Finally Some IHOP News – And It’s Good News!

14thandColumbia

Definitely not good news.

Jimbo

Why are so many people excited to see the ho-hum suburbs move into the city? Target, Best Buy, now IHOP. Is simple familiarity with a product so enticing? Yes, you know exactly what you’re going to get. But, you know *exactly what you’re going to get*. Boring. Instead, encourage and patronize local businesses. Keep the economy local.

SG

I’m happy. This is a big box development (DCUSA), so I wouldn’t expect much more than chains anyways. It’ll be nice to get super-cheap breakfast. And this is also something that appeals to most demographics in the community.

voiceofreason

I’m okay with the I-HOP because it will be accessible price-wise to everyone in the community and will fill one of those holes in DCUSA which is a big box mall anyway.

However, I predict than within six months of its opening, most folks on here will hate it because it will be predominantly used by the neighborhood’s teenagers.

ch geek

“Why are so many people excited to see the ho-hum suburbs move into the city?”

so i can walk 2000 feet and get RAM for my computer this very second that would otherwise involve ordering from random website and delivering via UPS and picking up @ the storeroom out in NE next week?

Shawn

YUM. I love that IHOP is coming.

Why can’t people just enjoy something that is simple, affordable, unpretentious and reliably tasty?

Why does everything always have to be trendy, hip, independent or whatever?

Go IHOP!

G

This is great news for the neighborhood! I think having a 24-hour eatery will mean more people frequenting the area even at night. Probably will become a hang-out for teens, but that’s fine by me.

Side note: Is there another IHOP anywhere in the city besides the new one in Congress Heights? Every time I’ve wanted IHOP, I’ve had to drive out to Alexandria, Silver Spring, or Capitol Heights.

New2CH

OK, still wish we had gotten an OPH (which would have KILLED in this neighborhood), similar prices and menu to IHOP (a tad pricier, but still very affordable), and WORLDS better in terms of quality. On the plus side, if I lived a block from one of those places, I’d pack on 50 extra pounds. Still, overall a positive for the neighborhood. DCUSA is what it is — with the rents they charge and the enormous spaces available, especially in this climate, they are only going to attract (other than Ellwood’s) massive national chain retailers. And that’s not the end of the world, so long as upper 14th, Park Road, 11th, and Georgia all remain essentially local business corridors. Siphon all the chains into DCUSA, there are still tons of vacancies for local business, not the end of the world.

monkeyrotica

With winter just around the corner, it’s about time the performance artists of Hobofest® had a warm, cozy nook where they can enjoy a hot cup of coffee and pancakes before they go on their drunken binges. Huzzah for the shopkeep!

Downtown Jim

The owner of this IHOP has one in the new Giant anchored shopping center on Alabama Ave SE in Ward 8 (that IHOP is now 24 hrs by the way). I am told that he plans to open this one (Columbia Heights) as well as one additional one somewhere else in DC — probably SW.

Anonymous

The big box stores are the economic lifeline of CH, like it or not.
I look forward to independent quality businesses starting up both north and south of DCUSA on 14th St. There’s plenty of room there, and although that cheap breakfast may not be as cheap, there will always be some who prefer it and for whom the extra cost is worth it.
Trouble with IHOP though is that they are always crowded with many people waiting.
That is most unappealing.

Bob

I am torn. I enjoy their signature Rooty Tooty Fresh N’Fruity breakfast. But I also got food poisoning from the College Park location.

z

sure to be a show late night weekends…yikes

Formstone Bar

I’m looking forward to this. Breakfast at the Heights is expensive and there’s always a wait on the weekends and breakfast at the Red Derby isn’t the most appealing since they have a dirty/smelly hipster infestation.

ShermanAveGuy

This is great news. It’s time we started filling up those vacant storefronts in DCUSA. More businesses means more local jobs, more foot traffic, and safety.

