June 8, 2006
Carpool Driven Out by Condos
The Washington Business Journal reported this morning Monday that Carpool on Fairfax Drive will be torn down in favor of building something the Arlington area clearly needs more of — condos. D.C.-based Donohoe is behind the plans to replace the billiards hall with a 232,500-square-foot mixed-use development of condominiums and retail outlets.
Over at Pygmalion in a Blanket, the Nabob sums up our feelings about the news far better than we could:
Where does one stand when they announce that one thing you are mildly dissatisfied with is set to be replaced with something you are wildly discontented with? The Carpool is/was a mostly harmless bar, one that you would take an out of town cousin to when you needed to bridge the gap between his local Iowa drinkery and a fake-hip joint like Chi-Cha’s.But fear not for Bedrock Management, the owners of Carpool as well as Buffalo Billiards and Atomic Billiards, among others. Anyone who's been following the controversial and sad story behind the sale of the Source Theater to Bedrock knows that 14th Street NW will soon be getting its very own automobile-themed pool hall/bar & grill called The Standard. Bedrock has also reportedly been trying to acquire space near the new Nationals stadium. In related news, Bedrock Management has recently purchased every building in the District and plans to turn it into the world's largest pool hall, with a distinctive "government" theme.
After hearing about the end of Carpool, the DCist staff e-mail list filled up with names of other Arlington businesses that have come and gone thanks to the forces of condofication. Go Records, Cafe Dalat and Virginia Hardware are all missed by members of our staff, and probably deserving of some sort of belated eulogies. We'd love to hear from readers about any other businesses that have come and gone in the name of progress, but that should not be forgotten. If we get enough good suggestions, we'll compile them into subsequent, more mournful post.
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Are these the same people who own Bedrock Billiards in Adams Morgan? They're not in trouble, are they?
They are not in trouble. As the piece states, they're buying properties, and their website indicates that they have at least 10 locations nationwide.
Does anyone know if Bedrock owned this site and sold out to Donohoe, or if Donohoe always owned the site?
Did NOW!music'n'fashion get driven out of Arlington, or did they just move to Alexandria for the hell of it? I walked by the McDonalds in Old Town and their sign was still up in the doorway, and the McD's had closed up shop. One day, someone is going to build a parking deck in Old Town and make a fortune. Probably by knocking down low-income housing, or pretending that there wasn't REALLY a slave cemetary on that site.
I sold my condo about a block away from Carpool a little over a year ago. The area has become so homogenized that it has absolutely no soul. It lacks the energy that an urban type neighborhood should generate on its own. When I moved there four years ago, there was a great fish fry, a cool indian store where you could get a falafil, there was even a book store run by some religous cult (Adi - Dam) that was very fun to go to and look at books. Now I live off of Georgia Avenue in Columbia Heights, and it might be run down but at least the area has a soul.
The old location of Pollo Rico shared a parking lot with an Ollie's Trolley (wasn't that it?). Boy was that weird. There's alot of things that couldn't be kept weird about Clarendon.
The Boat at Wilson and Nelson, i.e. the Vietnamese restaurant shaped like a boat.
It's going to get interesting when all of these apartments/condos are filled to the gills with people and no one has any place to eat, drink or park.
ugh.
wow, i live right across the street from carpool, and i must say, i will not be sad to see it go. the place itself is ok (not as a pool hall so much as a place to go have a beer), but the patrons are just generally your standard arlington frat-types.
and additionally, the place is loud as hell. i gave up on trying to go to sleep before 1:30 on a thursday night because of people constantly yelling (usually in unison) outside, on their patio. horribly annoying.
you know what else? i am going to go out on a limb here, but i kind of think that arlington really does need more condos. people are still buying them up like crazy, and the real-estate prices are sky-fucking-high. i hope developers will continue building more and more places for us to live so that the prices will go down enough for the average person (like myself) to afford to stop renting and start earning a little equity. increase the supply, and prices will have to lower sooner or later.
Neil, people have been saying that for 2 years. I hate to say this but it's just not going to happen. The developers seem to have succeeded in turning DC Metro into the new NYC, where people forever rent b/c they can't afford to buy AND live in a place they enjoy.
Flying Dutchman garage! Now a Starbucks next to the Freshfields Corporate Campus.
i still have cafe dalat's number in my phone. i can't let it go.
Now!'s lease expired in clarendon ( i think) and that's why they moved out wilson blvd. to that sad little strip mall and then the leap to old town.
i thought the old town store was actually quite gorgeous, but i was never a fan of the ultra-catagorization of their stock.
Point of order, I was a transmission shop not a lowly, "garage".
R,I.P. round Clarendon Way -
Palace T.V., Redbird Cafe, Strangeways, Hsian Foong, Ollie's Trolley, Arlington Truck Rental, Law's Antique World, NOW, Ray's Cafe, whatever the name of the pet store was at the Wilson and Washington Blvd intersection, and so many others.
The Flying Dutchman
Point of order, I was a transmission shop not a lowly, "garage".
R,I.P. round Clarendon Way -
Palace T.V., Redbird Cafe, Strangeways, Hsian Foong, Ollie's Trolley, Arlington Truck Rental, Law's Antique World, NOW, Ray's Cafe, whatever the name of the pet store was at the Wilson and Washington Blvd intersection, and so many others.
The Flying Dutchman
Point of order, I was a transmission shop not a lowly, "garage".
R,I.P. round Clarendon Way -
Palace T.V., Redbird Cafe, Strangeways, Hsian Foong, Ollie's Trolley, Arlington Truck Rental, Law's Antique World, NOW, Ray's Cafe, whatever the name of the pet store was at the Wilson and Washington Blvd intersection, blah blah blah blah blah.
It was better dirty.
The Flying Dutchman
Oops. Sorry for the multi-posting.
