Business

Peter Murray • September 25, 2014

With Mr. Smith’s recent move to the waterfront, Georgetown Piano Bar has a grip on M Street. The bar, which formerly housed dance club Modern, opened Friday, Sept. 12. We had a chance to talk to owner and Renaissance man Bill Thoet before the bar opened.

Georgetowner: You work as a consultant for your day job. What was the appeal of owning a bar from that perspective?

Bill Thoet: I’ve traveled alone a lot as a consultant and I’m not the type to just sit in the hotel room, so I go out. There are a lot of different places to hit when you go out. If you want to go out and be lonely, you can just go out to a regular bar. If you want to go out and meet people, you go to a piano bar. People are engaged in the music, the player and with each other. I can walk in there and in a few minutes I’ll be talking to 20 people.

GT: Has music always been a draw for you?

BT: Music, especially singing, has been a big thing in my family. My great grandfather was a medical missionary in China and was named one of the best baritones in China. My parents sing, my sister sings and I sing. I was in musicals in high school and that sort of thing.

GT: If someone comes in here on a random night, will they hear you sing?

BT: Oh yeah, absolutely. Every night I’m here, I will sing a couple of songs. One of my favorite go-to artists is Frank Sinatra. Sometimes I’ll sing “Ol’ Man River” by Paul Robeson since I can really go deep.

GT: What are your favorite three piano songs?

BT: “Piano Man” by Billy Joel and “House of the Rising Son” by the Animals. “Sweet Caroline” is always a fun one too because it brings everyone in.

GT: Why pick Georgetown as the location for the bar?

BT: I always had Georgetown in mind. It’s hard to find a place where you get walk-in traffic and that’s great for something like this. A lot of visitors walk through Georgetown and that is something I wanted to bring to the bar from my personal experience. Tourists come from hotels and when they see the piano upstairs and come on down, they’ll be hooked.

GT: What was it like changing the space from Modern to the Georgetown Piano Bar?

BT: It has been a huge project. This used to be a 90s club, with a white bar with bottle service, a disco ball and kitschy booths. We had to redecorate to give it a new feel. We brought it down with wood tones and brought in the piano. Now we have this bright red piano, which I was initially surprised by. But I think it makes the piano the center of the room, which was the concept from the outset. We have a player piano too that plays on its own when you feed it an old song scroll. We’ll use that when pianists are sick (laughs).

GT: Are you coming at the bar with your consultant hat on?

BT: Yes, we are trying to get feedback and improve constantly. We may strike a deal with some local restaurants so that patrons can bring food in here since we don’t have a kitchen. We may also get dueling pianists going back and forth with one another. It’s a fun theme.

GT: What do you like to do outside of work?

BT: I became the Chairman of the Board for the National ALS Association in February 2014. The ice bucket challenge has been amazing. This kind of viral thing has never happened before for an organization like ours, and the challenge has brought in $110 million and counting. For the grand opening of Georgetown Piano Bar, we’re planning on shaking martinis in an ice bucket and donating all proceeds to the local chapter of the ALS Association.

John E. Girouard • September 10, 2014

If you had $25,000 to invest, which of these three options do you think would provide the highest return with the lowest risk—dividend-paying stocks, 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds, or solar panels?

If you said stocks, you’re in good company. That’s what people are talking about these days—blue-chip dividend-paying stocks that are currently yielding between 3 and 4 percent in a low-inflation environment. If you said bonds, which offer a similar yield, you have plenty of company as well in the crowd that is turned off by stock market volatility.

However, you’d have given up control of your money—to Wall Street, to government regulation, to the fortunes of the companies, the competence of management, trends in industry, the next recession, geopolitical events and so on. You could make out like a bandit, but you could also lose more on your principal than you’ll earn on dividends.

Finally, the IRS gets its cut, reducing that $1,000 (at 4 percent) in dividend income on $25,000 worth of stock market exposure to as little as $800.