An independent business would be cool, but I’m also excited about a pancake house taking the place of an otherwise empty storefront.

asl

The is outstanding news! Once, we got lost trying to find the Alabama Ave. location and ended up in College Park. Come on, insufferables! You’ll still have your Diners, etc. Just a note that not all IHOPS are 24 hours. I suspect this one won’t be.

oldmanclem

I, for one, second what Shawn said.

Anonymous

Im sorry but Ihop is nasty. and I assure you that within one year of it opening it will have that nasty, poorly managed-chain-smell where everything is sticky and smells like dirty bleach.

14th n’ Otis

This is great news. There are plenty of places to get a slow, leisurely, higher end brunch in DC (which I enjoy too). We need a place like this that provides a less expensive breakfast that also starts serving before the usual 11 AM brunch time. Sometime we drive out to the IHOP on route 1 for an early breakfast on the weekends, and, though it is always packed and has a line, they work very efficiently and move people in and out quickly. Sometimes that’s all you want.

Anonymous

What Monkey said. Also. POP. tell me your good news later this week is that Ellwoods has found their financing and will start its buildout in time for me to get an organic fruitcake for christmas. Also. one more thought. wouldnt it be cool if columbia heights put a christmas tree in the new civic plaza. Hey im jewish and I think it would be cool. If we did up the decorations maybe it would attract christmas shoppers. more shops. i dont know. just a thought.

TonyS

LOL @ Bob… food poisoning is all part of the experience!

Anonymous

put simply. if i wanted shitty pancakes and coffee. I’d just stay home and make my own.

Living on Mt P

YESSSSSSS!!

monkeyrotica

Thanks to Jim Graham, DC’s new truth in advertising laws dictate that IHOP will need to re-label their menu items to include a “Rooty, Pooty, Fresh and Explosive Diarrhea-ey Breakfast.” This will in no way affect sales, as it’s still a better deal than Denny’s “Grand Slam IN YOUR PANTS Breakfast.”

I drink CH Kool Aid

i am bit worried about the Girard crew deciding they want pancakes at 2am after getting high, but i gotta believe IHOP will have a healthy police presence at night.

right ihop?

I drink CH Kool Aid

i’m jewish too but i like the xmas tree idea in the plaza.

Josh

When reading about IHOP coming to our neighborhood, we may want to keep in mind the company has been exposed for animal cruelty and food safety issues. Check out this undercover footage taken at IHOP’s egg supplier: http://www.humanesociety.org/ihop

Anonymous

If you’ve ever been to an IHOP in an area with lots of teenagers (I’m thinking of Newport News at the moment, but there are plenty) you’d know that after about 8 pm, they become the local hangout spot, even when they do have security guards. I don’t really have a problem with that, the area teens have nowhere to go, so it makes sense for them to get cheap food and congregate and socialize. I guarantee though that the complaints from this crowd will start pouring in once that starts, just like people complain about gallery place.

Anonymous

yeah you better beleive Graham will have this place well policed. If there is a shooting outside of it at 3 am, and there will be without a cop car parked there round the clock, Graham would have to close his own pet project as he has so many bars who’s patrons have commited acts of violence. Is there anyway we can again petition REI to come to DCUSA. I mean if we are going to have chains can we try and get some with good business practices that are eco minded etc. I think the demographic is perfect for an REI here and it would attract residents from all over the city who dont want to drive out to rockville.

voiceofreason

xmas tree in the plaza will just require the city to spend tons of money on lawsuits. not worth the time or resources.

Anonymous

POP- I’m diggin the Columbia Heights xmas tree idea. Can you dedicate a post to it and get your readers input. The fountain will have to be turned off over the winter anyway so why not place a christmas tree there.

monkeyrotica

An REI is just what the neighborhood needs to attract a higher quality of hobo. One who can afford a GPS tracking system and $300 North Face tent. As for IHOP, I can only hope they cater to the Urban Hobo “lifestyle choice” by replacing their men’s room with a composting treebox. Honestly, if there’s a better place than IHOP for teens to learn the ancient art of loitering from their hobo seniors, I haven’t been in it.

