Busy ANC Meeting: Ellington, Halcyon, Heating Plant
• September 9, 2013

Tonight, 6:30 p.m., the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E will meet at Georgetown Visitation Prep on 35th Street.

Top items to be discussed include the renovation of Ellington High School (and its temporary closing), an ABC agreement for the new El Centro restaurant (the former Third Edition), visitor parking passes, S&R Foundation use of Halcyon House and an update on the reconstruction of the West Heating Plant next to the C&O Canal and the Four Seasons Hotel.

The following is the agenda for tonight’s meeting, as released by ANC2E:

We will be meeting this month at the Georgetown Visitation School, 35th and Volta Place, Heritage Room, first building on left by gatehouse, 2nd floor

Approval of the Agenda

Approval of September 3, 2013, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda

Administrative

Approval of July 1, 2013, Meeting Minutes

Public Safety and Police Report

Financial Report

Transportation Report

DPW Report

Community Comment

Update on the West Heating Plant

Duke Ellington School renovation/addition

Georgetown Community Partnership Cookout – September 14

New Business

DDOT proposed regulations for visitor parking

1900 37th Street, NW, DDOT Tracking No. 84460, Glover Park Citizens Association application to occupy public space for the purpose of paving sidewalks and install benches

DDOT/UFA Female Ginko Removal Policy

ABC

El Centro (formerly Third Edition), 1216 Wisconsin Avenue, ABRA -__, proposed Settlement Agreement

Zoning

Halcyon Georgetown LLC, 3400 – 3410 Prospect Street, NW, BZA No. 18604, Application for a special exception to establish a non-profit, Hearing September 10, 2013

Back Alley LLC and Ellsworth T. Simpson Trust, 1063 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, BZA Appeal No. 18610, Appeal for a variance from the nonresidential floor area ratio restrictions to subdivide and use all of the existing buildings on the property for nonresidential uses, Hearing September 17, 2013

3128 P Street, NW, BZA No. 18645, Application for special exception relief to construct an addition to the building which will extend the currently nonconforming lot occupancy, Hearing September 24, 2013

Old Georgetown Board

PRIVATE PROJECTS:

1. SMD 07, 1644 31st Street, NW, OG 13-295 (HPA 13-517) Tudor Place, Alterations to west entrance, fence and sliding gate, Concept

2. SMD 07, 2823 Q Street, NW, OG 13-282 (HPA 13-501) Residence, Replace wood garden gate with steel gate, Permit

3. SMD 02, 1632 32nd Street, NW, OG 13-315 (HPA 13-538) Residence, Alterations to rear, Concept For review by Historic Preservation Review Board

4. SMD 02, 1516 33rd Street, NW, OG 13-269 (HPA 13-488) Residence, Re-grading of rear yard, retaining walls, terrace, Permit For review by Historic Preservation Review Board

5. SMD 02, 1634 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-304 (HPA 13-526) Commercial, Signs and awning for “Sleepy’s,” Permit

6. SMD 03, 3400 O Street, NW, OG 13-297 (HPA 13-519) Residence, Replace / repair box gutter, Permit

7. SMD 03, 3132 P Street, NW, OG 13-302 (HPA 13-524) Residence, Brick wall, gates and re-grading of side yards, Permit / Concept

8. SMD 03, 1305 and 1313 Potomac Street, NW, OG 13-265 (HPA 13-477) Residence, Fence screens off alley – existing, Permit

9. SMD 03, 3338 Volta Place, NW, OG 13-293 (HPA 13-515) Residence, Extension of front wing, Concept

10. SMD 03, 1328-1330 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-288 (HPA 13-510) Commercial, One-story rear addition with basement, Permit/concept For review by Historic Preservation Review Board

11. SMD 03, 1332-1336 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-289 (HPA 13-511) Commercial, One-story rear addition with basement, Permit/concept For review by Historic Preservation Review Board

12. SMD 05, 1025-27 31st Street, NW, OG 13-317 (HPA 13-540) Commercial, Alterations to rear, outdoor seating terrace, Concept

13. SMD 05, 3211 M Street, NW, OG 13-226 (HPA 13-382) Commercial, Sign for “Billy Reid” – existing, blade sign, light fixtures, Permit

14. SMD 05, 3213 M Street, NW, OG 13-301 (HPA 13-523) Commercial, Alterations to storefront, awnings, signs for “Pandora,” Concept

15. SMD 05, 3206 Grace Street, NW, OG 13-318 (HPA 13-541) Commercial, Roof top addition, alterations, replacement windows, awnings, blade sign, flagpole, Concept

16. SMD 05, 3255 Grace Street, NW, OG 13-291 (HPA 13-513) Commercial, Sign for “The Power House,” Permit

17. SMD 05, 1200 Potomac Street, NW, OG 13-285 (HPA 13-505) Residence, Stockade fence and timber retaining wall – existing, Permit

