On Monday evening, a women was robbed by two unknown suspects on the 3300 block of N Street.

The Metropolitan Police Department believes the woman was followed after she exited the Apple Store on Wisconsin Avenue, where she purchased two laptops. The suspects approached the women on N Street, knocked her to the ground, and stole the computers.

“I think it’s safe to assume that the victim was followed from the store,” MPS Commander Matt Klein wrote on the 2nd District listserv. “The suspects may have been waiting for someone to leave the store with large bags or other obvious indications of a large purchase.

Klein added that MPD placed additional police officers in the area as a response to the robbery.

After a short hiatus, Georgetown Missed Connections is back! We spent the week scouring Craigslist for Georgetown’s most love-lorn—or at least a handful of people looking to get laid. As always, let us know if you come across any Missed Connections worth sharing.

An older man, a piano, and sexual tension.  If we see Peter Lorre in Georgetown anytime soon, we’re going to lose our shit.

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Finals may be approaching for those of you taking summer classes. To take your mind off them, Vox is here to provide you with some local distractions.

An Apple A Day…

The long, long, long-awaited opening of the Georgetown Apple Store is right around the corner. The grand opening is this Friday, June 18th at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW. The event goes from 5 to 9 p.m., during which time current Mac owners can purchase something called a “One to One Membership,” which is no doubt something you don’t really need (but those “geniuses” will convince you that you do). The first 1000 customers receive a free commemorative t-shirt. This may be the only thing Apple ever gives you for free, so it’s worth checking out.

Happy Juneteenth!
The Ward Arts Collaborative has partnered with the Washington National Opera’s Education Department to host Juneteenth Arts in the Park, a totally free outdoor event this Saturday in Fort Dupont Park. The day kicks off at noon with a gathering of local celebrities and a performing arts showcase. Artwork from students in Wards 7 and 8 will be on display. The Library of Congress will exhibit contributions of African-Americans to opera and classical music, and an “Opera in Color” featuring these contributions will be performed. Check it out to learn more about diversity in classical music and in the arts!

Feels like H.O.M.E.

The Hillyer Art Space hosts Hillyer Open Mic Event this Friday at 6 p.m. Technically, the event is free to International Arts and Artists members, but costs $5 to non-members, which is most of us. But, they’ll provide snacks and beverages! The night will feature R Street Speaks, an ensemble from the Duke Ellington School. Hosting the event is Fred Joiner, poet-in-residence at Busboys and Poets’s Virginia location.

Audition for Glee!

…or maybe just the small-scale DC performance arts version. The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities will be holding auditions for MetroPerforms!, a series of summer performances at select Metro locations throughout the city. Open call auditions are this Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at Metro Headquarters, located at 600 Fifth St. NW.

Apple fanboys, we hope you’re sitting down.

Earlier today, Washington Business Journal writer Jeff Clabaugh broke the news that Georgetown’s Apple Store is set to open on Friday, June 18. Apple’s flagship D.C. store, located at 1229 Wisconsin Ave. NW, will publicly open at 5 p.m.

The store’s opening, which was rumored to occur in “the third week of June,” comes more than a year after the Old Georgetown Board approved the design plans for the building.

For those who don’t remember, the Old Georgetown Board granted approval in March 2009 only after rejecting Apple’s four previous design plans.

The fifth plan, which toned down Apple’s traditional minimalistic design to better fit in with surrounding buildings, was “beautifully executed,” according to Old Georgetown Board Chairman Stephen J. Vanze.

We’ll be adding the Apple Store to our list of “places in Georgetown to ogle products we can’t afford.” Don’t judge us—we know you’ll be doing the same thing.

Good news for all those iPhone, iPad, and iPod owners at Georgetown—we’re going to have an Apple Store of our own soon.

Georgetown Metropolitan reported yesterday that the Apple Store on the 1200 block of Wisconsin Ave. will likely open in the third week of June. The construction of the store should wrap up in the next week, according to an earlier post by GM.

“[P]eople hired to work the store will be receiving training for the first two weeks of June,” wrote GM. “There’s no guarantee that the store will open up the third week of June, but it sure looks like that’s the plan.”

It’s been a long journey for the Apple Store, which received approval to build from the Old Georgetown Board more than a year ago after rejecting the four previously proposed designs.

Plans for the interior of the renovated Georgetown Library

Georgetown Metropolitan has a writeup of all the new and returning restaurants, businesses, and attractions that we can expect to open in Georgetown in 2010. The post, inexplicably entitled “2010: The Year That Will Be,” lists the following as establishments that will open this year:

• Safeway – 1855 Wisconsin Ave – May 2010 – Originally slated to open in March, Social Safeway is supposed to make its grand, green reopening in May. And this one will have gelato, a sushi bar, and a Jamba Juice!

