Capitol Prague Opens at M & Potomac
• June 6, 2013

Capitol Prague opened last week on 3277 M St., NW, in the old Morso space, at the corner of M and Potomac Streets. It also operates a coffee shop two doors away. With Czech and Slovak cuisine—schnitzel, goulash, grilled sausages, braised pork and dumplings—as well as various beers, Capitol Prague claims to be the only restaurant in Washington, D.C., with Czechvar lager on draft. That beer is made by the famed Budweiser Budvar Brewery (Bud?jovický Budvar) in the Czech Republic.

Weekend Round Up May 30, 2013
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20th Annual Taste of Georgetown

June 1st, 2013 at 11:00 AM | $5: One Tasting Ticket $20: Five Tasting Tickets | Event Website

The 20th Annual Taste of Georgetown showcases the spectacular cuisine of over thirty of Washington, D.C.’s finest restaurants, highlighting Georgetown’s culinary personalities and featuring nearly sixty delectable dishes to sample. The Taste of Georgetown has become the premier food and wine festival of D.C. and benefits Georgetown Ministry Center’s (GMC) services supporting the homeless.

Address

Georgetown; Wisconsin & M ST NW

8DC Restaurants Hate Cancer

June 1st, 2013 at 03:00 PM | $20 | littleowe@gmail.com | Tel: 202-253-3838 | Event Website

Amazing food and beverage specials at the restaurants listed below. Event starts at the Greenbrier Upper Lobby where you will receive a bracelet.

Participating Restaurants:

Bobby Van’s, 809 15th St NW; BLT Steak, 1625 I St NW; Blackfinn, 1620 I St NW; The Woodward Table, 1426 H St NW; P.J. Clarke’s, 1600 K St NW

All proceeds benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society which funds research for a cure for blood cancers and new cancer medications, patient services and financial assistance.

Address

Greenbrier Upper Lobby; 1427 H Street NW

20th Annual Stonewall Regatta – Crew Race on Anacostia River

June 2nd, 2013 at 08:30 AM | 0 | nniehammel@gmail.com | Tel: 202 544 0914 | Event Website

Join us for the 20th Annual Stonewall Regatta and watch teams from across the globe battle it out on “DC’s other’ river”, the Anacostia.

What’s not to love? Fast paced races, cheering crowds, food trucks, music, and sunshine! The event is free to all (no admission).

Interested in helping out at the event? We love volunteers! Email volunteers@stonewallregatta.org

Address

1900 M St SE, Washington DC 20003

Join us at the boathouse, where you get the best view of the finish line and the pre- and post-race action (along with concessions and restrooms). To get a full few of the complete race, we recommend the Anacostia Trail pedestrian bridge or across the river at Anacostia Park.

ANC 2E monthly meeting

June 3rd, 2013 at 06:30 PM

6:30pm — at Georgetown Visitation Prep, 35th Street and Volta Place, main building, Heritage Room, second floor.

Address

Georgetown Visitation Prep, 35th Street and Volta Place, main building, Heritage Room, second floor.

GBA Presents: Yoga In Park

June 5th, 2013 at 06:00 PM | FREE | Tel: 202 640 1279 | Event Website

Free yoga every Wednesday in June at 6PM at The Waterfront Park in Georgetown. Classes will take place (weather permitting) on June 6th, 12th, 19th, and 26th.

There will be giveaways at each class for dining, spas and yoga.

Address

Waterfront in Georgetown (in front of Georgetown Floor Coverings, 3233 K ST NW)

Jean Stapleton: She’ll Always Be Our Edith Bunker, Too
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If you’re of a certain age and were watching television regularly on Saturday nights in the better part of the 1970s, Jean Stapleton was probably a big reason for watching.

If you’re a lot younger, her real name might not resonate so much, but Edith Bunker, the character she played on the hit social and political bellwether sitcom “All in the Family” from 1971 to 1979, will probably hit a memory note.

Stapleton, playing wife to the late Carroll O’Connor’s bigoted Archie Bunker, easily riled and to fulminate about all the liberal irritants of his times, was, as one writer noted, the heart of that show, created by Norman Lear from a British working-class sitcom. Her Edith, big-hearted, sweet, but stridently voiced opened the show each week with she and Archie singing off-key but happily, “Those Were The Days,” a song that soon became one of those un-melodic melodies you couldn’t get out of your head.

