A few of you who land fancy-pants jobs upon graduating may need to upgrade from polo shirts with eagle insignias to higher-quality shirts with an insignia of a limp sheep hanging from some sort of ribbon getup.

I’m speaking of course, about Brooks Brothers clothing, and the impending opportunity to shop for it in Georgetown. Georgetown Metropolitan scoured the upcoming Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E agenda to find that the uppity clothier is applying for permission to make cosmetic changes to a storefront at 3077 M Street, which Smith and Hawken has recently vacated and Pottery Barn will soon abandon, too.

So, Brooks Brothers is coming to Georgetown. About the same time GM discovered this, Carol Joynt noticed that urban-chic favorite Up Against the Wall, located on M Street, is about to close its doors and become the latest of several recent business casualties in the Georgetown area. Up Against the Wall management did not respond to Vox’s calls about whether it was relocating, but those “Up to 80 Percent Off,” “Total Liquidation” signs in the window do not look promising.

On Saturday evening, a female salesperson at the H&M in Georgetown was beaten and sprayed with pepper spray. The woman who assaulted her was one of four women the victim had recognized as shoplifters and had been following as they walked around the store.

Unusually, the report about the incident from the Metropolitan Police Department does not list the store where the incident took place, only that it took place on the second floor of the shop. The victim of the crime, however, confirmed for Vox that she was an employee at the Georgetown H&M.

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Not long for this world?

This weekend brought news or the threat of two bar closures—one a stalwart of Georgetown culture and the other the darling of ambitious freshman birthday parties.

High rent forced MCCXXIII/Spank, the Dupont area club, to close its doors on Friday.

Meanwhile, Nathan’s, the checkered-tablecloth little slice of saloon heaven that has sat at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and M Street for forty years, has been in danger of packing it up for a while now. This weekend, the owners began the process of seeking a reprieve from their lease debt. If the landowners don’t grant it to them,  however, Nathan’s will be no more as of March 31st, Georgetown Metropolitan reports.

Image taken from Flickr user M. V. Jantzen using a Creative Commons license.

Thanks to the legislative aftermath of District of Columbia v. Heller, the D.C. Zoning Commission is allowing gun shops to open within the District. So where will they set up shop? Maybe Georgetown, says DCist.

Due to zoning restrictions (that aren’t set in stone until March), space for gun shops is “limited to industrial zones and commercial corridors not zoned for neighborhood retail. Additionally, no gun shop will be allowed within 300 feet of a school, library, home, playground or church.”

That leaves a few parcels in Georgetown. And we may not be talking out-in-the-boonies East-of-Wisconsin Georgetown:

There’s also a tiny plot along Connecticut Avenue NW in Van Ness, a cluster of parcels off Wisconsin Avenue just north of McLean Gardens, another plot off Wisconsin near Observatory Circle, and a small piece of M Street in Georgetown, again near Wisconsin Avenue. Downtown, between Pennsylvania Avenue and M Street as far west as 20th Street also is available for potential gun store business — though either side of 16th Street is off-limits.

Quips DCist, “It’s either hilarious or heinous to think that Georgetown might see a gun shop before an Apple store.” But I’m not laughing.

Via SaxaSpeak.

Stop photo creeping, Mr. Mayor

In the beginning of October, former DC councilman Harold Brazil was arrested for fighting on M Street’s Jinxproof tattoo parlor. Now new details are emerging about how and why Brazil found himself in such ignominious circumstances:

A tattoo-shop employee told police that former At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil cursed at him, pushed him into a wall, then began punching him “with a closed fist” in the back of the head, according to documents filed by prosecutors.

The prosecution’s documents also explain why Brazil was so mad in the first place. He showed up at Jinxproof with two women, and got mad when–we thought–he wasn’t allowed to go in the back while one got a tattoo. Apparently, he was actually mad because one of the women wasn’t allowed to watch the other. That Harold, always a gentleman.

I’m not of the tattooed set, but is it common for people to go into private booths to get tattooing done? I thought part of the appeal was your friends watch you tough it out.

Piccolo, an Italian restaurant on 1068 31st St (near Alamo), caught fire early this morning. The front of the restaurant was destroyed, but a Piccolo employee said the back of the restaurant was fine. He didn’t know when it would reopen.

Photo from the Voice’s Flickr. Via Outside the Gates.

Happier times

Former D.C. City Councilmember Harold Brazil (D-At Large) was arrested for simple assault Thursday night after allegedly fighting with employees at M  Jinx Proof Tattoo Parlor on M Street, according to the Washington Post (emphasis added):

“‘We are just a tattoo shop,’ said owner Tim Corun, who would not comment on last night’s incident when Brazil allegedly got into a fight with shop employees. Things got nasty allegedly after Brazil was told he could not follow one of the two women he was with into the area where she was going to get a tattoo.“

Perhaps Brazil was just mad because the evening was supposed to end in matching tattoos.

When the new Qdoba at M and 33rd began offering half-price entrées to Georgetown students on Mondays, I knew it was only a matter of time before the Chipotle down the street would be forced to respond. But week after week went by and as Qdoba got busier and busier each Monday, Chipotle seemed to be acting under the premise that if they ignored this little annoyance, it would go away.

Well, not anymore. According to the employee who answered the phone when I called Chipotle to confirm earlier this evening, Chipotle will be giving out free burritos to Georgetown students and faculty all day tomorrow. In other words, it is so on.

Far from merely firing a warning shot across Qdoba’s bow, Chipotle seems to be looking to reassert its dominance in a big way. I’m not sure how the Burrito War is going to end—if these promotions will die out once the two restaurants reach a state of equilibrium or if there really isn’t room for the two of them on M St.—but nothing but good can come from such cutthroat competition. With the ball squarely in Qdoba’s court, I can’t wait to find out what’s coming next. Until then, I’ll see you all at Chipotle tomorrow.

Update 3/21 2:52 pm:  Is there anything better than a free Chipotle burrito?  How about a free Chipotle burrito along with a $5 Qdoba gift card?  That’s right, Qdoba has stationed an employee handing out free gift cards on the corner of 33rd and M, presumably to deter people from making it further down the block to the competition.  He gave me a card as I was walking to Chipotle and a dirty look as I was walking back with my Chipotle bag.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user greefus groinks