Tenleytown

Guapo’s Moving to former Firelake Grill (Ruby Tuesdays) space on Wisconsin

By Prince Of Petworth

guapos
4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Big Wisconsin Ave news from The Northwest Current – Guapo’s is moving from near the Tenleytown metro to the former Firelake Grill space which has been closed since July 2014 (and was Ruby Tuesdays before that.) The Current reports that Guapo’s had been in their old location for 26 years but “by the end of this year” will be moving down to 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Some folks I spoke with had hopes and dreams of a Meridian Pint type brewpub coming to the space – but good to see the space finally being filled. You can see Guapo’s menu here. For fans how do you rank Guapo’s versus Cactus Cantina a few block south at Macomb?

City Bikes closing on Capitol Hill and coming to Tenleytown

By Prince Of Petworth

5466351106_ff4fa1537f_z
old photo of 707 8th Street, SE by PoPville flickr user BrennaLM

From a press release:

“After 5 wonderful years on Capitol Hill and Barrack’s Row at 709 8th Street SE, City Bikes is moving to Tenleytown at 4810 Wisconsin Avenue NW. The shop will close its doors at 6pm on Sunday, March 27th.

City Bikes would have liked to continue serving the Capitol Hill community, however the existing space was a bit cramped. “We just love the neighborhood and people, and cherish the enduring relationships we built there, but both the indoor and outdoor space is our smallest of all the shops, limiting what models and sizes we need to show to really delight our clients” says Saul Leiken, City Bikes’ General Manager. “The shop performed well for it’s size, with sales increasing over 30% in 2016 over last year,” he added, “we were just getting too big for what the space offered.”

The shop will now move to its much larger upcoming Tenleytown location, which was originally planned as an expansion of the City Bikes brand. Leiken says City Bikes’ “lease on Capitol Hill is up at the end of March, and we had hoped to sign an extension up until just this last week, at more favorable terms given the limitations, to allow us to continue to serve the Hill’s biking community. Unfortunately, we were unable to come to terms on a lease extension, and our landlord informed us earlier this week that we had to vacate the building by the end of the month. We would much prefer a longer goodbye to the neighborhood and to our beloved clients, and encourage HIll bikers to visit us at our other locations in DC and Maryland.”

and

“City Bikes is thrilled to announce its newest location in Tenleytown, DC! Perched atop one of Washington, DC’s greatest hills near Fort Reno, City Bikes will open a beautiful new bicycle store to serve the residents of Upper Northwest now that the beloved Hudson Trail Outfitters has closed its doors. City Bikes’ traditional bike shop will be on the north end of the old Ourisman Volkswagen dealership, and DC’s largest electric bicycle dealership, ElectriCityBikes, will be on the south end. The stores plan to open in Tenleytown by the end of March, with a grand opening planned for mid-­April. (more…)

“I’m saddened that someone would feel they had to “warn” me to reconsider feeding my son in front of other children”

By Prince Of Petworth

tenley-library
4450 Wisconsin Ave, NW

Ed. Note: I’ve no doubt this incident will evoke a passionate response. I just ask that folks please be respectful in doing so. You can say what you wish without insulting the OP or the library staff. Thank you.

“Dear PoPville,

Yesterday at about 330 pm I was sitting in the children’s section of the DC Public Library Branch in Tenleytown next to a shelf of board books for small children. I was nursing my son, as I have several times before there, and reading a book as he was starting to fall asleep.

A woman, who later identified herself as a library assistant, came over to me and said she wanted to “warn” me that “adolescent boys were on their way to the library since school was getting out”, and they were “not used to seeing women breast feed and might make fun of you.” She added that I might want to consider this while I was breastfeeding my son in the library.

I was completely stunned. I remained seated, and continued to nurse my son. I stated that I had the right to feed him in the library, and said I was shocked by these unsolicited comments, and would be posting about this online. She said “Why would you want to do a thing like that?” and began to raise her voice. She stated she would have to file “an incident report”. I asked for her name, and she thrust her identity card out and said her name, and then said “You can even talk to my supervisor, but she’s not here today. Why don’t you just take this to the Director of the Library?” I stated that I had a right to breastfeed in the library and that this was feeling very confrontational. She began to raise her voice, and repeatedly said “this is not a confrontation” and “I never said you can’t breastfeed here.”

