Dupont Circle could get a new dance club and bar as early as next month.
The business, Saint Yves, is slated to open at 1220 Connecticut Ave. NW as soon as mid-January, according to company representative Wayne Johnson. Johnson declined to provide more information about the club but said more details would be available as it got closer to opening.
As we reported in 2015, Saint Yves will serve “light fare” alongside “rare bourbons” in a space with seating for 30 and a total occupancy of 250. The hangout will also host occasional events with DJs, bands and dancing.
The business is currently hiring “VIP hosts, cocktail service models, bartenders and all around exciting people,” a notice on its Facebook reads.
A newly opened Indian restaurant in Dupont Circle could soon add alcohol to the menu.
Lemon Cuisine of India which opened at 2120 P St. NW last month, has applied to start serving alcohol, according to a recent filing with D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA).
The restaurant is seeking to serve beer, wine and cocktails, according to owner and chef Gurjeet Singh.
Lemon Cuisine’s dinner menu includes Indian cuisine mainstays such as chicken tikka masala, palak paneer and six types of biryani.
“I’m using my own spices that I create,” Singh said in November. “All made from scratch, all fresh and healthy.”
Young thieves robbed two dry cleaners in Dupont Circle and Shaw yesterday, police said.
The robberies happened at Happy Cleaners (1509 17th St. NW) about 10:45 a.m. and Red Valet Cleaners (910 P St. NW) about 1:15 p.m. It wasn’t immediately clear if the crimes were connected.
At Happy Cleaners, about a half-dozen boys entered the shop and took $160 from a cash register, which one of them opened, according to authorities. They then fled.
Police released this tweet with suspect descriptions:
Alert: Robbery at 10:45 hours hrs in the 1500 block of 17th Street, NW. Lookout for 5 TO 6 B/M WEARING ALL BLACK CLOTHING/SHORT HAIR
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) December 20, 2016
As for Red Valet Cleaners, two teenage boys walked into the store and took money from a cash register when two employees were in the back of the shop, according to authorities. One of the workers tried to stop one of the thieves by grabbing his arm, but let go after becoming scared.
The robbers eventually ran off with $172 in cash.
Police released this tweet with suspect descriptions:
Confirmed Robbery at 1313 hrs in the 900 blk P. Str. NW . LOF: 2B/M's, 16 to 17 to 19 years old and wearing black jacket. pic.twitter.com/ImcRdWuOd2
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) December 20, 2016
If you listen closely, you might hear carolers in Dupont Circle. But they’re not singing traditional yuletide melodies, they’re belting out tunes about president-elect Donald Trump.
Singers with the caroling group “War On Christmas Carols” visited the circle Monday and Tuesday this week to spread holiday cheer and jeers.
Take a listen to “Tiny Hands,” a riff on “Jingle Bells”:
"Tiny Hands", to the tune of "Jingle Bells" pic.twitter.com/shc9e3ZL7I
— WarOnChristmasCarols (@WarOnXmasCarols) December 19, 2016
The group’s aim is to bring “songs of good cheer for this trashfire year,” according to its Twitter account. Follow along to see where they visit next.
Urban explorers are set to have the opportunity to check out a decommissioned streetcar station below Dupont Circle with the help of guides next month.
The Dupont Underground is scheduled to open again to the public on most Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in January, beginning Friday, Jan. 6, according to an online event post. The space, accessed through a stairwell near 11 Dupont Circle NW, hasn’t had tours since its inaugural “Raise/Raze” art exhibit wrapped up earlier this year.
“Since the success of Raise/Raze creative minds have been inspired by the potential of this 75,000 sq/ft space,” the event post says. “These tours will explore the living history and conceptual reinvention of a DC hidden gem. Each tour will consist of a guided hour long experience through the tunnels under Dupont Circle, that once served as the neighborhood trolley system over fifty years ago.”
Tours are limited to 30 people at a time. Tickets are $15 online.
Photo via Twitter/Dupont Underground
A man fought off a knife-wielding would-be thief who tried to steal a bicycle with an accomplice in Shaw this past weekend, according to authorities.
The incident occurred on the 1500 block of 6th Street NW about 7:45 p.m. Sunday.
The man was smoking outside when he saw two people starting to cut the lock off a bike near P Street NW, police said. He then confronted them, and one of the individuals came at him with a kitchen knife.
