Shirlington

Oktoberfest to Come to Shirlington Again

By Andrew Ramonas

Oktoberfest in Shirlington (Photo via Capitol City Brewing Company)Men in lederhosen and women in dirndls are set to descend on Shirlington for a day of beer drinking, pretzel eating and Bavarian music this fall.

Capitol City Brewing Company is throwing its 17th annual Oktoberfest at The Village at Shirlington (4001 Campbell Avenue) on Saturday, Oct. 1, from noon to 7 p.m.

Admission is $30, which gets festivalgoers who are at least 21 years old a glass and 10 tasting tickets. Extra tickets cost $1, with a five-ticket minimum. But non-drinkers can get in for free.

Capitol City, Mad Fox, Flying Dog and more than five dozen other breweries are expected to offer beer samples at the event. Patrons then can pair their lagers and ales with bratwurst, giant pretzels and other German food on sale during the festival, as they listen to bands play Bavarian tunes.

Beer taps are set to close at 6 p.m.

Photo via Capitol City Brewing Company

Quinn’s in Rosslyn Coming Soon, Dudley’s in Shirlington Delayed

By ARLnow.com
1/5

It’s been a busy summer for local restaurateur Reese Gardner.

Gardner has two new Arlington establishments in the works — Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Shirlington, which we first reported on in August 2015, and Quinn’s on the Corner, which we first learned about this past June, while lease negotiations were still reportedly in progress.

Despite Dudley’s nearly one year head start, it’s going to be Quinn’s, at 1776 Wilson Blvd, that opens first.

The neighborhood bar and restaurant, which will offer sports on the TVs and Irish and Belgian beers on draft, is aiming for a September opening, Gardner tells ARLnow.com. Work appeared to be in progress at the restaurant today.

Dudley’s, meanwhile, had been beset by permitting and regulatory delays stemming from its addition of a rooftop patio.

County permit page for Dudley'sThe county permit page for Dudley’s, at 2766 S. Arlington Mill Drive, tells the tale of the tape — a solid column of rejected permit applications, with comments from county inspectors like:

  • “This is not a tenant improvement. The conversion of the roof to a terrace with roofs over stairs, restrooms, and bar is an addition. Change permit information from CTBO to CADD or submit another permit for the addition.”
  • “The drawings indicate that new storefront will be installed. However, no information is presented regarding the U-factor of the storefront system, the air infiltration rate of the storefront system or the SHGC of the glass used in the storefront system.”
  • “Sheet E0002 includes motion sensor switches in the restrooms. It is unclear if these switches meet the requirements of section C405.2.2.2 of the 2012 VECC. In the resubmission, include a note on sheet E0002 that states that these motion sensors will shut off all non-emergency lighting within 30 minutes of all occupants leaving the space.”

Gardner, who in February said he was hoping to open Dudley’s in time for the beginning of the summer, did not provide an updated estimate on when it might open now. He said the process has been excruciating, ballooning in complexity as time has gone on.

“We actually had to divide the permit into and interior permit and exterior permit because of the rooftop and new facade,” Gardner said. “If you read they are also making us go through a special inspection process over and above the normal one.”

Though some improvements have been made in recent years, Arlington County has been criticized for having a permitting process that many business owners describe as unfriendly to smaller, brick-and-mortar businesses.

Trio on ‘Hippie Trip’ Busted for Sleeping Naked in Car

By ARLnow.com

Police car (file photo)Three people on a far-out road trip were busted for pot possession and indecent exposure in Shirlington Sunday night.

The incident happened around 10:30 p.m. Police say somebody walked past a car on the 4200 block of Campbell Avenue — the approximate location of the Shirlington parking garage — and noticed that the windows were down and two people were naked inside.

The witness found the scene to be suspicious and called police.

Officers arriving and found three people, all in their 20s, asleep in a Nissan sedan. A man, Kamal Ghammache-Mansour, and a woman, Natalie Nowel, were completely naked, according to a crime report. A third, Jaclyn Devino, was clothed.

Upon being woken up, the trio told police that they were on a “hippie trip” across the country and Arlington was one of their stops, a police spokeswoman said. The two who were naked said they removed their clothes because they were hot, according to the spokeswoman. (The temperature at the time was in the low-to-mid 80s.)

Ghammache-Mansour and Nowel were charged with indecent exposure. All three were charged with possession of marijuana.

According to a Google search and social media accounts, Ghammache-Mansour is a saxophonist and a member of a jazz-influenced hip hop group, Nowel is a freelance artist and Devino owns a “energy healing and coaching” business.

Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage said the three did not elaborate on what their “hippie trip” stop in Arlington entailed. She warned against sleeping in one’s car, especially while naked, noting that Arlington residents are “pretty observant” about out-of-the-ordinary activity.

