Latest News

India Olchefske • November 3, 2011

Heavenly fumes, smoke and laughter filled lower Georgetown as tasters gathered in droves on Wisconsin Avenue between M and K Streets for the 18th Annual Taste of Georgetown on Oct. 15 benefiting the Georgetown Ministry Center’s services to support the homeless. Visitors bought tickets, each good for one sampling, and then clamored for plates from each of the 28 food-serving vendors who had more demand than expected. The Plates ranged from roasted chicken shawarma sliders at Neyla’s booth to pumpkin whoopie pies, bee sting almond honey shortbread bars and brownies from Baked and Wired. The celebration also featured live music, face painting and balloon sculptures. The Washington City Paper Pavilion served alcoholic beverages. Many non-consumable goods were also present including Long and Foster Realtors as well as HOK|BGA design clinic and PNC Bank. [gallery ids="100326,108482,108477,108472,108491,108467,108495,108462,108499,108457,108503,108452,108487" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

A landmark project in preservation and conservation began last week with the transport to a conservator’s studio of a hand-crafted “grotto-work,” or tableau, made of wax, shells and other materials and housed in the original wood-and-glass case. Created for Martha Washington in 1783 and belonging to the collection of Tudor Place Historic House & Garden, the miniature classical wax figures and the elaborate wax, shell, and paper landscape had fallen into a state of disrepair after nearly 230 years at Mount Vernon and in the home of Martha Washington’s descendant, Martha Parke Custis Peter. Surroundart, specialists in fine arts transport, were engaged to move the highly fragile object safely to the conservator’s studio.

To prepare for the $37,400 conservation funded by The Richard C. von Hess Foundation, Tudor Place staff consulted outside conservators and experts from peer institutions that included the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, in a process that began in June 2010. The conservation project is expected to take approximately two years and involve specialists in wax, textiles and paper. (More of its details and a vivid video portrait of the tableau can seen at this link on the Tudor Place blog.)

Tudor Place Historic House & Garden is an independent historic institution owned and operated by the Tudor Place Foundation, Inc., whose mission is to educate the public about American history and culture with a focus on the historical development of Georgetown and the Federal City. From 1805, Tudor Place was home to Martha Washington’s granddaughter and six generations of her descendants, the Custis-Peter family. The waxwork conservation helps advance the Foundation’s commitment to protecting, preserving, maintaining, and interpreting the historic property and the collections, while instilling the value of the past in the public perception.

Tori Loven Kirkebø •

As September was drawing to a close, Zizou, a black Jack Russell Terrier named after the famous French soccer player Zinedine Zidane, was returned to his family. Zizou had been missing from Silver Spring since the week of July 4., and no one had seen him since. Fearing the worst and running out of options, Zizou’s owner Luis Moreno had almost given up hope. “It had been too long…but something told me he was still out there,” says Moreno.

Zizou was found wandering the streets of Crestwood by Abigail Poe, a resident in the area. She was out walking her dog when she spotted him. “He was in decent shape,” she says, pointing out that it did not look as though he had been astray for 3 months. Poe brought Zizou to the Georgetown Veterinarian Hospital and Dr. Lee Morgan where he was scanned for a microchip. Luckily, Dr. Morgan found the microchip, and after a fruitless search of the hospital’s own database he contacted the national database, which managed to locate the owners.

When Georgetown Veterinarian Hospital called Moreno to tell him that his beloved Zizou had been found near Georgetown, Moreno says that while his first reaction was joy, he also thought it was a bit strange that Zizou had been found so far away from his home. Dr. Morgan points out that “they would never had found the dog if it weren’t for the microchip.” Microchipping pets has become increasingly popular the last years, and Dr. Morgan recommends all his clients to do it; “You never know what’s going to happen,” he says, explaining how sad it is to find dogs you know belong to somebody, but never get returned because of missing tags.

The microchip works as an ID for animals, readable by a special machine. There are different types of microchips available nationally and internationally. Although some scanners don’t pick up all types, the scanners are rapidly getting better, reading chips not specifically designed to its specific standard. The benefits of the microchip are multiple; including retrieving lost animals, tracking vaccination records and trade security. For animal shelters, microchipping is essential, and allows the employees to track down owners of missing, hurt, or even abused pets.