Two men were stabbed and another man was punched during a “club-related” fight in Dupont Circle over the weekend, police said.
The violent confrontation happened on the 1400 block of 18th Street NW about 3 a.m. Sunday.
The victims and three other people were walking just east of the Dupont Circle NW traffic circle when two men approached the group and started arguing with them, according to authorities. The group eventually walked away from the two men.
But the men weren’t done with them yet.
The two men, now armed with knives, came up to the group again. The duo then stabbed two men in the group. One of the victims ended up with lacerations above his right ear. The other victim received a cut to his lower back and a puncture wound to his left shoulder.
A third victim was hit in the face, but wasn’t injured.
The suspects ran away soon after.
The two stabbing victims were treated on the scene and declined further medical attention.
Police haven’t released detailed descriptions of the suspects.
Photo via Google Maps
Daytime revelers are planning to “drink ’til there’s snow tomorrow” at 11 Dupont Circle bars Saturday afternoon.
The planned festivities are part of this year’s “Snow Day Bar Crawl,” scheduled to take place Saturday, Dec. 17, from 2 to 10 p.m.
Tickets start at $40 and include a color-changing cup, drink specials and “an awesome crowd of snowbunnies to crawl the streets with,” organizers said.
The following bars are signed up to participate in the pub crawl:
- Blackfinn
- Front Page
- Recessions
- District Anchor
- Dirty Martini
- Public Bar
Bottom Line - 1831 Bar and Lounge
- Decades
- Sign of the Whale
Photo via Snow Day Bar Crawl
Bar versions of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Weakest Link” and “Family Feud” are coming soon to a hangout in Dupont Circle.
United Social Sports, a local events company, plans to add a Sunday night “game show” league to its lineup of winter bar games, according to company founder Robert Kinsler.
The new game show night is scheduled to launch at Buffalo Billiards (1330 19th St. NW) on Jan. 29 and possibly also Songbyrd Music House and Record Cafe (2477 18th St. NW) soon after.
Each week, league members will be able to participate in trivia competitions modeled after game shows like “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy,” “Cash Cab,” “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” “Family Feud.”
The games will be slightly altered to allow the maximum number of competitors at a time.
“We’re focusing more on the group games,” Kinsler said. “We’re tweaking those things and applying our social sports know-how and magic to it.”
The company first “beta tested” its new game show-themed league earlier this year. If the latest round of game show events takes off, Kinsler said it will become a permanent fixture in the United Social Sports lineup.
Registration costs $49. Those interested in joining the game show league can sign up on the company’s website.
Photo via United Social Sports
A Dupont Circle bar appears to have shut down after losing its liquor license more than a month ago.
Some Place Else, the bar and restaurant located in the former Townhouse Tavern space at 1637 R St. NW, was locked and dark when a Borderstan reporter visited around happy hour earlier this week. Additionally, phone calls to the bar and restaurant went unanswered when we tried today.
Community members told Borderstan the bar went quiet after District alcohol regulators denied its liquor license renewal application last month.
Despite the apparent closure, it looks as though local regulators have reason to suspect the bar may still be serving alcohol. D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ordered Some Place Else to “stop selling, serving, or permitting the consumption of alcoholic beverages” earlier this week:
The Respondent is unlawfully operating or attempting to operate with an expired license in violation of Title 25 of the D.C. Official Code. The Respondent’s license has EXPIRED and it will remain expired until the Respondent pays the required renewal fee and the daily fine of $50.00 imposed by the Board for the late payment.
This isn’t the first setback for the business. Health inspectors shut the bar down in June after finding a “heavy infestation of vermin” there.
A representative for Some Place Else wasn’t immediately available to comment on the possible closure. We’ll update this story if we hear back from them.
They call him “Mr. Holiday.”
At least eight times a year, Dupont resident Greg Nelson beautifies his 16th Street home and front yard with an absurd amount of holiday decorations. Around Easter, the house has colorful flowers and bunnies. Fourth of July means red, white and blue. Fall, naturally, brings pumpkins and scarecrows.
But Christmastime is perhaps Nelson’s favorite season. Each year on the day after Thanksgiving, he lugs candy canes, twinkling lights and Santa Clauses out of storage and into his front yard.
Setting up takes about three days, Nelson said, but creates a dazzling yuletide display that draws crowds of curious onlookers every year.