Solar panels, on the other hand, will not become more valuable over time, and you couldn’t sell them off your roof to meet a financial emergency. But if your instinct was to choose solar panels anyway, congratulations! You understand a basic concept that I spend much of my time explaining to clients—the best investments are generally those over which you have the greatest control of risk, cash flow and taxes. In the case of solar panels, these days in the District, neither stocks nor bonds can come close.

The financial return on a $25,000 investment in solar-retrofitting a home in the District includes several layers of tax credits (not just deductions), reduced electric bills, income from selling excess power back to the grid, increase in home value and saleability. D.C. homeowners currently enjoy the best of urban and federal tax breaks, earning an “A” ranking from solarpowerrocks.com, a consumer-driven information web site.

Using the theoretical $25,000 system as a example, the site estimates that after tax breaks and other savings, the cost would fall to about $10,000 at the end of the first year, pay for itself within five years and increase the value of an average home by about $35,000—with no increase in assessment for property tax purposes.

There are two lessons here. First, in D.C. you can go green and enjoy a healthy rate of return. Second, doing so illustrates a basic tenet of investing—before you let yourself be seduced by those juicy dividends and appreciation potential of stocks, consider investing in something you control, whether it be solar-upgrading your home, whole life insurance, real estate, your business or profession.

Your financial life is like a bucket with holes in it that constantly leaks money—living expenses, taxes, inflation, etc. To keep the bucket full you can try to pour more in by chasing the latest fad on Wall Street. That’s the hard way. The easier way, and the way you have the most control, is to plug up some of the holes by investing in things like solar that make you money by saving it.

John E. Girouard, CFP, CHFC, CLU, CFS, is the author of “Take Back Your Money” and “The Ten Truths of Wealth Creation,” a registered principal of Cambridge Investment Research and an Investment Advisor Representative of Capital Investment Advisors, in Bethesda, Md.

Georgetowner •

IN: Rent the Runway Coming to M Street

Rent the Runway, the women’s designer dress, gown and accessories rental business, has moved into 3336 M St., NW, part of the Cady’s Alley design, home and fashion district, EastBanc and Jamestown announced Sept. 8, with an opening planned for November. Nearby stores include Calypso St. Barth, Intermix, Steven Alan and Bonobos along with home design brands, Calligaris and Donghia.

IN: Artist’s Proof

Leaving Cady’s Alley, where it first opened last year, Artist’s Proof — a contemporary art gallery that features emerging artists from here and around the world — moved to 1533 Wisconsin Ave., NW. (One of its exhibitors, Christian Develter provided the art for this newspaper’s front page.)

IN: Do’s Custom Tailor on Regency Row

Do’s Custom Tailor and Formal Wear has moved to 3409 M St., NW. The shop had been at Wisconsin and M and before that at Georgetown Court on Prospect Street for years.

IN: Chaia Fixing Up Grace Street Shop
Known at the farmers markets near the White House and at Dupont Circle, Chaia (“farm to taco”) owners and chefs Bettina Stern and Suzanne Simon are planning their first brick-and-mortar place at 3207 Grace St., NW., in the former G. Morris Steinbraker building. Look for a spring 2015 opening.

OUT: Modern; IN: Georgetown Piano Bar
The Georgetown Piano Bar plans to open its doors Sept. 12 and will be located at 3287 M St., NW, former home of the nightclub Modern. The team creating the bar is composed of piano player Hunter Lang, former Mr. Smith’s manager Gene McGrath, former Mr. Smith’s employee Morgan Williams and Bill Thoet, according to the Washington Business Journal

IN: Tari Moves Up Wisconsin Avenue
After selling the property, having a sale and packing up, boutique owner Sara Mokhtari quickly found a new place for her clothing consignment business at the old Dalton Pratt space at 1742 Wisconsin Ave., NW. — with new inventory as well.