Anonymous

VOR- what if the tree has a big star of david on top and is decorated with Kwanza ornimants?

Rachel

Really, my only beef with this is that it’s not Waffle House.

ShermanAveGuy

I agree. If we just make it a tall pine tree and put lights on it, there should be no problem. It was a pagan symbol before it was a Christian symbol, and now it’s a secular symbol that everyone can enjoy. Let’s do it!

voiceofreason

anon at 10:11 am, while silly, I think if the dc government puts any religious symbols in the public square, they will soon face a costly lawsuit. festive lights are a lot cheaper while the private businesses can put up xmas trees if they want. personally, I don’t think a xmas tree in the plaza is unconstitutional or improper, but that won’t stop the lawsuits.

voiceofreason

REI? Please. stand on the corner of 14th and Irving and count how many people that walk by that are in their market. Yes, CH has gentrified quite a bit over the past several years, but it’s still predominantly a low to middle income neighborhood. REI ain’t coming anywhere near here.

Cardozomite

IHOP FTW! I too like The Heights, but sometimes want a cheap alternative. This will quinch my syrup loving tastebuds. As long as it doesn’t become a hipster hangout, like The Post writer told me Ruby Tuesdays did.

If you want to complain about a chain store, complain about Chipotle… Worst. Burrito. Ever. Question, why can’t I find a good burrito place outside of Texas that uses refried beans?!?

As far as Christmas trees…yes please. PoP, looks like you got a new project.

voiceofreason

I’m all for a xmas tree in the plaza, but do people really want the DC government to have to spend millions of dollars in our tax money defending it, which right or wrong, they will have to do? Seems like we could pick a better battle and use resources more wisely.

Ronnie

Where exactly in the DCUSA complex will the IHOP be located?

Anonymous

VOR- stand outside of DCUSA and count how many people are would be REI shoppers? sure but ill need a few friends to help me out. That would roughly be every single person going to WSC. and every single person going to commonwealth or the heights. every single person living in Highland Park. Most of the people taking the metro to best buy. Most of the hipsters in CH and mount pleasant living in group houses. (Hipsters love camping).

Anonymous

VOR- what about georgetowns tree? is there really no tree on public property?

Oakie

The IHOP idea makes me very leery. I don’t pretend to believe that the teens in this neighborhood are just kids being kids. No, the IHOP with be full of large crews (and I mean that in The Wire sense of the word) shrieking obscenities, drinking openly, trashing the place, and getting into fights. Five bucks says a fight that starts at IHOP will result in a shooting within two blocks of it, in the first six months it’s open.

Anonymous

voiceofreason- I have to ask. do you even live here? have you like. SEEN the people commuting to and fro the CH metro? You know people with jobs and disposable income. lots of them. and thats just the people that live here. rei would attract people from all over. Who would in turn support ellwoods and other shops. Your view of CH seems a little skewed. But I agree in this economic climate rei is a pipe dream

New2CH

I still can’t believe there isn’t a single Japanese / Sushi, Italian (not pizza place that serves a few pastas, an actual sit-down Italian), or Indian restaurant, or non-vegan traditional bakery (that has fresh bread, not just sweet pastries), anywhere in Columbia Heights. If anyone with experience in these businesses and a great business plan posted on this site, I bet they could find a bunch of interested investors.

New2CH

Since when is IHOP a gang hang-out? Those concerns seem a bit overblown to me, unless I am ignorant about some aspect of IHOP culture …

Bob

Is that Ruby Tuesdays really a hipster hangout? I should throw on some skinny jeans and haul ass over there to find a gay beardo boyfriend.

@New2CH: I totally agree…a sushi or Indian joint would be clutch!

Oakie

New2CH, it’s any low-cost food establishment with late hours (or open 24h). Denny’s, diners (real ones, not the yuppie ones like in AM), IHOPs all qualify. Basically anywhere you can sit for hours for the price of one cup of coffee is going to attract the kind of crowd who has nothing better to do than sit for hours. If it’s indoors and centrally located and you can expect to see your people there, all the better.