“All in the Family” was a life-and-mood-changing television show—somehow “The Beverly Hillbillies” or “Mr. Ed” didn’t quite seem so funny anymore. Instead, Lear’s show—and O’Connor’s and Stapleton’s and their daughter and hippie son-in-law’s—seemed more real, more pungent and earthy like a late-delivered tabloid. From there, you got “Maude” and the life and struggles of single women, and black—racially and otherwise—comedies and the old silliness retreated, at least until Charlie Sheen came along.

The show—in which Bunker regularly railed against peaceniks, blacks, gays, liberal politics, women’s liberation, potheads and his son-in-law, whom he delighted in calling “meathead”—was a watershed in some ways. It also made everybody in it famous, including Stapleton. Edith wasn’t a feminist. She was one of those good-hearted women spending her life with a husband she loved, but who didn’t shower her with respect. He often called her “dingbat,” a not so endearing term. But Edith, who felt real and complicated with Stapleton’s performances, undid him with illogic, kindness, humor and irony that was likely unintended but confounded Archie in mid-rage.

Stapleton was a stage actress who was little known at the time and not much of a politically conscious person at that. She had performed in musicals like “Damn Yankees,” in Pinter plays and those gems penned by Horton Foote and would continue to do so after she left the show, fearing herself typecast, the curse of being on a hit television show.

She went back to the stage, performed a one-woman show about Eleanor Roosevelt (as well as one on Julia Child, pre-Streep, at the Kennedy Center) and worked hard for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Yet, most likely many fans passed on her real name over the weekend. They probably said: “Edith died at the age of 90.”

Malmaison to Open June 10 With Chef Gerard Pangaud
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It has been long anticpated, but Malmaison, now a lunch and dinner restaurant as well as a dessert specialty eatery and bar, being put together by Omar Popal, will open in a matter of days. Shall we say Monday, June 10? The Popal family, headed by Zubair Popal, also runs Cafe Bonaparte on Wisconsin Avenue and Napoleon Bistro and Lounge on Columbia Road. The building at 3401 K Street, NW — or 34th and Water Streets — also houses Gypsy Sally’s Acoustic Tavern.

Gerard Pangaud is set to become Malmaison’s executive chef. Pangaud is well known in town for his now-closed Vintage on M Street near 30th Street and Gerard’s Place at McPherson Square. Most recently, he has been consulting and running the Pentagon Dining Room.

Georgetown Salon & Spa: Serving Summer Styles
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Turgay Yavuz, owner of Georgetown Salon & Spa on M Street, has been involved with the salon and spa scene for 32 years. After his 16-year start in his hometown of Istanbul, Turkey, in a family of hair professionals, Yavuz, known just as Turgay to loyal clients, has been in the District for another 16 years. Turgay came to the United States and to D.C., specifically to live the American dream and become successful. Working alongside his two nephews, Turgay aims to be the most successful salon in D.C., and in doing so, deliver good service, make his clients happy and bring the ultimate day spa experience.

Georgetown Salon & Spa changes treatments about every six months to provide new and loyal clients alike with the latest trends in hair care. Currently, the list of popular treatments include the Keratin treatment for summer to take the frizz out and blonder and longer hair for the summer sunny look. Turgay has extensive experience and enjoys giving clients new looks, especially in the color-changing department. “I like to do color. Highlight and color,” Turgay said as he blow-dried a client’s hair. After 32 years in the salon scene, Turgay is not planning on leaving any time soon. “I enjoy my job,” he said. “That’s why I have worked 32 years.” ?

BID’s Georgetown 2028 to Meet June 13
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Here is an invitation and memo from the Georgetown Improvement District:

“The Georgetown BID has just launched a planning initiative called Georgetown 2028 that will result in a vision and action plan for the next 15 years for Georgetown’s commercial district. The goal in doing such a plan is to help Georgetown maintain its status as a world-class commercial district, and ultimately continue to make it a thriving community for all. The process and final plan, which is set to be completed before Thanksgiving, focuses on transportation, economic development and public space issues. We value your opinion and invite you to take part in Georgetown 2028 by attending the first of two Community Engagement Meetings.”

The first will be 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday, June 13, at the Foundry Office Building, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St., NW, 5th floor. RSVP to: georgetown2028@georgetowndc.com

Custom TV Solutions at 35th & N
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Speaking of Custom TV Solutions, it moved down to 1301 35th St., NW, next to Georgetown Cleaners. At the corner of 35th and N Streets, the specialty video and audio expert is now open, says Matt Foley, who invited people to stop by the new place.

