Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Carbon monoxide incident at Starbucks (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
You’ll have to walk an extra block to get your pumpkin spice fix in Rosslyn this afternoon.
The standalone Starbucks store on N. Oak Street has been evacuated after reports of elevated carbon monoxide levels in the building. Firefighters are working to determine the source of the apparent leak and Washington Gas crews are on the way to the scene.
So far there have no reports of significant illness as a result of the CO leak.
Drivers should expect some slowdowns in the area due to fire department activity, though that should start thinning out soon. Police blocked a portion of N. Oak Street during the investigation.
For those on the hunt for pumpkin-flavored coffee and baked goods on this first day of September, there’s good news: another Starbucks is located across the street in the Safeway grocery store.
Firefighters are currently working to ventilate the building, which is technically located at 1501 17th Street N.
A Falls Church man is facing charges after his car was stolen with a child inside.
The theft happened around dinnertime Sunday near the busy intersection of N. Lynn Street and Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn. The car and the child were quickly located in Southeast D.C.
“At approximately 6:01 p.m. on August 28, officers were flagged down by a vehicle owner who reported his parked, idling vehicle had been stolen with his child inside,” Arlington County police said in a crime report this afternoon.
“A lookout was broadcast for the vehicle and child, including to surrounding jurisdictions,” ACPD said. “At approximately 6:20 p.m. the Metropolitan Police Department reported locating the stolen vehicle with the child inside in the 2200 block of Fairlawn Avenue SE Washington D.C. The child was unharmed.”
Police are still looking for the suspect, who fled from the vehicle before police found it. The owner of the car, a 38-year-old Falls Church resident “was charged with Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor and released on a summons.”
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
Seeing his cart flipped in the middle of what was then called Lee Highway in Rosslyn, with eggs and taco shells spilling down the street, Osiris Hoil was close to giving up his dream.
The co-founder of District Taco, which in 2011 was but a simple taco cart, called his neighbor and business partner Marc Wallace for help. He came to Hoil’s rescue bearing tools, know-how, and resolve to fix the cart’s broken hitch.
“I’m so stressed out, so tired,” Hoil said as he recounted the story of the flipped taco cart to ARLnow. “But then Mark said, ‘don’t worry man, someday we will be laughing about this.'”
Sure enough, more than a decade later, Hoil and Wallace are indeed laughing at the memory of their flipped taco cart, an incident that was covered by ARLnow at the time (and followed soon thereafter by another Rosslyn fender bender).
Today, the two Arlington-based entrepreneurs have just sold their 10 millionth taco and are on the verge of franchising the Mexican fast-casual restaurant that started as a taco cart on the streets of Rosslyn (and then Crystal City) in 2009.
District Taco founders Osiris Hoil and Marc Wallace (courtesy of District Taco)
As Hoil and Wallace explain it, the idea of District Taco and their partnership came out of two neighbors drinking beers on each others’ porches and lamenting about the economic downturn.
It was 2008 and both were living near Yorktown High School at the time. Wallace had just sold his tech company and would often chat with Hoil about the hardships of the construction business, the industry that Hoil worked in at the time. They’d also scarf down chips and Hoil’s homemade salsas, made from traditional recipes that his mom used back in Yucatan, Mexico.
With both at transition points in their careers — Hoil was laid off during the 2008 financial crisis — they decided to partner and open a Mexican food truck, at a time when those were still a bit of a novelty. But an actual food truck proved to be too pricey.
“So, we got a cart which we pulled behind a pick-up truck,” said Wallace. “A food truck costs $100,000, so we went with a cart.”
They got the necessary permits from Arlington County (D.C. initially denied their request) and set up their cart by the building that houses WJLA in Rosslyn.
The original District Taco cart in Crystal City (courtesy of District Taco)
Within months, breakfast tacos became District Taco’s calling card.
They also had help from local notables. WJLA’s meteorologist Brian van de Graaff would grab a couple of breakfast tacos before work and talk about it on-air, Wallace remembered.
