Columbia Heights

New Ethiopian Coffee Bar Coming to Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

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14th and Otis Street, NW

Thanks to a few readers for sending word about the new corner grocery store at the corner of 14th and Oak St, NW:

“There seems to be a fairly extensive small grocery/convenience store going in the corner space of the apartments at 14th and Oak. Everything but the fresh merchandise is on the shelves, but I always pass by it too late to catch anyone working in there. There are some fairly large bottles of olive oil on the front shelves, which makes me lean more towards thinking it’s a grocery store rather than a 7-11 sort of operation.”

The reader later found out the folks from Black Lion (14th and Otis, St, NW) have opened up this new spot called Columbia Heights Food Market. I stopped by on Sunday and was told they just opened up and are continuing to stock their shelves. The owner tells me that Black Lion will stay open for another month or so and then will close for renovations when it will be reopened as a new Ethiopian coffee bar. Updates when they get closer to opening.

Columbia Heights Food Market is located right next to George’s Shoe Repair:

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14th and Oak Street, NW

A Painfully Sad Photo – Yellow Lab Found in Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Dear PoPville,

A female golden lab was found in Columbia Heights tonight around Kenyon and Lamont. She was clearly lost (running in the street then hiding under cars) and the Washington Humane took her back to their shelter at 9pm tonight. She is very sweet and clearly someone’s pet. She has a pink collar on (see photo) but no tags.

The dog will be held at the Georgia Avenue Adoption Center at 7319 Georgia Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20012. They can be reached at 202-723-5730”

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Wed. Afternoon Rental Option – Columbia Heights

By Prince Of Petworth

1210 Girard Street Northwest

This rental is located at 1210 Girard Street, Northwest:

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The listing says:

“Spectacular, Sunny, Victorian Townhouse with a contemporary flair, ready to move-in! Remodeled; updated bathrooms, kitchen, new windows, freshly painted! Romantic fenced yard with patio and gardens, great for entertainment! For your convenience private parking for two cars in the back yard/alley! Beautiful front entrance with gardens! Security door! Foyer, formal Living room and Dining room.”

You can see more photos here.

This 4 bed/2.5 bath is going for $4,000/Mo.

Props to the Cops – Armed Carjacking Arrest

By Prince Of Petworth

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Around 6:15pm I got a series of emails and tweets. @Sandi tweeted:

“15+ cop cars just sped past @TheWonderlandDC going north. Know what’s happening?”

Update from MPD:

“At approximately 610 pm a citizen was carjacked by an unidentified male displaying a gun at Georgia Avenue and Harvard. Minutes later, a 3d officer got behind the vehicle taken and a short pursuit began. Additional officers were able to respond to the area and the pursuit ended in the 1500 block of Ogden Street with the arrest of the wanted subject and a recovery of the car and handgun believed to have been used in the crime.. There were no injuries to anyone and as a result of the great actions of the officers and civilian witnesses, tonight we have one less criminal on the streets. Thank you…..”

Motorcycle Troubles – Arson, Vandalism and Theft

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Dear PoPville,

Two weeks ago around 3am Sunday morning somebody torched my Kawasaki Ninja 500 motorcycle, parked over by the old Italian embassy at 16th and Fuller. It was a 20+ year old beater I’d been repairing, covered with a tarp, so maybe someone was ticked off that they took a risk uncovering it only to find I had the tank, seat, and carb off that week.

Cops came out, CSI took some pics; they were pretty impressed because you don’t see a lot of motorcycle arson in DC, more just theft. The officer admitted there wasn’t really anything to be done about it, but gave me the case number for insurance. I had Comprehensive through Geico with a $500 deductible because most companies don’t want to ensure motorbikes in DC. Go figure.

Even with the deductible I still came out for around what I paid for it, the only problem is I still want to have a motorcycle, but not really inclined to just park it on the street again. In 18 months in DC I’ve had a Honda 250 Nighthawk stolen, the Ninja was knocked over twice while parked on the curb (not sure if vandals or just careless parkers) breaking off a lever here and a mirror there. And just a month before the arson someone stole the $30 cover off my motorcycle (for kicks? for $5 of crack?) so my current one was bike-cabled to the frame.

Anyone have a better idea of how to secure a motorbike in Columbia Heights? Is there any parking garage that rents space out that has a small section for bikes? Any way to find out who’s got spare garage space? Or should I just get the cheapest dual sport (street-legal dirtbike) I can and just chain it to a post or railing on the sidewalk or alley like the Vespas and mopeds do? It’s just frustrating that short of paying sky-high rent to move into a new yuppie fortress with underground parking, having a bike in DC requires a willingness to just shrug off vandalism and theft. Bikeshare still rocks though.”

Dog Found at 13th and Spring Road, NW

By Prince Of Petworth

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“Can you see if anyone in the community knows this dog? Ill be holding on to him for a few hours but will need to take him to animal rescue tonight as we already have our own pooch. Thanks! maddenlp21(at)gmail(at)com”

Columbia Heights PSA

By Prince Of Petworth

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Photo by PoPville flickr user ep_jhu

“Dear PoPville,

This is probably nothing, but just in case it’s something: I live in Columbia Heights, near the corner of 13th and Columbia Road. When I came home yesterday afternoon and was walking up my steps to my shared rowhouse, a middle-aged man came out of the vestibule, which we keep unlocked. When I said hello, he said “Just dropping off some cards, looking for work,” and then walked off pretty quickly. But when I went into the vestibule myself, there were no cards.

Our inner door was locked just fine, and when I walked inside I noticed some valuables were visible from the front window.

Anyway, probably nothing, but I thought it was weird that he didn’t leave any cards, and didn’t try to talk to me about the kind of work he was looking for. I think it’s possible he was “casing” our house. Wondering if anyone else in the neighborhood has noticed anything similar, and definitely advise everyone to keep their valuables locked up/out of view.”

Update on “Attempted attack on my wife and I on Friday at about 5:30 PM on 14th and Park”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user rosiedawn

Yesterday we learned about the troubling incident:

“Attempted attack on my wife and I on Friday at about 5:30 PM on 14th and Park” MPD reached out and here is an update from the reader:

” So I’ve spoken with several different officers including supervisors tonight.

They’ve all been very responsive to the issues at hand and know who this individual is. They did canvas the area looking for him and showed me his photo which I confirmed that it was him.

They are going to also deal with my concerns regarding the officers I dealt with on Friday and Saturday.

I can wholeheartedly say that everyone I’ve spoken with tonight has been fantastic. And it’s definitely been genuine concern. All the way down to the thoroughness of making sure I identified the right “suspect” via a photograph they had.

While I don’t feel it should take a blog post with 100+ comments and several tweets to influential officials to get some action taken, I do commend MPD for responding extremely quickly and going beyond what they probably had to do with me tonight. I think that speaks volumes about their concern, and I only hope that it makes an impact on how they handle certain things going forward. If not, then this was all for nothing.

All supervisors who I spoke with tonight seemed adamant about correcting the issues with these officers and felt genuinely bad about the experience I had.

As far as this “suspect”: if you do see him and feel he is a threat to you or others, please call 911, state he may be mentally ill and a risk to you or himself and ask for a supervisor to be sent to his location to speak to him in order to assess the situation and the individual. It is clear that he’s on the radar of many of the officers in the 3rd district (especially now) so I feel confident that they will be responsive to any calls about him.”

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