18. SMD 05, 3302 Prospect Street, NW, OG 13-272 (HPA 13-491) Residence, Demolition of brick garden wall (completed), metal gate and repaving of rear yard, Permit

19. SMD 05, 3104 M Street, NW, OG 13-306 (HPA 13-528) Commercial, Rear addition, Concept

20. SMD 06, 3009 M Street, NW, OG 13-305 (HPA 13-527) Mixed use, Rear addition, Concept

21. SMD 06, 1306 27th Street, NW, OG 13-268 (HPA 13-487) Residence, Replacement windows and doors, Permit

22. SMD 06, 3030 P Street, NW, OG 13-256 (HPA 13-446) Residence, Partial demolition of rear ell, 1-story rear addition plus basement, Concept

23. SMD 06, 3062 Q Street, NW, OG 13-284 (HPA 13-504) Residence, Alterations to openings on rear façade, Concept For review by Historic Preservation Review Board

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming September 4, 2013, 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 resolution on them at this time. If there are concerns about any of these projects, please contact the ANC office by Friday, August 30, 2013.

1. SMD 01, 3800 Reservoir Road, NW, O.G. 13-309 (HPA 13-531) Institution (MedStar Georgetown University Hospital – Pasquerilla Center), Communications antennas on penthouse for Verizon, Concept

2. SMD 02, 1511 33rd Street, NW OG 13-152 (HPA 13-251) Residence, Replacement windows at rear – existing, replacement front windows, Permit

3. SMD 02, 1566 33rd Street, NW, OG 13-308 (HPA 13-530) Residence, Replace vinyl windows, Permit

4. SMD 02, 1638 33rd Street, NW, OG 13-173 (HPA 13-296) Residence, Replacement windows and alterations to rear, Permit

5. SMD 02, 1622 34th Street, NW, OG 13-292 (HPA 13-514) Residence, One-story rear addition to replace one-story covered porch, Permit

6. SMD 02, 1661 35th Street, NW, OG 13-150 (HPA 13-249) Residence, Three-story rear addition, in-fill areaway, one-story side addition, alterations, Concept – revised design

7. SMD 02, 3247 Q Street, NW, OG 13-278 (HPA 13-497) Office, Replacement windows, Permit – revised design

8. SMD 02, 3247 R Street, NW, OG 13-286 (HPA 13-506) Pool House, Raze existing structure at rear, new building at rear, Permit – revision to permit

9. SMD 02, 1611 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-190 (HPA 13-332) Commercial, Replace rooftop antennas with stealth canisters for Sprint, Permit

10. SMD 02, 1621 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-298 (HPA 13-520) Commercial, Replacement windows at rear, Permit

11. SMD 03, 1417 31st Street, NW, OG 13-232 (HPA 13-411) Residence, Replacement windows, Permit

12. SMD 03, 3301 N Street, NW, OG 13-290 (HPA 13-512) Residence, Additions and alterations, Permit

13. SMD 03, 3210 O Street, NW, OG 13-283 (HPA 13-503) Commercial, Blade sign for “Bloomers”, window graphics – existing, Permit

14. SMD 03, 3210 O Street, NW, OG 13-263 (HPA 13-458) Commercial, Blade sign for “Bloomers”, window graphics – existing, Permit

15. SMD 03, 3615 O Street, NW, OG 13-312 (HPA 13-535) Residence, Replacement fence at rear, Permit

16. SMD 03, 3129 P Street, NW, OG 13-287 (HPA 13-507) Residence, Alterations to garage opening in front of house, Concept

17. SMD 03, 1365 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-203 (HPA 13-359) Bank, Light fixtures for ATM at BB&T Bank, Permit

18. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 13-307 (HPA 13-529) Georgetown University – Athletic Training Facility, New construction, Concept –design development

19. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, O.G. 13-310 (HPA 13-532) Georgetown University – Leavey Center, Communications antennas and equipment penthouse for Verizon, Concept

20. SMD 05, 2934 M Street, NW, OG 13-279 (HPA 12-498) Commercial, Awning and sign for “Pier 2934 Cajun Seafood,” Permit – revised design

21. SMD 05, 3125 M Street, NW, OG 13-300 (HPA 13-522) Commercial, Signs, light fixtures, replacement door, screen for rooftop equipment, Permit

22. SMD 05, 3222 M Street, NW, OG 13-294 (HPA 13-516) Commercial, Alterations to east and south elevations, sign for “Pinstripes,” Permit

23. SMD 05, 3222 M Street, NW, OG 13-296 (HPA 13-518) Georgetown Park, Alterations to storefront in-fill, Permit – additional information

24. SMD 05, 3320 M Street, NW, OG 13-299 (HPA 13-521) Commercial, Banner for “Maxalto” at third floor facing alley, Permit