“Before he went on the news, he would come down and get his tacos,” he said. “It was great PR for us.”
In late 2010, Hoil and Wallace opened their first brick-and-mortar location at 5723 Lee Highway (now Langston Blvd), near their homes. The original District Taco is still there today.
The first brick-and-mortar District Taco in Arlington’s Yorktown neighborhood (staff photo by Matt Blitz)
Despite that initial success, both say it was not an easy road. Beyond a flipped taco cart, there were also lean times, delays, and near disasters.
“If I told you how many times I wanted to give up, you wouldn’t believe it,” said Hoil. “I was working so many hours, wasn’t making any money… and, one time, I almost burned down my house cooking.”
The soon-to-be former Navy Federal Credit Union branch at the Williamsburg Shopping Center (via Google Maps)
The Navy Federal Credit Union branch in the Williamsburg Shopping Center is moving.
The branch at 6402 Williamsburg Blvd is expected to close after relocating to a new location at 1919 N. Lynn Street in Rosslyn later this month, according to an email sent to customers this week.
It will become a full-service branch at the new location in Rosslyn and is scheduled to open on Monday, Aug. 29, said Amber Southard, a spokesperson for the credit union.
Southard noted that the opening date could change. She did not respond to ARLnow’s question about why the branch is moving.
The branch at the Williamsburg Shopping Center, about a mile north of the East Falls Church Metro station, opened in 2018, next to Eagle Cleaners.
The new location in Rosslyn is on the ground floor of the Deloitte building, near the entrance to Key Bridge.
Navy Federal Credit Union offers banking and loan services mainly to active members of the military, veterans and their families. The company has four branches in Arlington, including branches in Ballston, in Crystal City and inside the Pentagon, according to its website.
The Italian Store and Westover after sunset (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
House Fire Near Columbia Pike — From ACFD last night: “Units are on the scene of a working structure fire in the 3100 BLK of 15th St S. Avoid the area.” [Twitter]
Will ‘NaLa’ Catch On? — “At first, it showed up on freebie water bottles. Then it made its way onto rainbow shirts for Pride Month. In June, it popped up on Instagram as a hashtag, and in July, it was suddenly plastered on the surfboard and silver Airstream set up in a grassy patch of Arlington, declaring to the commuters, dog walkers and joggers strutting by that their neighborhood had earned a new nickname: NaLa.” [Washington Post]
Will Home Prices Fall? — “The real-estate industry’s equivalent of the ‘f-word’ – ‘falling,’ as in ‘falling prices’ – is beginning to be used across the nation even by some who earlier felt that the homes market would withstand economic pressures without seeing declines in sales prices. But in the local area, one expert believes that localities remain largely insulated from the prospect of dropping prices over the near term.” [Sun Gazette]
Latin Masses Curtailed — “Thirteen parishes in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, must stop offering Traditional Latin Masses come Sept. 8 under new rules issued Friday by Bishop Michael J. Burbidge to conform with Pope Francis’ liturgical directives. Under the rules, eight other parishes may continue to offer Masses in what is called the Extraordinary Form, but five of those may only do so in other locations besides their churches, including school buildings and a former church.” [Catholic News Agency]
Arlington Man Wins Jeopardy! — Luigi de Guzman, an attorney from Arlington, won Friday’s episode of TV quiz show Jeopardy! with a final score of $23,401. [J! Archive]
Summer School Success — “There were the inevitable glitches, but it appears Arlington Public Schools’ soon-to-wrap-up summer-school program was a relatively smooth endeavor. ‘We’re really excited about all of the great learning,’ Superintendent Francisco Durán said in an update to School Board members on the effort, which attracted 3,152 students, ‘the vast majority’ in person, Durán said.” [Sun Gazette]
Monday Was Dark Star Park Day — From the Rosslyn BID: “While the clouds parted a little later than 9:32AM, we were glad to watch this year’s Dark Star Park Day alignment with all of you!” [Twitter]
It’s Tuesday — Humid throughout the day. High of 89 and low of 75. Sunrise at 6:12 am and sunset at 8:20 pm. [Weather.gov]
A Rosslyn-based online interior design startup is celebrating one year and more than 100 projects.
