Around Town

Clarendon’s B Live is becoming “Beach Bar Live,” at least temporarily

By Matt Blitz
B Live sign in Clarendon (staff photo)

Clarendon’s B Live is set to become a beach bar beginning early next month, while Coco B’s is set to finally open on the rooftop.

The live music venue and watering hole on Wilson Blvd is changing concepts, at least temporarily, and becoming a “divey beach bar popup,” co-owner Christal Bramson tells ARLnow. The shifting sands reflect what’s working at the former Whitlow’s space, Bramson says.

“Due to the popularity of the Jingle Bell Rock popup theme during the holidays, we temporarily closed to convert the space to a summer fling theme with an inland divey beach bar popup: Beach Bar Live,” she wrote in an email.

The outdoor patio will also change, becoming a tiki bar with an “aggressive happy hour.”

“Think Coyote Ugly on the beach,” Bramson writes.

A tipster had reached out, thinking that the business had shuttered permanently. B Live — er, Beach Bar Live — is currently closed for the makeover, but Bramson said the hope is to reopen by August 4 with updated decor, menu, drink specials, and vibes. The opening weekend of the new concept will feature complimentary food, drink specials, and a battle of the bands, she said.

Beach Bar Live on Wilson Blvd (image courtesy of Christal Bramson)

This is the second time in less than two months that the venue has made significant changes. In June, ownership decided to “pivot” towards having more live band karaoke while decreasing the number of live original acts it hosted.

Live karaoke as well as a limited number of original acts will continue at Beach Bar Live, Bramson said.

“Tropical glam bar” Coco B’s is also hoping for an opening in early next month on the rooftop. The long-planned rooftop compliment to B Live has been delayed for months, but it’s looking to finally open within the next two weeks “pending permits.”

“If you think of B Live as the male version of the two of us, then Coco B’s is the female version… the his and hers,” Christal Bramson told ARLnow in June 2022. “It’s definitely going to be more female-focused. There’s going to be a lot of pinks, velvets, feathers, and it’s going to attract the softer side of Arlington.”

For the moment, Beach Bar Live is being considered a pop-up but Bramson said that if the concept ends up being popular, it could stick — somewhat like wet sand at the beach.

“If the popup grows in popularity, there is a possibility of combining both spaces into one massive (inland) beach destination,” she said.

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Jul 25, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Tuesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Jul 25, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Wednesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

☀️ Wednesday’s forecast

The weather forecast predicts a mostly sunny day with a high temperature of around 90 degrees. A calm wind is expected to turn southward at 5 to 7 mph during the afternoon. Wednesday night will be mostly clear with a low of around 75 degrees, accompanied by a south wind blowing at 6 to 9 mph. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“God helps those who help themselves.”
– Benjamin Franklin

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

Mah-Ze-Dahr in Crystal City goes beyond baked goods with all-day fare

By Hallie LeTendre
1/4

(Updated at 2:20 p.m.) Fans of the New York-based bakery Mah-Ze-Dahr can now enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner daily at its offshoot in Crystal City.

The restaurant at 1550 Crystal Drive broadened its menu offerings this past Thursday — two years after opening with a more limited menu of pastries, baked goods and coffee drinks.

The Crystal City outpost was initially supposed to serve breakfast through dinner, though those plans were derailed by Covid, co-owner Michael Reginbogin told ARLnow.

Since the bakery opened a year into the pandemic, when most workers were still remote, he and his partners chose to stick to baked goods — including donuts some say are New York City’s best and Oprah-endorsed pastries.

“We scaled the menu to a bakery only because the guests just would not have been there enough to enjoy them,” Reginbogin said.

Thankfully, he said, the café survived Covid and, with the expansion, can cash in on the return to in-person work and the recent opening of the first phase of its Arlington HQ2.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

Mah-Ze-Dahr, rechristened Mah-Ze-Dahr Café, now serves bread pudding french toast, salads, sandwiches, quiches, steak frites and more, all day long.

