A D.C. man was arrested Monday morning after allegedly trying to steal liquor from Whitlow’s in Clarendon.
Police say the man entered the bar, at 2854 Wilson Blvd, just after 9:00 a.m. and stole six bottles of liquor. An alert employee, however, was able to foil the alleged theft and hold the suspect until police arrived on scene.
Wilber Johnson, 37, was arrested and charged with statutory burglary and grand larceny, according to a crime report.
U.S. Women’s National Team defender Ali Krieger is planning to celebrate her World Cup win in Clarendon on Sunday.
We’re told that Krieger will be holding a private rooftop bash for family and friends at Don Tito (3165 Wilson Blvd) on Sunday afternoon.
Born in Alexandria and raised in Dumfries, Krieger posted a photo of a Virginia welcome sign on Twitter Sunday, saying it was the “best feeling” to be home. That followed a ticker tape parade in New York City and an on-stage appearance at a Taylor Swift concert in New Jersey earlier that week.
Though not yet finalized, Krieger is likely to hold a meet and greet with fans at Don Tito between 4-5 p.m., according to Don Tito partner Scott Parker.
Arlington residents to should start building up an appetite. The third annual D.C. BRGR Bash is coming to Rosslyn’s Gateway Park on Saturday, July 18.
The BRGR Bash is a six hour competition of who can make the best burger, and the judges are the visitors. Each person at the bash gets to try four burgers and then a cast his or her vote for favorite burger.
There will also be craft beers to help wash down the burgers and live music to jam to while eating.
At the end of the day, one burger chef champion will be named, and he or she will walk away with a vacation to Austin, Texas and the Golden BRGR Bash trophy.
The competition was started by Craig Carey, who also started Ballston burger joint Big Buns.
The competition runs from noon to 6 p.m. on July 18, and tickets are $29 per person. A ticket gets a person entry and four burgers. The 16 burgers are broken down into four groups, and each ticket is for one group. D.C. BRGR Bash recommends bringing three other friends so that everyone can taste all 16 burgers. Craft beers are available for $5 at one of the four beer bars.
Vegetarians don’t have to be left out. The competition offers a Veggie Burger ticket for $19, which gets the person entry and a veggie burger. There will also be cider for those with gluten allergies.
Arlingtonians can also attend the bash to support the four local competitors: Willow Restaurant in Ballston, Big Buns in Ballston, Citizen Burger Bar in Clarendon and the combined entry of Liberty Tavern and Lyon Hill in Clarendon.
Photo courtesy of Darren Stauffer
Young Republicans to Rally Against Sanders — The Arlington Falls Church Young Republicans will “welcome” Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to Ballston tonight with a “rally for limited government and free market ideals.” The rally will be held outside the National Rural Electrical Cooperative Association, where Sanders will be speaking. [Facebook]
Tree Down on Custis Trail — A tree is down across the Custis Trail near Cherrydale and the ponds, cyclists report. The tree came down following last night’s heavy rains. [BikeArlington Forum, Twitter]
Head of Ex-Offender Group Stepping Down — Gail Arnall, the head of Arlington-based Offender Aid Restoration, is leaving the group, but staying involved as a consultant. OAR helps ex-offenders readjust to life outside of prison. The group notes that it costs only $650 for them to help ex-cons re-integrate into society, while re-incarcerating them would cost $27,000 per year. [Washington Post]
New Clarendon Office Tenant — HDR Architecture has signed a 30,000 square foot lease for the recently-built office building at 3001 Washington Blvd in Clarendon. “Consolidating two existing regional offices into the new Clarendon facility, HDR will now be able to tap into the highly educated population for which Arlington County is well-reputed as well as avail itself of the well-situated project easily accessible via public transportation and multiple roadways and airports,” building owner Penzance said in a press release.
“Designer consignment” clothing store Current Boutique plans to relocate their Clarendon shop to a larger space.
The business is moving a mere half a block, from 2529 Wilson Blvd to 2601 Wilson Blvd (near the corner of Wilson and N. Daniel Street). However, according to realtor Bill Buck, the move will more than double the boutique’s square footage.
Clarendon store manager Krista Cash said the decision to move came when owners and employees realized Current Boutique had outgrown its space.
Current Boutique has signed the lease for the new storefront, but renovations are still in progress. Buck estimates the business will move to their new location within the next couple of months.
Current Boutique has three other stores in the D.C. Metro area, in Old Town Alexandria (1009 King Street), Bethesda (7220 Wisconsin Avenue) and Logan Circle (1809 14th Street, NW).
La Moto Washington, located in the heart of Arlington, and a short walk from the Clarendon Metro, is the official flagship store for Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi.
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The preceding post was written and sponsored by La Moto Washington
The bohemian women’s clothing store Free People closed its Clarendon location as of the end of last week.
The clothing store’s staff could be seen packing away the stock last Thursday. There are now signs up in the window of the store, at Market Common Clarendon (2700 Clarendon Blvd) indicating that Free People will be moving to a space in Georgetown next month.
The store’s new address will be 3009 M Street, NW.
The Market Common location was one of two Free People stores in Arlington; the other location (1100 S Hayes Street) remains open.
Historic Affairs Board: Preserve Stratford — Arlington’s Historic Affairs and Landmark Review Board has voted unanimously to recommend designating Stratford Junior High School, the current home of the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program, a local historic district. The School Board will now decide whether or not to go along with the historic designation, which could delay plans to build a new middle school on the site by 2019. [InsideNova]
Three Arrests at Bar Crawl — There were only three arrests made at the All-American Bar Crawl in Clarendon on Saturday. Arlington County police were out in force, keeping the peace among the thousands of revelers who participated in the rain-drenched event, which the department again live-tweeted. Among the arrests were one for being drunk in public and another for failure to pay, according to a police spokesman. [Twitter]
Man With Knife Arrested at McDonald’s — A man was arrested at the McDonald’s on the 3000 block of Columbia Pike on Saturday afternoon. Police responded to the restaurant for a report of a fight in progress and encountered a man who was brandishing a knife. The suspect was arrested but was acting disorderly and spitting on officers while in custody, according to a police spokesman. It was later determined that the man was wanted for a probation violation in Loudoun County.