Although there are a lot of benefits with the microchip, it is important to note that complications do occur. It is rare, but it is a risk one should be prepared for.

Back in Silver Springs, Moreno is very happy that he inserted a microchip in Zizou just 8 months ago. “A lot of people missed him,” he says. When asked if he would recommend it to others he replies “Definitely!”

Zachariah Weaver • October 31, 2011

Greater guest demand at the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown is causing the hotel to transform its current restaurant, bar and grill design.

The restaurant, located on South Street NW, will become a permanent banquet rental space titled Fahrenheit Ballroom, opening on Nov. 1. The current bar and lounge that is featured will be called Degrees Bistro.

General Manager Grant Dipman stated that within the past year there was a significant increase in demand for rental of Fahrenheit restaurant. These requests were for corporate and social events.

The new design and business strategy of the Ballroom and Degrees Bistro will allow the Ritz Carlton of Georgetown to increase group room nights and improve their food and beverage revenue.

The Degrees Bistro’s design was chosen to compliment the current industrial style that the hotel offers. It has classic bistro table and banquet seating for up to 46 guests. The bar features a design prototype modeled for an upscale, casual restaurant which seats up to 20 additional guests.

Executive Chef Quang Duang, who serves the hotel’s in-room and banquet meals, created a new menu that offers traditional French bistro exclusives with cocktail and wine lists to compliment. Some of the new dishes featured are Chesapeake Crab Cake Sandwiches, Grilled Chicken and New York Strip, and Pan-Seared Atlantic Salmon.

Some traditional French bistro classics like Roasted Chicken Grand Mere, French Onion Soup and Steak Frites with Béarnaise Sauce are also included on the new menus.

For business guests and early-risers, breakfast hours on weekdays will still be 6:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. For dinners, service will begin at 5:30 p.m. and close at 10 p.m. and lunch service will take place between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. They will also have a Friday through Saturday Light Fare Menu for very late guests starting at 2:30 p.m. and closing at 1 a.m.

The new design is meant to continue to provide a sense of community in the heart of the historic Georgetown neighborhood. [gallery ids="100350,109446" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Friday, Oct. 28

L2 Lounge in Cady’s Alley is hosting the Wizard’s in the Kitchen cookbook launch party. Learn dozens of magical recipes while getting your fortune read and enjoying specialty cocktails and “potions.” Come dressed in your best wizard inspired costume as prizes for best costumes will be awarded. Tickets are $25 in advance online or $30 at the door. Ticket includes one complimentary cookbook per guest. Call 202-965-2001 for more information.

Saturday, Oct. 29

Carve a PAUL Pumpkin

PAUL is inviting patrons to come carve a PAUL pumpkin in their soon-to-open store. But here’s the twist: they’re not carving pumpkins, they’re carving delicious bread. Cost is $15 per person plus one child. Refreshments will be served, and everyone gets to take their prized “pumpkins” home. Pumpkin carving sessions will be held Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. To reserve a spot, email paulb03@paul-usa.com.

Gustafer Yellowgold’s “Stripe Of The Sock” Fall Tour

“The show is a cross between ‘Yellow Submarine’ and Dr. Seuss.” – The New York Times

Groovy Gustafer Yellowgold is a small, yellow, cone-headed fellow, who came to Earth from the Sun and has a knack for finding himself neck-deep in absurd situations as he explores his new life in the Minnesota woods. Equal parts pop rock concert and animated storybook, Gustafer Yellowgold concerts are a truly different multimedia experience that entrances children and adults alike. Jammin’ Java?227 Maple Ave. E?Vienna, Va. 22180. Event begins at 10:30 a.m., tickets are $10.

Artomatic SurrealDC Halloween Masquerade

Artomatic’s SurrealDC Halloween Masquerade will be held at Washington Harbour in Georgetown (3050 K St NW) on Saturday, Oct.29, 2011 from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Admission to SurrealDC 2011 is $25 which includes open bar, beer and wine only, from 8:00 PM-10:00 PM and Halloween treats. The event will only accept patrons age 21 and over. Tickets can be purchased online at www.surrealdc2011.eventbrite.com and will not be sold at the door. For more info, please visit www.artomatic.org.