From an ACPD crime report:

INDECENT EXPOSURE, 160731054, 4200 block of S. Campbell Avenue. At approximately 10:31 p.m. on July 31, officers responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle. Upon officers arrival, they located three suspects asleep in the vehicle with two fully naked. Kamal Ghammache-Mansour, 26, of Albany CA, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and possession of marijuana. Natalie Nowel, 21, of Boston MA, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and possession of marijuana. Jaclyn Devino, 29, of Burlington VT, was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana.

Large Power Outage Reported in South Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Power outage map on July 20, 2016More than 1,700 Dominion customers are without power in south Arlington due to a widespread power outage.

The outage was first reported around 2:30 p.m. Numerous traffic signals along Columbia Pike and Glebe Road, including the signal at the busy intersection of the Pike and Glebe, were reported to be dark, though most have since come back online.

The outage also briefly caused some issues at the county’s Water Pollution Control Plant along Glebe Road, according to scanner traffic.

The outage is currently affecting power customers in Fairlington, Shirlington and along portions of the Pike, according to a power outage map and social media reports. More than 100 customers are also said to be without power in Alexandria.

Power Outage Reported in Shirlington, Fairlington

By ARLnow.com

Power outage in the Shirlington and Fairlington areasUpdate at 11:15 a.m. — Power has been restored to all but 77 Dominion customers in Arlington.

The Virginia Dept. of Motor Vehicles office on Four Mile Run Drive is reported to be among those affected by a widespread power outage this morning.

On what may be the hottest day of the year so far, large portions of the Shirlington and Fairlington areas are without power.

According to Dominion, around 750 customers are without power in Arlington and another 800 are without power in Alexandria. As of 9:45 a.m., traffic lights were dark on busy King Street near I-395.

Via its Twitter account, Dominion says that the cause of the outage has not yet been determined, but crews are working to restore power by 2 p.m. A resident said she heard an “explosive sound” before the outage, suggesting a possible transformer failure.

Another Twitter user reports that customers have left the Four Mile DMV office after it lost power.

Widespread Comcast Outage in Fairlington

By ARLnow.com

Comcast logoUpdate at 1 p.m. — Service has been restored to affected Comcast customers in Arlington, a company spokeswoman tells ARLnow.com. “We are very sorry about that, we know that our customers do rely on our products,” she said. The outage was caused by a “fiber cut during maintenance overnight.”

Residents throughout Arlington’s Fairlington neighborhood area were left without their Comcast TV and internet service this morning.

There are also reports of residents and businesses that don’t have Comcast service down the hill in Shirlington. (There was another Comcast outage reported in Shirlington yesterday.)

The company has told customers that they expect service to be restored later today, perhaps by noon.

Fairlington is one of the last Arlington neighborhoods without Verizon FiOS service, which competes with Comcast elsewhere in the county. Meanwhile, Arlington County has been granting Comcast temporary extensions on its cable franchise agreement since 2013 while the two sides negotiate a new long-term agreement.

BREAKING: ACFD Battling Small Warehouse Fire Near Shirlington

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) Arlington County and Alexandria firefighters are battling a small fire in a warehouse near Shirlington.

Initial reports suggest that a fire started in an area of the warehouse used for painting and then spread to the roof. One person was treated by medics for burns to his or her hands.

A rapid fire response task force was dispatched to the scene, in addition to a hazmat unit for a reported paint or chemical spill. Photos show signs for the party rental business DC Rental in the area of the warehouse where firefighters are operating.

The warehouse, at 2615 S. Shirlington Road, is located near I-395 in the Nauck neighborhood. Drivers should expect lane closures near the scene on S. Shirlington Road.

As of 2:30 p.m., the fire was reported out and firefighters were ventilating the building.

Shirlington Music Festival Returns This Summer

By Adrian Cruz

Shirlala Music Festival logoThe Village of Shirlington recently released the schedule for its annual “Shirlala Music Festival” series of outdoor concerts.

The festival is an expansion of the former Shirlington Jazz Festival and this year’s selection contains a wide range of genres including swing, pop, rock, and even tropical steel drums.