Georgetowner • August 7, 2014

Jamestown Properties — which works often with local developer EastBanc — is set to buy half of the Georgetown Park retail and office space for $270 million, according to Real Estate Alert Newsletter. It reported that “Bidding was aggressive for the 307,000-square-foot Georgetown Park, which a partnership between Vornado Realty and Angelo, Gordon & Co. acquired via foreclosure in 2010. The team repositioned the property and filled vacant space. Atlanta-based Jamestown, acting via its open-end Jamestown Premier Property Fund, is expected to see a stingy initial annual yield of less than 5 percent.”

Jamestown is buying Vornardo’s part of the property. The D.C. purchase price appears to be a record. The property includes Canal House and a 668-space parking garage, the biggest in Georgetown.

Georgetowner •

IN: Floating Food Boat Arrives on the River

Thanks to Nauti Foods, D.C’s first food boat, paddlers on the Potomac River can now grab a quick bite to eat. Nauti Foods partners with local food vendors, such as Dolcezza Gelato, Bullfrog Bagels and Sticky Fingers, to offer a wide variety of snacks to anyone on the Potomac.

“We will be serving a variety of food on our boat,” said Ari Fingeroth, co-founder of Nauti Foods. “Hot dogs, healthy snacks, baked goods, ice cream and non-alcoholic drinks on board.”

“I have been boating for 15 years now,” Fingeroth said. “I think there is a high demand for quick access to food amongst the kayakers on the river. So, I came up with the idea of floating food boats.”

The Nauti Foods boat is stationed north of Key Bridge on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings. The business hours are flexible, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., Fridays; Noon to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.

IN: Kate Spade New M Street Store Opens Aug. 16

Kate Spade New York is moving into the larger former Juicy Couture space. At the same time, Kate Spade Saturday is expected to move into the current Kate Spade space on M Street. According to EastBanc, Kate Spade at 3034 M St., NW, will open Aug. 16. The new space is bigger, the company says, with 5,421 square feet.

IN: Cafe Mayo Opens on Dumbarton Street

A new sandwich joint, Cafe Mayo has opened at 3147 Dumbarton St., NW, in the space which once sold adult toys and before that comic books. The eatery served up a wide range of sandwiches, including Cuban sandwiches, banh mi and meatball subs as well as egg salad and a kids’ menu.

IN: Calligaris to Open on M Street

Calligaris — the Italy-based store for home furnishings — signed a lease at 3328 M St., NW, with 5,000 square feet in the Design District and Cady’s Alley on the west side of Georgetown, according to retail developer EastBanc, Inc., and Jamestown. Moving up from Wisconsin Avenue, Calligaris joins Bo Concept, Boffi-Maxalto, Contemporaria and Donghia and other high-end design stores.

CORRECTION: No Quiznos Coming

In the July 2 Georgetowner, it was reported that Darrell Dean Antiques & Decorative Arts store at 1524 Wisconsin Ave., NW, was about to close and would re-open its business in Kensington, Md. That is correct. It was reported the vacated space would become a Quiznos. That is incorrect. A representative of the landlord called the newspaper to assert that no Quiznos was coming.

IN: Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop Coming to Georgetown

The Delaware-based sandwich shop Capriotti’s plans to open at 34th and M Streets, NW, in the long-vacant building that housed Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory and before that the famed Cellar Door music venue.

There is a Capriotti’s already in downtown near Dupont Circle at 18th and M Streets, NW, run by franchisee George Vincent Jr., who confirmed the expansion to Georgetown at 3347 M St., NW. Last week, Capriotti’s opened a Rosslyn location. The Virginia store, boasting the company’s iconic brick wall logo, is the inaugural restaurant for the franchise in the state, and is located at 1500 Wilson Blvd.

Established in 1976 in Wilmington, Del., Capriotti’s has distinguished itself from other sandwich shops by slow-roasting whole, all-natural turkeys in-house each night and hand-pulling the meat the next morning for its signature subs. It is touted as a favorite spot of Vice President Joe Biden, formerly a senator from Delaware.