Deazly, launched in July 2021, brings professional design to homeowners in an online design studio. The company matches homeowners looking to renovate their kitchen or bathrooms with professional designers, who work with them to create 3D concepts of the space for a flat fee.
Homeowners can then see how their room will look before committing to a project.
“For most homeowners, hiring an interior designer can feel intimidating,” CEO and Founder Ketan Doiphode, a licensed architect, said in a news release. “It is a difficult process to navigate.”
So, he said he built Deazly to bridge the knowledge gap on the homeowner side and technological gap on the design side. His goal is to provide affordable, hassle-free design services. And for designers, it’s an opportunity to work 100% remotely.
Deazly clients tend to be 30 to 45 years old, tech-savvy and want good design completed at a fast pace, Doiphode said. And 60% of the company’s work comes directly from contractor partners and remodeling companies, the release said.
Contractors have a competitive advantage by having a design partner.
“The Deazly process provides the consultation needed to work through style preferences and functional requirements,” Doiphode said. “Highly realistic 3D designs and a product list ensure the homeowner and contractor can work together to make the design of these high-use spaces a reality.”
Ketan Doiphode, founder of Deazly (courtesy of Deazly)
While there are other e-design businesses, Deazly specializes in kitchens and bathrooms — both generally complex renovation projects that greatly contribute to resale value of homes. When the startup first launched, it offered just bathroom design but in January, the company added kitchen design services, as well.
Deazly’s flat fee structure, listed on its website as a range between $700 to $2,300 based on the extent of services, is something the company says sets it apart from traditional designers’ fees.
The Deazly team has seven U.S.-based interior designers and eight support team members in India, the release said.
“I see Deazly as an example of the modern workforce,” says Doiphode. “Designers often work long hours at firms and the conceptual, more creative part of the design process is led by directors and principals. At Deazly, the designers are involved in the visual and creative aspects. The 100% virtual team structure allows designers to create a flexible schedule. I can match homeowners with the right designer based on the designer’s availability.”
Doiphode was inspired to start the company from his 18 years of architecture and project management experience. He worked for the brand design team at Marriott International, where he worked on lifestyle brands that included Delta Hotels, Sheraton, Marriott Hotels, Aloft, and AC hotels. He has also worked as an interior architect for the firms SOM and Forrest Perkins.
Doiphode hopes to grow the Deazly design team and is working on a new version of the website that will add detailed project milestones and a two-way communication platform for homeowners’ remodeling and renovation process.
Gary Shulman has only lived in Arlington for about three months but has created a popular Facebook group all about the warm and wonderful feelings the county evokes.
Shulman, a retired early education specialist and published poet, was already using his outreach and advocacy skills to connect with Arlington residents in the Facebook group, Arlington Neighbors Helping Each Other Through COVID-19 after he moved to Rosslyn in April.
Without even realizing it, that page became the “Gary Shulman Show,” he said, where he would post all of his and his partner Marc’s adventures. The intention of the page was not for it to become the “blog” of one user. So, others encouraged Shulman to begin a new Facebook page — a page that could remind Arlingtonians what makes the county special.
He started Arlington Through the Eyes of a Newbie on May 13 and gained more than 600 followers within the first day. Now, he has over 700 members that follow his and Marc’s day-to-day life, as well as share helpful tips and suggestions. Shulman and Marc have been able to discover nitty-gritty information — where the best dermatologist is, allergist, dentist, even barbershop.
As he’s explored Arlington, members of the group have recognized him, as if he’s a local celebrity. Some stop and take photos with him to share on Facebook.
“There is a wonderful and caring network [in Arlington] and in many ways, reminds me of my early days in East NY and Canarsie Brooklyn where a sense of community was in every fiber of every neighbor. They all cared,” Shulman posted on his personal Facebook account.
