crafts. A portion of all sales goes to fund the 2016 youth work trip. The church is at 3133 Dumbarton St. NW, just off of Wisconsin Avenue.

Address

3133 Dumbarton St. NW

Tea with Santa

December 12th, 2015 at 11:00 AM | $30 | education@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 2023372288 | Event Website

Sit back, relax and let Santa’s helpers serve you during this magical holiday experience. Visit with Santa and hear a special holiday story. Families enjoy a delicious holiday tea complete with special holiday tea blends, hot apple cider, sandwiches and desserts. After taking tea, children decorate their own gingerbread cookies to take home.

Adult Member $25; Non-member $30; Children $20

Address

Dumbarton House, 2715 Q Street, NW

Cathedral Choral Society: Family Joy

December 12th, 2015 at 12:00 PM | $15-25 | lsheridan@cathedral.org | Tel: 202-537-2228 | Event Website](http://www.cathedralchoralsociety.org/)

Join us for a special Christmas concert! This one-hour program has something for all ages, including a kids-only sing-along. Bring the whole family and get swept up in the sounds of the season. Special guests: Children’s Chorus of Washington and American Youth Philharmonic Brass Ensemble.

Address

Washington National Cathedral; 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW

Saturday Showing – “Sylvester”

December 12th, 2015 at 01:00 PM | Tel: (540) 687-6542 | [Event Website](http://nationalsporting.org/)

We invite you to join us in the Founder’s Room for a showing of Sylvester. Admission is free and Popcorn Monkey will be on hand selling popcorn to accompany the film!

Address

National Sporting Library & Museum; 102 The Plains Road; Middleburg, VA 20117

Joy of Christmas

December 12th, 2015 at 04:00 PM | $25-77 | lsheridan@cathedral.org | Tel: 202-537-2228 | [Event Website](http://www.cathedralchoralsociety.org/)

Celebrate the warm spirit of the season in a majestic setting. A well-loved Washington, DC holiday tradition, this concert will include Christmas favorites and a festive carol sing-along. Program will feature a newly commissioned carol by British composer James Whitbourn.

Led by Music Director J. Reilly Lewis with Edward Nassor, carillon; Todd Fickley, organ; Lyric Brass Quintet; and Children’s Chorus of Washington.

Address

Washington National Cathedral; 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW

A Celtic Christmas

December 12th, 2015 at 04:00 PM | $30-$35 | office@dumbartonconcerts.org | Tel: 2029652000, ext. 100 | [Event Website](http://www.dumbartonconcerts.org/tickets)

A Celtic Christmas. The Barnes and Hampton Consort, flutist Joseph Cunliffe, percussionist Steve Bloom, and radio celebrity Robert Aubry Davis return to Dumbarton Concerts with this annual Christmas tradition, featuring well-known pieces like “In the Bleak Midwinter”, traditional Irish music, and readings of “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas, as well as other poems by Langston Hughes.

Address

3133 Dumbarton St. NW

A Candlelight Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

December 13th, 2015 at 05:00 PM | FREE ADMISSION | sam@stjohnsgeorgetown.org | Tel: 202-338-1796 | [Event Website](http://www.stjohnsgeorgetown.org/)

Celebrate the season with this beloved holiday service of readings and music, in the tradition of King’s College, Cambridge. Performed in the serene and radiant beauty of candlelight, the program will feature music by Rutter and Willcocks in addition to traditional Christmas carols for all to sing.
Holiday Reception in Blake Hall following the service.

Free Admission

Early seating is advised

Childcare available

Address

St. John’s Episcopal Church; 3240 O St. NW

Washington Nationals Winterfest

Where: Walter E. Washington Convention Center 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW Washington, DC 20001

When: Saturday, December 12 and Sunday, December 13 (two days)

Time: 11:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. (time is the same for both days)

Tickets: Tickets purchased in advance at www.nationals.com/NatsWinterfest cost $30 for adults and $20 for children 12 and under, with prices increasing at the door. Tickets must be purchased separately for each individual day.

Description: The Nationals’ event of the offseason is now two-days. Open to fans of all ages, guests can enjoy holiday and baseball themed activities and interactive events, meet and greet their favorite Nationals players, take a photo with Santa, donate a toy to a child in need, enjoy their favorite ballpark concessions and much more.

