Courthouse

Poll: What Would You Like to See Return to Clarendon-Courthouse?

By ARLnow.com

Clarendon and Courthouse have changed — a lot — over the past couple of decades.

The arrival of Metro in the late 1970s and early 1980s heralded the demise of many small mom-and-pop retailers and ethnic restaurants that once gave the area its unique character. It also helped speed along the end of large department and five & dime stores.

Among the categories and names of businesses that have disappeared from the Clarendon-Courthouse area are:

Which of those businesses would you most like to see come back to the area?


It’s worth noting that while there are still a few ethnic restaurants in the Clarendon area — Nam Viet and Taste of Morocco come to mind — there were once many more. Ethnic restaurants might not be gone, but certain specialty cuisines, like Cuban, are.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Grand Opening for USAA Office in Pentagon City — A new USAA branch has opened on Pentagon Row. The “financial center” — in company parlance — will hold its grand opening celebration from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 2. The branch is located at 1301 South Joyce Street.

Doorways Job Featured — Arlington-based Doorways for Women and Families is looking for a new executive director. The job was featured as the MyFoxDC.com “Job of the Day” yesterday. The listing notes that Doorways’ annual operating budget has more than doubled in the past five years, to $3.1 million. [MyFoxDC]

Hilton Garden Inn Sells for $60 Million — The Hilton Garden Inn in Courthouse has changed hands for $60 million, or $320,000 per room. [GlobeSt.com]

Major Power Outage Along Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor

By ARLnow.com

Update at 1:55 p.m. — Dominion spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson says: “Approximately 5,000 customers lost power this afternoon for about 30 minutes. We are still investigating the root cause of the outage, but in the meantime, were able to reroute the flow of electricity to get customers restored quickly and safely.”

A major power outage has been reported along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.

The outage seems to be centered in the Clarendon area, where numerous traffic lights are reported to be dark. There have also been several reports of stalled elevators, including one at the Arlington County police station in Courthouse. The fire department has responded to the police station to try to free an officer who’s said to be trapped in the elevator.

On its web site, Dominion says nearly 6,000 North Arlington customers are without power due to a damaged power line. Police just reported that Dominion expects to have power restored within the hour.

Route 50 Lane Closure May Be Lifted Next Month

By ARLnow.com

The lane closure on westbound Route 50 near Courthouse is expected to be lifted next month, according to VDOT.

On-going utility work has kept the far left-hand westbound lane closed well past its originally planned July 2010 reopening date. We heard in September that the lane would likely be closed through the end of last year. Alas, construction crews are still working and westbound Route 50 is still reduced to just two lanes.

VDOT spokeswoman Jennifer McCord says the lane will reopen in mid-April “if the weather cooperates.”

Photo courtesy Todd DuBois

Fat Tuesday Events Within Walking Distance of the Parade

By ARLnow.com

If you’re heading to the Clarendon Mardi Gras/St. Patrick’s Day parade tonight, you might also be considering heading out to the bars afterward. Here are a few places where you can find some festive Fat Tuesday fun within walking distance of the parade.

Ragtime (1345 North Courthouse Road) — Ragtime is holding its 10th annual Mardi Gras party tonight. The restaurant is serving a special Cajun menu all day, Hurricanes and Cyclones are on special, and the Le Bon Temps Krew will be playing New Orleans jazz music from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. And yes, there will be beads.

Iota Club & Cafe (2832 Wilson Blvd) — Iota is hosting a parade viewing party on its front porch. After the parade, local southern acoustic rock outfit Brother Shamus will take the stage. Admission is $5 after the parade, free before.

Bayou Bakery (1515 North Courthouse Road) — The Louisiana-themed eatery in Courthouse is decked out in purple, gold and green for the holiday. Tonight the restaurant will be holding a “Bayou Gras” celebration with $7 plates including Chicken and Andouille Gumbo, Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya, Crab Boil “Peppa Weenies” and Muff-a-Lottas. Abita is on tap at Bayou Bakery, but last we checked they were sold out of homemade King Cakes.

Screwtop Wine Bar (1025 North Fillmore Street) — For those looking for a more low-key atmosphere before or after the parade, Screwtop will be serving $7 Mardi Gras mimosas throughout the evening.

Four Courts/Ri-Ra/Kitty O’Shea’s — These Irish pubs along Wilson Boulevard won’t be holding any pre-St. Patrick’s Day specials or entertainment to coincide with the parade. However, each says they will be offering their normal Tuesday specials, which means beer as low as $2.50.

Dr. Dremo’s Still Looking for a New Location

By ARLnow.com

Some may call it quixotic, but the quest to bring back Dr. Dremo’s Taphouse is still going strong.

Former Dremo’s owner Andrew Stewart says he has gotten tantalizingly close to securing a new location for the former Arlington landmark, but to no avail. In previous interviews Stewart said he would like Dremo’s to remain in the Courthouse or Clarendon area, but the cost has been prohibitive.

“We have come close a couple of time,” Stewart wrote in an email. “The large companies that lease these spaces don’t take a mom-and-pop, like us, seriously.”

The search, Stewart says, is “ongoing.” Even if the bar can’t find a new home, however, one part of its history may return.

“[I’ve] been considering starting a brewing company with all of the old (award winning) Bardo recipes,” Stewart said, referring to Dremo’s predecessor Bardo Rodeo. In its heyday, Bardo was as “the largest brewpub on the east coast.”

