A regular summary of irregular news and notes from neighborhood blogs and email lists around the District.
Bad Burger: New Columbia Heights investigated the new Z-Burger that was supposed to open in summer of 2011. It looks, well, completely empty. The restaurant is supposed to be in the Tivoli Building on 14th Street NW, which the restaurant Nori used to occupy; apparently, there have been a number of ill-fated restaurants that have been located in this space. The reason for the delayed opening is unclear, but the blog wonders if “if the rent is too high or something. Fingers crossed.” A commenter suggests, “[Nori] never looked at all inviting, with no windows and all. I wonder if some other business might not fare better?”
Keep the Bikes Off: Bike-riding frequenters of the Yes! Organic Market at 4100 Georgia Avenue NW have become a problem for the store and surrounding residents. A member of the Petworth email list noted that people have been attaching their bikes to the store’s wheelchair ramp instead of using bike racks. This isn’t out of carelessness for the disabled, but because there’s been a severe reduction in bike parking. It seems that DDOT moved four bike racks to the back of the building, leaving only two out front. The email list commenter leaves this advice for future customers of Yes!: “If you travel to Yes Organic or to visit friends at 4100 Georgia apartments by bicycle, please be mindful of the need to keep the wheel-chair ramp at 4100 clear and accessible.”
Accidental Donation: Last weekend, Brookland residents had a strange encounter with a “fundraiser.” A member of the Brookland email list posted about a young adult who was asking for money door-to-door for the Eastern Branch Boys and Girls Club. Another member followed up to say, “the letter for Eastern has been going around for about 10 years, that branch was closed about 5 years ago”—so the effort had to be fake. Unfortunately, another resident didn’t consider this and innocently donated five dollars to the illegitimate cause.
Light Reading: Have you been dying to dedicate three hours of your time to a book on tape? Look no further! A member of a Cleveland Park email list recently posted this: “I gave away most of my books on tape to neighbors via this listserv this summer, but found one last one, Pulitzer prize-winning The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos. It’s approximately 3 hours long.” Perhaps you avoided your summer reading; nothing wrong with getting started in the fall!