Gary Tischler • July 16, 2014

“Hill & Dale has air conditioning, a couch and Willie Nelson on the LP Wall.”

That’s what an Instagram on the relatively new Georgetown shop’s Facebook page offers, which is, if not a summation of what the store is, then a pretty good hint of some of the pleasures therein.

Oh, and Hill & Dale sells new vinyl records, many of them remastered rock and roll, blues and jazz masters, but also brand new things you can call actual albums by contemporary artists.

Hill & Dale is owner Rob Norton’s gamble on the belief that people will want to buy, touch, hold, play and listen to vinyl records again, not just for nostalgia’s sake, but for all the reasons that making really listening to music a one-of-a-kind experience in the iTunes and digital age. There are other stores around which do vinyl—old vinyl albums played on old turntables as well as new vinyl works—but Norton decided that he’d go all in on new vinyl.

“It’s a risk, I suppose,” he said. “But lots of artists and musicians do that now. It’s almost a hedge but also another way of marketing, selling, your music, a process that’s gotten very complicated, business-wise.”

Norton isn’t just a music-rock-jazz-o-phile with an obsession. In the store at 1054 31st St., NW, in what used be the Parrish Gallery, he’s created a kind of walk-in experience.

“One of the reasons I loved albums, always have, is the art work, the covers going back at least to the 1960s. That’s art to me, it’s very much a part of the store,” he said. That’s probably why the shop—with its clean, cool rows of albums categorized alphabetically—still retains the flavor of a gallery, with decorative concert and album posters. The LP Wall, with its changing offerings of current albums, is enough to make you swoon with delight. Another wall provides space for exhibitions and a sampling of the rock photography of Peter Simon, which includes the cover photo for Joni Mitchell’s classic “Blue” album. Another room houses East Coast Rock and Roll photography in a collaborate show with Govinda Gallery and Chris Murray.

If places like the Black Cat and the 9:30 Club are sweaty incarnations of the spirit of live performance music, Hill & Dale is more like a quiet church, where you can commune at the altar of album covers and talk with the owner. It’s a clean, quiet place for people who share an affinity for the power of all sorts of music.

“I think vinyl is coming back strong,” said Norton, who used to be a marketer for the pharmaceutical industry. I’m betting there are a lot of people like me out there who like to really listen to music. I happen to like Jazz a lot, but I like new music. I like Rush, Jack White Bruce, all sorts of thing and I really like Miles Davis.”

With Norton, there’s really two or three things going on in the store. It’s about intense listening—all those hours sitting with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” from beginning to end, or Mitchell’s “Blue” or the Woodstock album.

“It’s a way of listening,” he said. “You can’t flit around on an album, you have to go from start to finish, you can’t do what you do on the Internet, buy single copies, or just run around YouTube from song to song, artist to artist. It’s a totally different way of listening, a different experience.” He says the big record stores of the past almost prevented customers from getting the full repertoire of music they had on hand. “I never got out of the rock section,” he said, before he finally managed to realize his passion for jazz.

Looking at the LP wall, you see and practically feel the restless scope of 20th-century pop, rock, blues and jazz music—a remastered Hank Williams collection, a collection of an Iranian rock star’s work, the burning Hindenberg album cover by Led Zeppellin, Aretha, Bruce, the list is endless.

“The thing about vinyl is it’s tactile, you have to have patience,” he said. “The turntable, you set the record in the groove, it’s not background music when you listen to an album like that. It’s important.”

Georgetowner •

IN: Yummi Crawfish, Cajun Restaurant, Set to Debut on Wisconsin Avenue

Yummi Crawfish Restaurant is opening up its first location at 1529 Wisconsin Ave., NW, as it takes over the former Puro Café space. The opening date for the restaurant is yet to be determined.

OUT: Listrani’s Closes

Listrani’s Italian Gourmet & Pizzeria, a classic eatery for decades on MacArthur Boulevard, has closed. No word yet for a future occupant at 5100 MacArthur Blvd., NW.