Latest News

Georgetowner • February 9, 2015

The Georgetown, a 92-unit, assisted-living facility at 2512 Q St. NW, will undergo a multi-million-dollar building renovation, expected to begin in May and take about a year to complete.

To protect the safety of its residents and to expedite the renovation, according to the facility’s owners, The Georgetown will temporarily close and will assist residents and their families in relocation.

Originally an apartment building built in the 1920s, The Georgetown opened as a retirement home in 1978. It was one of the city’s first facilities to address the growing needs of its elderly population, offering both housing and an array of social services.

According to The Georgetown, the renovation will particularly transform the interior of the building. Improvements to the common areas include enlarged first floor amenity spaces, a new fitness center, theater, and salon, and all new furnishings and fixtures. In addition, individual apartments will be renovated to include enlarged bathrooms with showers instead of tubs, new kitchenettes, and new flooring, lighting and electrical upgrades. Major building systems will also be overhauled, with new heating and ventilation systems, replacement of the boiler and chiller, and elevator modernization.

The owners of The Georgetown have engaged Hord Coplan and Macht, a Baltimore-based architectural firm specializing in seniors housing.

Linnea Kristiansson •

The Georgetown-based luxury beauty company Bluemercury will be acquired by Macy’s for $210 million in cash, the company announced Feb. 3.

Macy’s, Inc., has signed an agreement to grow its beauty business and enhance customer offerings in stand-alone Bluemercury specialty locations, in digital channels and in Macy’s stores.

“We are excited to continue our aggressive expansion of Bluemercury, while simultaneously leveraging Macy’s leadership in omni-channel technology, supply chain and retail operations,” said Marla Beck, Bluemercury’s co-founder and CEO.

Marla and Barry Beck co-founded Bluemercury in Georgetown in 1999. Bluemercury has been recognized as the largest and fastest-growing luxury beauty products and spa services retailer, in the U.S. Beside its online business, the company operates 60 stores in 18 states.

The Becks and their business were profiled in a Sept. 24th Georgetowner cover story.

Bluemercury products include well-known luxury brands, as well as Marla Beck’s own proprietary skincare brand, M-61, all supported with personalized assistance from a team of beauty experts. Most locations include in-house spas.

“With the full weight of Macy’s resources, we will be able to accelerate our store penetration across the United States, bringing our specialty store format to urban and suburban markets throughout the country,” said Barry Beck, co-founder and COO.

“Keeping Bluemercury as a stand-alone business, while adding new expertise, will enable us to fulfill our mission of being the best at giving beauty advice and helping our customers make their way through the often complex process of purchasing beauty products,” explains Marla Beck.

The company will remain headquartered in Georgetown, with Marla Beck remaining as chief executive officer and president and Barry Beck remaining as chief operating officer.

Its team of approximately 600 associates will remain in their current roles operating stand-alone Bluemercury specialty business.

”With Bluemercury, our company can access a new channel to reach additional customers, add new dimensions to our product offering and apply our expertise in omnichannel retailing,” said Terry Lundgren, Macy’s chairman and executive officer.

Robert Devaney • February 7, 2015

Developer Anthony Lanier, founder of EastBanc, and Joe Sternlieb, CEO of the Georgetown Business Improvement District, gave a presentation of Georgetown’s commercial present and future before members and guests of the Citizens Association of Georgetown Nov. 5 at Pinstripes, the Italian bistro and bowling alley on Wisconsin Avenue.

While there has been an influx of new retail shops and a few new restaurants, the trends may not be as positive as they seem, the two business leaders warned toward the end of their talk. For them, it is all about staying current and keeping the crucial upgrades coming — filling in retail spaces here and there — and keeping people coming to Georgetown.

Lanier began the slide show about his company’s properties and upcoming projects with Sternlieb providing statistics on the town’s retail profile and other details. Their presentations were jam-packed with information before the packed room at the restaurant, which is part of the reconstructed Georgetown Park, no longer a mall. (Lanier’s EastBanc is associated with Jamestown Corporation, which now owns Georgetown Park.)