Dr. Dremo’s closed in January 2008 (the photo above is from its last night) and was razed to make way for a condo complex that was never built, thanks to the downturn in the economy. Construction at the site is reportedly set to get underway this year.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Capital Bikeshare Stations Coming to R-B Corridor — Crystal City and Pentagon City have had all the Capital Bikeshare fun so far, but now it’s North Arlington’s turn. The approximate locations for the first four Bikeshare stations in Rosslyn and Courthouse have been decided, with installation expected to take place next month. Also decided: the stations will be placed on the street, likely replacing existing parking spaces. [People-Powered Arlington, TBD]

Bill Could Make Common Traffic Offenses Misdemeanors — If a bill currently under consideration in the Virginia General Assembly becomes law, it could make rolling stops at traffic lights and other common traffic offenses misdemeanors punishable by jail time or a hefty fine. The bill is intended to give police the flexibility of charging drivers with reckless driving when a specific situation warrants. Supporters, including Del. David Englin (D), say the bill could help improve pedestrian safety. [We Love DC, Richmond Sunlight]

Bike Trail Will Link Pentagon, Pike, Memorial Bridge — The Route 110 Bike Trail is being touted as a more convenient alternative to the Mt. Vernon Trail for many trail users. The project to pave the dirt path into a proper trail just got a big infusion of cash, thanks to the county board approving $250,000 in grant funding from the state. Construction won’t begin, however, for at least another year. [TBD]

Flickr pool by Damiec

Bayou Bakery Owner Nominated for Award

By ARLnow.com

Bayou Bakery owner and chef David Guas has been nominated for Food & Wine Magazine’s The People’s Best New Chef award.

Guas is one of ten chefs nominated for the award in the Mid-Atlantic region, and one of 100 chefs nominated nationwide. Other local nominees include Kyle Bailey of Birch & Barley, Dan Giusti of 1789 Restaurant, and Nicholas Stefanelli of Bibiana.

The ultimate winner will be decided by an online vote. The winners in each of the ten geographic regions will be featured in the July issue of Food and Wine.

Bayou Bakery is located at 1515 North Courthouse Road in Courthouse.

Courthouse Damaged by Burst Pipe

By ARLnow.com

The cleanup is still on-going at Arlington’s courthouse building, which was damaged by a burst hot water pipe early Friday morning.

The pipe burst in a wall of a courtroom on the the third floor of the building. Water leaked down to the second and first floors, as well as the parking garage. Crews worked throughout the weekend to dry out damaged carpets, chairs and other furniture.

Several boxes of documents at the police department’s central records department were damaged, but a county spokesperson said that most of those documents had already been digitized and were waiting to be shredded. Another box of documents, which was intended to be preserved, suffered light water damaged but has since been dried out by a contractor.

“We lost nothing of any significance,” said county spokeswoman Mary Curtius. “The courtroom will reopen tomorrow and most of the offices are functioning already today.”

Damage is expected to exceed the county’s $50,000 insurance deductible, Curtius said.

Clarendon-Courthouse Power Outage Blamed on Substation

By ARLnow.com

Much of Clarendon and Courthouse was in the dark Saturday night, at the peak of dinner and drinking time.

The 76-minute power outage forced restaurants like Fireworks in Courthouse to close for the night, while it drove business to other establishments where the lights stayed on, like Adams Corner and Spider Kelly’s.

Dominion spokesperson Le-Ha Anderson said 9,500 customers were affected by the outage, which occurred when a piece of equipment failed at the company’s substation at 3245 Wilson Boulevard.

One Twitter user reported: “I was at Northside [Social] when the transformer blew right behind the building. Big flash + bang, lots of smoke in the street.”

“Crews swiftly replaced it and we had all customers restored quickly,” Anderson said.

What’s Up With the Back-In Parking Spaces in Courthouse?

By ARLnow.com

A reader, Christine, wrote in to ask about a parking ticket she recently received in Courthouse. Here’s her story:

I’m writing because I’d like to find out if any of your other readers have had the same issue I ran into last week. I received a $50 parking ticket for pulling front-end first into an angled parking space in Courthouse. These are the spots right next to the big AMC lot (cannot remember what street). Apparently the parking spaces were “Back-in Only”, which I failed to notice (admittedly this is my own fault). What I don’t understand is why Arlington is charging me $50 for pulling into a spot facing the wrong direction?! It’s not as if I was parking in a zone I didn’t have a permit for, or parked over a line taking up two spaces. It also seems like a pretty easy mistake to make, considering the street is 2-way and there is only parking on one side.

I’m not saying I don’t deserve a ticket (though I believe a warning would have been more appropriate considering this whole “back-in only” idea is not exactly prevalent), but $50 just seems insane.

We reached out to Arlington County Department of Environmental Services spokesperson Shannon Whalen McDaniel for the answer to why the spaces are back-in only. Here’s her response:

It is a safety issue. Back-in spaces are generally safer because of improved visibility when leaving the space. On 14th Street, which has a slope to it, safety is further enhanced because the cars would roll into the curb if the brakes failed.

Is a $50 fine too much, or does safety take precedence?

Update on 1/13/11 — WUSA 9 did a follow-up story to this article. Check it out here.

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