Anonymous

well I think Oakie is taking it a little far but yeah there are a lot of teens in the neighborng schools and a lot of crews in the area. obviously they arent going to pull up a chair at commonwealth and have a 15 dollar hamburger but Im sure they would welcome a cheap eats place to post up afterschool and latenight.

monkeyrotica

It’s been a common practice of DC crews to eat pancakes after executing rival gang members. It’s one of those “leave the gun, take the cannoli” things that gangstas do. I blame Mario Puzo.

Oakie

Bob: Sorry, “clutch”? Is that a good thing?

Anonymous

I second whoever said that its not such a bad thing for this to be a becon for the disenfranchised youth. Gone are the days they could go to arcades or what have you. Not like I plan on ever going to Ihop anyways. Bleh. Let it be a hangout. If it keeps them off the streets and out of trouble thats just fine by me.

monkeyrotica

Basically anywhere you can sit for hours for the price of one cup of coffee is going to attract the kind of crowd who has nothing better to do than sit for hours.

Which is EXACTLY why Jim Graham needs to sponsor emergency legislation to ban any more Starbucks in DC. The Protection of Widows and Orphans from Caffeine and Comfy Sofas Act of 2009 must be passed, I don’t care how many people have to be killed.

Bob

@ Oakie: Sorry, I meant “good” :-P

1. Clutch: Great, Essential, and Potent rolled into a single word. Clutch is also used to describe something that is done, not something that is.

“Stealing your orange soda was so clutch!”

“Pulling the special move on Jenna was clutch.”

“Trouble in River City”

Reading this thread reminded me that 2003 made for TV production of “The Music Man” was on last night and while Matthew Broderick is definitely no Robert Preston and I will take Barbara Cook over Kristen Chenoweth, it was really a pretty good. But do you remember that song “Pick a little, talk a little, pick a little, talk a little, cheep, cheep, cheep, talk a lot pick a little more…..” where the community is going on about this thing or that, then a beastly woman says “BALZAC” in reference to Marian the librarian reading the French novelist as scandalous. Columbia Heights and small-town Iowa never seemed so alike as they do to me right now. And now “My White Night” is going to be ringing in my head for the rest of the day…. Barbara Cook’s version. Oh and yes, I’m gay.

Isotopor

Prince,
Do you have any verification besides the one attendee at the civic association meeting of whether IHOP has actually signed either a letter of intent or an actual lease? Letters of intent don’t have much legal weight behind them, and though a signed lease is a good indication it’s coming, it’s no guarantee either (eg. Ellwood Thompson’s). I would love to see IHOP in DCUSA, and a statement from either IHOP or DCUSA indicating a timetable would be the most promising.

voiceofreason

Well, anons at 10:29 and 10:37, the people you listed are all the same folks, same group of folks going to each place, you can’t triple or quadruple count them. Generally speaking of course. But seriously, you folks are in denial if you think this is an upper middle class to upper class area economically, which is REI’s market. It’s wishful thinking on your part I think. There are reasons high end stores aren’t flocking to DCUSA, one big reason is the demographics here. If you don’t recognize that, you’re just blinded by hope. The only exception so far is Elwood Thompson and they had to get serious tax breaks to come and they are a bit different since they sell groceries, an item that needs to be bought every week, rather than as a luxury like outdoor equipment. Now, talk to me in ten years, maybe things will be different. Who knows?

“That would roughly be every single person going to WSC. and every single person going to commonwealth or the heights. every single person living in Highland Park. Most of the people taking the metro to best buy. Most of the hipsters in CH and mount pleasant living in group houses. (Hipsters love camping).”

andy

OH, Come unto me, ye gods of suburbia and masters of the major North American chain restaurants!

I am thy master, the yuppie transplant with an advanced degree, disposable income and a house in the city because it shortens the commute and seems edgy!

