Every year, Vox tackles the various vices many students engage in during their college years: drinking, drugs, sex and smoking. As a disclaimer, Vox isn’t advocating underage drinking or the use of illegal drugs, and most of this information comes from outside sources, not firsthand experience.

Drinking

Despite what some tour guides reassured your parents, drinking is a sizeable part of social life at Georgetown for many people. If you look for a party on the weekend, you will always find one.

During New Student Orientation, many freshmen will wander the neighborhood in packs listening for noise that might signal a party. We advise freshmen who find parties to avoid inviting their entire floor or drinking everything as soon as they can.

If you’re over 21 (or have an ID that says you are) and prefer bars, here are some of the more popular nearby options:

• Chadwicks (3205 K Street): Good happy hours and champagne brunches.
• Epicurean (On campus, under Darnall): Offers karaoke, and is usually occupied with doctors from the hospital.
• Old Glory (3139 M Street): Strong drinks, good barbecue; the covered back porch with a bar makes it convenient for smokers.
• Rhino (3295 M Street): Sketchy, but good wings and a good chance of spotting Real World cast members or Kobe Bryant.
• Rugby (1065 Wisconsin Ave): As part of a Ralph Lauren store: very, very preppy.
• Third Edition (1218 Wisconsin Ave): Relatively cheap, lots of dancing; famous for having its exterior used in St. Elmo’s Fire.
• Tombs (1226 36th Street): The closest bar to campus and filled with students, but also the strictest with IDs.

How strict a given bar is with accepting fake IDs varies from bouncer to bouncer. In the past, fake ids have been confiscated at Third Edition, so be wary. Generally, Vox would discourage you from trying your fake at Third Edition or Tombs.

If you’re looking to buy your own alcohol, the best bets are Towne (1326 Wisconsin Avenue), Wagner’s (1717 Wisconsin Avenue) and Dixie (3429 M Street). Vox recommends you get to know the employees are Dixie–they’re a friendly and often inebriated sort. Wisey’s also sells beer and wine.

Booey’s is a great alternative to overpaying for drinks at a bar. Although its only open until midnight, the pitchers are cheaper than most places in Georgetown.

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Yesterday evening, The Kennedy Center and Georgetown University hosted the annual Let Freedom Ring Celebration, a musical celebration commemorating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This year’s concert featured a special performance by Grammy-winning vocalist Bobby McFerrin. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama also attended.

Toddchelle Young (COL ’12) delivered the invocation and included prayers for peace in Syria, for survivors of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, “all those affected by natural disasters in 2011,” and for the presidential candidates running in the 2012 election.

Clarence Jones was presented the John Thompson Legacy of a Dream Award by University president John J. DeGioia and former Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Thompson, Jr. This award is given to an individual or organization whose contributions to community service or social justice reflect the values and ideals of Dr. King. Jones was a speech writer and advisor to Dr. King, and was instrumental in distributing his famous “Letter from Birmingham Jail”. He is currently a Scholar-Writer in residence and a Visiting Professor at Stanford University.

Most famous for his hit, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” McFerrin’s performance was very interactive. McFerrin performs a cappella with his four octave range, and at the Kennedy Center he invited the audience as a whole to participate in the performance (to understand his style, you can watch this video of him). McFerrin closed his set with an innovative rendition of The Beatles’ “Black Bird”.

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Ok, everyone, we forgot to go Christmas shopping again. Looks like everyone’s either getting mixed nuts or Cargo Jeggings. Happy Holidays!

Last night’s ANC2E meeting had a higher attendance than was usual, due to a visit by D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray. “We’ve had a standing invitation for months,” said Commissioner Ron Lewis, and it happened that last night’s meeting fit Gray’s schedule. By the start of the meeting, all of the seats in seats were filled, a sizable group of people stood in the back.

Mayor Gray took the podium to a loud round of applause after being introduced by Councilmember Jack Evans. The Mayor thanked Evans, and quickly remarked on the “Taxation Without Representation” sticker on the laptop of Commissioner Jake Sticka. Gray went on to reiterate his stance on Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan. “I support the community,” he said, followed by applause from the attendees.

Mayor Gray then described his four priorities in detail—fiscal stability, commitment to education, safety, and turning around unemployment in the District.

For the city’s budget for the 2012 fiscal year, Gray stated his desire to build a budget with “structural integrity.” “We won’t spend any more money then we take in,” he said.

As for education, Gray described how he supported universal pre-K services and made Washington, D.C. the only city in the country with them available. He wishes to extend the program to infants and toddlers. “If I could get a fetus into a program, I would,” he said.

Gray wishes to hire 300 new police officers this year to both replace an estimated 180 officers who will leave, and add an additional 120 officers to the force. He added that homicides were down 17% in the District, and were on track to be at a 42-year low.

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While we await the completion of the H Street streetcar line, now expected to begin running by mid 2013, some area blogs are drooling over the idea of extending the line into Georgetown.

Last week, Georgetown Metropolitan ran a historical post about Georgetown’s cable car history, through the architecture of Georgetown’s own Car Barn.