More information can be found at www.nationals.com/NatsWinterfest

Robert Devaney •

Ri Ra Irish Pub at 3123 M St. NW has been shut down by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board Jan. 4 through Jan. 12 for “Sale to Minor Violation, Failed to Take Steps Necessary to Ascertain Legal Drinking Age.”

During the Nov. 18 hearing that meted out the punishment, the ABC Board “accepted an Offer In Compromise: $4,000 fine to be paid within 30 days. Charge I-$4,000 and Charge II -dismissed. Suspension of the license for 15 days, 9 days served and 6 days stayed. The suspension days are January 4-12, 2016. Indefinite suspension of the license if the fine is not paid by December 18, 2015, 5-0.”

Aside from the obligatory ABC placard taped to the Ri Ra window this week, the Ri Ra management also offered its own apology letter on its front door window—promising its customers and the community that such a violation would never happen again.

Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Bill Starrels, who heads the group’s alcoholic beverage committee and in whose single-member district Ri Ra operates, commented on the restaurant’s temporary closure: “According to my constituents that usually frequent the pub, it seems to have changed since its first year and has a different clientele. On its opening day, the Ri Ra owners appeared to be a first-class act.”

The ABC Board is part of D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. Board members are Donovan Anderson (chair), Nick Alberti, Mike Silverstein, Ruthanne Miller and James Short.

Robert Devaney •

Promoters, developers and designers of the future building and park that will emerge out of the West Heating Plant site at 1055 29th St. NW, just south of the C&O Canal and the Four Seasons Hotel, addressed the members and guest of the Citizens Association of Georgetown Dec. 9 at the Georgetown Public Library.

The development group, headed by Richard Levy of the Levy Group, showed the designs of British architect David Adjaye and landscape designer Laurie Olin. Others in the group include the Four Seasons and the Georgetown Companies of New York. The team bought the two-acre property from the federal government in 2013 for $19.5 million. High-end condo units — managed by the Four Seasons — will number 60 to 70, and half of the land will become a park.

Adjaye is the architect for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture as well as two D.C. public libraries. He presented his first design that echoes the way the building, shut down for 15 years as a power plant, now looks with its vertical lines. As the present structure is not designated a historic landmark, Adjaye’s second and preferred version reveals a differently aligned building with horizontal lines that echo the flat sweeping lines of the Kennedy Center and Watergate complex as seen from the Potomac River coming up to Georgetown. The footprint of the building would remain more or less the same.

The group has many hurdles for completion. It may take three years to tear down the building, clear the land and finoish the building — after many approvals. Ahead is an Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting in February as well as one with the Old Georgetown Board. Levy and his team have to get Mayor Bowser to deem their efforts a “project of special merit” to have a completely different building (though it is a similar size) for the site.

Meanwhile, there will more opportunities for public comment. Overall, impressions from the neighbors at the meeting about the new designs seemed upbeat. More to come on this project, no doubt.
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Peter Murray •

Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled a two-year action plan Dec. 17 for the city’s Vision Zero program, an initiative started in Sweden that is aimed at eliminating traffic deaths in the District by 2024.

“We know over the past two decades we’ve seen annual traffic fatalities in our city reduced very significantly, but still too many people are dying as a result of traffic accidents,” Bowser said said. “That is why we talk not of reducing traffic fatalities, but getting to zero.”

The new plan, which spans 56 pages and 68 action items, is broken into four parts. Some steps are intended to create safe streets and protect vulnerable users, while others are meant to prevent reckless driving and promote transparency. Some steps are ambitious, like redesigning roads for all users, while others, like increasing fines for driving violations and expanding D.C.’s automated traffic cameras, are intended to deter bad behavior.

Learn more about D.C. and Mayor Bowser’s Vision Zero action plan here.

Gary Tischler •

Each year, we count up our losses — the passing of those who in the course or the whole of their lives were notable for their presence, for their achievements, for their personalities, for those moments when fame or something like it knighted or benighted them.

Memory and space are not democracies, of course, unlike the lengthy list that accumulates at Wikipedia every year, which appears to make an effort to circle the globe and search the nooks and crannies of accomplishment in every nation and municipality (which speaks well of the likelihood that even our own preordained passing might well be noticed by someone, somewhere).

So, we too choose to notice any number of people who have touched us, sometimes through specific, personal contact, sometimes for their impressive lives of achievement and contribution, sometimes for a singular kind of thing: a song, a book, a performance, a role in another singular life.