• Apple Store – 1229 Wisconsin Ave – May 2010 – After months of doing battle with the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and the Old Georgetown Board, who together rejected four drafts for an Apple Store on Wisconsin Avenue, an Apple Store was approved to build in March. So far, builders have demolished the French Connection building that formerly stood there.

• Georgetown Library – 3260 R Street – Fall 2010 – A new library with superior facilities will replace the old one that burned down in a huge fire in May of 2007.

• Ristorante Piccolo – 1068 31st Street – 2010 – This cozy date spot was ravaged by a fire in October 2008. Armed with plans for new rooftop seating, Ristorante Piccolo is supposed to open any day now.

Georgetown Metropolitan also lists a number of spots which may or may not see change in the coming year. Something may open up in the old Nathan’s restaurant location, possibly a steak frites place and the old Georgetown Theater property is for sale. And Pottery Barn is closing its Georgetown Store, he reports.

The Washington Business Journal has also reported that a new cafe will open in what used to be a gallery space at 1639 Wisconsin Avenue.

Photo from DCLibrary.Org

Hooray! After sending Apple back to the drawing board four, yes four times, rejected plans for a Wisconsin Avenue Apple store in hand, the Old Georgetown Board has finally approved their designs! And it sounds like the news storefront, which this fifth set of plans presented sans the huge front window they had initially planned for, and with more brick, really turns the OGB on:

“This is beautifully executed,” Stephen J. Vanze, chairman of the Old Georgetown Board, told Karl Backus, Apple’s architect. “We’re very pleased.”

At least that’s over with! Apple still has to get the O.K. from the U.S Commission of Fine Arts, the OGB’s overlords, but according to the Post, it’s unlikely they’ll flip the decision.

Apple still hasn’t determined their construction schedule for the store, which will sit where French Connection used to at 1229 Wisconsin, but by gosh—at least we’re getting it!

Joke.

Tonight, Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Comission 2E approved the design the owners of 1229 Wisconsin Ave  submitted for an Apple store—again.

Yes, this is the fifth time the would-be Apple store has had to appear before the ANC. They will now go on to present to the Old Georgetown Board, that un-bastion of democracy which rejected Apple’s proposed designs a fourth time last month, prompting speculation that Georgetown would lose its little apple.

The ANC unanimously ratified an amendment by Commissioner Charles Eason stating they “reacted favorably to the design … [and they] have no objections to the design.”

Very few (and rather inconsequential) changes were made the proposal that was presented last month.  The Commissioners appeared sick of talking about the Apple store and recommended that the OGB accept Apple’s proposal this time around.

So it’s back to the Old Georgetown drawing Board! (And you thought our apple puns were bad). We’ll have the entire ANC roundup for you tomorrow morning!

Photo taken from Flickr user Darren Hester under a Creative Commons license.

In Georgetown’s local government, the people are represented as two separate yet equally important groups: the neighbors’ representatives, who investigate crime, and the student representative, who leave crushed beer cans on their lawns. These are their stories.

Two weeks ago, Vox brought you what we hope was an intriguing interview with ANC Commissioner Ron Lewis. This week, we’ve got Georgetown’s own Aaron Golds (COL `11) talking about GUTS buses, kegs, and the now-infamous saga of the Georgetown Apple Store. He’s represented University students since January, and his little blue kingdom is pictured above.

What do you think about the Old Georgetown Board’s decision to deny Apple a fourth time? Are you worried it will drive Apple to another neighborhood?

My hands are tied, because obviously, I voted to approve the Apple designs. I look forward to seeing what Apple comes up with for [the March ANC meeting]. They’re getting closer.

Apple has shown continued interest in the Georgetown location. They paid over $12 million for the location. I think that means they’ll stay where they are. They don’t want to just sit on that, especially in a recession.

What do you think about the fact that only one of the three architects on the Old Georgetown Board (Ann Lewis, wife of ANC’s Ron Lewis) is actually a Georgetown resident?

I’m OK with it. The architects there are very capable, very competent, they have a good familiarity and idea of Georgetown.

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This morning, we told you about the kerfuffle surrounding the Apple store planned for Georgetown. Having already sunk a cool $13 million already into the site of its future store, Apple isn’t likely to have wandering eyes, according to ANC commisioner Aaron Golds (COL `11).

But Georgetown’s competition has already starting to flirt with Apple as D.C. media broadcast signs of our marital troubles. DCist reports:

Rumors are floating around that the computer manufacturer’s iconic store might end up elsewhere in the District.

The Examiner’s Harry Jaffe wrote on Friday that frustrated city officials looking to land the city’s first Apple store might actually be helping find a location somewhere other than Georgetown.

Included in those city officials is Ward 1′s Councilman, Jim Graham. Georgetown had better watch out—it’s hard to resist a man in a bowtie. Here at Vox, we’re going to assuage our worries that Apple will head to Ward 1 by giving Graham’s and Jaffe’s statement the Monday Madlib treatment, after the jump.

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