Reginbogin said Mah-Ze-Dahr Café had a successful (re)opening day last week.

“Everything has been going well. We have already sold out of a few items. The demand is definitely there,” Reginbogin said. “The all-day flexibility of the new menu seems to be hitting a homerun with locals and office workers returning to the area.”

No changes to the space were necessary beyond hiring more staff to serve more customers, Reginbogin said.

Across the river in D.C., Mah-Ze-Dahr has a bakery and a bistro called Bistro Du Jour, according to its website.

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Jul 24, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Monday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Jul 24, 2023.

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Tuesday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

⛈️ Tuesday’s forecast

There’s a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms after 3pm today, with patchy fog before 10am. Expect mostly sunny skies and a high near 89, with a calm wind turning south at 5-7 mph in the afternoon. Tonight, there’s a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms before 9pm, followed by partly cloudy conditions and a low around 67 with a calming northeast wind. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
– Albert Einstein

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.

Ballston movie theater without AC amid ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ blockbuster weekend

By Caroline Gage
A sign posted at the entrance of Regal Ballston explains the AC outage (staff photo)

Those seeking an escape from the midsummer heat experienced the opposite this weekend in the Regal Cinema in Ballston.

The theater at Ballston Quarter mall is suffering an extended outage of its air conditioning, just as droves of moviegoers flocked to the big screen starting Thursday for the highly anticipated release of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” — dubbed “Barbenheimer” for their shared release date.

“As of Thursday aka the release of Barbenheimer madness, the air conditioning was nonfunctional at the Ballston theater,” said a Yelp reviewer. “We checked out the theater, and it felt like 85 degrees in there.”

The theater is “unbearably hot,” according to a Google review posted Sunday.

While the outage has been ongoing for several weeks, according to tipsters, the informal double feature cast a spotlight on the uncomfortable situation.

Even the New York Times mentioned the Ballston theater’s plight in a discussion about the success of “Barbie,” for which Gerwig now holds the record for the highest-grossing opening in history for a female director.

Some movie-lovers stayed despite the heat, while others took advantage of refunds and vouchers Regal offered to those who chose not to stay.

Asked for comment, the general manager of the theater referred ARLnow to Regal’s corporate team. The company did not respond to a request for comment before deadline.

The concessions stand at the Ballston Regal theater (staff photo)

Regal’s owner, CineWorld, is also feeling the heat financially. The company filed for bankruptcy in September 2022 due to increased financial pressure caused by the pandemic.

CineWorld anticipated ticket sales to remain lower than pre-pandemic levels over the next year, though “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are providing a much-needed boost to the theater industry as a whole.

The two films raked in $155 million and $80.5 million respectively in their opening weekend. Between internet buzz and massive media campaigns, their performance exceeded projections and marked the biggest weekend at the box office this year.

Cinemas may face doldrums further down the road, however. Actors and writers have gone on strike, halting the production of numerous movies and TV shows.

Ice cream shop coming to Crystal City, but flavor unknown

By Matt Blitz
Ground floor retail construction at 1900 Crystal Drive (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Update at 2:10 p.m.) A new ice cream shop is coming to Crystal City, and it might be trendy New York-based chain Van Leeuwen.

A ice cream shop is going into 1900 Crystal Drive, according to a permit applied for earlier this month. It’s expected to be on the ground floor in one of the two residential buildings going up at the site.

The address is 269 19th Court S., per the permit, so it may be located in some sort of alleyway.

After this article initially published, a tipster reached out to note that in a June presentation to the Crystal City Civic Association about the forthcoming construction, a logo for Van Leeuwen was on one of the slides. The company recently opened several D.C. locations, including in Georgetown.

It is not immediately clear which ice cream shop will be going in there, if not Van Leeuwen. ARLnow reached out to developer JBG Smith, which owns the buildings, but the developer declined to comment, per a spokesperson.