Oh Starbucks! Oh Chipotle! TARRGETTT!!!! IHOP, you former International House of Pancakes! Come unto me and do my bidding!

Bow unto me and develop my neighborhood and hangout places! Feed me with burritos the size of my head! Outfit me with cheap but satisfactory casual clothing!

Calm the neighborhood crews with your bounteous plates of eggs, bacon and hash browns! Turn my neighborhood into a fit place to raise 2.5 well-fed children!

I COMMAND THEE!!!!

K

Ihop is pretty damn disgusting.

“Trouble in River City”

Is it safe to say the Clutch and Klutz don’t share a common linguistic etymology? Is “linguistic etymology” stylistically redundant? Is “stylistically redundant” also reduntant?

Isotopor

Andy, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

WDC

Anyone seen Mean Girls? The dumb brunette kept trying to coin a new term, “fetch”. “Oh my god, that is SO fetch!” Until the mean blond snapped at her “stop trying to make fetch happen!”

We say that all the time at home, when someone uses some made-up hipster adjective.

Dirty

Do you think someone that owns an IHOP in SE on Alabama Ave isn’t aware of the possibility that punkass kids will try to misbehave in his establishment? Do you think he thinks other patrons of his restaurant are going to continue to support him if it is a reoccurring theme? I believe he will take all the necessary precautions that will permit the desired patronage to enjoy the establishment. This is creating jobs and providing people with a place to consume food (possibly 24 hrs a day). The kind of places that can afford DCUSA are the ones that leverage margin from efficient supply chains. This is a local business owner that pays a franchise fee for the use of a corporations purchasing power and distribution system. For those of you that are unhappy, please open up the business you would rather have, I encourage you.

voiceofreason

Dirty, why I don’t disagree that IHOP management will do what they can to maintain order, that’s not really the point. The point is that for the majority of folks who post on here, whether they admit it or not, once IHOP is constantly full of black teenagers, even if they are orderly, the posters won’t like IHOP anymore. This comment may open up a can of worms, I know, but it is what it is.

As for the “open your own business” argument that comes up here all the time, it’s ridiculous. In DC today, you basically have to be very well off to open a business, the lending/development/political/licensing system is set up in a way to discourage independent, small, start-up businesses, and supports large ownership groups/big chains. That also is what it is.

Dirty

REI’s market is people who enjoy outdoor activities and are willing to allocate their income to fulfill such desires. I’m sure you’ve been to College Park REI, it’s in the richest section of College Park, so you probably didn’t stay long. They put it in CP so all the yuppies from Laurel and Burtonsville would flock to it.

Andy-funny.

Larchie

Bottom line: IHOP is better than an empty storefront. It’s also good to have some non-bar establishments active in the morning too. Would I be more excited if a local entrepreneur felt that the market would support an independent house of pancakes instead of a franchise? Sure. But it’s still a good thing for the area. How many gastropubs do we need anyway?

voiceofreason

Dirty, not to mention college students go camping a lot and have a lot of disposable income, on the whole. Mommy and Daddy’s credit cards do wonders. REI fits there, doesn’t fit here, and I’d love to have them close by, I just recognize reality.

NAB

“In DC today, you basically have to be very well off to open a business, the lending/development/political/licensing system is set up in a way to discourage independent, small, start-up businesses, and supports large ownership groups/big chains.”

Why don’t you divert your efforts and endless capacity to move air to fighting this? I’d support it and it might be a tad more productive than creating racial stray men all day.

voiceofreason

NAB, agreed on most of your post, everything but the straw man thing, the man is real, very real.

Dirty

VOR – independent shoe store on Park Rd. I suspect you don’t have the appetite for the risk and you convince yourself the deck is stacked against you because it’s convenient to sit behind your desk at your NPO and feel good about yourself for making a difference but complain about everyone else for doing their own thing. Enlighten me, what business do you want to open?

voiceofreason

Dirty, I’m not a businessman, don’t want to open any business. But I know there are plenty of entrepreneurs out there that would take the risk if it was more manageable and available. Kudos to the shoe store, I have no idea about her economic background.

