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Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.

PicIt! Founder Bobby Vanzetta(Updated at 1:40 p.m.) Bobby Vanzetta has a notebook he keeps with ideas for new businesses, apps and other possible creations, but for the last few years, one has become his singular focus: an iPhone social picture game.

Vanzetta is the mind behind PicIt!, which allows users to take a photo, turn it into a riddle game and share the game with friends. The game was born while Vanzetta was a senior at James Madison University. Now, Vanzetta is 25 years old, living in Ballston, working in I.T. sales and his app has been on the iTunes store for two months.

“It starts a conversation,” he said over coffee at Buzz Bakery, near his home, last week. “It appeals to a lot of different people. When people share games, it’s more personal than a Snapchat or Instagram. You might not know who’s looking at your snap, but you when when people are playing your game.”

A screenshot of a PicIt! gamePicIt! syncs with Facebook, allowing those with iPhones to share their created games with their friends. Anyone with the game can take a picture or use one already on their phone. They can add filters to the picture, draw on it and create a game.

Games could be an inside joke among friends, Vanzetta said. You can watch a movie, take a picture of a scene and see who can recognize it. Or you can take a photo of a landmark and ask “where am I?”

The app is free, but Vanzetta has employed a “freemium” model, one in which he generates revenue with in-app purchases. Users can buy more colors to draw with, more filters, lifelines for multiple guesses or hints. They can also buy coins directly to use for in-app purchases.

Vanzetta said the app appeals to people who like to think creatively and interact with their friends in different ways.

“I like sending and receiving creative games that make you think,” he said. “My friend sent me some meat on the floor. The answer was ‘ground beef.’ It’s simple but at the same time creative and fun.”

A screenshot of the PicIt! appVanzetta was able to raise $50,000 for the app from friends and family, took out a $60,000 loan and invested $30,000 of his own money toward development of the app — he used a Reston company, Savvy Apps, to help build it — and what will become a viral marketing campaign. He already paid one Twitter account with more than 100,000 followers to tweet about the game and had his biggest download surge yet.

The full app launched in February, and, as of Friday, it had 750 downloads. He hopes to get to 10,000 downloads — what he thinks is a “critical mass” for a freemium app — within three months.

“The freemium business model, 1 percent of people give you 60 percent of your revenue,” he said. “You get your core users” and they drive the business.

Vanzetta said he plans to add features — video games, an Android version and game rankings are all on his mind — and he’s “constantly iterating.”

He hopes he can quit his day job and become a full-time app company CEO, but Pic It! is not the be-all, end-all for him. He has that notebook of ideas, and he wants to work his way through it.

“I can’t wait for that moment where it makes sense to leave my day job,” he said. “Some people have their own baby idea. I’m happy to sell this off when and to whom it makes sense, and jump to the next thing.”


The best cities for recent graduates (image via NerdWallet)Arlington is the second-best “city” in the country to live in if you’ve just graduated college, according to a recent study.

The financial services site NerdWallet compared the median income, percentage of income spent on rent and percentage of the population between ages 20 and 29 to determine its list. Only Madison, Wisc., was ranked higher than Arlington, with Minneapolis, Minn., Boston and D.C. finishing in the top five.

Among the 100 biggest municipalities in the U.S., Arlington had the second-highest median rent, at $1,761 a month. That cost is outweighed, according to NerdWallet, by Arlington’s $64,957 median income, the third-highest among the cities compared in the study.

“Washington, D.C., and neighboring Arlington, Va., stood out among our top 10 cities with up to 67 percent of the workforce finding jobs in management, business, science or the arts,” the report states. “These fields have the most jobs that require a bachelor’s degree or higher.”

Twenty-three percent of Arlington’s population is between 20 and 29 years old, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, making it more appealing for the recent college graduates in their early 20s. This is no surprise, considering Arlington’s reputation as one of the country’s best places to live in the country for millennials.

Image via NerdWallet


Two people were rescued from a car dangling from a parking deck this afternoon after the driver crashed the vehicle through a metal fence.

