The interior of Ireland’s Four Courts, under construction as of August 2023 (courtesy Dave Cahill)
Rendering of new Four Courts exterior facade (courtesy Ireland’s Four Courts)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Damage inside Ireland’s Four Courts as of 9/15/22 (staff photo)
Ireland’s Four Courts on fire and an injured person being helped after a vehicle crashed into the pub (photo courtesy Craig Smith)
Aftermath of car crashing into Ireland’s Four Courts (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Immediate aftermath of the crash at Ireland’s Four Courts, before the fire spread (photo via Alan Henney)
One year and three days ago, a rideshare vehicle plowed into Ireland’s Four Courts, seriously injuring several patrons and sparking a devastating fire.
Six months after the crash, the pub began to rebuild and has since targeted reopening in August. With construction still in progress as of mid-August, managing partner Dave Cahill tells ARLnow he aims to throw open the doors in early September.
Cahill says the interior is getting its final finishes. Photos he shared show a cozy interior with a large stone fireplace, dark wood paneling and brass light fixtures. A large wood fireplace and some stained glass survived the fire and are prominently featured as well.
We are working on finishes and pass our inspections towards end of month. It will be just after Labor Day hopefully . pic.twitter.com/aQEOic8rGG
A greenish-blue and gold exterior will replace the old red-and-black façade. Inside, the layout of the pub will be more or less the same, though there will be some new features, including a new draft beer system.
The pub marked the anniversary of the crash in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Today is the one-year anniversary of the accident which closed the pub. In that time the level of support that we have received from our local community in Arlington and our friends across the country has been heartwarming.
We want to thank all of you. We look forward to welcoming everyone back to the pub soon. Please continue to follow our social media pages for updates on our reopening date.
The driver, who was reportedly suffering a medical emergency, was not charged. All three pub-goers who suffered serious, potentially life-threatening injuries in the August crash were released from the hospital by the next month.
The Filling Station in Ballston is opening this weekend (photo courtesy of Mykl Wu)
The Filling Station in Ballston is opening this weekend (photo courtesy of Mykl Wu)
Live music venue The Filling Station is opening in Ballston (staff photo)
A new live music and events venue is opening in Ballston this weekend.
The small, 50-seat Filling Station at 4201 Wilson Blvd is opening its doors on Friday night. It’s owned by brothers Ian and Eric Hilton, who also own the adjacent restaurant El Rey.
The venue will focus on hosting live music, comedy, and private events, per its website.
“Filling Station is an intimate venue with an elevated stage that will be host, with no cover charge, to a rotating schedule of musicians, bands and comedians,” says a press release.
“Set with community-style and small group tables, the rustic interior harkens to mid-century culture with the walls filled with that era’s album and magazine covers and music posters,” the press release continues. “Large screen TVs and mounted televisions will show NFL football games and sports this fall.”
Friday night’s inaugural show will feature Cowpoke, a country rock and folk band from Leesburg. Saturday’s show will feature Arlington-based funk-rock band Skip House.
Food will be available from the next-door El Rey, including quesadillas, nachos, torta sandwiches, fries, wings and 17 beers on tap.
ARLnow first reported last month that Filling Station’s opening was imminent, though signs had been up dating back to August 2022.
The venue is part of the Hilton brothers’ burgeoning local restaurant empire. Cafe Coline on Langston Blvd was named one of Washingtonian’s Top 100 restaurants earlier this year. El Rey in Ballston opened in late 2021 as a second location of the popular D.C.-based taqueria.
Arlington’s live music scene has seen some changes in recent months.
B Live opened in May 2022 as a music venue and restaurant in the former Whitlow’s space in Clarendon. But this summer, the venue announced it was shifting to featuring more live karaoke and becoming a “beach bar,” at least temporarily.
The Renegade in Clarendon, which opened in 2019, also features live music.
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.
The pub confirmed to ARLnow over the weekend that it wants to add a whisky and bourbon bar, in a lower level space previously used by a now-closed dry cleaner. The original pub and the whisky bar will be connected by a staircase.
In addition to providing another bar for the popular and well-reviewed pub, the new downstairs area will also serve as an event space, we’re told by a spokesperson.