Arlington Neighborhood (courtesy of Gary Shulman/Facebook)
Shulman always fantasized about living in Mayberry, the setting of “The Andy Griffith Show,” where people care about each other, garden, have beautiful homes, and enjoy the simple pleasures of life, he told ARLnow. His Facebook page reminds Arlingtonians to look on the ground and take in their (and others’) neighborhoods, places they pass daily.
He and Marc enjoy trying new restaurants, like Brass Rabbit, and Guajillo, where a post shows them trying out one of its “sangritas.” They also like finding beautiful parks and neighborhoods like Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden and Lyon Village and meeting new friends (especially dogs). Shulman sometimes shares some of his published poems.
Marc enjoying a Sangrita at Guajillo (courtesy of Gary Shulman/Facebook)
Shulman and Marc had only moved to Arlington a month before he started his Facebook group. They spent two years and eight months in Palm Springs, where they had originally thought they’d spend retirement.
However sitting in their Palm Springs home, outside temperatures reaching 120 degrees with 0% precipitation, the COVID-19 pandemic trapped Shulman and Marc inside.
“When it’s 120 degrees, you can’t go any place — you’re a prisoner,” said Shulman. “Something was happening to my mental health. Covid happened, and then everything closed down.”
Since moving to Arlington, they’ve been able to get out and about.
It’s no doubt that Shulman’s “fans” know him and Marc to be walkers. Most of his posts begin with some form of “a stroll through…,” “our goal was to walk…,” or “just a short 3 miler today… .” Shulman explained that walking is good for his health and redirects his brain.
As he walks, he appreciates the beauty of people’s gardens and neighborhood homes. He stops and smells the roses. Talking with ARLnow, Shulman emphasized, “the small things are the important things.”
Bon Air Memorial Rose Garden (courtesy of Gary Shulman/Facebook)
Now, after making a move from Rosslyn to their Ballston apartment in June, Shulman sees his Facebook page as a way to showcase how wonderful Arlington is and bring Arlingtonians together. It is a mix of Brooklyn, New York, and Palm Springs, California, with a close community and liveable climate.
Shulman and Marc hope “people will get off their behinds to start walking,” Shulman says. “Just learn and appreciate what Arlington has to offer.”
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
Dozens of tech startups in the D.C. region were named “Red Hot Companies” at an event in Rosslyn last week.
During the two-hour DCA Live event, representatives from 41 startups nominated by the tech community as companies on the rise mingled with potential investors from banks, venture capital firms, nonprofits and others while enjoying drinks and various refreshments. The event was held at the Sands Capital office at 1000 Wilson Blvd.
DCA Live founder Doug Anderson gave each of the companies honored a framed certificate during a short award ceremony.
“This region has incredible talent, entrepreneurship and innovation, and I love how Doug is starting to galvanize it post-Covid,” said Scott Frederick, the managing partner of Sands Capital, in a speech. “It’s enormously important what he’s doing.”
Companies on the “Red Hot Companies” list in a group photo at the DCA Live event (staff photo by Mavis Chan)
Participants at the event said they enjoyed the networking opportunities it offered. Jeannie Plew, of SemaConnect, said she hoped to rub elbows with industry and technology leaders to learn best practices.
SemaConnect is a Maryland-based electric vehicle charging company that was recently acquired by Blink Charging for $200 million in February. This is the startup’s first time being on the Red Hot Companies list.
“I think it’s exciting because we are a red hot company, we’ve experienced high growth in the past 13 months,” Plew said.
Jennifer O’Daniel, a senior director at the nonprofit seed and early-stage investment fund Virginia Venture Partners of the Commonwealth’s Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, believed the event was “a great place to meet entrepreneurs.” She was a member of the host committee for the event.
Meanwhile, her organization has also invested in three of this year’s Red Hot Companies — the Ballston-based food catering service HUNGRY, the Ballston-based restaurant management software company MarginEdge and Crystal City-based customer service management software ChurnZero. Her organization specializes in investing in technology, life science and cleantech companies.
O’Daniel characterized the three startups as “tentpole companies,” which she described as companies that could “create wealth amongst its employees” and “start additional startups.”
