On Friday night my hubby and I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood (Columbia Heights) to see the progression of the planned Target/Best Buy on 14th Street. On the way, we discovered that we must be living in a hole, because the area around the metro looked like it had completely sprung up overnight. Next to the Giant, the Carvel Ice Cream had opened, along with a Latin restaurant called Rumba, which the sign described as a "restaurant/art/bar". It looked tres chic inside, with mood lighting, a large bar, and plush chairs filled with diners enjoying all sorts of tasty looking things. We also saw a T-Mobile store and a Ruby Tuesdays, which was all set and ready to go but for the liquor license hearing notice hanging in the window. Click here for all the updates and goings-on about Columbia Heights development. Also, from the makers of The Ellington on U St., comes a new condo/retail development about a block from our house.
But seriously, how the hell could a Ruby Tuesdays spring up not 5 blocks from our house without us knowing? It literally looked like it had just fallen from the sky, completely constructed and furnished, onto the corner of 14th and Monroe.
Most people probably wouldn't be excited about a Ruby Tuesdays popping up in their neighborhood- or eagerly watch the construction of a Target for that matter- but for a couple of crazy kids like us who bought a house hoping that the whisperings of development would actually occur, this is truly exciting. There are some people that are angry about "mom and pop" stores disappearing from the American landscape due to stores like a Ruby Tuesdays or a Target, and normally I would agree. However, when all that was there before was a vacant lot and a few dilapidated liquor stores, those bits of corporate Americana are a welcome sight.
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4 comments:
Holy crap, there's a Maggie Moo's going in there? You HAVE to go in there and be like, "Guess who's here? That's right, make with the Moo."
no moo! just a carvel. which is fine by me
Here's one of those dissenters you mentioned...
Well "Anonymous" what was there before? It wasn't like the Ruby Tuesdays ousted a Mom and Pop store that was on that corner. As far as me worrying about the value of my property and the quality of my neighborhood, I would rather have a Ruby Tuesdays than another liquor store. However, that being said, I would hate it if someplace like the Taqueria D. Federale got ousted for a Ruby Tuesdays. I am not saying I want another D.C. Chinatown in my backyard, but I do want more GOOD and SAFE places to eat like Temperance Hall, Taqueria D.F., Rumbero's etc. in the neighborhood.
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