The plan is on the agenda for tomorrow’s (June 21) Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board meeting, since the strip retail center in which Celtic House is located is part of a historic district. Celtic House is proposing to add a small vestibule onto the rear of the building at 2500 Columbia Pike, to serve as an entrance to the new space.
“The Arlington Village Shopping Center is contributing to the Arlington Village National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) Historic District, which was designated by the National Park Service in April 2003,” notes a county staff report. “The applicant proposes to install a one-story, front gable-roofed vestibule addition near the southeast corner of the rear elevation.”
“The vestibule door will also be a new ADA-compliant wood and glass door with sidelights, and adjacent to the door and sidelights are simple pilasters with new exterior lighting,” the report adds.
The proposal is on the historic board’s consent agenda, implying that it is non-controversial and expected to pass.
The Celtic House spokesperson told ARLnow that the new bar should open at some point this fall, as long as the approvals are granted as expected.
Celtic House opened in late 2014 and has since established itself as a community staple and gathering place. It is hosting the Arlington Democrats primary watch party tonight, for instance.
Matt Blitz contributed to this report. Hat tip to @SRtwofourfour.
A look at ongoing interior construction at Ireland’s Four Courts (via Twitter/@irelands4courts)
A look at ongoing interior construction at Ireland’s Four Courts (via Twitter/@irelands4courts)
A look at ongoing interior construction at Ireland’s Four Courts (via Twitter/@irelands4courts)
Rendering of new Four Courts exterior facade (courtesy Ireland’s Four Courts)
Ireland’s Four Courts, under renovation in March (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Ireland’s Four Courts says it’s still on track to reopen in August.
The longtime Courthouse watering hole has been closed since a rideshare driver plowed into the front of the pub last August, sparking a raging fire and seriously injuring several people.
The pub released a video Tuesday evening providing a tour of the ongoing construction inside. The one-minute video shows the interior totally gutted and lined with new plywood.
“I know it looks a little different than how we’re used to seeing it, but today we’re here to give you a sneak peak at all the construction and renovations that have been going on over the past few months, in prep for our grand reopening in August,” the video’s host says.
Only a few items salvaged from the original pub are seen in the video, including the large wooden fireplace and some stained glass windows.
While the layout of the pub will be more or less the same as it was before the crash and fire, there will be some new features, notably a new draft beer system, the host says.
The 15-year-old local watering hole, at the corner of N. Glebe Road and Langston Blvd, will serve its last pints on Sunday (May 21), co-owner Gobind Ghai confirmed to ARLnow. Sales have slowed since the pandemic, which led ownership to decide not to renew its lease at the Glebe Lee Shopping Center.
“I wish we could continue, but we had a great run. It’s just our time,” Ghai said. “Sales were not high enough to continue but weren’t low enough… where we had to close right away. We could wait out the lease.”
He says there are no plans to open elsewhere and does not know what will come next to 2163 N. Glebe Road.
Last summer, rumors began circulating that the sports bar might be closing come mid-2023. Those in charge denied it at the time, but it ended up being true.
Thirsty Bernie opened in 2008, with its signature Saint Bernard mascot, as a sports-centric hangout. The current ownership took over in early 2017 after whispers of a format change.
Ghai said what made Thirsty Bernie special is the diverse mix of customers.
“We had customers and patrons from all walks of life… different cultures, different communities, different races. Everyone just sitting together,” he said. “It was such a special place. A melting pot.”
Ghai called Thirsty Bernie a “family-friendly” sports bar, a rarity in Arlington, with plenty of parking. He said his staff and regular customers were “family.”
“We are sad to go but happy for the time we had at Thirsty Bernie,” Ghai said.
In Ballston’s battle of the beer bars, Crafthouse has emerged as the survivor.
World of Beer, in the Ballston Point building at 4300 Wilson Blvd, closed up shop earlier this week.
“We’re ceasing our business operations in Arlington, Virginia starting April 17,” a sign on the door says. “Thank you, Arlington, for allowing us to be a part of this community for the last 3 years.”
The watering hole opened in October 2020 in the former Ted’s Montana Grill space. It was a return to the neighborhood for the suds-centric national chain, after a World of Beer franchise up the road rebranded as Crafthouse.