People who went to work for startups at an early stage might later have the means, desire and managerial know-how to start their own venture, O’Daniel noted, thus helping to spur on “the next generation of startup companies.”
The event also attracted non-technology startups. Michael Gavin, co-founder of a new D.C.-based advertisement agency Uniic Marketing Solutions, said he was there for the networking opportunities.
Gavin said his company works with startups that, despite being technology-forward, often find out about the agency through decidedly old-fashioned (but effective) means: personal connections.
“Most of our clients so far — we have five within the year — they’ve all come from word of mouth,” he said. “If we can just carry that on, then we’re pretty much set.”
Rooftop sunset in Rosslyn (Flickr pool photo by Jeff Vincent)
SFH Prices Up 11 Percent — “Something may have to give, eventually, but, for now, average single-family-home sales prices in Arlington continue to spike, according to new data. The average sales price of the 108 existing single-family homes that went to closing across the county in June stood at just over $1.35 million, up 11 percent from the already red-hot market of June 2021.” [Sun Gazette]
CAIR Backs Arlington House Bill — “The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed its support for legislation that would rename a memorial currently dedicated to Confederate General Robert E. Lee in Arlington, Va.” [Press Release]
Arlington Crisis Line Now at 988 — “A new 9-8-8 crisis and support hotline is now active across the United States, including here in Arlington County. In 2020, Congress designated a new 9-8-8 dialing code to operate through the existing National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) network, which has more than 200 locally operated and funded crisis lines across the country. PRS, Inc. operates the local network in Arlington.” [Arlington County]
Public Comment Rules Stretched — “After getting pilloried a month before for what critics called a heavy-handed approach to enforcing rules on public comment, County Board Chairman Katie Cristol on July 16 loosened her grip on the gavel just a bit. Cristol acknowledged that she was being a little more loose in her interpretation of rules for the July board meeting than she had been in June, when she shut down comment on the government’s Missing Middle housing proposal after just two speakers at the public-comment period.” [Sun Gazette]
Late Metro Critic Was Arlingtonian — “Matt Hilburn, a journalist and communications specialist best-known for his creation and curation of the popular and unsparing transportation social media account Unsuck DC Metro, died July 17 at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 54. The cause was complications of kidney cancer that had metastasized, said his father.” [Washington Post]
Board Members on Abortion Rights — From Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol: “We are joining with the many Arlingtonians who are now expressing their anger and frustration and their fear at the Dobbs v Jackson decision and at Gov. Youngkin’s threat to abortion rights in Virginia. We are committed as this Board to mitigating and preventing the public health crisis that these actions could precipitate and we will advocate for the protection of the fundamental human right to bodily autonomy.” [Blue Virginia]
Tech Event in Rosslyn Tonight — “For the 7th consecutive year, DCA Live and our partners are excited to recognize the 2022 Red Hot Companies, the Washington region’s fastest growing and most exciting companies. We’ll be profiling these companies over the coming weeks and will celebrate them with a lively, fun event on the evening of Wednesday, July 20 on the rooftop of Sands Capital in Rosslyn, VA.” [DCA Live]
Falls Church Check Fraud — “Last week, after being notified of suspicious activity, the City of Falls Church discovered fraudulent checks were cashed using the City’s accounts… City of Falls Church Police are aware of a possible national trend of checks being stolen from blue USPS mailboxes. The Police advise residents and businesses to mail checks and valuables directly through a post office.” [City of Falls Church]
It’s Wednesday — Humid throughout the day. High of 91 and low of 75. Sunrise at 6:01 am and sunset at 8:31 pm. [Weather.gov]
Sponsored byMonday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
Dozens of technology startups from the D.C. region are set to participate in a networking event for “Red Hot Companies” on Wednesday (July 20).
This is the seventh year that DCA Live, an events company, is holding “Red Hot Companies,” recognizing fast-growing startups. It is set to be held at the rooftop of Sands Capital Management, at 1000 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
DCA Live has planned a short program to congratulate the startups in attendance and to thank the co-hosts of the event, then participants are set to network among themselves.