The concerts take place every Thursday from the beginning of June until August 25, running from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The schedule is as follows:

  • June 9 — Justin Trawick & the Common Good (Urban Folk Rock)
  • June 16 — Lloyd Dobler Effect (80s & 90s Cover Band)
  • June 23 — King Teddy (Swing)
  • June 30 — Taylor Carson (Acoustic Rock)
  • July 7 — Jelly Roll Mortals (Folk/Pop/Rock)
  • July 14 — Dan Haas Trio (Pop Rock)
  • July 21 — The Shack Band (Southern Funk)
  • July 28 — Ewabo (Tropical Steel Drums)
  • August 4 — Paul Pfau (Pop, Rock & Blues)
  • August 11 — Daryl Davis ft. Sandra Dean Band (Blues & Soul)
  • August 18 — King Teddy (Swing)
  • August 25 — Dan Haas Trio (Pop Rock)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Boxed water at Roti restaurant in Rosslyn

Elementary School’s Satellite Launches — A “CubeSat” satellite built by students at St. Thomas More Cathedral School in Arlington was launched from the International Space Station yesterday. It’s the first time an elementary school CubeSat has been deployed into space. [CBS News, The Register, Twitter]

ConnectArlington Program Makes New Connection — Arlington County’s ConnectArlington fiber optic network is getting access to a collaborative research network of universities, industries and government agencies via the University of Maryland’s Mid-Atlantic Crossroads access point. The move is expected to help with economic development in Arlington. [Arlington County]

Shirlington Restaurant Investigated — The U.S. Dept. of Labor is reportedly investigating labor law violations at Aroma Indian Cuisine restaurant in Shirlington. [Patch]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Pedestrian bridge over Four Mile Run, near Shirlington (Flickr pool photo by TheBeltWalk)

Times Lauds Crystal City’s ‘Reboot’ — Arlington’s Crystal City community is “is quietly and persistently reinventing itself,” with tech startups and co-working spaces moving in and taking advantage of office space left vacant by departed federal and military tenants. Crystal City stakeholders are positioning it as a less expensive but still amenity-filled alternative to the District. “Think Brooklyn and Manhattan,” said Mitchell Schear, president of property owner Vornado/Charles E. Smith. [New York Times]

Ballston Named One of the Area’s ‘Hottest Neighborhoods’ — Ballston is among the top 5 “hottest neighborhoods in Washington,” according to Washingtonian. The magazine notes that Ballston’s median home price rose by nearby 10 percent last year, and that the forthcoming renovation of Ballston Common Mall will convert it into “an airy, downtown-like destination, akin to Fairfax’s Mosaic district.” The other four hot neighborhoods are Mount Pleasant, Trinidad, Shaw and Hyattsville. [Washingtonian]

Archaeological Dig Unearths History — An Arlington County-supervised archaeological dig at Dawson Terrace, near Rosslyn, has unearthed “243 ceramic objects, 1,603 glass objects, 74 metal objects and 13 others.” Most of the objects are believed to be from the 18th and 19th centuries. Dawson Terrace is Arlington’s oldest stone house, dating back to around the Revolutionary War. [Falls Church News-Press]

County Recognizes ‘Notable Trees’ — At yesterday’s Arlington County Board meeting, the county recognized this year’s batch of “notable trees.” Among the record 23 trees bestowed the honor for “their importance to our community, our environment and our sense of identity” was a Southern magnolia in Clarendon, planted in 1965 in honor of a fallen firefighter. [Arlington County, InsideNova]

Four Mile Run Initiative Advances — The County Board yesterday appointed a working group, charged with “providing advice, guidance and feedback to the Board and County staff on developing a comprehensive vision for Four Mile Run Valley.” The 95 acre area between Shirlington and Nauck, also known as Shirlington Crescent, is currently home to various light industrial businesses but may be ripe for redevelopment. [Arlington County]

Tickets Available to W-L Theater Production — Tickets to the Washington-Lee High School production of “Dark of the Moon” are available online. The show runs from April 28-30. [Tix.com]

Flickr pool photo by TheBeltWalk

Crime Report: Peeping Tom in Lyon Park

By ARLnow.com

Arlington police carA couple in Lyon Park looked out the window last night and saw a man videotaping them.

The incident happened just before 11 p.m., at the Sheffield Court Apartments. The man fled before police could arrive. It’s unclear why he was filming them.

“Subject has not been taken into custody so a motive is unknown at this time,” said Arlington County Police spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

From an ACPD crime report:

PEEPING TOM, 160323069, 800 block of N. Wayne Street. At approximately 10:45 p.m. on March 23, a male and female victim reported seeing a male subject recording them through a window. The subject fled the scene on foot. The suspect is described as a white male in his 30’s, with a slim build. He was wearing a light colored shirt.

Also on Wednesday, an argument between two men took a violent turn when one tried to stab the other.

The incident happened near the Shirlington Employment and Education Center, along Four Mile Run.

ATTEMPTED MALICIOUS WOUNDING, 160323045, 2700 block of S. Nelson Street. At approximately 5:57 p.m. on March 23, following a verbal altercation a male subject pulled out a knife and attempted to stab a male victim. Oscar Bermudes, 41, of Arlington VA, was arrested and charged with attempted malicious wounding. He is being held without bond.

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