Community Volunteer Network Monthly Meetup

Hope to see you out at Community Volunteer Network's September meetup which will be held this coming Tuesday at Yaku in Courthouse. Community Volunteer Network is an Arlington group of 20 and 30 somethings that volunteer on evenings and weekends. They've got lots of volunteer events coming up in September and will have sign up sheets and more information at the meetup.

Yaku was recently named one of the best new restaurants by Northern Virginia Magazine and it is located on the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Scott Street. The closest metro stop is Court House, on the orange line.

For more information about Yaku and to view their Happy Hour specials, please visit: http://www.latinconcepts.com/yaku

New Bar Rumored to Open in Courthouse on Friday

Quick heads up that my spies tell me Velocity Five is opening up on Friday. Eagle-eyed What's Up Arlington readers will remember it's going in at the spot formerly occupied by King Street Blues.

Note to Velocity Five - the Green Lantern called, he wants his logo back.

Bye to the Blues, Ray's Relocates

I'm sorry to confirm the news first reported on Twitter by @jamiebowers that King Street Blues in Courthouse has suddenly closed. A sign on the door doesn't give an explanation for the closing but says something called the Velocity Sports Grill will be opening in that location.

If history is any indication, that may not last long either. Just since 2002, that spot has switched from RT's Seafood to M&S Seafood to KSB and now to Velocity.

But the void in Courthouse dining options is already being filled by the new location of an Arlington favorite. As We Love DC reports, Ray's the Steaks has re-opened just across Clarendon Blvd from the former KSB.

Scratch That. Long Lines For Early Voting, Too.

On Tuesday, I said that you could avoid long lines by voting early.

The lesson for What's Up Arlington readers -- never listen to me.

I just tried to vote in-person absentee (4:45pm on Thursday), but watched the line wind past the "30 minutes wait to vote from this point" sign, around the "45 minutes" sign, and beyond the "60 minutes" sign. I gave up and headed to King Street Blues for a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and some BBQ chicken sliders (wicked awesome).

Luckily, my job allows me some flexibility to come in late/leave early to vote, so I can vote on Tuesday. But if you need to vote in-person absentee, give yourself plenty of time and bring your iPod or a book! And for all the details on voting, early or otherwise, check out the Arlington County Election 2008 Survival Guide.

UPDATE: A friend told me that at 6pm, the line was over two hours long.

UPDATE 10/31 at 5:15pm: An Arlington Young Democrat who's waiting in line right now just texted me to say the line has now hit THREE HOURS long.

UPDATE 11/1: Five hours on Saturday.

Avoid Election Day Lines, Vote In-Person Absentee

Back in 2004, if you got to vote in Arlington on Election Day without having to wait in line for at least half an hour, you were one of the lucky ones. The Green Miles was lucky enough to be at the relatively quiet Lyon Park polling place, but friends in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor who tried to vote either first thing in the morning or after work who waited well over an hour.

The long lines put voters between a rock and a hard place. If you go in the morning and the line is out the door and around the block, do you tell your boss you'll be late? If it's in the evening, do you cancel your evening plans to shiver in line?

Fortunately, you don't have to choose. Arlington County is offering in-person absentee voting at 2100 Clarendon Blvd with extended hours on Thursday and Saturday. You can get all the details in the voter registration office's Arlington County Election 2008 Survival Guide.

I've heard lines can be long on Saturdays as well, but Arlington Young Democrats are hoping to encourage Thursday evening absentee voting with a happy hour this Thursday (Oct. 30) from 5-8pm at King Street Blues in Courthouse. Get voting out of the way early, then enjoy some free appetizers -- sounds like a pretty good deal. (For the record, there are no similar events listed on the Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans website.)

I'll Miss You, Giant Hole

Ever since I moved to Arlington, there's been a giant hole in Courthouse at the corner of Clarendon and N. Adams. It's the site of a project waiting to be built since ... are you ready for this? 1984.

But at long last, a structure is rising from the hole:

The Washington Business Journal has the details:

The Donohoe Cos. started construction Sept. 19 on a 140,000-square-foot, 176-room Marriott Residence Inn on Clarendon Boulevard near the Court House Metro station. The $40 million hotel will open in spring 2009, some 23 years after it was originally envisioned and one year later than the current developers were hoping for.

"It has maybe taken longer than it typically does," said Bob Donohoe, development director for The Donohoe Cos. "But we feel like we've got the best project we could have."

"Maybe taken longer than it typically does"? Talk about the understatement of the year.

Anyway, the project should be a big boost for a block that's been pretty unremarkable until the recent addition of King Street Blues.

Last Night at Dremo's

The Green Miles usually sticks to a pretty simple rule about cover charges. Is there a rollercoaster inside? Is there a ballgame being played? No? Then I'm not paying to get in.