From our article on the opening:
The restaurant is not far from Crafthouse (901 N. Glebe Road), which was Virginia’s first World of Beer location from 2012 until 2017, when the owner parted ways and rebranded locations in Ballston, Reston and Fairfax. […]
The split between then-owner Evan Matz and World of Beer took a bitter turn later in 2017, when the chain sued Matz for violating the terms of the franchise agreement. In October 2018, Matz sued back.
All three Crafthouse locations, including in Ballston, remain open. World of Beer has D.C. area locations in Bethesda and Rockville.
While you’ll no longer be able to get an obscure beer from halfway around the world at World of Beer, a new beverage option recently opened in the same building: D.C.-based coffee shop Slipstream opened within the past month or so.
The Courthouse pub said this morning that it expects to re-open its doors in August.
“We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to Ireland’s Four Courts in August 2023,” the pub said via social media and on its website. The announcement included a rendering of the pub’s new exterior facade, now in green and gold rather than black and red.
Four Courts managing partner Dave Cahill tells ARLnow that work inside is progressing
“Work is on schedule,” Cahill said. “We will retain our neighborhood pub feel that we have had for 27 years… When our customers walk into the pub in August, we want them to feel they are in the old Four Courts but with a more updated, fresher look.”
“We will be adding some new elements to the pub,” he added. “The entrance will have double doors and bi-fold windows.”
Police announced in October that the Uber driver who slammed into Four Courts after suffering an apparent medical emergency would not face criminal charges. All three pub-goers who suffered serious, potentially life-threatening injuries in the August crash were released from the hospital by the next month.
The Lot in Clarendon on a Friday evening (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The Lot in Clarendon on a Friday evening in March 2021 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the apartment building set to be built on the Silver Diner assemblage (via Arlington County)
Renderings of plaza space in the Silver Diner site redevelopment (via Arlington County)
Renderings of plaza space in the Silver Diner site redevelopment (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner assemblage (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
Renderings of the hotel building set to be built on the Silver Diner site (via Arlington County)
The Lot is here for a good time, not a long time — and now it’s time to begin saying farewell to the beer garden in Clarendon.
The last season for the outdoor space at 3217 10th Street N. is set to begin next Friday, March 10, weather pending. Before the drinking establishment’s namesake vacant lot is redeveloped in the near future, The Lot will be going out with a bang, with lower prices, more games and events all season long.
“The Lot will always hold a special place in our hearts,” owner Mike Bramson tells ARLnow. “We’ve met a lot of great staff and guests, some of whom have become our closest friends.”
The first major event, the ShamRock n Roll Fest, is set for Saturday, March 25. Bramson is also throwing a St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl on Saturday, March 11.
The Lot’s long goodbye will continue with the return of other events Bramson said were favorites over the years. This includes the Memorial Weekend Jam Session, The Lot Luau and “Lotoberfest,” to name a few, all without cover charges.
“We only expected The Lot to be open for two years, but we ended up with four fun years,” said Bramson, who operates a number of nightlife ventures in Arlington.
It opened in 2019, a few years behind schedule due to permitting issues. The spot remained popular throughout the pandemic, with people flocking there to drink outside as trepidation over indoor gatherings persisted.
Now, in honor of the last season, there will be no cover charges, drink prices are being lowered, and there will be a new lineup of beer and frozen drinks. The Lot is adding more games, as well, and hosting what Bramson calls the “happiest of hours” during the week. Pets will be welcome at all times now.
Food truck Rebel Taco, meanwhile, will return to serve tacos, quesadillas and nachos to the gathered crowds.
“Our goal this year is simple: for our guests and friends to reminisce on the good times at the Lot and create new memories,” Bramson said.
The Lot is part of a property cluster comprised of two small office buildings, the now-closed Silver Diner restaurant, an auto repair facility and surface parking, bordered by 10th Street N., Wilson Blvd and N. Irving Street.
This whole site, dubbed the Bingham Center site, is set to be razed and redeveloped. Applicants The Donohoe Cos. and TCS Realty Associates propose constructing an 11-story, 290-unit apartment building with 16,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and a 10-story, 229-room hotel.
Their proposal is winding through the county’s site plan process. The Site Plan Review Committee is set to review it for the second time on Thursday, March 16. Initial comments thus far include some concerns from neighbors about the height and setbacks for the buildings, as well as the amount of parking.