EastBanc recently bought the “Four Seasons gas station,” as Lanier called it, with “the highest price paid for land in D.C.” He said a Portuguese architect is on board for the mixed-use condo design, for which he hoped people would have “an open mind.” That project is at the eastern entrance to Georgetown at 2715 Pennsylvania Ave., NW. Another condo project, its design already approved, is at another gas station — Key Bridge Exxon — 3601 M St., NW, at the western end of the neighborhood.

As for the nearly completed 1055 High residential project at Wisconsin Avenue and the C&O Canal, Lanier said, “Seven condos sold in nine days.”

Other EastBanc properties getting into the pipeline include the renovation of the former Fino’s and Mr. Smith’s. A townhouse at 3246 Prospect St., NW, backs into an alley from Potomac Street. Lanier hopes to re-do the alley between Prospect and M Streets. He also sees Blues Alley, NW, as a “future retail street.”

Joe Sternlieb of the Georgetown BID asked the audience how many had walked to the event, as he mentioned 13,000 persons work in Georgetown. Noting the success of Book Hill and the need for future growth, Sternlieb said that the Georgetown Exxon — at Wisconsin and Q — is under contract to Trammel Crow to become a condo complex.

He said the Marvelous Market property (the former Neam’s Market site, still owned by the Neam family) at Wisconsin and P is under contract and asked anyone with any more information to let him know about the buyers. He also said that the Georgetown Theater retail-condo project by Robert Bell would vastly improve the 1300 and 1400 blocks of Wisconsin Avenue, NW, where some of the nearby businesses like Prince & Princess at Wisconsin and O could become a restaurant if the financial numbers could work (which seems unlikely).

Sternlieb showed the slideshow from the BID’s 2028 presentation, as he spoke about the upcoming Latham apartments at 3000 M St., NW, future retail at 3220 Prospect St., NW, in the parking lot space and the Four Seasons condos in the reconstructed West Heating Plant on 29th Street, NW. He even mentioned that PNC Bank had pondered developing part of its bank parking lot at Wisconsin and M.

The residents of Georgetown cannot support the total retail sales for the commercial space that makes up the town, Sternlieb said. In statistical terms: the U.S. has 53 square feet of retail per capita; D.C., 34; Georgetown, 227. “You guys have to spend a lot more money,” he said. Lanier interjected that Georgetown residents do not frequent enough businesses.

While the population of Washington, D.C., has rebounded, the amount of D.C. neighborhoods that have added retail, such as restaurants and clothing stores, has likewise increased — something on the scale of six or seven in the 1990s to today’s 20 neighborhoods with a significant commercial section.

The new mix of residents, commuters and tourists puts pressure on Georgetown to keep the sales registers humming. “We need a new crowd every day,” Sternlieb said. One point of good news for Georgetown was that it has the lowest office vacancy in D.C.

Sternlieb also cited the low percentages for Georgetown on restaurants and liquor licenses as compared to other D.C. neighborhoods. In Adams Morgan, for example, businesses with liquor licenses are 60 percent of those in the neighborhood, while in Georgetown that same percentile is 14. Of the two stars given by the Washington Post to D.C. restaurants, Georgetown has the lowest percentile of all other neighborhoods: 12 percent of its restaurants got two stars from the Post. This low percentage of liquor licenses to overall businesses was seen by the two speakers as a threat to the retail district.

“We are losing our restaurant community,” Sternlieb said. “Georgetown used to be date night.”

Sternlieb brought up several highly publicized ideas to stay competitive: more liquor licenses should be issued; temporary sidewalk widening of M Street on the weekends; a street car along K Street from Union Station to Georgetown University; a gondola aerial lift above the Potomac from Rosslyn to Georgetown; a large bookstore (if the residents could help with some kind of loan-lease agreement), such as Politics & Prose; maintenance of the C&O Canal and a new canal boat; lastly — and literally lastly — one or two Metrorail stations, which are part of the Metro 2040 Plan (a more or less $3-billion price tag for the aging system).

Lanier noted that foreign investment plays a large role in Georgetown. “We must be commercially viable before we become extinct,” he said.
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Robert Devaney • February 5, 2015

Showing off new makes and models from more than 42 manufacturers at the Washington Convention Center, the Washington Auto Show begins Jan. 23 with ten days of exhibits, entertainment, celebrity sightings and contests.