I blame it on Williams Sonoma.
Arlington RIP: Bob Peck Chevrolet. Not that the world needs one more GM dealership. But, I loved its satellite-inspired showroom architecture; it was a nice low-rise reminder on the corner of Glebe and Wilson of when Arlington's metro corridor wasn't inhabited solely by "beautiful people."
> whatever the name of the pet store was at the
> Wilson and Washington Blvd intersection
P.T. Moran. A local chain that sold out to PetCo -- which still operates a pet store at the same location (or, at least did last time I drove through Arlington).
What I loved about PT Moran was the neon sign on its window that read, "Tropical Fish Grooming"
Hoy... and Dr. Dremo is on the way out, too. Granted, I pray for the people buying into the half-a-million dollar condos across the street who get to see a green and yellow striped building with a tiki/totem pole out front every morning, but it does seem that if you want the old orange line Arlington you need to go to columbia pike now.
Wilson Boulevard is like an endless parade of Jeep Wranglers blaring Bob Marley filled with white guys sporting pukka beads and folded ballcaps, and Jettas with Talbots gals and their jack russell terriers. yeeech. I used to like that area 10-15 years ago, but it is so fake and plastic now it makes me want to vomit.
That Alexandria NOW location was pretty incredible. Since McDonalds is gone, someone should get in there and put on some underage punk shows.
It wasn't replaced by condos (and it wasn't on wilson) but can we all pause a moment to mourn Whitey's?
I can't wait until 2008 when condos are going for $3.99/month.
Now THAT'S COMCASTIC!!!!
Bob Peck is gone too? I loved that building.
MM, you could rattle off an unflattering stereotype for every neighborhood in this town. That doesn't make it true. Those are just superficial observations that conveniently skim over what truly makes a neighborhood great.
I personally think that a lot of what made Clarendon/Courthouse great is still around, it's just not as obvious with all the other commotion.
And really, I watched this special of Arlington history on WETA the other day: the Arlington that people remember from the 70's-80's really is an abberation. What it's like now is actually more what it was like in the mid-century (minus the highrises). It was the havoc from the metro construction that enabled Vietnamese refugees to set up shop in the 70's and develop this great quirky neighborhood due to the low rents. As the metro blossomed, it's returned to it's pre-Metro cosmopolitan character. Certainly the loss of Little Saigon in Clarendon is sad, but what's emerging there now is not completely divorced from it's past.
Interesting to see this news and then also read in the post today that two major condo projects in the region have been shelved or altered becuase of a faltering market. One is being canceled, one is being changed to apartments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060701959.html
Some businesses just refused to cater to the people living in these new condos. For example, Virginia Hardware closed because they did not feel like being open during the hours that people [that have just bought these condos] would want them to be open (e.g., after 5 on weeknights and Saturday and Sunday). Had they been open more often, I'm sure that they would've carved out a market.
Logan Hardware is an excellent example of how a neighborhood hardware store should be like.
Sad to see Stein's Theatrical in Clarendon go out of business after almost 70 years. I always hit it up on Halloween. I will miss Cafe Dalat also. Oh well, at least Mario's is still there.
I lived in Court House from 2001-2004 and saw many of the condo units in early construction phase. it was a really nice place to live and commute into the city by metro. I just recently was in the area and couldn't believe how much traffic there was. and then i heard a rumor that the wendy's at courthouse road was going out and i thought i was going to cry.
I now live in Something Heights (cross section of U, Florida, Vernon, 18th Street). there is traffic there too but its not so bad.
I'll miss Dremos. But they keep saying that ther're fightin' and won't know anything until Sept.
Bob Peck is gone, but the sweet signs are still there. It's all I can do to bring a ladder late one night and dismantle it.
As for Carpool, sad to see a local place go, but damn, pool there was outrageously priced. (sky-high hourly fee plus like $5 per extra person)
If you think Go! was forced out by condons, you're (a) on crack of (b) never talked to any local musician about Jimmy's business practices. Then again, Bedrock isn't being "forced out" of Ballston when they choose to sell the land, are they?
Jump to conclusions first, ask questions later.
If you think Go! was forced out by condos, you're (a) on crack or (b) you've never talked to any local musician about Jimmy's business practices. Then again, Bedrock isn't being "forced out" of Ballston when they choose to sell the land, are they?
Jump to conclusions first, ask questions later.
Loved the Carpool structure and idea, notsomuch the clientele. On the whole, though, much better than more condos.
You know what would be great, though? Turn Bob Peck Chevrolet into Carpool II. It would be a goddamn shame to see that showroom dismantled. It's a huge property, no doubt - perhaps one that could actually do something about the lines to play pool on a Friday at Carpool . . .
~
And yes, a quiet moment for Whitey's.
Go's failure had nothing to do with "condofication." Just ask any former employee whose paycheck bounced or any of landlords, record distrubutors or suppliers the owner stiffed. He was possibly the worst businessmen in Arlington history, and yes I am counting the guy who dreamed up Indian Spices and Appliances (is that still around?)
When Dremo's dies, part of me goes with it.
Bob Peck is a fantastic space!! Foregt Carpool II. It should be called "Peck'z" or "Ball'z" ... combo Grand Mart, cafe, one-screen movie theatre, noodle-shop, indie-gallery, music venue, pool-hall, biker-bar! That is the only combo that'll scare-away the Jeep-Wranglers, and patrons of Ted's (fat white guys). That right-hand turn off of Glebe is just inconvenient enough to deter the Lincoln Navigators coming from 66E. The name Peck'z and Ball'z has a good "ambigous" ring to it to weird-out the W suporters.
I thought everyone that posts on DCist is too good to ever come to Virginia so what do you care if there's some more condos on the way at a bar most of you were to good to frequent.....
You thought wrong. Obvs.