Thanks to all the readers who wrote that Nori’s on 14th and Park has been closed for a while. Indeed it was closed when I stopped by this weekend. I haven’t been able to contact the owner yet but I’ll be sure to update with details if they arise. It’s a bit sad since they’ve only been open since October and before that were Mayorga Lounge. Well, I hope whoever moves in next is able to creatively use the odd configuration inside.
photo by M.V. Jantzen
Thanks to a reader for sending:
“I wanted to alert you to what the police activity was about this afternoon around 2:45 p.m. in the Target Mall in Columbia Heights.
I caught a guy opening lockers with bolt cutters in the men’s lockerroom. I had seen him when I was changing and he was looking very shifty and had bolt cutters. The staff there has a pair in case people can’t open their locks, but in this case there was no staff member present. After locking my stuff in a locker with my padlock, I went out and stretched for a few minutes. I couldn’t get the weirdness of the guy out of my mind so I decided to go back and get my wallet and phone to put in the little key lockers they have near the refreshment stand.
When I went back the man was still there and fiddling with his black messenger bag. I immediately noticed that my lock was no longer on the locker and had been replaced with another one. I stopped the guy and said, “Hey you took things from lockers, didn’t you. Let me look in your bag.” He said no. Then he told me to leave him alone and stop bothering him. Then I grabbed at the bag, and he pushed me away and there was a scuffle. Something fell out of his bag and the guy seemed really worried. He pushed me away and ran off. I told the towel attendant to stop him, and he did nothing. I chased the thief as he was leaving and shouted, “This man is a thief, he has stolen people’s wallets from the locker room.” Again the WSC staff couldn’t have been more bored. The young woman at the reception desk let him go out. I chased him out, still calling “THIEF” and an off-duty metro policeman, bless his heart, chased the guy, who by this time was running. I went to the landing to shout to the security guy at the front door of the mall, “Stop that man in the white shirt and black pants, and demand to look in his bag. He has robbed me and others.” The security person saw who I was referring to but did nothing. The thief ran out the door.
Fortunately the off duty Metro transit cop chased after him and tackled him to the ground, which I did not see or know about for a while. I was busy trying to find out who the person was, i.e. if his ID had been checked (of course it hadn’t) on entering. I went out trying to find head or tail of the guy but of course he was nowhere to be found.
Later the off-duty policeman came and said they’d caught him and that he was in custody, and that they’d found two wallets (later brought down to one: mine) and a pair of bolt cutters in his possession. At that point I realized that during the scuffle in the lockerroom had dropped the bag containing my computer and phone. Fortunately it was still where he had dropped it.
What I found most appalling was the fact that a) WSC staff are not doing ID checks on people going into the lockerrooms or entering the gym b) the staff seemed a little blase about the incident, and seemed to think this was an all’s well that end’s well affair c) the supposed “Security” people at the door of the mall are just there for decoration. I gave 30 seconds advance notice, shouting, of the thief’s approach, and security did everything but hold the door for him d) off-duty cops can be very brave and e) the MPD’s protocol for taking notes and filing reports appears, for now, efficient. The thief is to be charged with Theft (1) “if the case goes forward.”
Anyway, sorry if this is too much information but I thought your readers might want an explanation of what went down, particularly since I was yelling Thief! from the landing.”
Support Bloombars. From an email:
“On Thursday, July 2nd, “Friends of BloomBars” will host a fundraiser at 1212 Lamont St. NW from 6:30 – 9:30 pm. Your thoughtful and generous contributions will help open the doors to array of arts and community-based programming. Checks can be made payable to: BloomBars, LLC. Give what you can. Suggested Donation: $25-75. If you are not able to attend but wish to give, please send checks to 3222 11th Street, Washington, DC 20010. Thank you.
The party goes on at BloomBars starting at 9:30pm. Meet and experience Artist in Bloom residents and other amazing talent in bloom!”
And another worthy cause. From an email:
Get Involved in Your Neighborhood!
Join the Neighboring Initiative!
