Essy’s Carriage House Closing — “Announcing another landmark soon to vanish: Essy’s Carriage House, the American cuisine steakhouse that’s been a fixture in Cherrydale for 48 years, will close its doors at the end of March. No other Arlington full-service restaurant has been open longer, according to founder-owner Essy Saedi, an Iranian immigrant who came to the United States in 1962. (An exception might be Mario’s Pizza, primarily takeout since 1958.)” [Falls Church News-Press]
La Coop Grand Opening — “Customers lined up outside on Saturday to get their first drink and pastry at the grand opening of La Coop Coffee’s new location in the Arlington Forest neighborhood of Arlington. La Coop Coffee had already made a name for itself in Arlington by selling coffee at the nearby Lubber Run Farmers Market.” [Patch]
New Term for ‘Missing Middle’ — “Faced with a public revolt in some quarters over proposed Missing Middle housing and zoning changes, the Arlington County government has made a big change. Not to the proposed policy. To the name. ‘Missing Middle’ has now morphed into ‘Expanded Housing Options’ in county-government parlance. And because nothing happens in Arlington without an acronym, it has already been shortened to ‘EHO.'” [Gazette Leader]
Public Radio Examines Housing Debate — “Recently they started browsing on Zillow for a place to buy. ‘We saw a lot of homes,’ Siegel says, ‘but when we brought it back down to what we could afford, what our price range was, suddenly all the homes disappeared.’ It was a rude surprise. The couple makes above the local median household income, which is more than $120,000. They knew houses can approach a million dollars, but it turned out that even tw0- or three-bedroom condos are too pricey.” [NPR]
W-L Defeats Wakefield in Emotional Win — “The healing continues at Washington-Liberty High School now three months after the tragic death of one of its most beloved student-athletes, senior Braylon Meade, who died in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver just after midnight. The boys basketball team continued to keep it going Friday night on Senior Night for the Generals as they took on fierce rival Wakefield in a packed, vibrant gym. The result was an emotional 58-53 victory for the home team.” [Novahoops.com]
Covid Cases on the Decline — “The COVID numbers generally continue to improve. The number of patients who require hospitalization is a touch below last week. The number of patients that we put on our COVID isolation status in the emergency department, is also less than the last few weeks. This number has been trending down for about 6 weeks. We still have a ways to go before we get to the trough we experienced in September but we are headed in the right direction.” [Blue Virginia]
Mardi Gras Celebration Ideas — “Mardi Gras — the green, gold and purple holiday where king cakes reign supreme–is nearly here. Whether you’d like to snag some sweets for home or party hard at a local venue, we’ve rounded up several ways to celebrate in and near Arlington.” [Arlington Magazine]
It’s Monday — Clear and sunny, with some clouds moving in later in the afternoon. High of 55 and low of 34. Sunrise at 7:05 am and sunset at 5:44 pm. [Weather.gov]