Dirty

VOR – approximately what percent of UMD would you say is comprised of “rich college kids that go camping”

voiceofreason

Dirty, I have no idea, but the median income in College Park is more than 80k a year, more than twice what it is here.

Dirty

Who are these entrepreneurs? What kind of businesses are they in? Where are they located? Who makes up their customer base? Why do they want to come CH?

SingLikeSassy

Black, brown, beige — I don’t care what color the kids are, if they’re sitting up in the booths nursing a coke for two hours and my (very skinny) husband can’t get his gargantuan spinach and tomato omelet with a side of buttermilk flapjacks, it’s gonna be on.

asl

Well, VOR, you’ve cracked our code. You’re right, what a majority here want to avoid are places where they’re a lot of black kids, regardless of how orderly they are. No can of worms here. You’ve nailed it!

voiceofreason

asl, appreciate your sarcasm, but seriously, if IHOP becomes a teen hangout, which it could likely become, will the yuppies on here still go? generally speaking? be honest.

Dirty

Rich college kids that go shopping on their parent’s credit card don’t show up in the census unless their parents live in CP. As for the median income in CP, it must be full of college professors that like to go camping.

Nuggets

There’s only one certainty in PoP discourse these days, the hipster slam. Wait, maybe that could be a breakfast combo at IHOP?

Mr. T in DC

@”voice of reason”, please post using your usual name, DCDireWolf, not a new, made-up one. Are you trying to make it sound like you have plenty of allies with exactly the same beliefs? Consistency is important, unless you like playing the troll on every post.

JW

I actually would love to open up a business in the Petworth/CH area. However, I can’t for the live of me think of anything that 1) i am interested in and 2) isn’t bar/food/restaurant that would ever make it in this neighborhood.

I could be wrong but I think rent vs. foot traffic makes it prohibitive for retail (especially in Petworth).

It could also be that I over think myself out of doing anything.

saf

“will the yuppies on here still go”

I suppose I am a yuppie (although I am neither young nor upwardly mobile. I’m just a middle-aged white chick.)

I don’t like IHOP and won’t go to begin with. So, there’s your first data point.

asl

I supposed it’s fair to call a few places hipster, if you want to do so. Like the Wonderland, Derby and just a few others. But most places are just places people go to. That’s why that inane Post piece a few months was so annoying. Target and Ruby Tuesday’s are just places some people go to.

“Trouble in River City”

Didn’t anyone else see “Music Man”?

rosenrosen

After 80+ comments from experts on just about every single conceivable thing, it’s truly shocking – SHOCKING! – that nobody has chimed in with a comment about how ihop’s blue roof will interfere with the prevailing Columbia Heights architectural aesthetic.

ShermanAveGuy

@JW: Can you open a place that I can get my hair cut? I’m tired of having to trek to Dupont Circle. I’m thinking something like VSL on Connecticut. I think a place like that would do very well since there isn’t really anywhere else in the area to go.

MnomeNa

I agree with VOR– REI would not fare well in our neighborhood. People throughout the city might metro over and shop there because of its close proximity, but area neighborhood folk wouldn’t have much use for it because 1) it’s expensive. 2) it’s primarily a camping supply store–can you think of any people in our neighborhood (no, hipsters don’t count) who go camping frequently enough to buy $300 or $400 tents, etc? Didn’t think so.

In regards to an IHOP, I think that it is great news! Inexpensive breakfast food for dinner? Yes, please!

“Trouble in River City”

ASL, Do you realize that you have a 50-75% rate of sentences ending with a dangling verb or preposition. That’s impressive!

voiceofreason

ShermanAveGuy, there is a very good, cheap hair cut place on Park, a few doors down from the Pho place. I forget the name, it’s Salvadoran owned, they give good cuts for like 12 bucks.

asl

Yeah, you’re right, Trouble. Good catch.