Arlington has a number of ice cream shops, several of which are in the midst of or recently have opened new locations. That includes Jeni’s in Shirlington, Mimi’s in Pentagon City, and Toby’s in Westover.

Mimi’s Handmade Ice Cream is opening its second location in the Mosaic District in August or September, and has leases signed for locations in Annandale, Falls Church, Chevy Chase, and Rockville. Owner Rollin Amore tells ARLnow that the forthcoming Crystal City shop is not his.

Toby’s, meanwhile, is set to open a shop in nearby Pentagon City, likely taking them out of the running.

Construction on the residential towers where the new ice cream shop will likely be located began in March 2021. Work could be completed as soon as next year.

Hat tip to Chris Slatt

ARLnow’s podcast is returning. Here’s a sneak peek.

By ARLnow.com

After a multi-year hiatus, ARLnow’s podcast is returning this fall. Our first test episode recording turned out pretty well, so we decided to let you listen to it.

It starts with a discussion of some local news of the week, then transitions to a discussion about local news reporting and journalism as a career. The episode features ARLnow founder Scott Brodbeck, reporter/editor Jo DeVoe, incoming reporter/editor James Jarvis, and Peter Berlizov, a local high school student who showed up for a tour of our office and got roped into interviewing ARLnow’s staff for the podcast.

Let us know what you think of this format in the comments.

Listen below or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or TuneIn.

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Jul 21, 2023

By ARLnow.com

Good Friday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.

🕗 News recap

The following articles were published earlier today — Jul 21, 2023.

Since it’s Friday, we’ve also compiled a list of the most-read articles of the week, below.

  1. The Pinemoor in Clarendon is closing today (19527 views)
  2. Surreal restaurant hoping for fall opening in Crystal City but details remain sparse (9147 views)
  3. Amazon Fresh store in Crystal City closes temporarily (9043 views)
  4. Driver smashes through bank drive-thru in Falls Church (8886 views)
  5. JUST IN: Man charged with sexually assaulting woman in Metro station (8375 views)
  6. Vehicle flips in morning crash near Ballston (8319 views)
  7. Arlington reigns supreme as nation’s fittest ‘city’ for sixth year in a row (7103 views)
  8. Water main break closes several Arlington County facilities (7033 views)
  9. After four decades in Arlington, Rick’s Tattoo is moving to Bailey’s Crossroads (5775 views)
  10. Spanish immersion preschool and daycare could take over Staples near Ballston (4836 views)
  11. ACPD: Three arrested for catalytic converter theft (4818 views)
  12. An Arlington teen has been rowing for over 50 hours in an attempt to beat a world record (4502 views)

📅 Upcoming events

Here is what’s going on Saturday in Arlington, from our event calendar.

Here are the events planned for Sunday:

☀️ Saturday’s forecast

Expect mostly sunny skies during the day with a high temperature near 86°F and a north wind at 7 mph. In the evening, the skies will remain mostly clear as temperatures dip to around 67°F, with the north wind at 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. See more from Weather.gov.

💡 Quote of the Day

“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
– Abraham Lincoln

🌅 Tonight’s sunset

We hope you have a great weekend, Arlington! Feel free to discuss the most-read stories of the week, the upcoming weekend events or anything else of local interest in the comments. 👋

Local nonprofit ensures safe and healthy housing for community members

By Anya Wareck
1/6

A small cohort of dedicated volunteers is stepping up to help support low-income homeowners, performing home improvements at no cost.

Since 1988, the nonprofit Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/Falls Church has worked to ensure low-income homeowners in Arlington and elsewhere in Northern Virginia have safe and accessible living spaces.

The group, a branch of the national organization Rebuilding Together, is based in the city of Fairfax but lends support to area nonprofit housing organizations, including Choice. Respect. independence, which aids people with disabilities. Last year, the volunteers spent 6,924 hours helping repair 100 homes across the region, according to the nonprofit’s website.