“Our electric bill goes up about 400 percent during the month of December,” he said. “It’s thousands of dollars. I don’t like to think about it.”
It’s a tradition that Nelson and his partner, Jose, have carried out for roughly a decade, and much to the delight of the surrounding neighborhood.
“We have people who come for every holiday,” Nelson said. “We have had people use it for their holiday card. We have people who’ve dropped off a bottle of wine.”
People often come by and ring the doorbell. Once, Nelson found a group of women sitting in his living room. They thought it was a hotel.
“They don’t know if it’s part of the church, if it’s an embassy,” he added. “You get people who ask, why do you do this?”
But when people do ask, Nelson responds it’s because he’s just glad to bring a smile to his neighbors’ faces.
“Life is better with a theme,” he likes to say.
Earlier today, Nelson came home from the dog park to find a note taped to his front door. The letter was from a boy who passes the house on his way to and from school. The boy, with the help of his mom, asked Nelson questions like, “where do you get your decorations?” (Ebay, post-Christmas sales at Home Depot) and “did you grow up in a house that decorated like this? (Nelson grew up in Minnesota, “where decorating for Christmas is basically a rite of passage.”)
Upon seeing the letter, Nelson said he nearly cried.
“It’s [nice] to spread some Disney pixie dust on a city that all too often takes itself too seriously,” he said. “That’s what I try to achieve.”
To keep up with the home’s latest decorations, follow Nelson on Instagram at MrHolidayDC.
Thousands of people wearing red suits, elf getups and reindeer costumes are expected pack more than a dozen Dupont Circle bars during a holiday-themed pub crawl this weekend.
This year’s “Santa Crawl” takes place Saturday, Dec. 10., from 2-10 p.m.
“Participants are encouraged to dress in whatever best expresses the holiday season, whether it be a full-body candy-cane suit, a snuggly turtleneck, or tinsel-streaked hot pants,” organizers wrote on the bar crawl’s website.
Tickets cost $30-40 and get attendees a “refillable signature Santa mug,” drink specials and entry into a raffle. (more…)
Who needs to watch the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony when you can share a sweet treat with an immortal yuletide wizard?
Santa Claus himself is slated to appear at the annual Dupont Circle holiday tree-lighting ceremony scheduled to kick off in front of La Tomate at the corner of of Connecticut Ave. and R St. NW at 4 p.m.
The event — which is put on each year by Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets — celebrates the beginning of the holiday season with the lighting of the neighborhood’s own holiday tree. The festive gathering also includes caroling, cookies and an opportunity for attendees and their pets to get a photo with Santa.
Last year, dozens of people including Ward 2 D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans showed up to participate in the tree-lighting ceremony.
Construction crews will soon break ground on a project to redevelop a former gay nightclub in Dupont Circle.
Phase 1, which opened at 1415 22nd St. NW in 2012, was known primarily for being the Northwest outpost of the famed Capitol Hill gay bar. But the club quietly closed last year, and developer Rock Creek Property Group swooped in to purchase and transform the property soon after.
Now, the company has plans to turn the historic building into office or retail space by next April.
From Rock Creek Property Group:
To preserve the property’s intended design, the original carriage house doors will be replicated, the façade repaired, certain windows will be restored and others replaced in a manner sensitive to the property’s historic nature.
To create a modern interior, skylights will be integrated into the building on the second floor, and soaring 10- to 15-foot ceilings will open up the space. Additionally, at the rear of the property there will be a large roof deck, accessed by the second floor. The property’s façade is currently covered by a concrete wall addition that was added in the 1940s, when it became a tire and car shop. To open up the front and expose more natural light, the building will feature a glass NanaWall system stretching through most of the property’s street front.
“Our goal with this property is to bring it back to life,” said Rock Creek Principal Gary Schlager in a press release. “After years of neglect, the original grandeur of the architecture was lost.”
The company is currently looking for a tenant to fill the space.
Rendering courtesy of Rock Creek Property Group
A plan to build a nine-story development at the site of a historic landmark in Dupont has drawn some criticism from D.C.’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO).
Developer Marx Realty seeks to redevelop a lot at 2200 P St. NW in order to build a new nine-story mixed-use development. The lot currently holds a Sunoco gas station that has a historic limestone building known as the Embassy Gulf Service Station, which would be moved and restored under the developer’s plan.
The proposed redevelopment would also include two stories of underground parking, the plans show.