ShermanAveGuy

Thanks, VOR. I’ll check it out. Tell them they need to advertise!!!

voiceofraisin

Do Salvadorans have white people hair? Is it 12 bucks or is it like 12 bucks? Does that include shampoo? Is it a sanitary environment?

Nichole

I have never once gone to DCUSA but if REI came, I would. While I sadly agree that seems unlikely (more because we have 4 in the area – even if they are in the burbs), it would definitely draw people from other parts of the city that wouldn’t normally go to DCUSA.

Anonymous

“Is it a sanitary environment?”

Seriously? Would you have asked that question if it wasn’t Salvadorian owned?

JW

@ShermanAveGuy – Sorry, no hair cutting skills.

Also, an IHOP came in about 5 blocks from our apartment Harlem. It was also about 6 blocks from 2 major projects and I never really noticed teenagers hanging out in the IHOP. It was, however, totally packed on Sat./Sun mornings. If you didn’t get there before say 8:30 AM you were guaranteed a long wait. Although, there was absolutely nowhere else to eat in that area so that could be why it was so packed.

We went a few times after it first opened but after crappy service a couple of times we swore off IHOP for life. I haven’t stepped foot in one since probably 2005.

Dirty

According to this, within a mile of DCUSA median income is $66k in 2006.

http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/02/25/story5.html

Dirty

is/was

voiceofraisin

Anonymous I always ask that question.

By the way, is it Salvadoran or Salvadorian? We don’t say Puerto Rician or Cubian or Guatamalian so why would you say Salvadorian? We do say Argentinian though. I wonder what the rule is, or if there is a rule. Anyone know? Anyone Care?

ShermanAveGuy

Actually, I believe the correct term is Salvadoreño.

voiceofraisin

That’s beautiful ShermanAveGuy – Thank you.

cookietime420

I’m going to go with my stock answer: IHOP is better than the rubble-strewn, scary, empty, nasty-ass, crap that it’s replacing. I’ll take it.

rg

I will give you a buzzcut in my garage for $10. If you are a hippie/hipster I will give you a buzzcut for free, but i get to punch you in face if you start being pretension and claiming other peoples ideas as your own.

//IHOP, who gives a skit about an ihop?I try not to eat food cooked by fellons.

rg

dangnabbit pretension should be pretentious. stupid private education..

reflexive

i thought the reason diners were open 24 hours WAS so teens could hang out and get a little rowdy.
i think its cool that ihop will move in there.
also the diner is adams morgan is a fine and very real place. i cant believe someone said it wasn’t, but denny’s was. please. yuppies are hard working people too.

yet no one has mentioned amphora or plato’s diners. two very awesome establishments, though sadly quite a hike.

voiceofraisin

Well then RG – Martha Stewart’s cook books are out of the question and this really does limit your dining out options.

Is it okay if the felon just does the food prep and a chef with a clean rap sheet takes it from there? I think it’s spelled dagnabbit, stupid private education indeed – whatever that means.

Isotopor

Plato’s Diner is the best diner I have ever been to. Many fond college memories. I still make the trek out there occasionally because I haven’t found comparable diner food in the area.

This is for VOR

Good theory… http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2009/10/12/daily31.html

Geezer

Dirty,

“Laurel and Burtonsville yuppies”? Have U ever been to Laurel or Burtonsville?

And, I call BS on the $80K/ yr. avg salary in the area around the College Park REI. Show me the money.

Dirty

Geezer – take a deep breath old fella… they really need a sarcasm font…

The $80k is household median… again the sarcasm was about the immediate area around REI in CP also. A lot of professors actually live in the neighborhood south of knox rd. $80k makes sense. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_park_md

Marcus Aurelius

“Basically anywhere you can sit for hours for the price of one cup of coffee is going to attract the kind of crowd who has nothing better to do than sit for hours.”
—————————-
You mean like all of those losers who hang out at Tryst and other coffee shops in DC, nursing a single cup of coffee for hours while they suck up the free or low cost wireless access?

voiceofreason

That CNN story is highly suspect. It’s counting small business by number of employees, not by whether it’s an independent business. For example, Best Buy would count as a small business under the criteria used by the article.