Volunteers are often involved in multiple projects each week, ranging from installing grab bars to new dryers. Typically, these projects involve a team of five volunteers and are completed with a budget of $500 or less.

Daphne Lathouras, communications manager for the local nonprofit, shared an anecdote with ARLnow from one homeowner who said, “I’ve been going up and down these stairs for 57 years and I can’t believe the difference two handrails make.”

Recently, in Arlington, volunteers also helped renovate a new building for the Lions Eyeglass Recycling Center, which has recycled more than 3 million pairs of eyeglasses for people in need.

Rebuilding Together’s local Northern Virginia affiliate heavily relies on the dedicated work of volunteers, some of whom provide year-round support.

“The key [to our success] is the incredible volunteers,” Lathouras told ARLnow.

The local organization receives funding from several sources including the Arlington County government, faith and corporate partners as well as individual donors.

“I want to thank the wonderful group with hearts of gold that came to my aid when I really needed it,” a homeowner said when giving feedback to the organization.

Additional information, as well as the volunteer sign-up link, are available on the nonprofit’s website.

Adoptable Pet of the Week: Berkeley

By ARLnow.com
1/2

Meet the newest — and the cutest — Adoptable Pet of the Week, Berkeley! This handsome guy can’t wait to find his forever home.

His friends at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington had this to say:

Meet Berkeley, the handsome bunny with a heart full of love!

This adorable guy is eagerly awaiting a home where he can hop, binky, and be showered with affection. With his sleek and shiny black fur, Berkeley is a true head-turner.

His deep, expressive eyes are windows to his gentle and curious heart. Whether he’s exploring his surroundings or enjoying a chew, Berkeley’s sweet nature shines through in every interaction.

Berkeley is a bunny of discerning tastes when it comes to food. A well-balanced diet consisting of fresh hay, leafy greens, and specially formulated rabbit pellets will keep him happy and healthy. He also appreciates the occasional carrot or apple slice as a special treat.

Is Berkeley the adorable bunny you’ve been looking for? Read his entire profile to learn more!

Want your pet to be considered for the Arlington Pet of the Week? Email [email protected] with 2-3 paragraphs about your pet and at least 3-4 horizontally-oriented photos.

Kirby Club pushes back opening in Clarendon, now aiming for spring 2024

By Matt Blitz
The future location of Kirby Club, moving into the former home of IOTA Club in Clarendon (photo via Google Maps)

A buzzy new Mediterranean restaurant in Clarendon has pushed back its opening again.

Kirby Club, which previously was set to be called Tawle, is now aiming for a March 2024 opening in the former IOTA Club space at 2832 Wilson Blvd, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed to ARLnow.

When it was first announced in May 2022 that a casual kebab-centric restaurant was coming to Clarendon, the hope was to open in about a year. That was later moved back to fall 2023. But, now, the eatery is looking at serving starting in early spring of next year.

No specific reason was given for the push.

“The restaurant plans are moving along as planned, just taking more time than originally planned,” a restaurant spokesperson told ARLnow.

Kirby Club comes from award-winning restaurateur Rose Previte, who recently won a RAMMY award for her work with D.C.’s Compass Rose and Maydan.

This will be the second location of the Eastern Mediterranean-inspired casual restaurant, with the other opening in Mosaic District late last year to plenty of fanfare and has received a number of accolades ever since.

A restaurant spokesperson said that diners should expect Clarendon’s Kirby Club to be “similar” to the Mosaic District location.

In an interview last year, Previte told ARLnow that she was excited to open in Clarendon because she had attended school at nearby George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and also had worked for Arlington Economic Development as part of a fellowship. While going to school and working, she often went out to Clarendon restaurants and bars.

“I maybe had too much fun in Clarendon because I was 25,” she said at the time. “So, to think we are going to have a bar and restaurant there is very cool.”

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