“The Dolphins of Shark Bay” had its American Premiere at Georgetown last night.

A packed room greeted the United States premiere of BBC documentary “The Dolphins of Shark Bay” in White-Gravenor.  The documentary features Professor Janet Mann, who splits her time between teaching in the Georgetown biology and psychology departments and studying dolphins at an isolated research center on the West Coast of Australia.  In Shark Bay, which is an UNESCO World Heritage site, Mann and her team study around 1600 dolphins. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this month, The West End Flyer reported that Whole Foods may be opening a location in Foggy Bottom. The report, which was based on an anonymous source, places the grocery store on the Square 54 development project across from George Washington University Hospital.

Boston Properties, the company developing the 2200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW property, said that site will include “an urban grocery store,” while Senior Project Manager Jake Stroman told the Flyer that negotiations between Boston Properties and a grocery company had reached “the final step.”

When Vox contacted Whole Foods to confirm the story, however, public relations representative Ivy Goldberg claimed, “At this time there is no plan for a new store opening in that location.”

Due to confidentiality agreements, it seems that all of the involved parties seem wary of confirming the news.

Although Stroman declined to identify the company, he did reveal that the lease will not be signed for at least two more weeks. Boston Properties expects to complete the Square 54 project in early 2011.

These rumors follow Mayor Adrian Fenty‘s rejection of a proposal that would have opened a Whole Foods within blocks of the 2200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW location. In March, the Washington Business Journal reported that Fenty had rejected a bid from Toll Brothers Inc. to develop the West End Library and Fire Station—a bid which included plans for a Whole Foods store, according to the Flyer.

To date, area residents’ requests for a local grocery store have largely been ignored. The Foggy Bottom Association, a neighborhood group, conducted a survey in 2009 to determine the retail needs of residents. 92 percent of respondents cited grocery as a service missing from the neighborhoods of Foggy Bottom and the West End, despite the presence of Trader Joe’s on 25h St. NW. Whole Foods was residents’ top choice to fill the void, followed by Giant Foods, Harris Teeter, and Safeway.

Photo from Flickr user “spiderpop” used under a Creative Commons license.

Never fear, your organic produce is safe and sound!

For those who were fearing Georgetown would be left totally supermarket-less after last night’s accident at Whole Foods, take heart: the store suffered only minor damages and was open for business today, according to the blog We Love D.C.

According to eyewitness reports We Love D.C. heard, the incident occurred when an elderly woman was driving her car down into the garage and sped up into the wall of the grocery store.  The driver sustained minor injuries, and no one else was hurt.

We Love D.C. reports:

According to an eyewitness report, who was in the Whole Foods by the meat counter, there was a loud collision-like noise and a rumble from the impact.  Immediately, a Whole Foods employee came running up the garage stairwell, yelling for the entire store to clear out and customers began heading (in a somewhat civil manner) to the Wisconsin Avenue exit …

From the picture I took from the top of the garage ramp (which is as good as I could get from my pauper cell phone,) the entire front of the driver’s car was smashed in, indicating to me, that the car was going very fast at the time of impact. That no one was seriously injured in the accident is a great fortuity considering the amount of Whole Foods’ employees and customers present at this high volume shopping time.

A message on the Georgetown Forum listerv explains the extent of the damage:

A wall collapsed and some glass broke but no one was hurt, including the driver. The store has boarded up the accident scene and other than the elevators being out of service, it’s business as usual.

A car crashed into the Georgetown Whole Foods on Wisconsin Avenue, according to the Washington Examiner.

According to the Examiner, the structure suffered minor damages.  The elderly woman driving the car had minor injuries, but there were no other injuries.

No one from Whole Foods could be reached for comment, but we’ll let you know  when we get in touch with them.

When you’ve gotten over the initial shock of Wisconsin Avenue’s Safeway closing for a year, and made your way through all the extra stock you purchased in the ‘blowout sale’ at the location’s last hurrah, you’ll realize that you need a new grocery store to buy all your nourishing goodness. Well, have no fear, there are a few sample answers for this puzzling conundrum.

If you don’t feel like changing your routine much, Whole Foods at 2323 Wisconsin Ave is very willing to take on some extra clientele. This store sells those fancy, high quality natural and/or organic products, so you know your colon will be happy you made the switch. However, beware: your receipt total rises the healthier things get.

If you feel like dropping a few extra, unneeded dollars into the hands of those thieves’ Dean and Deluca, head down to 3276 M Street and get less than you pay for. Clearly the closest locale for grocery fulfillment, but experience tells me that you might leave empty handed and completely unfulfilled.

My personal favorite Safeway replacement, however, is Trader Joe’s, located at 1101 25th Street. This store offers some great organic products, and much more reasonably priced than Whole Foods or that pocket-emptying Dean & Deluca. This is highly recommended, if for nothing else than to try something a little bit more fresh.

Naturally, I’ve the left the best choice for last. In fact, you don’t have to change your routine at all. Even after the Wisconsin Safeway location is closed, you can place orders on www.safeway.com and they’ll bring it right to your doorstep and with promotion code FREE642 students can receive free delivery on all orders $50 dollars or more. Granted, you may be missing out on the total grocery shopping experience, but after all—the internet is the future!