25. SMD 05, 3508 Prospect Street, NW, OG 13-274 (HPA 13-493) Residence, Replacement slate, membrane and copper roofs, Permit

26. SMD 05, 1251 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-280 (HPA 13-499) Commercial, Sign for “Reebok,” Permit

27. SMD 05, 1211 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-270 (HPA 13-489) Commercial, Storefront alterations, sign for “Tory Burch,” Permit

28. SMD 05, 1218 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 13-199 (HPA 13-355) Commercial Sign for “El Centro D.F.” Permit

29. SMD 06, 1354 27th Street, NW, OG 13-192 (HPA 13-344) Residence, Rear addition at fourth floor, Concept – revised design

30. SMD 06, 1354 27th Street, NW, OG 13-273 (HPA 13-492) Residence, Rear addition at fourth floor, Permit

31. SMD 06, 1600-1602 28th Street, NW, OG 13-277 (HPA 13-496) Residence, Alterations to planter curb – in progress, Permit

32. SMD 06, 1215 31st Street, NW, OG 13-271 (HPA 13-490) Georgetown Post Office, Rear addition at basement level, Permit

33. SMD 06, 1215 31st Street, NW, OG 13-267 (HPA N/A) Georgetown Post Office, Excavation, sheeting and shoring, underpinning, Permit

34. SMD 06, 3001-3007 M Street, NW, OG 13-276 (HPA 13-495) Mixed-use: retail / residential, Exterior exhaust duct, Permit

35. SMD 06, 2725 N Street, NW, OG 13-319 (HPA 13-545) Residence, Alterations to dormer at rear (change original gable dormer to wider shed dormer), Concept

36. SMD 06, 2912 N Street, NW, OG 13-313 (HPA 13-536) Residence, Rooftop mechanical equipment – existing, screening, Permit

37. SMD 06, 3040 O Street, NW, OG 13-183 (HPA 13-306) Residence, Enclose rear porch and alterations – existing, Permit – revised design

38. SMD 06, 3044 O Street, NW, OG 13-275 (HPA 13-494) Residence, Alterations, addition, shutters, replacement windows, swimming pool, construction entrance on stone wall, Permit

39. SMD 06, 2803 Dumbarton Street, NW, OG 13-314 (HPA 13-537) Residence, Two- story rear addition, Permit

40. SMD 06, 2718 Poplar Street, NW, OG 13-167 (HPA 13-290) Residence, Replace windows – existing, Permit

41. SMD 07, 1699 31st Street, NW, OG 13-311 (HPA 13-534) Residence, Relocate driveway, relocate curb-cuts on public space, Permit/concept

42. SMD 07, 3053 Q Street, NW, OG 13-316 (HPA 13-539) Residence, Rear addition at fourth floor, alterations, Permit

43. SMD 07, 3001 R Street, NW, OG 13-269 (HPA 13-488) Cemetery, Chapel Roofing Permit

44. SMD 07, 3245 S Street, NW, OG 13-281 (HPA 13-500) Institution, Handicapped access ramp at Guest House, Permit

45. SMD 07, 2516 East Place, NW, OG 13-303 (HPA 13-525) Residence, Alterations to rear, Permit

46. SMD 08, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 13-249 (HPA 13-439) Georgetown University, New construction – residence hall, Concept – additional information on site selection

{posted August 26, 2013, 5 p.m.}

Weekend Round Up Septemeber 5, 2013
•

Australia Home Land

September 6th, 2013 at 06:00 PM | Free to The Public | Event Website

CityDance resident artist, Sarah J. Ewing, is premiering her dance work, Australia Home Land, at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage on September 5 & 6 at 6:00PM. The performance is free to the public!

Australia Home Land, Ewing’s first full-length piece, was selected as one of two works commissioned in this year’s Kennedy Center Local Dance Commissioning Project. Five dancers struggle to co-exist on a dual-level set featuring a cross-section of Australia’s red earth. This unusual set uses the Millenium stage in a fresh and unexpected way. The tension created by the space is integral to the dancers interactions adding dimension to an already strong story.

Address

Kennedy Center Millennium Stage; 2700 F St NW, Washington

Vintage Poster Sale

September 6th, 2013 at 10:00 AM | FREE | GALLERY@CALLOWAYART.COM | Tel: 202-965-4601 | Event Website

Vintage Poster Trunk Sale with Mark J. Weinbaum Fine Posters and Prints, who works out of New York City, will exhibit up to 100 works over the September weekend. The collection focuses on decorative and rare historical posters, with a wide variety of categories and time periods available. All of his posters and prints represent the best quality available on the market place.