But I was willing to open up my wallet on Saturday night and pay Dr. Dremo's $10 "relocation fund" cover charge. If I'm going to complain about Dremo's closing at its Courthouse location, why not put my money where my mouth is?

It didn't seem to bother many other people, either. All the seats were filled by the time I arrived at 5:15, the bar area was crowded by 6, and there was a line soon after.

So what's next for Dremo's? An auction of bar items on Monday night and a search for a new location. I'll let you know if I hear anything!

Dr. Dremo's Counts Down to Closing

Sometime on Sunday morning around 1:30am, it'll be last call for the last time at Dr. Dremo's. It'll be demolished to make way for a high-rise condo building.

Owners hope to reopen at a new location in the not-too-distant future, but fans of Dr. Dremo's know it'll never be quite the same. OK, so maybe if your standards are tasteful decor, comfortable seating, and clean air, the new location could be significantly better.

But dive bars are a dying breed. The Green Miles and his roommate once almost picked an apartment in Courthouse over our current Ballston digs only because of its proximity to Dremo's.

A friend told me Dremo's has been packed lately with people trying to get in one last pitcher, so if you're planning to go over the next few days, go early. Because after this weekend, never again will you get the chance to drink on the open-air beach downstairs with a view of the Washington Monument. And you won't get to sit inside their silo booths. From Night Out in Arlington:

Monday, Jan. 28th
It's Sad, But You Could Get a Totem Pole
We all knew it was coming -- Dr. Dremo's is in its last days. Starting at 7 pm, they'll be auctioning off tons of the restaurant's odds and ends (pool tables, poker chips, the totem pole, beer tanks, and so on). If you stop by beforehand and speak to the manager, you can submit a pre-auction bid.

There's still hope that Dremo's will rise from the ashes at a new location:

Some blogs have reported that Dremo's owners are throwing in the towel and closing the business for good, which Stewart denies. "[Looking for a new building] is not that bad," Stewart says. "You have to throw a lot of lines out to get something to bite. We put in a bid to buy a building, but we haven't heard back." The Dr. Dremo's team continues to visit real estate agents, trying to find a way to stay in their neighborhood. "I'd love to be in Clarendon and Court House," Stewart says.

Few dive bars remain in Arlington, and they're practically extinct in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. There's Jay's in Clarendon and the Royal Lee at Pershing Drive and Route 50. Any other favorite dive bars in Arlington?

Review: CRM November Monthly Meetup at Dr. Dremo's

Not sure if it was the lure of the Election Night theme or nostalgia for the soon-to-be-moving Dr. Dremo's, but November's Community Role Models Monthly Meetup was the best-attended yet by far! Nearly 30 people packed Dremo's front lounge.

The crowd was about evenly split between people who'd been to CRM events before and people who hadn't. That's probably the ideal mix. On the one hand, you don't want the new people to feel like the only ones in the room who don't know anyone. But then again, you don't want a room full of people who can't find anyone who actually knows what CRM is.

We try to keep the formal blabbing short at Monthly Meetups, so we just talked about some upcoming volunteer activities like Holiday Elves at Ballston Mall on December 1st and Project Christmas Angel on Lorcom Lane coming up on December 11th. The biggest question we got was how to get one of the cool new CRM tshirts (answer: come to a volunteer event).

Our previous record high for attendance was 20 people at October's Monthly Meetup at Sine in Pentagon City. This event shattered the record with 28 people. But I'm pretty confident the Dremo's event won't hold the title belt for long. Fellow blogger What's Up Eric has lined up an awesome December Monthly Meetup featuring Fit Arlington at Bailey's in Ballston. You can learn more RSVP at the CRM website or at the Facebook event page (or if you just can't respondez vous enough, you can do both).

I'm sure Eric will have more details of the event as it gets closer, so bookmark this page and check back later. Speaking of Eric, that's him in the gray shirt. What did you think of the November Monthly Meetup?

Arlington Wants to Know: How Would You Change Neighborhood Day?

Would I go to Arlington's Neighborhood Day parade if I didn't get to be in it?

Honestly? No.

I've marched in the Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment contingent at the parade three different years now, each time as National Wildlife Federation's mascot, Ranger Rick. That's me to the right with Arlington County Board Chair Paul Ferguson. (Did you hear that Ranger Rick recently got kicked off Facebook? Lame.)

But if I didn't have the incentive of getting to be a giant raccoon for the day, there's not much else that would draw me to the event. While there are other Neighborhood Day community events elsewhere in Arlington, along the route from Clarendon to Courthouse, the parade is pretty much it.

There are no food stands like at Taste of Arlington. There's no stage with bands like at Clarendon Day. There are no booths with information about community groups like at the County Fair.

So Arlington County wants to know how you would improve Neighborhood Day. Should it continue as-is? Should the event have additional attractions? Should it be combined with another event?

Take the survey here!