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?

Vote or Die (Or Vote and Drink)

Tuesday, October 9th is the last day to register to vote in the November 6th general election! You can get more details on the Arlington County Voter Registration page.

While there are no statewide or national races on November's ballot, every member of the Virginia General Assembly is up for re-election. In addition, Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada is up for re-election and there's a race for outgoing County Board Member Paul Ferguson's open seat.

Then on Election Night, Arlington Community Role Models will be hosting their November Monthly Meetup at Dr. Dremo's! Facebook members can learn more and RSVP here.