It is like an annual parade passing — full of leaders, writers, elected personages of high standing, singers of songs, poets, band leaders and band members, game players and athletes, more-than-average citizens, owners and inventors, people who encountered fame head on or were struck glancing blows by it.

Their proximity and contributions added to the richness of our own more humble lives. Take writers, for instance. When writers pass, they stop writing: books, essays, stories in the dwindling newspapers and magazines, poems, plays, words shaped to form a novel, a tale, six stanzas or librettos, the words spoken by actors on a stage.

Thusly, there will be no more words from the great, Nobel Prize-winning and complicated German writer Günter Grass, who spent his life writing novels that addressed the impossible 20th-century history of Germany through characters that included a boy who willed himself to stop growing in “The Tin Drum” and Hitler’s dog in “Dog Years.”

There will be no more thick, addictive books from Colleen McCullough, the Australian novelist who produced a melodramatic best seller called “The Thorn Birds,” then proceeded to delve into Roman history in a series of story-telling triumphs that began with the stories of Marius, Sulla and a young Julius Caesar and ended with Caesar and Cleopatra.

There will be no more elliptic, haunting novels by E. L. Doctorow, who chased American history as if it were an elusive heiress through “Ragtime,” “Billy Bathgate” and “The March,” among many books. There will be no more poems from Rod McKuen, who, for a time in the 1960s, was the hugely popular Pied Piper of quasi-lonely young men who, he wrote, “were left with the Saturday night consolation prize, the Sunday paper,” and no more poems from the much more respected and less best-selling Philip Levine.

For that matter, there will be no more true-crime books from Ann Rule, who knew Ted Bundy, and no more thick volumes on the history of Soviet horrors like “The Great Terror” by Robert Conquest. And no more of the elegant medical writings and books of Oliver Sacks, and the less elegant, but totally juicy novels of Jackie Collins, sister of Joan.

Actors from the silver screen and the small screen remain with us forever. There are no small roles in small or big movies or shows, and so we remember the rich face of Al Molinaro who played a guy named Delvecchio in “Happy Times” and Murray the cop in “The Odd Couple.” We remember Jack Larson, who spent part of his life as Jimmy Olsen on the 1950s “Superman” show, and Judy Carne, for being on “Laugh-In” (and being married to Burt Reynolds) and Gary Owens, who told us that “Laugh-In” was coming from “beautiful downtown Burbank,” and Alex Rocco, who got shot in the eye as Moe Greene in the climactic cleanup at the end of “The Godfather.”

We remember the shining old-movie beauty of Joan Leslie as Gary Cooper’s love in “Sergeant York” and the good girl in Bogart’s “High Sierra,” the boyish face of good man Martin Milner in “Route 66” on television and as the book-reading kid who got shot storming the beaches in “Sands of Iwo Jima.” We remember French suave personified in Louis Jordan, courting Leslie Caron in “Gigi,” and Rod Taylor, the hunky, not-quite-big-star in “The Time Machine” and “Young Cassidy.” Then there’s “Our Gang” member Dickie Moore, who gave Shirley Temple her first screen kiss. Trust me, it’s all there, somewhere, on celluloid, in digital, big screen, YouTube, the back of my mind.

Fred Thompson, who was a senator and once ran for president, straddles the line — he was a district attorney on “Law and Order,” where he can be seen any time you want, and appeared in any number of movies.

Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lee were part of our fascination with space. Nimoy transcended the “Star Trek” series as Mr. Spock, becoming a kind of gentle philosopher. Lee was a villain in the second round of “Star Trek,” which — hold on to your hats — is back again, but touched pop culture over and over as the bad wizard in “Lord of the Rings” and the most memorable Dracula ever (excuse me Lugosi and Langella and all the rest). I did not see “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” and so cannot comment how good Gunnar Hansen was as Leatherface.

Fame is funny — it’s almost like a pool table or six or two degrees of separation. Here’s one for you: Three Dog Night (“Joy To The World”) lost co-founder and lead vocalist Cory Wells and keyboardist Jimmy Greenspoon, not to mention June Fairchild, an actress who was noticed in the Cheech and Chong get-high movie “Up in Smoke” and suggested the band’s name to her boyfriend, a band member. Her life is an abject lesson in what even a light touch of the spotlight can do to a vulnerable soul.