“I have found that almost nobody really wants a program at all, people just want to talk to each other,” Doug Anderson, DCA Live founder, said.
DCA Live chose to host the event in Arlington because Rosslyn is convenient to the “main centers of business life in the region,” including downtown D.C., Tysons and Bethesda. Moreover, the tall buildings in Rosslyn provide a “great setting” for events, Anderson said.
“You just get a great view of D.C. and all the iconic monuments,” he said.
A previous DCA Live ‘Red Hot Companies’ event (courtesy of Doug Anderson)
DCA Live chose the companies based on nominations from the technology community. Some of the companies selected this year are older, like the energy management company GridPoint which was founded in 2003, while others have only a few years under their belts, such as ShiftMed, an app developed in 2019.
Although DCA Live did not give out specific guidelines to nominate companies for the event, it hoped to look for startups that have shown “significant growth, momentum, energy, innovation, new products, new capital, new employees,” Anderson said.
“We really also try to collectively promote the region and celebrate the tech ecosystem here,” he added.
The local startup community as a whole generally caters to other businesses or the government and only a few of them target individual consumers, Anderson noted.
“The one common thing around D.C. high growth companies is they’re solving big problems, whether it’s cybersecurity, whether it’s education, energy, healthcare, health IT,” he said. “They’re not doing [consumer] apps, they’re not doing consumer websites. We’re just not known for that around here.”
A turtle, seen in Arlington (Flickr pool photo by Wolfkann)
New Rail Bridge Design Revealed — “The new rail bridge will be built with many of the features in the existing span, including its structure, material and form, with steel girders and similar pier spacing, according to preliminary site plans approved this month by the National Capital Planning Commission. The plans also call for the use of Ashlar stone cladding for the bridge piers, and abutments and walls near the George Washington Memorial Parkway.” [Washington Post]
County Board Approves ‘Heights’ Parking — From School Board member Barbara Kanninen: “‘APS did us a solid.’ Thx @kcristol for that comment regarding our hosting the County’s temp fire station for several years! Glad to see the use permit for Phase 2 [of The Heights building in Rosslyn] approved this morning, providing important universal access improvements for all students, esp @APS_Shriver.” [Twitter]
APS Hiring Hundreds of Teachers — “Officials in Arlington Public Schools will also spend the summer working to fill an atypically large number of empty positions. Arlington, which enrolls 27,045 students, according to state data, saw 284 teachers resign between August 2021 and mid-May 2022. The district usually employs about 3,000 teachers, per spokesman Frank Bellavia. That is 96 percent higher than the average number of resignations between 2018-2019 and 2020-2021: 145.” [Washington Post]
Free Chicken Today — “July 18th is Nelson Mandela’s birthday. His birthday is recognized and celebrated world wide as Mandela day; a day for us all to inspire change and make a difference in our communities. At Nando’s we are proud of our South African heritage. We will join in celebrating his birthday on July 18th by following his example and giving back to our communities.” [Nando’s Peri Peri]
Cyclist Struck on Busy Ramp — “Police, fire on scene of cyclist struck by driver on the WB Route 50 / Washington Blvd ramp. Cyclist was thrown from bike and is being treated by medics, per scanner.” [Twitter]
Treasurer Honored, Again — “Arlington County Treasurer Carla de la Pava received the President’s Award for her service and leadership to the Treasurers’ Association of Virginia (TAV). The award was presented during the association’s annual conference in June. It is the second time de la Pava has be recognized with the President’s Award.” [Arlington County]
More Bad Driving on I-395 — From Dave Statter: “You’ll want to see this one. Driver goes bowling with the barrels & almost takes one along for the ride. @VaDOTNOVA time for clean-up again on aisle 8C.” [Twitter]
It’s Monday — Mostly cloudy, with rain and possible storms in the evening. High of 88 and low of 74. Sunrise at 5:59 am and sunset at 8:33 pm. [Weather.gov]