Team up with fellow residents of Petworth and Columbia Heights at the following events to create sustainable activity in neighborhoods! Join Greater DC Cares in its goal to reach every resident of these areas, and motivate them to become active participants of their own communities. If you would like to learn more about or attend one of these events, email Meghan at [email protected]. Continues after the jump. (more…)
Back in mid June I mentioned Pete’s Apizza was going to start delivery soon. Well, soon is July 7th. Very good news!
From an email:
“Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza will start delivering on Tuesday, July 7, at 5PM. Delivery hours will be from 5 to close (10PM Sunday through Thursday, 11PM Friday and Saturday).
Delivery area will be limited for an initial period while the store gets acclimated to the pace and scope of deliveries. We plan to start off with the following boundaries:
16th Street to the west
Upshur Street to the north
Georgia Avenue to New Hampshire Avenue to Sherman Avenue to the east
U Street to the south.
Depending on the situation, we are reserving the right to limit delivery area further, if we find during our initial break-in period that we are having difficulty maintaining delivery times and customer satisfaction. This is the first time we have offered the service, so we are not sure how long it will take to get acclimated to a whole new system. Every driver on day one will be on their first day on the job, week one, first week on the job, etc. Hopefully, it will launch smoothly, but it is a new venture.
After the initial period, it is our hope to extend the delivery area further into Petworth, since we get a lot of in-store customers from Petworth, and Joel and Alicia, two of the co-owners, live in the neighborhood.
Because we are a restaurant first and foremost, and not primarily a delivery place, we will be charging $3 per address for delivery.
Anyone up there have a really nice little crap car they want to sell for $400 or so? I’ve been looking at older Saturns, Corollas, Sentras and Civics. I delivered pizza all through high school and a couple summers in college. I might be doing it again! But I won’t kill my trusty old Volvo wagon doing it.”
This home is located at 1112 Monroe Street, NW:
The flier says:
“Beautifully restored home mixes wonderful original details w/ modern conveniences. Wide-open floorplan boasts orig hrdwd flrs, mantel, moldings, with new kitchens and baths. Granite, stainless steel, maple cabinets, travertine. The basement has great ceiling height and includes an in-law suite complete with a large bedroom, kitchenette, living room, windows, walk-out. Parking, deck!”
More info and a virtual tour found here.
The house itself is pretty sweet. What I’m curious is what you think about being across the street from the little park at the corner of 11th and Monroe? It is sometimes filled with men drinking and loitering. Though sometimes it’s filled with children and I know certain residents coordinate bringing their kids to the playground. And who knows what this park will look like in 5 years? Do you think the park should be a factor in the price? Anyway, what do you think of the house itself? Does $574,900 sound reasonable?
The vegetable garden at the Girard Street Park (a bit west of 14th Street) is looking good:
They even had some cool sculptures made out of old cans:
I’m wondering if this is a residence or maybe a religious headquarters. I just noticed that a cross was placed on what seems like a newly refurbished sorta balcony up top. It’s located at 13th and Euclid and is for sure a great structure whether it’s residential or not.
I love this shot from Bogotron titled, “The Vendor” taken on 14th Street in Columbia Heights.
Submit your photos via email or to the PoPville flickr pool here.
“Dear PoP,
Does this count as a reader-suggested Good Deal or Not?? I think it’s a great deal at that price! That’s barely the price of a new iPhone and a weekly Chipotle burrito!!
I’m kidding, of course. A friend collects old magazine/news ads and found this one at a show this weekend. It’s from 105 years ago — an Evening Star ad for sales of housing (58 units total) in the area around Harvard between 7th and 11th Streets. Probably might be of interest to some of your readers, and it would be cool to find out if this model home still stands at 726 Dearborn Street, see how it’s held up all these years.”
Very cool.
There’s was lots of scuttlebutt about this place located on 11th Street between Monroe and Park Streets NW. First we heard it was going to become a furniture store and then a tapas restaurant. Well it turns out it will become a restaurant. The alcohol application says it will become a new tavern with American fare. There will be a 75 person occupancy with a possible sidewalk cafe and perhaps a DJ at times. The trade name is Local 11.
I’d be pretty psyched about the sidewalk cafe. What do you guys think – sounds good?