These annals of pop and rock and blues are full of one-hit wonders, but B.B. King wasn’t one of them; the king of the blues led a musical life that was one big hit. Not quite so big, but totally memorable, were the stylings of Ben E. King, with and without the Drifters: “Up On the Roof” and “Stand By Me.” And there were one-hitters — Billy Joe Royal with “Down in the Boondocks,” Frankie Ford with “Sea Cruise” — and multiple-memorable hitters, like Lesley Gore with “It’s My Party” and Lynn Anderson with “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” and Little Jimmie Dickens, a Grand Old Opry mainstay.

Ernie Banks (“Play Two,” Chicago Cubs), Minnie Miñoso (Chicago White Sox) and eternal Yankee Yogi Berra form many of our baseball memories, where it’s always déjà vu all over again.

Locally, the losses included, most notably and most recently, Austin Kiplinger, a forward-looking gentleman and publisher of the old school who treasured history enough to help in the creation of a museum of Washington history and serve as president of Tudor Place. He defined the idea of leading a full life in the midst of history.

You could find no one more helpful and kinder than Cherie Cannon.

Both Moses Malone, player, and Flip Saunders, coach, are fondly remembered by fans of the Washington Wizards (the Bullets in Malone’s time). And let’s throw in Dean Smith, the classy University of North Carolina basketball coach, for causing so much pain to the Georgetown Hoyas and the Maryland Terrapins.

We left people out. This happens — in life and in death. But imagine, for just a moment, all these people at a lawn party, say at Tudor Place or the Kennedy Center or your backyard. Who would be watching out for Uggie, the dog from “The Actor” and Jack the Bulldog Sr., the Hoya mascot?

Peter Murray •

Georgetown used to be the only game in town when it came to retail in D.C., touting easy walkability, historic charm and a diverse array of shops with broad appeal to customers. New retail hubs are starting to compete with that model though as large-scale redevelopments sweep over the rest of the District. Some of these new retail centers are the result of decades of planning. Others reflect the natural evolution of gentrification in dense, central corridors. And some are just now being unveiled. Each one offers something different: interesting shops or food choices, or extra activities outside of shopping. But they’re all worth exploring.

14th Street

Restaurants, retail and condos have risen quickly and concurrently on 14th Street NW between Thomas Circle and W Street over the past decade. A slew of new luxury retail players has diversified the mix and brought added draw to the corridor.

First, there’s Shinola. The Detroit-based watch, bicycle and leather brand moved into a massive, sun-soaked historic space on 14th and R streets NW earlier this year. Even if you’re not interested in buying a watch, bike or fine leather football, the store is worth entering, just to look around.

Anyone in need of gifts for the outdoorsy men in their life should visit Filson, right down the street. Inside the small store you can expect to find Barbour-esque leather jackets, bison wool gloves and hats, and plenty of flannels. Be sure to feel the moleskin shirt, an incredibly soft and warm layer for winter.

There’s more menswear on the northern part of the strip at Federal, which shares a space with skate shop Palace 5ive. Head to Federal for hip clothing, outerwear and wallets, or to Palace 5ive and grab a stylish pair of Vans for someone on your list.

For the hip chicks in your life, Treasury and Current Boutique are two high-end vintage shops where you need to be, on 14th between S and T streets NW.
Need something for the house? There are at least a dozen home décor and furniture stores on the strip for small gifts like scented candles or big ones like a new couch.

The best part about shopping on 14th Street though is access to some of the city’s best food. With Le Diplomate, Barcelona, Kapnos and other restaurants nearby, you’ll never get hungry while scouring the corridor for the perfect gift.

CityCenter

From afar, CityCenter looks much like the rest of downtown D.C. The development is square, glass, imposing and pretty much lacking in personality. A Christmas tree, an LED screen walkway and music playing do lend some holiday cheer, but make CityCenter even more reminiscent of a run-of-the-mill vacation destination shopping center, like Disney World or Honolulu.

But what CityCenter lacks in charm, it makes up for in high-end shopping. And we are talking the highest of the high. Big names in fashion — Gucci, Hermes, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton — are there. Outerwear giant Arc’teryx has a shop for anyone going skiing this winter. And if you don’t have good luggage, check out the premium products at Tumi. But Loro Piana and Paul Stuart, two lesser names, are the standouts for their winter wear designs and the high-quality materials used to make them.