Address

Susan Calloway Fine Arts; 1643 Wisconsin Ave NW

Local 11th Street Bridge Celebration

September 7th, 2013 at 12:00 PM | 11thstreet@eventsmanagementdc.com | Tel: 202-558-6545 | Event Website

Free and open to all, this festive community event will commemorate the completion and full opening of the new local bridge portion of the larger 11th Street Bridge Project — which is the largest project in the District Department of Transportation’s history – and also again honor fallen Metropolitan Police Officer Kevin J. Welsh.

Address

Local 11th Street Bridge

“Al Gray, Marine… The Early Years 1950-1967” Book Signing

September 7th, 2013 at 12:00 PM | Free | dgregory@susandavis.com | Tel: 202-414-0785

Retired General Alfred M. Gray, Jr., the 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps, will be signing his book “Al Gray, Marine… The Early Years 1950-1967.”

Address

Museum Store at the National Museum of the Marine Corps 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway Triangle, VA 22172

8th Annual Events DC Nation’s Triathlon

September 8th, 2013 at 07:00 AM | Registration for 2013 Nation’s Triathlon is currently closed | Event Website

The 8th Annual Events DC Nation’s Triathlon to Benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society will take place Sunday, September 8, 2013 in the nation’s capital, Washington, DC. It features a course that winds through Washington, DC’s monument corridor in the shadow of the nation’s best known memorials and national treasures. This International Distance triathlon, sanctioned by the USAT, includes a 1.5k swim in the Potomac River, 40k bike course through DC, and a 10k run through Washington, DC’s historical landmarks with a spectacular finish!

Address

West Potomac Park near West Potomac Park, West Basin Dr SW,

Opening Reception: Frank Day & Allison Hardy

September 10th, 2013 at 05:30 PM | Free | info@efronart.com | Tel: 2022231626 | Event Website

Boston Properties is pleased to open on September 10th at The Heurich Gallery an exhibition featuring photography by Frank Hallam Day and the drawings of Allison Long Hardy.

Address

The Heurich Gallery; 505 Ninth Street NW

‘It’s a Girl!’: a Panda Amid D.C.’s News and History
•

“It’s a girl!”

Living in Washington, it’s always difficult and tantalizing to juggle personal history with the kind that goes on right outside: a bus ride from the National Mall, a Metro ride to the Pentagon, a bracing walk to the White House, a jaunt along Embassy Row.

The world is with us always here in Washington in its various monumental manifestations, in the buzz that buzzes from the White House lawns, or those just walking by holding up signs. In Washington, we always live in several places at once—we live in our domicile, our hearth, heart and home, our block and neighborhood, where we work and how we work, in that great place just around the corner where the news always happen—world news, political news, foreign news, and news that seems foreign.

We recognize this more than ever during the course of a long, not-so-hot-around-here summer and its end” how the international, the national, the local and colloquial mash up.

So—“it’s a boy” was the long awaited news from London that Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, had a baby, heir to the British throne, which we all duly watched on the telly, read about—and continue to do avidly—in People and their ilk.

“It’s a girl” was a cry that echoed from a few blocks away the same time as it did over the air waves and the internet. It revealed the sex of the new panda cub, whose birth only a few days ago was met with universal jubilation that seemed every bit as precious as the news of the new prince. It was also related that Tian Tian was the father, and so the new cub is the daughter of Tian Tian (by way of artificial insemination) and Mei Xiang, and not Gao Gao, the wild boy from the San Diego Zoo who had been rescued from the wild by the Chinese.

The birth and identification of the new cub—may she live long and prosper—was an example of how big news here can be international. The Chinese, for sure, care about it, as do the thousands of visitors to the National Zoo who will have to content themselves with eyeing the “Panda Cam,” like the rest of us. But we who live in the city, and we who live just around the corner from the Panda domain, care a little more. It is, after all, a new kid in the neighborhood.

We, as does the rest of the world, receive this wee bit of news fully aware that people lately have been talking mostly about war, Syria, war crimes and air strikes—along with their efficacy, moral and practical. A lot of that talk is coming from right down the street on Pennsylvania Avenue, such that you think you can hear it echo sometimes. But a lot of that talk about Syria is also on the lips of Main Streeters all across the country, who are distressed about the pictures of dead children and who are less hungry to get into another mess in the region where we fought two long, costly and not all that fruitful wars.

We know where we live all the time—the city of monuments, memorials and momentous times and events where ripples from elsewhere—the not-guilty verdict in the Zimmerman-Martin case this summer—soon find their way into the halls of government, or are expressed in the remembrance and celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington and Martin Luther King, Jr., and his “I have a Dream” speech. Thousands of us went to the National Mall and others watched on television or saw or talked with the celebrants in our neighborhoods. Often, softly, and carefully, except perhaps at home, we talked about race, but rarely with people of different races than our own. In this city, which still has no voting representation in Congress, we are keenly aware of the echoes that we hear.