Lovely Bride Coming in June
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Add another wedding shop to Book Hill’s shopping vibe: Lovely Bride plans to open at 1632 Wisconsin Ave., NW, with retail space above Urban Chic. It offers one-hour appointments and loves to call itself “Love D.C.” The franchise’s other spots include New York and Los Angeles. Lovely Bride says it hopes to open by the end of the month.

A Governor’s Appeal to Bipartisan ‘Vox Populi’
• June 4, 2013

All politics is local, except when it’s not.

The death of the long-serving Democratic Senator from New Jersey Frank Lautenberg was national news for any number of reasons not the least of which was the record of Lautenberg’s lengthy service for five terms and his battles on such issues as gun control, the establishment the age of 21 as a national legal drinking age.

Lautenberg died from pneumonia after having announced that he was suffering from stomach cancer. At the time of his death, he had already announced that he would not be running for re-election.

His death began a bout of electoral and political jockeying, but the results of which would have national implications. Lautenberg’s death left the popular (with New Jersey voters if not Tea Party diehards) Republican Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie with the opportunity and in fact the duty appoint a replacement, which, no question about it, will probably be a Republican. But he also had the opportunity to delay holding a special election until next year, a time period which might have given the GOP replacement choice—not yet named—a leg up on any 2014 election, incumbency often being a boon.

But Christie chose instead to hold a special election in October, preceded by a primary election, the sum total of which has the effect of costing quite a bit of money and negating the GOP advantage. The popular Newark mayor Cory Booker has already announced some time ago that he would run for the seat.

A positive way of looking at Christie’s decision is that, like a lone flower blooming in a long winter, it might be a tentative sign of the rebirth of bipartisanship, an olive branch, or maybe it’s just Christie’s maverick nature. It’s hard to tell, of course, and might be a naïve conclusion to draw, but these days you can never hope enough and should never hope too much.

A less likely outcome could be that Christie might appoint a Democrat—the New Jersey Democrats insist they are entitled to the seat—but that might be going too far even for a man whose new best friend appears to be Tea Party bête noir President Barack Obama.

In any case, no Republican has been elected to the Senate from New Jersey since 1972—the moderate and popular Clifford Case. Lautenberg won his seat in 1982 and had served in the Senate since 1983 with a brief two-year hiatus.

Washington State Bridge Collapse a Wake-up Call for Washington, D.C.’s Bridges
• June 3, 2013

With the May 23 Interstate 5 highway bridge collapse in Washington state, highway infrastructure and bridge safety across the U.S. are being questioned anew.

“The collapse of an interstate highway bridge in northern Washington state is a wake-up call for the entire nation,” said Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. National Transportation Safety Board inspection records state that the I-5 bridge had been struck multiple times by vehicles in the past 10 years.

“National bridge records say the I-5 crossing over the Skagit River had a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100 – a score designed to gauge the ability of the bridge to remain in service,” the Washington Times reported. Bridges with ratings of 50 out of 100 or below are eligible for federal replacement.

Around D.C., the go-to bridge for highlighting crossing that are “structurally deficient” remains Francis Scott Key Bridge, between Georgetown and Arlington, Va.; it was built in 1925. Last week, ABC News’s David Curley checked out Key Bridge and noticed some concrete was ready to fall away. “Every day Americans make 200 million trips across what are called structurally deficient bridges, that’s one out of every nine bridges,” he reported. While deemed safe, a structurally deficient bridge requires more check-ups to make sure repairs are on schedule.

With bridges around the U.S. being deemed “at risk,” Key Bridge, carrying 62,000 vehicles each day, is only one among more than 70,000 that requires repairs, the Department of Transportation reported. President Obama used Key Bridge as back-drop in November 2011 to push for his infrastructure jobs proposal.

According to the District Department of Transportation, D.C. will spend $110 million on bridge and ramp repairs in the next few years. Major work on Key Bridge is slated to begin next year, in time for the bicentennial of the Burning of Washington and the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Georgetowner Francis Scott Key. Repairs should run around $18 million.

RELATED — See Nov. 2, 2011, Georgetowner article on President Obama’s visit to Georgetown to highlight infrastructure repair jobs.