Arlington County anticipates the project will be reviewed by the Transportation and Planning Commissions, followed by a vote by the Arlington County Board, in the spring.
Chef Tim Ma is opening two new concepts inside of the cube at Westpost in Pentagon City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Local chef Tim Ma is reviving a popular sandwich shop and bringing it to the former Bread and Water “cube” in Pentagon City.
Ma’s well-regarded Chase the Submarine, which closed in Vienna about five years ago, is making a comeback at Westpost on S. Joyce Street in Pentagon City, the chef confirmed to ARLnow. It’s a joint venture with Scott Chung, who co-owns Bun’d Up, also located in Westpost.
The sandwich shop is moving into the relatively small “cube” space in the development’s plaza which was home to Bread and Water until this fall.
This will be Ma’s second Westpost restaurant. Chinese-American take-out eatery Lucky Danger opened on the other side of the development in July 2021.
Construction is essentially done, Ma said, and he’s just waiting on permits. The hope is to start serving within a few weeks, meaning likely later this month.
Along with that, Ma is also planning another concept in the cube.
At night, sandwiches will transform into cocktails with a new wine and cocktail bar called No Chaser. That isn’t expected to open quite yet, with Chase the Submarine opening first and No Chaser coming later this year.
Window stickers are already on plastered on the building, advertising both the new eatery and the cocktail bar.
When Bread and Water closed in October, Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT) suggested the space to him. FRIT owns the mixed-use development, as well as the Village of Shirlington.
Lucky Danger has been doing quite well at Westpost since it opened about 18 months ago, Ma said, and FRIT has continued to be a “fantastic partner.”
“I’ve been very happy with my return to Arlington and, generally, very hopeful about the [dining] future of the area,” he said.
So, they decided to take the space and, then, just had to figure out what to put there. They turned to an old favorite.
“My team and I always talked about bringing [Chase the Submarine] back,” Ma said. “It was truly one of my favorites.”
Ma said, at least for the time being, this version of Chase the Submarine will be a more “consolidated” version than the previous one in Vienna. There will be fewer hot sandwiches and some different cold sandwiches.
The exact menu and website have not been released publicly quite yet, but that’s expected to be out in the coming days. He said he’s excited to be partnering with Chung, with whom he worked on a night market this past fall.
As part of the agreement to open the two new concepts, Ma extended Lucky Danger’s lease to keep it in Westpost for the foreseeable future. That future includes the opening of Amazon’s HQ2 this year, a few blocks away in Pentagon City, as well as expected development across the street on the Riverhouse property.
Larger-than-life Christmas characters at B Live (courtesy Albert Ting)
The decked halls of B Live (courtesy Albert Ting)
The decked halls of B Live (courtesy Albert Ting)
Cookies and a sundae for Santa (courtesy Albert Ting)
Buddy the Elf at B Live (courtesy Albert Ting)
Holiday window drawings at B Live in Clarendon (staff photo)
Holiday window drawings at B Live in Clarendon (staff photo)
‘Tis the season to get tipsy with cozy cocktails and two-buck beers.
B Live, the live music venue and restaurant in the old Whitlow’s on Wilson space at 2854 Wilson Blvd, says it has created Arlington’s “most immersive holiday popup.”
“‘Jingle Bell Rock’ is the latest popup in B Live’s completely decked-out space, fit with sparkling light displays, festive garland and life-sized holiday fan favorites like the Grinch, Santa Claus and Nutcrackers,” a PR rep for B Live said. The venue is owned by local nightlife duo Mike and Christal Bramson.
Passersby can see the spot’s windows painted with beloved Christmas characters playing instruments — in a tribute to the music scene for which Whitlow’s was known.
Inside, B Live is offering weekly holiday-themed specials, including Christmas karaoke on Tuesdays, a “Santa Mug Night” every Thursday with $2.50 beers and live entertainment every weekend. The pop-up runs through mid-January, meaning guests can live by Buddy the Elf’s code to “treat every day like Christmas.”
The bar is making spirits bright with holiday-themed drinks, too. For an extra-cozy night out, guests can order the “Santa Baby,” a boozy hot chocolate topped with a torched marshmallow.
If your heart hasn’t shrunk three sizes, there is a “Patron Christmas Tree” cocktail tower that serves four.
Only Santa will know if you were naughty and kept all of the tequila for yourself.