The auto show has doubled the length of its stay in D.C. from the previous five days and touts itself as “Washington, D.C.’s largest public show” as well as — and many auto enthusiasts agree — “new-car heaven.”

Sponsored by the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association, the show will run Jan. 23 through Feb. 1.

During the show’s preview day on Thursday, Johan de Nysschen, president of Cadillac, gave the industry keynote speech, while in the afternoon Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz gave the government keynote.

The two-story convention center will be “fully stocked” with an automotive showcase that not only will display new cars but will be “showcasing the latest innovations in sustainable technologies and drawing the most influential leaders in the industry.

The car brands run from Acura, Audi, BMW and Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford to Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln and onto Mini, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volvo — and more, like electric and concept cars.

Beside the cars, part of the fun at the convention center is going with friends or family and meeting such notables as Brooks Laich of the Washington Capitals, Randy Orton of WWE, along with Redskins legends Dave Butz, Mark Moseley and Charley Taylor. Add to that list: Ximena Cordoba of Univision and Géraldine Bazán Ortíz and Sadie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty,” including characters from “The Lego Man,” Red Bird from “Angry Birds,” SpongeBob and Crash Test Dummies, Vince and Larry.

This year, it’s the Hyundai Hands On Contest — where whoever is the last one touching the car gets it; restrictions and rules apply.
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the Georgetowner •

International Spy Museum’s Spy Fest

January 30, 2015, 6-9 p.m. | $14 | kthomas@spymuseum.org | Tel: 202-654-2852 | Event Website

Through interactive, spy-related activities and booths, attendees will learn how to think like real secret agents as they assume new identities, decipher coded messages, analyze hand-written and satellite images, and detect liars by polygraph — all directly from experts in the field. Ages 5 and up.

Address: International Spy Museum, 800 F Street, NW Washington, DC.

Sugarloaf Craft Festivals

January 30-February 1, 2015 | Free | sugarloafinfo@SugarloafFest.com | Tel: 301-990-1400 | Event Business

Enjoy the crafts of 500 artists, including jewelry, wood, leather, clothing, sculpture, glass and more. Watch live entertainment and feast on a variety of foods.

Address: Dulles Expo Center, 4320 Chantilly Place Center, Chantilly, VA

Weekend Mindfulness Retreat

January 30th, 2015 at 6-8 p.m. | $80 | monicadorhoi@yahoo.com | Tel: 202-407-4265

World Bank/IMF Staff Meditation Club you to a Mindfulness Meditation Retreat Led by the Meditation Teachers from the World Bank. No prior experience with meditation needed. All levels welcome. A ticket price is $80. No one will be turned away because of lack of funds.

There will be a second session on January 31st, 2015 at 10:00 a.m

Address: Courtyard Mariott, 20th Street & F Street, Washington DC, 20006

Chapter Two by Neil Simon

January 30th/31st, 2015 at 8:00 p.m. | $14-17 | Thunderous_Productions@hotmail.com | Tel: 301-937-4532 | Event Website

Neil Simon’s semi-autobiographical Chapter Two offers the quick wit & humor Simon fans expect, but is often raw & downright tragic. It tells the stories of George-a novelist & recent widower-and Jennie, an actress & divorcee. The two are set up by their respective best friends, Leo & Faye. They play matchmakers to George & Jennie, while also planning trysts of their own. Will George & Jennie be able to deal with their pasts & keep up their new exuberant relationship?

Address: Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Rd SE Washington, DC 20020

Jazz Masters with John Eaton: Richard Rodgers

January 31st, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. | $5-10 | evelyn.hill@fairfaxcounty.gov | Tel: 703-790-0123 | Event Website

Jazz pianist, musicologist, and humorist John Eaton brings his popular continuing education program to The Alden. Jazz Masters with John Eaton is an entertaining and insightful afternoon that combines Eaton’s peerless knowledge of the Great American Songbook, hilarious commentary, and elegant renditions of jazz standards, both popular and obscure.

Whether it was with Lorenz Hart or Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rogers made beautiful music. Come discover the man behind “Oklahoma!”