Flickr pool photo by Erinn Shirley
In honor of Father’s Day this weekend, the Lululemon marketing team in Clarendon decided to create a recipe for the perfect “dad bod.”
Store manager Kelsey Knutson said she was inspired by a recent spate of articles on the Huffington Post, the New York Times and elsewhere describing a phenomenon where women seem to go for softer, less in-shape men.
“The dad body describes men who are a little bit toned and who work out, but are also a little bit soft,” said Knutson. “It shows they have a balanced lifestyle, that they work hard but that they can also have fun, and there are all kinds of articles suggesting that women are most attracted to this type.”
The fad has garnered some arguably well-deserved mockery for the double standard it represents between the way that women’s and men’s bodies are treated in popular culture, but the Lululemon team was less focused on the physical aspect of the dad bod. Instead, Knutson wanted to examine the dad bod as an emotional form.
Knutson, assistant store manager Brittney Avey and one other member of the team put their heads together and tried to think about what emotional components produce the perfect dad bod. Their answer? The ideal dad is:
Knutson and Avey said that their brainstorming mostly involved reflecting on what they loved about their own dads. The sign went up last Friday (June 12), and the community has taken notice.
“It’s completely gotten people stopping,” said Knutson. “People think it’s funny — one woman put it on her blog and said it made her laugh. Lots of guys have stopped in to tell us, ‘Oh yeah, I have a dad bod!’ or asked if we have any clothes for dad bods.”
Knutson doesn’t think sales have gone up because of the sign, but she also said that wasn’t the point.
“It’s meant to brighten people’s days and get them engaged,” said Knutson. “It’s been a really great conversation starter.”
Arlington residents willing to brave the summer heat have a few more options for outdoor entertainment starting this month.
Outdoor movie festivals at Market Common Clarendon and Penrose Square on Columbia Pike have both announced their weekly lineups.
“Dinner and a Movie on the Loop” will take place on four consecutive Thursday evenings at Market Common Clarendon (2700 Clarendon Blvd), starting this week. The event was started last year as Now Playing at the Loop.
Market Common has added dinner to the mix this year, with a different local restaurant is providing a fixed-price meal before each movie, beginning at 7:45 p.m. In addition, guests can round out their family-friendly cinematic experience with free candy, popcorn and water.
All movies start at 8:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. The schedule is as follows:
Summer Movies @Penrose Square, a free outdoor movie series at Penrose Square (2597 Columbia Pike), started last Saturday (June 13).
The event, sponsored by the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, will continue into September. The schedule is as follows:
Guests are encouraged to bring their own chairs or blankets to both festivals.
CPRO is also sponsoring another movie festival on the Pike this summer. Starting on August 16, CPRO will screen a movie every Sunday until September 20 at the Arlington Mill Community Center.
The movies at Arlington Mill will start at dusk. A schedule is expected to be announced mid-July.
(Updated at 3:45 p.m.) Hundreds of cyclists took to Clarendon and Crystal City streets as part of the Air Force Association Cycling Classic this past weekend.
The two-day event saw professional, amateur and youth cyclists speed up and down Wilson and Clarendon Boulevards and Crystal Drive. The course also featured several tight turns for participants to whip around. The Clarendon Cup had five of these turns, which makes it one of the more difficult courses of its kind in the United States.
“It’s a really fun, local race. It’s one of the best in the area,” said Mattison Brady, a Washington, D.C. resident who placed second in the Amateur race.
The course’s technical challenges only add to the fun, Brady said.
But for some the two courses proved to be anything but fun. The Clarendon Cup’s challenges turned the race into a “race of attrition,” said Christopher Hair, a local cyclist with the United Healthcare/National Capital Velo Club Amateur team.
“It’s about an hour of excruciating pain,” Hair said. “Most people are smiling because it’s over.”
Riders also fell prey to the courses with multiple crashes throughout the two days. Multiple women hit the pavement during an early crash in the Clarendon Cup and at least two riders hit the ground during the men’s professional Crystal Cup causing a small slowdown.
The event was also apparently hazardous to a County Board candidate. Independent Board candidate Audrey Clement said the road closures from the Clarendon Cup hindered her ability to safely bike to Saturday’s Board meeting.
“As you know, I am an avid biker. I’ve biked to work every day for the past 25 years and I’ve biked to virtually every County Board meeting for the past three years,” Clement said in the meeting’s public comment period. “Yet today, I risked my life to bike to this meeting because the bike race… had blocked off all the streets in Clarendon. This represents not just an inconvenience to pedestrians, motorists and other bikers in the county, it constitutes reckless endangerment.”
For Hilton Clarke, a professional cyclist with United Healthcare, the two-day event was something to celebrate. The 35-year-old Australian cyclist won both the Clarendon and Crystal Cups and the Omnium.
“Well, I’ve been here a few times, and I’ve won now yesterdays race three times, and this race I’ve come in second three times, so it’s nice, even though my teammates normally beat me in this race, it’s nice to get a win here in this event so I’m really happy,” Clarke said.
For the women, Lauren Stephens took the Clarendon Cup after a long breakaway, and Coryn Rivera, a nationally-known cyclist, took the Crystal Cup and the Omnium.