I’m saddened that someone would feel they had to “warn” me to reconsider feeding my son in front of other children. I continued to feed my son and remained with him asleep in my arms at the library for another 30 minutes. Many kids, families, and yes – adolescents! came by, and not one person said a word.

There are several things that are confusing to me about her “concern”: (more…)

Another Big Time Development coming to Tenleytown “UIP plans to invest $75 million”

By Prince Of Petworth

wamu_building
4000 Brandywine St, NW

From a press release:

“Urban Investment Partners (UIP) of Washington DC has acquired three class C office buildings in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, DC from American University (AU). The portfolio, including the longtime home of National Public Radio affiliate WAMU, traded for $45 million.

UIP plans to invest $75 million in order to gut-renovate the Brandywine and Wisconsin Avenue buildings, creating residential apartments, all within a block of the Tenleytown-AU Metro station on the Red Line and with an abundance of underground parking. The properties are: (more…)

Report of a Student Stabbed at Wilson High School

By Prince Of Petworth

wilson
via google maps

Alan Henney tweets just before 4pm:

“WILSON HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT STABBED- 4500 blk 40th St NW-DC. BOLO for 2 teens fled area.”

Update from Alert DC:

“Alert:Stabbing at 1536 hrs in the 4500 block of 40th Street NW. Lookout for: 2 Hispanic /Males, 16-17 years of age, Suspect (1) light complexion, 5’6″ to 5’7″ tall, 120 pounds, wearing black/green jacket, Suspect (2) light complexion, 130-140 pounds.
DO NOT TAKE ACTION CALL 911 W/ EVENT # I20160037962
Sent to 2nd District (PSA 201-208) Alert DC
Sent by MPD Cad # 5279”

“I consider myself to be a relatively aware pedestrian and I was pretty blind-sided by this issue”

By Prince Of Petworth

pedestrian

“Dear PoPville,

I just wanted to write about a kind of scary moment I had earlier as a pedestrian in DC. I was walking along Wisconsin Ave this afternoon and came to a side street that I wanted to cross. I looked ahead and saw a don’t cross sign, I looked to my left and saw a long line of cars that were stopped, and then looked back at the sign and it said walk, so I walked. In the middle of crossing I looked to the traffic light on my right and saw that it was green- basically I’d just stepped off the curb in front of a line of cars that had a green light.

When I looked at the signals more closely I realized that the box for Wisconsin Ave had been turned/blown by the wind almost completely 90 degrees, so there were two signals for the side street and I had been looking at the wrong one when I crossed. I have seen these boxes swiveled off their center on more than a few occasions, but never with this result, and out of mostly laziness I have never done anything about it.

This time I immediately called 311 and reported it- the whole call took about 30 seconds, and someone from the traffic department said she’d send a contractor out. I consider myself to be a relatively aware pedestrian and I was pretty blind-sided by this issue. I will call and report these issues every time I see them now, and I urge others to do the same. Be careful at intersection of Wisconsin and Van Ness NW right now particularly!”

Chick Fil A, Beefsteak, Bourbon Coffee and now District Taco coming to Tenleytown too

By Prince Of Petworth

tenley_view_rendering
rendering of 4600 Wisconsin Avenue, NW at Brandywine

Tenleytown continues to dominate the fast casual food market. Yesterday the Washington Post had a great profile on the founder of District Taco and towards the end revealed this little tidbit:

“Next up are restaurants in Skyline and Tenleytown.”

I emailed Osiris and he tells me that if all goes well the Tenleytown location should be open in 5-6 months!! And it’s coming to Wisconsin Ave and Brandywine St in the brand new Tenley View development.

You can see District Taco’s menu here. Updates as they get closer to opening.

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