Author: ARLnow.com

Launched in January 2010, ARLnow.com is the place for the latest news, views and things to do around Arlington, Virginia. Started by a Pentagon City resident who has spent the past several years working in local TV news, ARLnow.com seeks to distinguish itself with original, enterprising, up-to-the-minute local coverage.

New Dunkin’ With Drive-Thru Window Now Open New Clarendon

By ARLnow.com
1/3

(Updated at 10:20 a.m.) The new Dunkin’ store at 3300 Wilson Blvd, near Clarendon, is now open.

The standalone Dunkin’, which features its own parking lot and a drive-thru window, officially opened on Tuesday, a company spokesman said. The coffee and donut purveyor was open this morning, serving a trickle of customers who notice the “now open” sign.

The building — which was previously a Dunkin’ Donuts, before it closed and was succeeded Peruvian chicken restaurant Pio Pio, Indian-Pakistani-Bangladeshi restaurant Naan Kabob, and, briefly, Red Hook Lobster Pound — was completely renovated over the past few months.

The new interior includes a steel “Arlington Runs on Dunkin'” sign and “next generation” Dunkin’ features like a front-facing bakery case and tap-based iced coffee, nitro cold brew, and iced tea pours.

The new store, which is about halfway between the Virginia Square and Clarendon Metro stations, takes the place of the previous, more central Dunkin’ location at 3009 Clarendon Blvd in Clarendon, which closed earlier this month.

A company spokesman says Dunkin’ is planning “a two-part grand opening celebration for the end of the month.”

“On [Thursday], Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 2, we’ll be hosting a Free Medium Hot or Iced Coffee offer from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” the spokesman said. “We’ll also be offering guests Dunkin’ swag from the Dunkin’ Prize Wheel, photos with Dunkin’ mascot Cuppy and more.”

The grand opening will also include the presentation of a $2,500 donation to the Capital Area Food Bank from Dunkin’ franchisee DDC Management LLC, we’re told.

Given Arlington County’s propensity for encouraging more pedestrian-oriented and less car-oriented facilities — including county staff push-back on a proposed second drive-thru lane for a busy McDonald’s along Langston Blvd — the new Dunkin’ drive-thru is something of a curiosity. According to Transportation Commission Chair Chris Slatt, the use of the drive-thru window was grandfathered in, given that the building previously featured one.

ARLnow observed the drive-thru already in use this morning, as an Arlington police cruiser was seen making a U-turn on Wilson Blvd and then pulling up to the order lane, apparently after the driver saw the “now open” sign.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

It’s the End of Summers — The former Summers restaurant in Courthouse was torn down yesterday, making way for a new apartment development. Video of the demolition shows water being sprayed to control dust as the building was razed. [Twitter]

Staffing Concerns At 911 Dispatch Center — “The head of Arlington, Virginia’s Emergency Communications Center is addressing concerns that its current setup is problematic and even potentially dangerous. ‘We are like every other 911 center in the country, which has traditionally struggled with staffing,’ center administrator Dave Mulholland told WTOP. ‘We’re going to be very honest in acknowledging not every shift has optimal staffing.’ However, Mulholland maintains that crucial positions have always remained filled, and that more people are being trained to fill needed roles.” [WTOP]

Lebanese Taverna Helping to Feed Refugees — “When word came that thousands of Afghan refugees would be landing at Dulles in late August after their country fell to the Taliban, World Central Kitchen mobilized to make sure those reaching the U.S. after a harrowing journey would be greeted with a hot meal. The nonprofit’s first call was to Grace Abi-Najm Shea, one of five siblings behind Lebanese Taverna… Of the 61,298 meals WCK served there between Aug. 25 and Sept. 10, 5,037 came from Lebanese Taverna.” [Washington City Paper]

County Board May Modify Hotel Tax — “Arlington County is weighing whether to tax hotel guests for the total cost of their stay, including fees and other charges, and not just the cost of the room. The potential change to the transient occupancy tax — the revenue from which has collapsed amid the pandemic, affecting Arlington’s incentive arrangement with Amazon.com Inc. — follows changes to the tax definition in the state code adopted by the Virginia General Assembly.” [Washington Business Journal]

Much of Crystal City Is Now Carbon Neutral — “JBG SMITH, a leading owner and developer of high-quality, mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market, today announced it has achieved carbon neutrality across its entire 16.1 million square foot operating portfolio. Building on this accomplishment, JBG SMITH intends for its properties to maintain carbon neutral operations annually.” [BusinessWire]

Tucker Rants About Beyer — Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson called Rep. Don Beyer “a fashionably radical car dealer from Arlington” on his show earlier this week, in a segment about vaccine mandates. But Beyer’s communications director says that the local congressman, who is actually an Alexandria resident, “does not own any auto dealerships and has not for years.” [Twitter]

Harris Teeter Stores Cutting Hours — “Harris Teeter stores nationwide will be reducing their store hours until further notice, citing the shortage of labor caused by the COVID-19 pandemic… Starting Wednesday, Sept. 15, all Harris Teeters will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Stores in Northern Virginia have previously been open 24 hours, or until 11 p.m.” [InsideNova]

Early Morning Notes for Wednesday, Sept. 15

By ARLnow.com

Good morning, Arlington. Dana here. It’s Wednesday, September 15: National Double Cheeseburger Day and Prince Harry’s 37th birthday.