Sunday, Oct. 30

Choral Benediction

Choristers from Saint Luke Catholic Church, Saint Francis Episcopal Church, Reston Chorale, and the Amadeus Community Singers join together under the baton of A. Scott Wood. Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, op. 9, a 20th-century masterpiece with Gregorian plainsong as its source. The Amadeus Orchestra also takes a solo turn in Bach’s Suite No. 3, a triumphant celebration with the exquisite “Air on the G String” at its center. 7001 Georgetown Pike McLean, Va. 22101. Event begins at 4 p.m., tickets are $25 for general admission.

Georgetowner •

International education must adapt or face destruction, global educators said at the U.S.-India Higher Education Summit this morning.

“A democracy depends upon educated citizenry,” said Hillary Clinton, who gave an opening address at the summit, held at Georgetown University.

Also on hand to give an opening address was Kapil Sibal, Indian Minster of Human Resource Development, who stressed the high stakes of global collaboration.

“Business as usual is a recipe for global disaster,” Sibal said.

The opening address was followed by a roundtable discussion featuring Sibal; Richard Levin, president of Yale University; and Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister on public information. The panel discussed the challenges facing higher education throughout both nations, stressing collaboration as a key to success.

“Nations are defined by boundaries,” Sibal said, “but in the 21st century, nations will have to transcend them.”

These boundaries include the fact that, while 30,000 Indian students come to the U.S. annually to study, only 2,500 American students travel to India to do the same. According to Sibal, American students need India just as much as India needs them.

“Lots of young Americans have skills which are outdated,” Sibal said. “People in India have the resources to help with that.”

The panelists had different ideas as to what some other boundaries are. According to Levin, the study of India in the U.S. is “under-resourced,” and American higher education needs to put as much emphasis on the study of the history and culture of India as it does on Europe.

Pitroda sees the integration of technology and education as the key to productive citizens in the future—and denial of that is a potential obstacle to progress.

“We must realize,” Pitroda said, “that technology plays a very important role—that everything we do is essentially obsolete.”

The panelists agreed that the number one way to maintain U.S.-Indian relations is to simply be there. If you want to understand another place better, your best bet is to simply get on a plane and go, they concurred.

The entire summit is being broadcast live at webcast.georgetown.edu, and will continue until 5:45 p.m.

Kyle Lundberg •

Just outside of the main gates of Georgetown University lies Poulton Hall, and nestled inside that is a small, dark theater. The size of the theater does not match the soaring ambitions of the students set to perform on its stage for the Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival.

The festival is a showcase for original student works, and is put on by the Georgetown University Mask and Bauble Society. The process begins with a script contest, where students submit scripts and the winner is chosen as the first piece for the festival. This year, the chosen piece was “Peaches and Freon: A Musical,” written by Georgetown seniors Ryan Dull and Michael Franch with music by George Washington University junior Andrew Pendergrast. According to Franch, the musical started as a simple joke.

“We were joking about hilarious moments in musical theater that we all know and love,” Franch said. “We came up with a song about stationary trees; it was completely stupid, but people began to ask what musical it was from, that they had looked it up on YouTube but couldn’t find it. After that, we thought we might as well try it.”

“Peaches and Freon” follows the playwriting duo of David (Greg Brew) and Moonglow (Adrian Prado) as an MC (Betsy Helmer) presents a “greatest hits” presentation of their greatest musicals, which include “The Burnham Wood” (which features stationary trees,) “Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster” and “Abortion Contortion: A Pre-Natal Murder Mystery.” According to Franch, it was difficult to come up with a plot and characters based around a joke.

“The songs don’t push the plot because they’re joke songs,” Franch said. “In order to fit the characters around this problem, we made them obvious and sympathetic. But, given that it is the first play he’s written, Franch said the experience was smooth.

“As we were writing it, it gelled a lot faster than we thought it would,” he said.

The second play, “#Courage,” written and directed by Georgetown junior Swedian Lie, is a much more dramatic and serious affair. According to festival producer Liz Robbins, this juxtaposition was deliberate.

“We wanted to give the full theater experience from one spectrum to the other,” Robbins said.