People—members of our elected government in the city council, our cultural and economic boosters and leaders—tell us we are living in a world-class city full of world class opportunities and life styles. We could be Parisians or New Yorkers, for all we know. I suspect, though, that we’re Washingtonians and the people that surround us in our neighborhoods, wondering if we could ever eat at all the new restaurants in our lifetimes, see all the new plays, hear all the new songs at both the 9:30 Club, Blues Alley and the Hamilton and drive out to Wolf Trap, too. We love the new bike racks, and curse the bikers, sometimes all at once. In our neighborhood in Lanier Heights, we are saddened about the disappearance of Romeo, the gray and white house cat at Joseph’s House.

Then, there are days or weekends, when we would rather be here than any place else in the world, real or imagined. To me, it was the weekend of the beginning of the celebration of the March, which was history up close and personal, once (or twice) as was the case for some, in a lifetime. The history-remembered songs and memories from that march weekend mixed in with the regular Sunday visit to the Dupont Circle market, for the pies, the crab cake man, the bouquet of flowers, the blueberry scone, and the couple from Virginia who make soup that flavor country with Asian tang and taste. I remember finding a CD at Second Story Books across the circle on P Street: “Eric Clapton: Me and Mr. Johnson,” the great blues player’s salute to the great blues man Robert Johnson. We came home and saw the grandfather across the street holding his son’s baby in his lap and waved.

The panda cub had just been born a day or so before.

And today: “It’s a girl!”

According to the National Zoo, the female cub “has a fat little belly.” Oh, happy day.

ANC Report: Burglaries, Parking, El Centro, Ellington, Halcyon, Heating Plant
•

The Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E met at Georgetown Visitation Prep Sept. 3. Highlights from the monthly meeting follow.

= The police report kicked off the meeting, as Lt. John Hedgecock of the Metropolitan Police Department noted that burglaries were increasing around town, especially those involving unlocked or locked garages. In the last three months, there were 25 burglaries in Georgetown. Last year, during the same months, there were 18 burglaries. Hedgecock also commented on the Aug. 30 incident on the Potomac River in the dock at Washington Harbour, where an MPD harbor boat pulled a “Miami Vice” move and swarmed two boats with water, causing one to sink. He said he was not part of that division to the slightly amused audience.

= There was discussion about the upcoming renovation of Ellington High School, the expansion of its theater and a new underground garage. A few neighbors expressed concern about increased traffic.

= The West Heating Plant reconstruction plans will face scrutiny by the Old Georgetown Board in November. The plans, worked out by new owners, the Levy Group, Four Seasons and the Georgetown Group which bought the property from the federal government, feature added green space around a radically changed historic structure. More to come on this big project.

= A new settlement agreement (formerly known as a “voluntary agreement”) was reached by the ANC and the new El Centro restaurant at 1218 Wisconsin Ave., NW., on matters of hours and crowds at the restaurant. The building, leased by the business headed by Richard Sandoval Restaurants, was once the site of the legendary Third Edition. There is another El Centro on 14th Street; the Sandoval company runs 30 restaurant nationally and internationally. Another signatory to the agreement is the Citizens Association of Georgetown, which praised the reputation of the applicant.

= The ANC expressed disappointment at the way the District Department of Transportation suddenly initiated a visitor parking pass system for households across the city. DDOT had been meeting with community groups about parking concerns. Most said the new plan would lead to less parking being available for residents, as the new parking pass is a placard placed on the dashboard of the car and valid for one year that can be used by anyone a resident gives it to. There are a few days left to comment on this new plan. Send comments to publicspace.policy@DC.gov.

= Halcyon House at 3400 Prospect St., NW, owned by Halcyon Georgetown LLC and to be used primarily for programs run by the S&R Foundation, has applied for “a special exception to establish a non-profit” (BZA No. 18604; application for hearing, Sept.10.). The parties met at least two time with Prospect Street neighbors and reduced the amount of planned events, which are mainly for small groups. The ANC approved the application unanimously.

= Georgetown Community Day is set for Oct. 12. The cookout event on the campus of Georgetown University will highlight university programs and classes open (and free) to neighborhood residents as well as opportunities for students to participate in neighborhood activities.

Frye Store to Open in Historic Building in September
•

Frye, the oldest continuously operating footwear company in the United States, will open its third United States location in Washington, D.C., in a few weeks in a building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Georgetown store, at 1066 Wisconsin Ave., NW, will occupy the former space of Papa-Razzi Restaurant. Frye’s 2,700-square-foot store will be located in the historic Vigilant Firehouse, the oldest extant firehouse in D.C., which first housed Engine 5, now located on Dent Place.

The Georgetown store will open early September, a company spokesperson said. It will join Frye’s Boston and New York City stores. The Frye Company — known for boots, shoes, handbags and accessories — also plans to open a store in Chicago this fall.