Mr. T in DC

Give it up, voiceofreason, just let it go already. Small business is small business, and by whatever criteria, the article indicates DC is at the top of the pile. Are not Room 11, Wonderland, Meridian Pint, Red Rocks, CH Coffee, Tynan, Sticky Fingers, Moroni Brothers, Taqueria DF, all small, locally owned businesses?

voiceofreason

Somehow a handful of eatery/drinking places makes a city a mecca for small businesses?

I feel like many of you haven’t lived in other cities, or even visited them. Or are just too defensive about DC out of hometown pride. DC opens chains, and bars/restaurants. That’s pretty much it, with a few exceptions. There’s no foot traffic in some of these places because why would anyone walk there? There’s nothing to even look at, let alone buy. People come for dinner and drinks, and that’s it. Unless they are going to the Mall (DCUSA).

Dan

IHOP will probably be nice for people with kids–many DC restaurants don’t even have high chairs. Notwithstanding local is superior to chains sentiment, the local shops tend to be anti-kid, and tend to the hipster demographic. I love hipsters, but families seem like a necessary if you want a real community.

Dirty

Do you really frequent areas of other cities that were devastated by the ’68 riots? Please provide a list of those particular neighborhoods which were devastated then and are vibrant now?

voiceofreason

Dirty, just about every city in the country had a race riot in the 1960’s: Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, Detroit, and yes DC.

Using the riot as an excuse is old, tired, and doesn’t fly.

Dirty

Why I even waste my time with you… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots

South Side Chicago and Baltimore are glowing examples of vibrancy… the parts of these cities that went untouched are still full of the businesses that existed prior to the riots… in DC, massive divestment in 3/4 of the city, obviously the Federal government isn’t going to pack up and move, but nearly everyone else that could, did. Are the before and after pictures of just 6 years ago not telling enough? Can you really not grasp what these neighborhood’s looked like for the 30 years prior to the arrival of the metro? Yet you still expect for old homegrown businesses to be thriving.

Anonymous

dan,
local business tend toward hipster demographic? whaaaat? think about that good and hard for a while and realize how wrong that is.

i’ll start you off with an easy rebuttal…. nail salons. you think of some more.

Petworth Newbie

I gotta agree that the hipster/disposable income demographic is NOT as strong in CH as, well, a fellow hipster AND homeowner would like it to be. For every 1 hipster reluctantly taking their brunch at the Heights (because it’s not quite hip enough) there are 10 non-hipsters waiting for the 52 bus.

Petworth Newbie

There’s an IHOP just over the MD border up Rhode island Avenue in Cottage City (Mount Rainer) at the intersection of 38th & Bladensburg Road. It’s got the worst service on earth (can you interrupt your argument long enough to bring us some menus? Also, there are dead flies in the syrup) The lines at the IHOP in Arlington were blocks long on Sunday morning, back in the days when the only places to go in Clarendon were Rarotonga and Whitey’s (’91?)

Call me Grammar Fag*

Trouble in River City,

The POP comments section is not nearly good enough for your stellar references to musical theatre, linguistic etymology, and sentence structure.

Given that you made me snort multiple times in one comment thread, I’d say you deserve a POP t shirt.

*I’m gay; I can call myself that.

weltschmertz

Sherman Ave, try Oasis Salon (men,s and women’s hair cuts) in the 1300 block of Park Rd opposite the Giant, locally owned, independent . It is next to El Rinconcito – the very first sit down restaurant in CH in 30 years. There is also, I think, still another salon in the 1400 block of Park, one of the upstairs shops. Seems like you may not stray off 14th Street.
CH is more bougie than hip. Unless its hip to be afraid of teenagers.

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