This post is exclusively for ARLNow Press Club members. Not a member? Join here.

Members can sign in here.

The Arlies: Vote for Your Favorite Bike Trail + Bicycle Shop

By ARLnow.com

The Arlies are back this week with two new categories to vote on, but first, the results from last week’s voting.

Arlington’s favorite sushi spot is Sushi-Zen, followed by Sushi Rock and a tie between Endo Sushi and Yume Sushi.

Now, on to this week’s categories.

Do you have a favorite local bike trail? One that offers the best views and the smoothest ride?

Do you have a favorite bicycle shop you recommend to others? A shop that has knowledgeable sales personnel and/or dependable repair services? Let us know below or by clicking this link.

Voting is open until next Tuesday, when we announce the winners and vote on a new category.

 

JUST IN: House Fire in Boulevard Manor

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:45 p.m.) Firefighters from Arlington and surrounding areas battled a house fire today in the Boulevard Manor neighborhood, near Bluemont Park.

Smoke could be seen coming from the top of a home on the 5900 block of 3rd Street N. as first responders arrived on the scene shortly before 12:30 p.m., according to scanner traffic. It took at least 30 minutes to extinguish the bulk of the fire, which reportedly started in the attic.

Initial reports suggest that people inside the house were able to get out safely. No one was injured. Three residents will be displaced by the blaze, according to the Arlington County Fire Department.

Book Excerpt: Remembering Arlington’s Luna Park

By ARLnow.com
Luna Park (Courtesy of the Center for Local History, Arlington Public Library)

Before Six Flags and Busch Gardens, Luna Park, on what is now the Arlington-Alexandria border, was the go-to amusement park for D.C. area residents.

Opening a few years after the turn of the 20th century, the local Luna Park — it was part of a chain of dozens of parks — featured everything from roller coasters to circus performances. In one famous incident, reminiscent of the recent zebra escape in Maryland, a pack of elephants broke loose from the park during a storm and terrorized unsuspecting local residents for more than a week.

Memories of the park and the elephant escapades are included in local journalist, historian and Falls Church News-Press columnist Charlie Clark’s new book, Lost Arlington County. The book, which was released Monday, “provides a compendium of gone-but-not-forgotten institutions, businesses, homes and amusements.”

Clark shared with ARLnow an excerpt on Luna Park, below.

Arlington bid to be a regional playground at the dawn of the twentieth century. A vacuum in the entertainment market was created after commonwealth’s attorney Crandal Mackey’s cleanup of saloons and brothels in Rosslyn and Jackson City.

Pittsburgh entrepreneur Frederick Ingersoll spent $350,000 to build, near the rail line and Four Mile Run at the Arlington-Alexandria border (the edge of today’s Crystal City), what promoters called “unquestionably the grandest and most complete amusement and recreative place between the great ocean resorts.”

When it opened in May 1906, Luna Park was forty acres of tackiness with space for three thousand picnickers, restaurants, a circus arena and a ballroom in varying Gothic, Moorish and Japanese themes. At night, attendees were thrilled to behold fifty-one thousand electric lights. A 350-foot-tall inclined chute spilled riders into an 80-foot-deep lagoon.

The press enthused: it was like “a silver city set with diamonds,” said the Washington Post. Guests were entertained by Liberati’s sixty-piece band and by the Bessie Valdare All-Girl English Bicycle Team, as reported in a 2012 narrative by Jim McClellan and Shirley Raybuck in the Northern Virginia Review. Their article “The Pachyderm Panic of 1906” is the most detailed account of an oft-told tale that has brightened books on Arlington since the 1950s.

To liven the offerings at Luna Park, impresarios brought, by boxcar, four live elephants from Coney Island, New York. The much-hyped act, Barlow’s Elephants, arrived in August 1906 as a procession of the animals debarked from a Potomac barge. Dubbed Queenie, Annie, Jennie and Tommy, the elephants were trained to perform tricks, such as playing barber and shaving a man. But on that first night, a violent storm hit Alexandria County, which frightened the pachyderms that were chained together inside their hippodrome. They began kicking equipment (destroying an ice cream vendor’s cash register). To the screams of onlooking women and men, three made their escape.

(more…)

Arlington Covid Cases Continue Upward Trajectory

By ARLnow.com

Another week, another high point for Covid cases in Arlington since the winter peak reached earlier this year.

The trailing seven-day average of new daily cases in Arlington is now 48, an increase of nearly 50% since the start of the month. Thirty-two new cases were reported this morning by the Virginia Dept. of Health, bringing the local pandemic case total to 17,207.