Founded in Massachusetts in 1863, Frye is celebrating its 150th anniversary with a collection of footwear of its most iconic styles. With its boots, worn by soldiers, sailors, singers and actors, the company has fans that have ranged from Sarah Jessica Parker to General George Patton to John Lennon. A pair of Frye boots is even on exhibit on the Smithsonian.

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Drybar Closed for Not Having Permits
• August 29, 2013

Drybar should have the skills to untangle this mess of its own making with the D.C. government.

It seems the popular blow dry establishment, at 1825 Wisconsin Ave., NW, near Safeway, never quite applied for the correct business permits, when it opened almost a year ago. So, on Aug. 16, the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, shut it down.

“There was a technical glitch or error in the business license filing with the D.C. government. Drybar is working diligently with it to correct the error. Meanwhile, we are routing appointments to our Bethesda shop,” a company spokesperson told the Georgetowner.

“They came in to get their certificate of occupancy last week and are working to obtain the necessary salon business license,” emailed DCRA’s Helder Gil to Georgetown Patch, which first reported the closing.

“We truly and sincerely apologize and are working as quickly as possible to untangle this mess!” wrote Drybar founder and owner to her clients. “We will let you know as soon as it is resolved.”

Julie Harris: the Enchanting, Transforming Broadway Legend
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I saw Julie Harris for the first time in a live performance when I was in high school in the 1950s—it was Jean Anoulih’s version of the Joan of Arc story, “The Lark,” on Hallmark Hall of Fame when network television broadcast and produced live drama on a regular basis

I probably did not fully understood much of what I was seeing in those days, that it was live theater of a sorts, but I could sense that Harris was something pretty special, especially on stage.

Over the years, you could catch Harris in plenty of memorable film roles—opposite James Dean, no less, in “East of Eden, in the film version of Carson McCullers’s great and haunting novel, “Member of the Wedding,” in “The Haunting” and “Requiem for a Heavyweight,” and much later, in a small but striking role in “Out of Africa.” She was also in a television prime soap opera at one point, being part of the “Knots Landing” gang, a factoid which will no doubt lead of her obituary somewhere in some publication or blog.

Harris, who died of congestive heart failure at age 87 this past week, was, even with all the movies and television, a certifiable legend of the stage, a star of Broadway, a person who lived in the ephemeral world of a play being performed on a stage in front of breathing and feeling audiences. It’s a hard thing to become an acting legend this way—after a while, it’s all reduced to memory, rumor, story, someone’s long ago fragmentary keepsake of a thought.

She was fierce and fantastic in “Member of the Wedding,” playing the desperately lonely Frankie, but I never saw her on stage in that. It took a few years, but I caught up with her when I moved to Washington and saw my first play at the Kennedy Center. It was Harris in “The Belle of Amherst,” playing Emily Dickinson, bringing that notoriously secretive recluse to life.

I saw her again being driven around by Brock Peters in “Driving Miss Daisy,” and matching wit, heart and sarcasm with Charles Durning in “The Gin Game,” both also at the Kennedy Center. Later, she was in “Lettuce and Lovage,” a play by Peter Shaffer of “Amadeus.” It was a comedy, with a role that was originally written for Maggie Smith, but which Harris took on the road, eccentric, acidic and unforgettable.

I remember having a telephone conversation with her, and we talked mostly about the theater, her roles, other actors. She seemed a woman incapable of bragging, but she had a sense of humor. After a while, we were just telling each other about plays we had seen, or plays she had been in. It was theater talk of the kind that wasn’t necessarily quotable or memorable in its details but hard to forget in its warmth.

Theater isn’t easy, and being on the stage isn’t easy. Ask any movie star who takes to that high wire on a floorboard, misses his cues and waits for someone to yell “cut.” Harris, by all accounts, worked hard and almost always and certainly often. She had some impediments to stardom. She was of slight stature. She was not by the common definition a great beauty, although she could play one. Her voice was somewhat thin. She overcame these handicaps by dint of finely tuned emotion, by craft, by imagining and being the women she played. She had range. She could convince by the soft sharpness of a gesture and by making the most of all her gifts.

People forget: we all think of “Cabaret” and Sally Bowles as belonging to Liza Minnelli or the last woman to play her on stage. But it was Harris who is cited by author Cristopher Isherwood, upon whose “Berlin Stories” both “Cabaret” and the non-musical, “I Am a Camera,” are based. Isherwood said that Harris was more Sally Bowles than even the character he wrote.

Harris on stage was more than any person created on a page. She was an enchanter, a transformer, an actor and actress who created in front of our eyes and transformed us.

Elmore Leonard: That Guy Was a Helluva Writer
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Elmore Leonard, the writer, died Aug. 20 of complications from a stroke, according to his researcher. He was 87. He had three wives, five children, 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and also sired dozens of books, numerous short stories and numerous movies, made-for-TV movies and television episodes, based on the numerous short stories and novels that he wrote with a clean clarity that rivaled Ernest Hemingway, whose style inspired him, Leonard said, except that “he didn’t have a sense of humor.”

