Sunny and pleasant weather and a big-name headliner attracted the largest crowd yet to the Columbia Pike Blues Festival over the weekend, organizers said.
We’re told more than 7,000 people turned out for the 18th annual Blues Festival, which is held on S. Walter Reed Drive just north of the Pike. Guitarist G.E. Smith, of Saturday Night Live and Hall & Oates fame, headlined the event.
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The second phase of the Crystal Drive Two-Way Conversion project was completed over the weekend.
As of Saturday, Crystal Drive between 23rd Street and 26th Street was open to two way traffic. Formerly, the road only allowed one-way northbound traffic.
The event is scheduled from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Westover Branch Library (1644 N. McKinley Road). Randal O’Toole, a transportation expert at the libertarian CATO Institute, will “speak about current transportation policy issues, including the Columbia Pike streetcar.”
O’Toole wrote the book The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths: How Smart Growth Will Harm American Cities in 2001, and published a policy analysis entitled “The Great Streetcar Conspiracy” last year. The analysis says municipal streetcar systems are being encouraged by the federal government and by “engineering firms that stand to earn millions of dollars planning, designing, and building streetcar lines.”
The restaurant, at 1515 Wilson Blvd, will open on Thursday, June 27, according to PR rep Danielle Tergis. It will offer “a menu featuring customizable, made-to-order rice and noodle bowls rooted in authentic and traditional Thai flavors that are served in a modern way.”
“We have been working on this concept for more than two years,” co-owner Aulie Bunyarataphan told ARLnow.com in February. “It’s the first Thai restaurant around in this format.”
(Updated at 11:30 a.m.) All lanes of N. Glebe Road were closed in the area of 16th Street, just north of Ballston, due to a moped accident.
Initial reports suggest that the victim crashed his moped after hitting the curb. Medics tended to the victim, who was reported to be unconscious.
The robbery happened on the 2400 block of S. Eads Street around 12:30 a.m. Police say two Arlington men, ages 32 and 33, were walking to their car from a nearby restaurant when a man crossed the street and engaged them in conversation. The man then pulled out a gun and demanded cash.
The victims emptied their pockets and then ran away. For an unknown reason, the suspect then fired a single gunshot, striking the side of the CVS Pharmacy building. No one was hurt.
Board Approves New Hotel — On Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved a new 168-room hotel on the former Colony House furniture site at 1700 Lee Highway. As part of the site plan approval, developer B.F. Saul agreed to make a $510,000 contribution to the county’s affordable housing fund, $62,546 to the utility undergrounding fund, $75,000 to the public art fund and $70,000 to pay for a widened sidewalk on a portion of N. Quinn Street. [Arlington County]
Diener Murder Case In-Depth — Writer Kris Coronado takes an in-depth look at how Arlington County police cracked the Carl Diener murder case, including how a hunch and DNA evidence played a pivotal role, and how one of the suspects rapped about the case against him. [Arlington Magazine]