With 73.5% of the county’s adult population having received at least one vaccine dose, the rate of serious illness and death remains relatively low. Over the past 90 days the county has averaged just under three Covid-related hospitalizations per week and just over one death per month.

Nationally, there are signs that the current wave of cases fueled by the more contagious delta variant is peaking or has peaked, though some parts of the country are still seeing growth in cases.

Arlington County, meanwhile, is preparing for the expected rollout of vaccine booster shots.

From WJLA:

“We expect to have a busy winter,” said Hannah Winant, the Public Affairs Manager for Arlington County Emergency Management.

It’s all hands on deck as the county prepares to assist thousands of people arriving at vaccination sites wanting their booster shots as soon as next week.

“All eyes are on the feds with the booster rollout and youth approvals, but again we are going to have the people and resources in place,” said Winant. “As soon as those approvals are in place, we will be ready to roll.”

VDOT Fixes a Capital Mistake Along Route 50

By ARLnow.com
1/2

A minor typo along Route 50 in the Rosslyn area has been fixed, to the relief of local pedants.

A directional sign along westbound Route 50 (Arlington Blvd), as one travels through the Rosslyn and Courthouse areas, has long read “14Th Street.” Just days after the error was pointed out to VDOT on social media, the erroneous capital-T was finally replaced late last week.

“The letter was replaced on the sign on Friday, September 10!” confirmed VDOT spokeswoman Ellen Kamilakis, who runs the celebrated VDOT Northern Virginia Twitter account. She said tips from the public help the agency correct minor problems across its expansive transportation network.

“Our Transportation Field Operations (TFO) group handles the maintenance of all signs, signals, and pavement markings in our District,” said Kamilakis. “We have more than 250,000 signs and 1,400 signalized intersections, so [while] crews always keep a look out for items that need to be fixed, we always encourage residents to reach out to us if they see an issue somewhere. People can let our Customer Service Center know via https://my.vdot.virginia.gov/ or 800-FOR-ROAD.”

Social media — Twitter, specifically — is a popular means of reporting issues, but unlike the VDOT website and hotline it’s more of an informal channel.

“We try to be as helpful as possible on social media,” said Kamilakis, who regularly provides safety tips and general, lighthearted life advice in the form of a “Morning MeeMaw Nag.”

“We answer all of the questions that can be reasonably answered on social media,” Kamilakis added. “Our Twitter community mainly reports downed signs, potholes, signals on flash, debris in the road, drainage issues, etc. As these aren’t formal customer service requests through the system, I simply reach out to those in charge of said areas and they are always happy to help.”

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Dave Grohl Rocks Local Studio — “Dave Grohl doesn’t seem terribly interested in taking a day off. Shortly after the 9:30 Club announced the Grohl-led Foo Fighters would play a surprise show Thursday, the former Nirvana drummer reunited with D.C.-based punk rockers, at Inner Ear Studio — the legendary and soon-to-close Arlington, Virginia, recording studio owned by Don Zientara.” [WTOP]

Fmr. Fire Chief on Arlington’s 9/11 Response — “‘It was truly an all-hands-on-deck endeavor,’ Schwartz said at the historical society’s annual banquet, held Sept. 9 at Washington Golf & Country Club. ‘We’re all in this together. There’s not a single agency or even a single jurisdiction that can handle this by themselves.’ Schwartz pointed to the county’s then-fire chief, Edward Plaugher, for his work building relationships with agencies like the FBI. Plaugher ‘was ahead of his time’ in being concerned about terrorism.” [Sun Gazette]

Night Paving at Busy Intersection — “Nighttime paving continues overnight this week at the Langston Boulevard (Lee Highway)-Glebe Road intersection improvements project… lasting into Friday, Sept. 17.” [Twitter]

Nicecream Hits Rocky Road — Nicecream, the handcrafted ice cream shop that expanded after finding success with its first location in Clarendon, is closing its Shaw store in the District. [PoPville]

Video: Tips for Using Your Food Scraps Caddy

By ARLnow.com

We’re now in week two of food scrap collection in Arlington.

If you receive Arlington County’s residential trash collection service, then you can now place compostable items in your green organics cart instead of the trash. Earlier this summer the county distributed a countertop caddy and compostable bags to residential collection customers as a way to collect food scraps in the home.

(Apartment and condo residents who receive private collection service can drop off food scraps at designated locations.)

Examples of items that can be composted include:

  • Vegetables and fruits
  • Meats, including bones, and old meat grease (sopped up with a paper towel)
  • Dairy products and eggshells
  • Breads
  • Coffee grounds, paper coffee liners and tea leaves (but not tea bags)

Food and beverage containers that are marked as compostable, some of which actually contain a plastic lining, should be kept out and placed in the trash instead, officials previously said.

For those who still have questions about how to best go about collecting and disposing of food scraps, a dedicated county web page has answers and a new county-produced video, below, also offers tips. Among them: place a paper towel at the bottom of the bag to soak up liquids, and be sure to wash the caddy with soap and water regularly.

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