A lot already has been made over Leonard’s writing: that it was artful, stylish and included the best dialogue ever written, that his books looked you straight in the eye and were examples of American prose and American talk. Claims will be made for his work’s higher meaning, all of which Leonard, plain spoken, funny and tough, would probably smile about. But then again, lots of people think “Moby Dick” was about a white whale being chased by Gregory Peck.

I think it’s fair to say, nevertheless, that Leonard was a pro, a guy with a degree in English and philosophy, who wrote in the American vernacular. He probably had a philosophy — plus ten rules about writing — which centered around the sin of over-writing and taking oneself too seriously. This turns out to mean that he was a very serious man, who didn’t break his own rules too much. “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” he said. That was rule numero uno.

Leonard started out writing westerns and short stories, working in the age of pulp fiction at the start, although his work always seemed a cut above such a useless category—because you could find people like Max Brand, Dashiel Hammett, Ross McDonald and Raymond Chandler in there. He was a working stiff, supporting a wife and five children, and he did mighty, fine work even back then, some of which would also become movies—the first version of “3:10 to Yuma,” starring Glenn Ford and Van Heflin, and the more recent version starring Russell Crowe. But he also sold a story that would become a movie called “Hombre,” starring Paul Newman as a half-breed gunslinger which got him enough cash to breathe a little easy, or long enough to enter the arena of what he liked to think of as regular novels.

Truth to tell, Leonard’s writings were thrillers or novels which centered around criminals and crimes of one sort or another, with complicated anti-heros, smart, tough and sexy women and villains that were psychopaths, killers, corrupt cops and politicians, scam artists, grifters, mobsters and hit men, a revolutionary or two, political hacks and the like. Many of them, even the most evil of men, waxed wise, when threatening folks or being threatened, or avoided commitment to jail or love. Some of his protagonists were better than they should be. Others fell way short, although not a guy named Shorty from a book called “Get Shorty.” And they talked—they talked more than three Irishmen at the same table in a bar or your mother-in-law.

Over time, I will admit to reading most of his books, because while you could be sure of the authenticity of the stuff in it, you never knew where it would go, where it was set, or how exactly it was going to end—partly because the good guys were so intimately connected to the bad guys and partly because there were smart female characters in them, who revealed very little except when they would end up in the bed of the leading male character. Even then, they gave up not so much.

The following are a few of my favorites in no special order.

= “52 Pick-Up”: a really nasty book in which a powerful guy gets blackmailed over adultery by psychotic types (Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret in the movie).

= “Get Shorty”: the best book about Hollywood and its scumbags ever written—take that F. Scott– funny, cheerfully mean-spirited, scathing and sharp with John Travolta as a made guy and fixer type, who looks like a crusader compared to the Hollywood types in the movie version, which featured Gene Hackman.

= “Cat Chaser”: drug dealers and other bad guys and women in Miami.

= “Out of Sight”: a bank robber who takes too much care with his give-me-the-money notes (George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in the movie).

= “Cuba Libre”: set in the time of the Spanish American war.

= “Maximum Bob,” “Tishimingo Blues” and “La Brava”.

Oh, the hell with it. I loved everyone of the books I read, and I am about to start another for the sheer celebration of it. Why? I love the title: “Up In Honey’s Room.”

It starts this way: “Honey phoned her sister-in-law Muriel still living in Harlan County, Kentucky, to tell her she’d left Walter Schoen, calling him Valter, and was on her way to being Honey Deal again. She said to Muriel, “I honestly thought I could turn him around but the man still acts like a Nazi. I couldn’t budge him.” The last line of the book is: “ You gonna tell her about Honey walking around in her high heels, naked?”

My guess he won’t. That’s some woman, that Honey.

That’s some writer, that Elmore Leonard.

Weekend Round Up August 22, 2013
• August 26, 2013

End of Summer Party with Chance Encounters

August 23rd, 2013 at 06:00 PM | gallery@callowayart.com | Tel: 202.965.4601 | [Event Website](http://pinterest.com/callowayart/current-exhibit-chance-encounters/

On View: August 6 – 31

Susan Calloway Fine Arts ends the summer with Chance Encounters, curated by talented summer interns Ben Slyngstad and Sara Erickson. The exhibit highlights the unlimited conversations amongst the gallery’s collection. On exhibit are 13 groupings each a harmonious mixture of styles, media and eras, chosen more for their formal aesthetics – composition, color and strong opposition – rather than for subject matter.