The Arlington County Fire Department technical rescue team was dispatched to the parking lot of the Carlton Condominium, a high-rise building on the 4600 block of S. Four Mile Run Drive at about noon. The parking deck was one story up, and dozens of Arlington County firefighters and policeman responded to rescue the car’s occupants.

To ensure the car’s stability, a chain was hooked from the car’s undercarriage to rescue truck 104, and a large piece of wood was wedged underneath the car. According to firefighters at the scene, when they arrived the car was dangling and in danger of falling off the edge.

Firefighters had to saw through and remove the metal fencing next to the crash to have access to the passenger’s side door. Both the driver and the passenger were removed safely.


(Updated at noon) More and more dead trees are being turned into animals around Arlington.

Artist Andrew Mallon, owner of Potomac Tree Structures, drew attention for the bear he carved into a tree on 14th Street N. in Virginia Square last summer and business has only improved since then.

“I think it can get very big,” Mallon said. “I think that it is something that’s going to keep growing. I get more and more calls all the time.”

The Virginia Square tree has been completely transformed. Where was once a bear in the middle of a dead tree, there is now a complete statue, with a fox curling around the trunk and a hawk perched on top.

An Andrew Mallon original has popped up in Maywood, with an owl perched on top of a carved down tree with a “green man” etched in the middle. That sculpture, on the 3500 block of 21st Avenue N. is set back a little from the road — unlike the bear, hawk and fox tree, which is almost on the sidewalk.

South Arlington also has a bit of tree art. On the 4000 block of 19th Street S. in Douglas Park, Mallon took a stump and carved two dogs chasing two squirrels up a tree.

“Most people don’t even really know exactly what they want,” Mallon said. “They mostly say ‘you’re the artist, you tell me.'”

Most of the pieces he’s done — there are some in Fairfax County — take a week or so, but the bear, hawk and fox statue took longer because of payment issues. When Mallon returned to work on it, neighbors gushed to him about the art he added to their neighborhood.

“That’s probably my favorite thing about it,” he said. “Neighbors stop and thank me for bringing it to their neighborhood. The community really likes it, the kids all love it.”

Mallon can be reached at 703-919-4835 or at [email protected].


Doorways for Women and FamiliesVictims of sexual assault in Arlington have a new number to call for support when they are most vulnerable.

Doorways for Women and Families, a nonprofit designed to support women and children who suffer from domestic violence and homelessness, launched the hotline to pair with its 37-year-old, 24-hour domestic violence hotline.

The hotline’s number is 703-237-0881.

Like the domestic violence hotline, victims can call in and Doorways partners with Arlington County to provide resources, such as shelter or police support.

“We’re pleased to partner with Doorways for Women and Families on this important resource for our community,” County Board Chair Mary Hynes said in a press release. “Doorways’ track record with the domestic violence hotline has been outstanding, providing victims with expert advice and linkages to needed services. By expanding hotline services to include sexual assault, we will again tap into Doorways’ expertise and knowledge to quickly and effectively link people to vital community services and resources.”

The hotline will pair Doorways with the Arlington County Police Department, the Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office and Department of Human Services. Among the services provided will be Commonwealth’s Attorney accompaniment during hospitalization for victims — a frequently traumatic event, Doorways said.

“We will play an important role in our community’s response, but it is one of many,” Doorways Executive Director Caroline Jones said. “Now is the right time to intentionally define our community’s coordinated response as we are seeing record numbers of people reaching out for our help — realizing they no longer have to face these issues in silence and shame.”

The full press release announcing the new hotline can be read after the jump.

(more…)


Rosslyn’s only pizza-by-the-slice restaurant is now open, but only for lunch for the next few weeks.

Wiseguy NY Pizza opened quietly for lunch yesterday at 1735 N. Lynn Street, but by noon today there was a line out the door as owner Tony Errol’s sought after slices were being offered for half-off.

“We’ll get better,” a sweaty Errol told ARLnow.com as he and his new staff were deluged with customers. “We’re still training.”

Errol didn’t tell anyone he’d opened, hoping that crowds would be light to break in his new restaurant. That backfired, as Rosslyn’s pizza-starved lunch crowd learned of Wiseguy’s arrival. The pizza place will open for full hours and service on April 20, Errol said.