Address:The Alden, 1234 Ingleside Ave, McLean, VA 22101

Robert Devaney •

Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E will hold its February meeting, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 2, at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place, NW, in the Little Odeon Room on the third floor of the main building. The following is tonight’s meeting agenda, as provided by ANC 2E.

Approval of the Agenda

• Approval of February 2, 2015, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda Administrative

• Approval of January 5, 2015, Meeting Minutes

• Public Safety and Police Report

• Transportation Report – DDOT update on construction planned for the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge over Rock Creek

• Financial Report

Community Comment

New Business

• 2015 Marine Corps Marathon

Old Georgetown Board

Private Projects

1. SMD 02, 3324 Dent Place, NW, OG 15-032 (HPA 13-236), Residence, new construction, Concept

2. SMD 02, 1544 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-057 (HPA 15-085), Residence, One-story rear addition, alterations, Concept (for the Historic Preservation Review Board)

3. SMD 05, 3150 M Street, NW, OG 15-092 (HPA 15-180), Commercial, Alterations, interior demolition, roof deck and HVAC)

4. SMD 06, 2709-2715 N Street, NW, OG 15-086, 15-176, 15-098, 15-097 (HPA 15-174, 15-176, 15-186, 15-185), Alexander Memorial Baptist Church, Additions and alterations, Permit

5. SMD 07, 1609 31st St, NW, OG 15-101, (HPA 15-198), Residence, Alterations, roof, dormer, windows, door, stair, brickwork, Concept

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming February 5, 2015, agenda of the Old Georgetown Board, have not been added to the ANC meeting agenda for OGB-related design review and we do not propose to adopt a solution on them at this time.

1. SMD 02, 3240 Q Street, NW, OG 15-104 (HPA 15-192), Residence, 2- story rear addition with basement – alternate material, Permit

2. SMD 02, 3203 R Street, NW, OG 15-099 (HPA 15-187), Residence, Remove pergola at rear, site work, Permit

3. SMD 02, 3252 S Street, NW, OG 15-105, 15-079) (HPA 15-193, 15-123), Residence, site alterations, rear addition of dormer, Permit and revised concept

4. SMD 02, 3408 Reservoir Road, NW, OG 15-087 (HPA 15-175) Residence, New window opening (for the Historic Preservation Review Board)

5. SMD 03, 3219 O Street, NW, Hyde-Addison Elementary School, Alterations for skylight and rooftop mechanical louvers at Hyde School

6. SMD 03, 1312 31st Street, NW, OOG 15-103 (HPA 15-191), Residence, Replacement security window grilles, Permit

7. SMD 03, 3206 N Street, NW, OG 15-012 (HPA 15-025), Commercial, Additional, alterations, replacement curtain wall, stairs, signs, Concept – revised

8. SMD 03, 1357 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-093 (HPA 15-181), 1357 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Commercial, Two-story rooftop addition, one- story rear addition, Permit

9. SMD 03, 1519 35th Street, NW, OG 15-102 (HPA 15-190), Residence, Garden wall, Permit

10. SMD 03, 1525 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-096 (HPA 15-184), Commercial, Alterations, canopy, signs – Via Umbria, Permit

11. SMD 03, 1236 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-041 (HPA 15-157), Residence, Alterations to garage door, replacement fence, Concept

12. SMD 03, 1411 33rd Street, NW, OG 14-370 (HPA 15-177), Residence, Replacement windows, Permit

13. SMD 05, C&O Canal at 34th Street, NW, New dock, Permit 14. SMD 05, 1312 31st Street, NW, OG 15-103 (HPA 15-191), Residence,
Replacement security window grilles, Permit

15. SMD 05, 1028 33rd Street, NW, OG 15-041 (HPA 15-157), Commercial, Sign – Thomas Moser, Permit – revised

16. SMD 05, 3256 M Street, NW, OG 15-084 (HPA 15-144), Commercial, Rooftop antennas for Verizon Wireless, Permit

17. SMD 05, 3336 M Street, NW, OG 15-043 (HPA 15-071), Commercial, Sign, banner on alley – Rent the Runway, Permit – revised

18. SMD 05, 3614 Prospect Street, NW, OG 15-100 (HPA 15-188), Residence, Partial demolition, 2-story rear/rooftop addition, alterations to front, replacement windows