Address

1643 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington DC 20007

DC Wine Week Wine Tours: The Storybook Tour

August 24th, 2013 at 10:00 AM | $95 | emily@pivotpointcom.com | [Event Website](http://divinewineva.com/wine-tours/wine-tour-2-the-storybook-tour/

For the next few months leading up to DC Wine Week, we have partnered with DiVine Wine Tours of Virginia to offer a series of wine tours to various Virginia wineries.

Stops included: Zephaniah Farm Vineyard, Casanel Winery, North Gate Vineyard

Everyone loves a good story, and this tour is full of them. The wines are delicious on their own, but the stories behind these family-owned wineries will make the wine and your experience that much better.

Address

Please see website for details

Beasley Real Estate Presents “The Incredibles”

August 25th, 2013 at 07:30 PM

Join Beasley Real Estate on Sunday night for a free community movie night!
Now in it’s second year, the “Best of Summer” series is a great opportunity for new and old neighbors to get together and enjoy a great night under the stars. A two-story screen, free popcorn and other goodies too!

Address

Palisades Park; 5200 Sherier Pl NW

Technology for Older Adults

August 26th, 2013 at 03:30 PM | $0-$10 | lindajkh@mac.com | Tel: 202-234-2567

Many questions will be addressed at the next Dupont Circle Village Live and Learn seminar. Dr. Majd Alwan, senior vice president and executive director at the LeadingAge Center for Aging Services and Technologies, will explain new developments in fall detection and prevention, telehealth and remote patient monitoring and electronic health records.

Address

General Federation of Women’s Clubs; 1734 N Street NW

TECRO to sponsor free screenings of “Go Grandriders” on Aug. 26 and 27

August 26th, 2013 at 10:30 AM | Free | lishanlorenzo@gmail.com | Tel: (202) 895-1853 | [Event Website](http://gograndridersdc.eventbrite.com/)

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States is sponsoring two free screenings of “Go Grandriders,” the highest-grossing documentary in Taiwanese history. The screenings will be shown at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, DC, on Monday, August 26, at 10:30 a.m. Following the showing of the film, grandrider Chang Hon-dao and his wife (and fellow grandrider) Chang Chen Ying-mei will lead a discussion about their experiences and answer questions.

Address

Avalon Theatre: 5612 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20015

Ev Shorey: Georgetown’s ‘Great Friend, Great Citizen’
• August 22, 2013

The obituary in the Washington Post for Clyde Everett “Ev” Shorey, who died July 23 of congestive heart failure at his home in Georgetown, tells a story of a career and a passion for the March of Dimes, the charitable organization for which he had been a top lobbyist for a number of years.

The interview with him in the Citizens Association of Georgetown’s Oral History Project in April 2010 tells the story of Ev Shorey, resident of West Lane Keys in Georgetown, where he lived with his wife of 63 years, Joan Burgess Shorey. It’s the story of Shorey, the concerned citizen of Georgetown, who committed to active service and participation in CAG and became its president for a time.

Neither story gives you a sense of the kind of impression Shorey, who was 91, could make if you met him or you watched him preside over CAG meetings.

His professional life of which a significant portion was his eight-year role as a lobbyist for the March of Dimes was surely sparked when his wife contracted Polio in 1953 at a time just before the breakthrough work of Jonas Salk bore practical results. A Yale graduate, Shorey had served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and was a graduate of Columbia Law School. He had been an attorney in his father’s Chicago law firm and came to Washington where he was deputy general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

He helped in his role as lobbyist to widen the role of the March of Dimes to include a focus on comprehensive maternal and child health care and was on the organization’s board from 1962 to 1974. He was the first head of the organization’s government affairs office. He had lobbied for such programs as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children.

In Georgetown, where he and his had moved after raising their children in Cleveland Park, Shorey soon became involved in the community life of the village, his neighbors and CAG. He helped with the creation of watch and guard programs and many other issues but his contributions were more subtly evidenced in his leadership style, which was to grow the organization, persuade other Georgetown resident to take part and lead on various issues.

Both his career on the national stage and his service on CAG were about substance and style, the cheerful and graceful embrace of principled duty. Talking about the people who participated in the block captain program, he called them “great friends and great citizens.” Called a “great motivator” during his interview, he said that “you have to be convinced yourself that you can make a difference. And that it is important to get people to work together to make things happen. “

It’s fair to if you met Shorey, you were not likely to forget him. He had a certain cheerful dignity about him, a friendly curiosity. CAG meetings sometimes—not often—could get volatile or bogged down. Shorey was a great defuser, and persuader a champion of people joining and working together. He was one of those disappearing types of men—he was a gentleman. The description he made of others fits him: for Georgetown and Georgetowners, Everett “Ev” Shorey, was “a great friend, great citizen.”

Shorey is survived by his wife, Joan Burgess Shorey, four children, C. Everett Shorey III and Katherine Herold, David Shorey and Alden Lattu and seven grandchildren.