A big part of CityCenter’s appeal, though, is the food. Try out Momofuku’s world famous ramen or some of famed chef Daniel Boulud’s recipes at DBGB. For something more low key, grab some Crack Pie ice cream or a cookie at Milk Bar, Momofuku’s bakery concept. Or try something healthier, like a salad or smoothie at Fruitive, a new vegan concept that uses fresh, organic ingredients.

The Shay

Stores are rolling open at the Shay, a new development in Shaw that packs a retail punch along with the nearby Atlantic Plumbing development.

Just across the street from popular gay sports bar Nellie’s is Warby Parker, the eyewear brand that opened its first D.C. store at 3225 M St. NW in Georgetown. The space is a bit larger than the Georgetown store, and has a more modern aesthetic and a bright, nearly neon mini-marquee that shouts the brand’s name from the corner of 9th and U streets NW. A few doors down from Warby Parker, Chrome Industries, an outfitter specializing in durable apparel and messenger bags, opened last week.

Another formerly online-only retailer, Frank & Oak, also moved in over the past few weeks. The Montreal-based company is known for its reasonably priced, fashionable menswear, which is designed in-house, and has been expanding its brick-and-mortar operations over the past few years with store openings in Chicago, Boston, Toronto and Montreal.

Other highlights at the Shay include a newly opened Compass Coffee and a huge, window-front space for Kit and Ace, a new brand from the family that owns Lululemon. Much of the relatively hip apparel is made with what the company calls technical cashmere, a machine-washable blend of fabrics that mimics cashmere but requires little maintenance.

Gary Tischler •

UPDATE, Dec. 28:

Funeral services will be held Saturday, Jan. 2, for Fr. Rick Curry, S.J., at Holy Trinity Church on 36th Street in Georgetown. Visitation at the church will begin 9 a.m., followed by a 10:30 a.m. Mass of Christian Burial for Fr. Rick Curry, S.J. A funeral reception will be held noon at Trinity Hall on O Street.

When the Georgetowner interviewed Father Rick Curry, the co-founder—with philanthropist Connie Milstein—of the Dog Tag Bakery, we found him at the good stuff you’d find at bakeries, the aroma of freshly baked food, the quiet talk of friends over coffee.

As Curry talked about the bakery, about his days at the National Theater Workshop for the Handicapped, about the purpose of the baker and the Georgetown University-sponsored  Academy for Veterans, and the art of story telling and theater and sundry other things approached with a Jesuit attitude of keen intelligence, skepticism and great compassion, I thought, boy, there’s a man I want to spend some time with.  Because the time challenged your mind, was punctuated by warmth and laughter and words, sentences and conversations which seemed to be, like bread itself, the staff and stuff of life.

Sadly, that won’t be possible. Rev. Richard Curry, S.J., passed away Dec. 19 at the age of 72 of heart failure at the Jesuit infirmary at St. Joseph’s University in Curry’s hometown of Philadelphia.

The program he and Milstein founded, which resulted in Dog Tag Bakery, assists wounded veterans with emotional rehabilitation and employment assistance and training—and jobs.

Curry, who was handicapped himself (he was born without a right forearm), talked at the bakery, but he was really holding court and holding forth—you can just imagine him in a classroom, talking plays and stories.  As we talked to him during the summer, Georgetown University students, who knew him (or took his class) would come up and talk and joke with him—rugby players or rowers near the end of the school year.  He had qualities that were both challenging—he appeared in the Jesuit manner a combination of tough intelligence and Irish warmth and humor—and engaging in all senses of the word.

A Jesuit brother for most of his life, Curry decided to become a priest late in his life, enriching himself and those he ministered to in the process. He often told the story of a veteran who offered his confession and asked for absolution. Curry replied that he could not as he was a brother in the Society of Jesus, the largest religious order in the Roman Catholic Church, and has not been called, as it were. The veteran replied to Curry: “Well, I’m calling you.”

One of Curry’s many colleagues and friends, Rev. James Martin, S.J., eulogized him online as a “marvelous speaker and peerless raconteur; and a great supporter, mentor and friend to many.” 

To mouth the old cliché that “he will be missed” is one of those understatements that cannot fill the vacuum but is true, as clichés are, nonetheless.

Indeed, Curry’s life was an inspiration for many. Above all and also nonetheless, it fulfilled —and went beyond —the Jesuit motto, “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam,” which means “To the Greater Glory of God.”

Check here to read the July 1 Georgetowner cover story about Dog Tag Bakery.
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