Greatest photo I’ve seen. A bit weather damaged but located with great pride outside a shop on Georgia Ave. (Presumably the guy on the right is the store’s proprietor.)
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bodega
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The City Paper tipped me off to this fire but they were thin on details so I did some investigating on my own. I cruised by yesterday and talked to a bunch of neighbors to see if I could piece together what happened. There are some facts and some speculation. First the facts. This fire took place late Friday evening (technically Saturday morning at around 2:30am). It took the fire department over an hour to get in because they had to file away the metal bars that surround the store. The store is pretty much a total loss.
Speculation. It appears that the owners lease the store so it wouldn’t make sense that the owners started it on their own. There has been trouble in this store in the past (most recently someone was chased inside and shot around a year and a half ago). So there was some speculation that it could have been set by some unsavory characters. That doesn’t seem likely as an eyewitness told me it appeared the fire was coming from the inside and not the outside. Additionally I’m told there were a number of old electrical coolers that could have malfunctioned so it seem quite possible it was simply an electrical fire.
I’m thankful that noone was injured. I’m supposed to get some photos of the fire in action and I’ll post when I get them. If you have any photos of the fire in action please send to me. I hope the store was properly insured so that they can rebuild soon. I guess I’m a little thin on details too…
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It cracked me up when I saw St. Ides 40s next to bottled water. Have I mentioned my love of bodegas before?
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It’s going to be a very sad time when all of these old school signs are replaced with crap banners. In the meantime they may be a little worse for wear but let us not take them for granted. There should be a city grant program that restores these beauts.
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I was overjoyed back in April when I wrote about Family Foods Market removing their security partition. I nearly cried when I walked in on Friday and saw the security partition had returned. I spoke with one of the cashiers and she couldn’t exactly explain why the partition returned. She said something about the customers telling her that it should return but I find that very hard to believe. She did mention that there are some kids that throw things and such when they get angry which is very unsettling. But I’m so sad that they didn’t feel safe enough to keep the partition removed. I’m sure if I had to walk a mile in their shoes I’d feel differently. I’m just saying that was like a super tease, removing it for a month and then putting it back up. Damn!
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It is amazing how much better these bodegas look without the bullet proof glass. Pictured here is Bisrat Mekuria, owner of the Family Foods Market, located on New Hampshire Ave., right across the street from the Petworth metro. I give him mad props for having the courage to take down the bullet proof glass. I’m totally stoked. It feels so much more human. I wish him much safety and success.
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I’ve seen signs for ice cold beer sure. But cool beer? Well, that is too cool.
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I’ve never seen one of these corner stores advertising “Fresh Vegetables”. Nice, that’s a very good thing… as is cold beer and wine for the record.
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Check it out, you can now get 4 packs. Where there is a will there is way.
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Have you ever noticed that there is a bus that comes to 11th Street in Columbia Heights and goes straight to AC? I kind of feel like that is awesome. But then I have visions of the elderly sitting behind slot machines and losing lots of dough…