19. SMD 05, 1065 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW, OG 14-346 (HPA 14- 679), Residence, Additions and alterations, Concept – revised

20. SMD 05, 1238 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 15-082 (HPA 15-141), Commercial, Mechanical equipment mounted to rear façade, Concept

21. SMD 06, 1334 29th Street, NW, OG 15-107 (HPA 15-195, Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Roof vents and ductwork, Permit

22. SMD 06, 1521 29th Street, NW, OG 15-090 (HPA 15-178), Residence, Expansion of rear terrace at lower level, Permit – revised

23. SMD 06, 1319 30th Street, NW, OG 15-091 (HPA 15-179, Residence, Alterations, Permit

24. SMD 06, 2804 N Street, NW, OG-15-083 (HPA 15-142), Residence, Addition of exterior elevator, Permit

25. SMD 06, 2924 N Street, NW, OG 15-085 (HPA 15-145), Residence, Replacement siding, fence, alterations to rear, roof top equipment and solar panels, Permit

26. SMD 06, 3023 P Street, NW, OG 15-106 (HPA 15-025), Residence, Demolition, 2-story plus basement rear addition, paving, Permit

27. SMD 07, 1633 31st Street, NW, OG 15-094 (HPA 15-182), Residence,
Two-story rear addition, Concept

28. SMD 07, 1502 27th Street, NW, OG 15-063 (HPA 15-103), Residence, Front porch, alterations, wall and fence, Concept

Government of the District of Columbia: Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E — 3265 S St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20007 — 202-724-7098 — anc2e@dc.gov — www.anc2e.com

Caitlin Franz •

A local couple was arrested and charged with first-degree child cruelty after leaving their children alone in an unheated car while they went to a wine tasting Jan. 31.

The children are both under the age of two.

Parents Jennie Chang, 45, and Christophe Lucas, 41, went to a wine tasting at Ris, a restaurant at 2275 L St. NW in the West End neighborhood, where they were arrested.

The toddlers were alone in the car parked at the corner of 23rd and L Streets NW for about an hour in the 28-degree weather. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a call was placed to MPD around 5:40 p.m. by a person who saw the children in the car.

The children are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

A first-degree cruelty to children conviction can lead to ten years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Caitlin Franz •

When it was discovered that an old cannonball was in a neighbor’s shed, D.C. Fire and Metropolitan Police were called to Cambridge Place Jan. 21 and a bit of historical hysteria ensued.

Streets were blocked and residents concerned over the possibility of live ammunition as the cannonball appeared to have gunpowder in it.

The Georgetown family, the Norregaards, found the cannonball from the 19th century in their fireplace in December after renovations to the chimney. Rula Norregaard did not know just how volatile the family’s new show-and-tell piece could be, according to her interview with the Washington Post.

Some homes in the 3000 block of Cambridge Place NW – where the Norregaards live — were evacuated.

Most people would think that the only place for a cannonball is in a battle long ago or in a museum display case.

The Cambridge Place house is only a few blocks away from the Oak Hill Cemetery, where famous figures from the 1800s are buried — perhaps, even those responsible for that mysterious cannon ball in the Victorian home, built in the 1890s.

Fearing the potential explosion of the cannon ball’s contents, the Metropolitan Police Department’s bomb squad arrived and then contacted the Army for assistance.

The cannonball was sent to Fort Belvoir in Virginia to be analyzed. Those called to the scene were unable to X-ray it in the Norregaards’ home.

Norregaard told the Washington Post that she would like to have the cannonball back after the testing is complete.

Peter Murray •

A 14-year quarrel about overtime pay for the District’s firefighters is about to come to a head – at the expense of the new mayor’s and the city’s spending priorities. The District government has run out of legal options in the long-running dispute, and is expected to pay up to $50 million to settle a dispute with the union, IAFF Local 36. That settlement comes on the heels of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s election and an already enormous budget shortfall of $83 million.

The head of the local, Edward C. Smith, says he has not spoken to Bowser or D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine to talk sums with regard to the settlement. Bowser has not commented on the dispute publicly, but is expected to address the issue on Tuesday morning at a monthly public meeting – her first – with the D.C. Council.