A day before, Greater Greater Washington drooled over the idea of extending the as-yet-unfinished H Street Streetcar line into Georgetown, ending at the GUTS bus stop at Southwest Quad. In addition, GGW offered the idea of building a satellite campus in Northeast Washington, since the University built its School of Continuing Studies in Claredon.

GGW believes that the extension would create better access to jobs for District residents, and that a campus in Northeast D.C. would create GU jobs in Washington, as opposed to moving out of the city. Streetcars in Georgetown could also bring more shoppers into Georgetown and improve retail business. The post also posts that a Streetcar wouldn’t harm historic preservation, and would decrease congestion.

Getting a Streetcar line to actually run through Georgetown would be quite the feat, given the way that many Georgetown residents reject the idea of a Metro line, and didn’t even want GUTS buses going near their parks.

Photo from Georgetown Metropolitan.

An “undetermined odor” spurred fears of a gas leak, according to Firefighter A. A. Trapp. At 11:28 a.m. HOYAlert sent out a text that reported a “possible gas leak” in Maguire, and instructed to “avoid library walk.” HOYAlert later texted that Healy Hall was open, and Maguire Hall remains closed.

In the staff parking lot beside Maguire, there were a number of firemen looking into a manhole (pictured above). Along with two firetrucks, there were three other DCFD vehicles on campus.

Update: 1:15 p.m. HOYAlert texted that “Maguire Hall has reopened.”

photo: Nico Dodd

Last night, the National Park Service, Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park, District of Columbia officials, and about 100 others gathered to celebrate the completion of Georgetown Waterfront Park. The newly completed park, which took $24 million and a couple decades to complete, includes a pergola and a river stair, which allows people to view the river and regattas from the shoreline. And there’s a giant fountain (which children were already playing in).

The first part of the park was completed in 2008, but debris and tons of concrete, which were once the floor of the Capital Traction Co. powerhouse, had to be trucked off the land before construction could continue in 2010.

The ceremony, emceed by Rock Creek Park superintendent Tara Morrision, featured President of Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park Bob vom Eigen, Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, and NPS Regional Director National Capital Region Peggy O’Dell as speakers.

“Look at this place,” said CM Evans. “This is a beautiful place for people from all over the city to enjoy.”

Additionally, Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA, wife of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and daughter of former Senator Charles H. Percy of Illinois, spoke on her father’s behalf. (Sen. Percy is gravely ill at Sibley Hospital and could not attend the event.) Sen. Percy chaired the Georgetown Waterfront Park Commission in the 1990s, which worked alongside the Citizens Association of Georgetown and the National Park Service. A plaque commemorating his service was unveiled by the water’s edge.

ANC Commissioners Ron Lewis, Bill Starrels and Ed Solomon, as well as Georgetown Men’s Head Crew Coach Tony Johnson were in also attendance.

Starrels commented that the new park was “the crowning jewel to the waterfront.”

For more pictures, check out William Newton’s twitter and Patch’s account.

photo: Nico Dodd

Last Saturday, Georgetown Football beat Lafayette College 14-13 at the Multi-Sport Field and improved their record to 2-0.

Lehigh Valley Live, a website which which includes Lafayette sports in its coverage, has subsequently run possibly the most dramatic article we’ve ever seen in reference to Georgetown football, headlined “Lafayette College Staring into abyss of disaster after heartbreaking loss to Georgetown University.”

“Are we this bad?” author Brad Wilson bemoans in the post, which ran on Monday and is his third for the site about the loss. He then answers his own question, with a very sad “yes.”

Apparently, the Hoyas “represented the best chance for a leopard win.” However, Wilson did give our team, which, we’ll admit, is not historically stellar, a little bit of credit.

“Georgetown is improving,” he said.

“The Leopards, in short, teeter on a precipice of disaster,”  Wilson miserably continues. He also complains that his team looked so “limp, so lame, so soporific,” after a 42-6 season opening loss to North Dakota State.

Wilson goes on to blame the Leopard’s “lunatic schedule” and unsatisfactory coaching for the embarrassing, devastating loss.

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It’s the end of a very short era in Georgetown’s retro arcade scene—today, the National Pinball Museum closed its doors in the Shops at Georgetown Park. According to CBS Baltimore, founder David Silverman (pictured left) says that he is closing a lease on a space near Baltimore’s inner harbor, and could move his collection there by the end of the year.

Silverman, who has sunk $300,000 of his own money into renovating the Georgetown space into a pinball paradise, received an eviction notice from Vornado Realty Trust, which owns the Shops at Georgetown Park, in May, ordering him to vacate in July. He was then granted an extension allowing him to stay through Labor Day, when admission to the museum was free.

Vornado, which took ownership of Georgetown Park last year, has a reputation of being severe with their properties, and also manages Springfield Mall. In addition to the Pinball Museum, stores like The Dandelion Patch and Fornash have also reportedly received notices to vacate. There are rumors that Target or Bloomingdale’s could move into the mall, but Vornado will not confirm.

Silverman has over 800 machines in his collection, and his pieces span the history of the game. We at Vox wish Silverman the best, and hope that this pricey, unique collection will find a more suitable audience in Charm City.

h/t: CBS Baltimore, Georgetown Dish
photo: TBD