“#Courage” is a more existential reflection on the Arab Spring, specifically the Egyptian Revolution, and the role that social media continues to play in revolutions around the world. The play begins with a conversation between Facebook (Victoria Glock-Molloy) and Twitter (Katie Mitchell) and weaves through a dramatization of the real-life murder of Kaled Said (Jack Schmitt) and the social revolution it spurred with the help of social media. According to Lie, the play’s complex social themes were rooted in the strength of the individual.

“Facebook and Twitter are tools,” Lie said, “but people have to use them. The real focus is on the human spirit.”

When the lights went up after the first-ever showing of these student works, Dull and Franch, who had never seen their worked performed or even rehearsed, sat in their seats, taking it all in.

“This is absolutely surreal,” Dull said. “This is our first time seeing our material performed. The only emotion we felt is ‘wow, this doesn’t suck.’ I’m absurdly happy with it all.”

Although Lie was more directly involved with his play, he was also pleased to see his creation go off without a hitch in front of an audience.

“It was a lot of fun,” Lie said. “I have some experience with adaptations, but this is my first original work.”

Now in its 160th season, the society is touted as the oldest continually-running student theater troupe in the U.S. Philip Tam, the publicity director for the festival, attributes this longevity to the actors.

“I really think we owe it all to the dedication of the actors,” Tam said. “They really love what they do.”

The Donn B. Murphy One Act Festival runs through Saturday Oct. 15 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. General tickets are $7 or $5 for students.

Georgetowner •

Ledbury is “popping” up on M Street next week. The Richmond, Va.-based high-end mensware line will open for just three days, Oct. 27 through 29, at 2805 M St. NW. The venue will hold a launch party Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. celebrating this whirlwind business venture with a whiskey bar and some old-school funk music. For the rest of the store’s duration, Ledbury will sell its wares, which are fitted shirts in all styles, at a 20 percent discounted rate. Customers who visit the store can also meet the designers and founders of the line, Paul Trible and Paul Watson, who will be on hand throughout the three days.

The anticipated Fleurir Chocolates will also open this weekend on Oct. 22 with a Grand Opening Extravaganza from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., and will hopefully be sticking around for much longer than a weekend. The opening event will provide samples of some of their “hand-grown” chocolates and hot cocoas, as well as a gourmet s’mores station with homemade marshmallows, graham crackers and, naturally, chocolate.

Tori Loven Kirkebø •

According to a press release issued by the White House Office for Management and Budget on Oct. 20, the Georgetown West Heating Plant is being put up for sale. The sale is a part of President Obamas campaign to cut waste, lead by Vice President Joe Biden.

The Heating Plant located at the northeast corner of 29th and K Streets was designed by architect W.M. Dewey Foster and built from 1946 to 1948. According to the GSA, the plant “generates and supplies fuel to the western group of Federal buildings.” For the last 10 years, the plant has been out of use. The government has kept the property as a security back-up to be used if an emergency occurs, but are now ready to let it go, and as of today it is labeled “excess.” Numbers from the press release show that the plant has been costing the taxpayers $3.5 million in maintenance costs over the last decade, even though it has not been used. Similar cuts leading to sales of federal buildings are being made all across America.

The big question now is who will buy this property. Georgetown real estate agents and developers told the Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe and John O’Sullivan that the building would be an ideal investment due to, among other things, its prime location. According to Georgetown Metropolitan, the building’s art deco design has triggered discussions on whether or not one should tear down the building. They say that while some appreciate the building’s design, others would rather see the building go and the property turned into a park. Developers say that either way, the development of the property will be extensive, whether it will house condos, a park, a museum, retail or anything else.

Kristin Sørumshagen •

The purple wall next to True Religion Brand Jeans and Saloun in Georgetown that has made you curious for the past weeks is hiding a brand new athletic store, Athleta, which opens Nov. 10, according to Athleta.Gap.Com. This will be one of four stores Athleta is opening throughout the country this fall, according to the website.

Athleta, a part of Gap Incorporation, sells women’s sportswear. Whether you’re into yoga, swimming, running or hiking, this might be a place for you. “If it’s a matter of performance over beauty, we’ll take both,” the Athleta site says.