Some tragic news: At 4:45 a.m., police discovered a man who had died of a gun shot wound in a car on M Street. Metropolitan Police Department Officer Mark Beach told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that it was “an apparent suicide.”

After being found with a gun in his lap parked outside of an art gallery on eastbound M Street, the man was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Traffic on M Street reopened by 7:30 a.m.

Photo from the Washington Post.

Monday’s Advisory Neighborhood Committee meeting was short on entertainment, but awfully long on just about everything else.

Topics included how to ease the traffic jams at the intersection of M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, a monthly public safety report, some complaints about the Alcohol Beverage Control Board’s moratorium, and a University’s ten-year plan—but sadly, it wasn’t Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan. Let’s get to the wrap:

Ed Solomon: Private Eye

In what we can only imagine was a long-gestating dream, Commissioner Ed Solomon delivered the evening’s public safety report after MPD Lieutenant Jon Hedgecock couldn’t attend the meeting.

“As far as crime in our area, it’s still basically what we reported last month,” Solomon said as he presumably imagined himself chasing down petty crooks and arresting bank robbers. “It’s trending down but there’s been some high-visibility crime in our neighborhood.”

According to Solomon, who we hope dons a mask and fights crime on the streets of Georgetown, MPD plans to move extra police officers from Friday and Saturday nights to “other higher crime nights.”

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Break out your hoop skirts and bow ties, ladies and gents! The latest trend in pedestrian movement may soon be at your local intersection!

Okay, so the Barnes Dance isn’t actually a dance. Also known as the ‘pedestrian scramble,’ it’s a traffic light system where, at a certain point in the pattern, all traffic comes to a halt. This allows pedestrians to cross wherever they want, in any direction. Think of Hachiko Square, the famous intersection in Tokyo.

While it’s not certain that this innovation will come to Georgetown’s busiest intersection, some plans have been set in motion. The District Department of Transportation recommended the Barnes Dance at the corner of M and Wisconsin.

According to the Georgetown Metropolitan, ANC Commissioner Ron Lewis wants to focus first on allowing east-bound traffic to turn left onto Wisconsin, but he did not rule out the Barnes Dance. The Dance is already on its way to Chinatown, at the corner of 7th and H. Its success or failure may determine if Georgetown gets to dance as well.

Despite its 2 a.m. closing time, if you’re looking for another late-night hotspot for drunken food binges and shouted conversations, the recently-opened Morso Express isn’t it. Nestled in a sliver of real estate along on M St. near Rhino Bar and Dean and Deluca, this place is classy.

Gawk at the mod-style lamps! And the awkwardly shaped bar stool-chair hybrids! But the decor—and the trendy vibe Morso seems to be after with its Facebook page and Twitter feed—is ultimately at odds with the restaurant’s authentic Turkish offerings.

Anybody unfamiliar with Turkish cuisine may feel a bit overwhelmed by Morso’s menu, replete with kabobs, mezes, and pide. Luckily, the employees seem eager to help. (And if you’re stubborn enough to order on your own, like I am, the recommended meat, topping, and sauce combinations printed onto a sheet of paper at the register are helpful guides.)

I tried two of the wraps yesterday when I visited: the lamb and pistachio kabob wrap, filled with ground lamb and topped with tangy sumac onions, grilled tomatoes, and tahini yogurt, and the grilled chicken wrap, topped with grilled onions, hummus, and a mayonnaise sauce.

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Vox always sensed that something was missing from Georgetown’s already ample smorgasbord of restaurant offerings, but we were never sure what it was.

Maybe it was a casual Mediterranean restaurant where you can make your own kebabs? In any event, this Friday, Morso Express, a dine-in and take-out Turkish-influenced restaurant, is opening its doors at 3277 M Street, across the street from Dean and Deluca and down the street from Rhino.

And the best part is, according to Jeanne Gumbleton, a promoter for Morso, Georgetown students can initially get a discount on food.

“During the months of March and April, Morso Express will offer Georgetown University students a 20% discount when they show their Hoya ID,” Gumbleton wrote in an e-mail.

The Washington Business Journal writes that in addition to DIY kebabs, Morso Express will offer mezze and flatbread-style pizzas. “A more upscale sister restaurant, Morso, will follow in April,” WBJ‘s Missy Frederick wrote.

Photo from Morso’s Facebook page.

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.