For now, Wiseguy is only offering slices of pizza, garlic knots and Junior’s Cheesecake, which is shipped from the legendary bakery in New York.

Wiseguy is not the only pizza restaurant to open its doors to the Rosslyn crowds this month. Spinfire Pizza, at 1501 Wilson Blvd, is planning to launch “early to mid-April.”

Spinfire — co-owned by Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon and Paisano’s Pizza owner Fouad Qreitem — promises to make its personalized, single-size pizzas in 90 seconds.


Brandi Moore with her 13 college acceptance letters

Brandi Moore is far from your typical high school student.

Most days, she goes to bed at midnight or later to study or finish. Some days, she wakes up at 5:00 a.m. to get in a few extra hours of studying before attending classes at Washington-Lee High School. In the evenings or on weekends, you can find her performing in one of a handful of theater groups — at school or otherwise — or volunteering to clean up streams and mark sewer grates.

High-achieving students, especially in Arlington, are hardly news. But what makes Brandi stand out, her father George tells ARLnow.com, is her own self-possessed drive.

“I never had to push her to read or anything,” he said. “I used to have to tell her to stop reading and go to bed. I’ve never even had to look at her grades online. She just naturally absorbs stuff and wants to learn.”

Brandi’s hard work has paid off. This week, she received acceptance letters from all five Ivy League universities she applied to: Cornell, Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia and Harvard. Those letters came after she had already been accepted at eight other schools, making her 13-for-13 in college applications.

A month before her flood of Ivy League acceptance letters, Brandi said she received “likely” letters from four of the schools, something she said the Ivy League universities only send to a few hundred students.

“They helped the process a lot. I knew my fate would be decided, because I was already pretty sure I was getting in,” she said.

Before she got those “likely” letters, it was a different story. Her first letter and package was from Brown University in Providence, R.I., which had been her dream school since she was 8 years old.

“When we got a pretty sizeable package from Brown, we didn’t know what it was,” she said, referring to the piece of mail that came. After she opened it, “I lost it. I was really excited.”

The Moores live in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, and Brandi has risen through the ranks of Arlington Public Schools, from Campbell Elementary School, to Kenmore Middle and now Washington-Lee. The 18-year-old senior has narrowed down her choices to Brown and the Ivy League school that gave her the biggest financial package: Harvard. The family will be traveling to Cambridge, Mass., tomorrow to visit the oldest university in the United States.

“Harvard is really, really pushing her,” George Moore said. He added that the whole process has been “so strange,” because, after all, what parent expects Ivy League schools to fight over any student? Reed College in Oregon paid for her to fly across the country to visit the campus. “I knew something was going on when they flew her out there and paid for everything. I thought ‘something special’s going on here.’ It just sort of comes one after another. It’s hard to keep up.”

Brandi said she hopes to make her decision in the next week. Next year, she hopes to start studying biology or something in the life sciences, while keeping up with theater, her passion. Brown appeals to her because the school doesn’t have a core curriculum; students can take whatever classes they want. On the other hand, Harvard is Harvard.

Either way, it’s clear she’s ready for bigger and better things.

“Our classes in high school, there are kids who love what’s going on in the classroom, there are kids who don’t love it as much,” she said. “I’m excited about being in the class where everyone loves learning. I’m just generally excited to see what my limits are and what I’m really going to end up doing. I really want to find myself.”

Photo courtesy George Moore


Courthaus Social logo from Facebook

(Updated on 4/10/15) Velocity 5 in Courthouse has been closed for weeks, but this month it will be reborn as Courthaus Social.

The “American beer garden” concept at the sports bar space at 2300 Clarendon Blvd has been in the works for years, but owners Fito Garcia and Nema Sayadian are completing the final buildout now, preparing to open by the end of April.

“Courthaus Social is the perfect spot for a happy hour, a pit stop en route to the city or a final destination to spend an entire evening,” Garcia said in a press release. “Our beer garden is dedicated to remaining an establishment that delivers unforgettable experiences to every guest. Whether you live in Arlington or are here for a few days… Grab a boot and sip, savor, and share in the spirit of beer and great food.”