Like many of the District’s budgetary problems, the overtime conflict with firefighters arose when Congress appointed a financial control board to balance D.C.’s budget. The board did this, in part, by weakening the collective bargaining agreements between the city and its employees. The union had previously negotiated for time-and-a-half wages for working more than 42 hours per week. The financial control board adjusted that threshold to 53 hours.

When the District government reassumed control of its finances in 2001, the firefighters union argued that the 42-hour limit was reinstated. The fire department disagreed, and has not paid for overtime between 42 and 53 hours since then.

Now the D.C. Court of Appeals, the highest court in the District, has decided that the city owes back pay for those hours. Local officials estimate that the government will owe $47 million.

The settlement could not come at a worse time for D.C. officials, who have seen the city’s budget deficit skyrocket to $83 million due to malfunctioning traffic cameras. The growing bills spell trouble for both Mayor Bowser and the Council.

Gary Tischler • February 3, 2015

People who managed through the course of their life and after—especially after—to become legends carry with them through life and after a ,. The thing that defines them—the things they did, the records, achievements, they’re there like writings on a statue. Others might have done more or less, but what makes legends legends is a little something more, the thing that’s unforgettable, a way of walking, an attitude, something they said, the way they lived the best parts of their lives.

Ernie Banks, who died of a heart attack at 83 on Jan. 23, did a lot of things in Chicago playing for the singularly unsuccessful Chicago Cubs as their premier player—more than 500 home runs, 283 at shortstop and held a single-season shortstop homer record of 47 in one year until Alex Rodriguez came along. He had 2,583 hits, and drove in 1,636 runs, set single season records for fewest errors and best field average for a shortstop. In his last season in 1960, he won a Golden Glove Award.

He won Most Valuable Player twice — the first a first time for an MVP from a last-place team.

He got into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility.

All these things are important in our data-driven-crazy world of baseball stats.

What matters more about Banks isn’t how he played the game—but how he really played the game. He coined a phrase—“It’s a beautiful day. Let’s play two”—and it was repeated every day of his life thereafter by somebody. It gets a lot of mileage after his death.

It is no small thing, that sentence. It defined him. It’s the legend part, because it describes how he played, how he embraced baseball and the gift of playing. He had a disposition, in public and on the field, that defied who he was, which was a Chicago Cub, a team that has yet to win a World Series.

Ask any athlete who isn’t as self-centered as a teenaged rock star—it’s hard to play for a team that loses a lot and to be in a city that has a team that loses a lot.

Banks made it worthwhile to be a Cub fan, to go to the ball park—he played with energy and grace. He made difficult plays look easy, and his swing was a thing of beauty.

It isn’t easy to transform a fan base despite the daily odds. You looked forward to going to Wrigley Field with more passion than any White Sox fan. You looked forward to seeing Ernie play, with optimism. In baseball, anything can happen, a fact which is its core of crazy optimism. That doesn’t mean everything will happen. Banks firmly believed it would.

Anyone who ever met him never forgot him. The Georgetowner’s publisher David Roffman, who grew up in a small town named Streator outside Chicago, was a Cub fanatic. Roffman recalled: “I was 8 years old when I first went to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I went with my Little League team from Streator, Illinois (Glass Bottle Blowers Assocation). Upon entering the ballpark, we were escorted to our seats by the Andy Frain Ushers. The seats were along the left field line. There, hitting fungoes into the stands so kids could have a baseball, was Ernie Banks. He became my hero and I modeled my batting stance after him throughout Little League, Pony League and High School. I would watch Cubs games on WGN all the time, and I can still hear the announcer Jack Brickhouse shout, “It’s back, back, back . . . Hey, Hey, another home run for Ernie Banks.

Years later, at the Crackerjack Old Timers’ All Star game at RFK Stadium, I met up with Ernie Banks (who was playing in the game along with Sandy Koufax, Joe DiMaggio and many other all time greats. I took his photograph (which hangs in my den today). It was a thrill of a lifetime for me.”

President Barack Obama, a Chicago boy himself, and his wife Michelle, a Chicago girl, called Banks “an incredible ambassador for baseball and the city of Chicago.”