Velocity 5 in CourthouseThe opening has been pushed back from its original April 13 date, but the owners hope that by the end of the month Courthaus Social will be ready to go, serving two-liter boots and steins of 30 beers on tap, with long benches for social seating.

Sayadian told ARLnow.com that the interior will look wildly different from the Velocity 5 the area has come to know.

“It’s night and day, a 180-degree difference,” he said.

Garcia said the beer garden will have “life-size games” and will be community-focused, focusing on Virginia breweries and “humanely raised, free range” meats. It will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. daily.

Photo (top) via Facebook


Stuck truck on Chain Bridge (photo courtesy Rob Laybourn)Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment are organizing their annual Potomac River watershed cleanup next weekend, and are looking for a few extra pairs of hands.

This is the 27th year of the annual watershed cleanup. It’s coordinated all along the river, from West Virginia to the Chesapeake, by the Alice Ferguson Foundation. Last year, the cleanup day recovered 576,000 pounds of trash at 671 different sites. More than 14,000 volunteers participated.

Arlington’s contingent will meet Saturday, April 11 at 9:00 a.m. at the intersection of N. Glebe Road and Chain Bridge Road. The area is steep and rocky in spots, so ACE advises children younger than 10 years old to be left at home, and children younger than 16 to be accompanied by a parent.

Interested volunteers can sign up here. Next Saturday, they should wear long sleeves and pants, sturdy shoes that can get wet, work gloves, sunscreen and bottled water. All cleanup materials will be provided.

File photo courtesy Rob Laybourn


Wedding Crashers poster(Updated at 5:40 p.m.) The Rosslyn Business Improvement District has announced the lineup for its weekly outdoor movie, returning this summer: quotable comedies.

Last year’s theme was “Office Space,” a chance for the thousands of workers in Rosslyn to laugh at movies’ depictions of their daily lives. This year, the comedies will be more farcical than ever, with modern classics “Wedding Crashers,” “The Big Lebowski” and “Zoolander” all lined up.

Each movie will start at dusk — generally between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m. at Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway) — and is free to attend. Viewers are encouraged to bring picnics, or enjoy dinner and drinks beforehand; the Continental Pool Lounge‘s happy hour nearby ends at 8:00 p.m.

The weekly showings begin on Friday, June 5. The lineup is as follow:

  • June 5: Wedding Crashers
  • June 12: Mean Girls
  • June 19: Happy Gilmore
  • June 26: Tommy Boy
  • July 3: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • July 10: When Harry Met Sally
  • July 17: Anchorman
  • July 24: Clueless
  • July 31: The Big Lebowski
  • Aug. 7: Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery
  • Aug. 14: The Hangover
  • Aug. 21: Despicable Me
  • Aug. 28: Zoolander

Disclosure: Rosslyn BID is an ARLnow.com advertiser.


Marymount-5KMarymount University’s physical therapy department is hosting its first 5K as a fundraiser to send its students on service trips to orphanages in Costa Rica.

On Saturday, April 18, the race will kick off and end at the university at 2807 N. Glebe Road. It will begin at 9:00 a.m. and runners will wind through the Donaldson Run neighborhood, along 26th Street N. and Military Road.

It costs $35 for registration — $10 if you’re a Marymount student — which includes a T-shirt, a pint glass and admission to the post-race party on Marymount’s campus. Runners will get a drink ticket, good for a draft beer or a drink from the mimosa bar, as well as free food.

Each runner’s registration will go to fund the school’s efforts in Costa Rica.

“Funds will provide rehabilitative services to the underprivileged and help defray the costs of purchasing and shipping medical equipment and supplies,” Danielle Gross of the Ace Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine Institute said in an email. Ace is co-sponsoring the race with Marymount. “This experience is not only a once in a life time of opportunity and experience for the students, but the orphanages in Costa Rica greatly benefit from the care provided. I myself have seen first hand from my classmates when I was in school how valuable programs like this are.”

At the same time as the race, Marymount will observe Marymount Remembrance Day, which honors two students killed in a car crash when they were freshmen at the school. This year, Gross said, the students would have been seniors.

Photo via Facebook


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