Author: Vernon Miles

Vernon Miles is the ALXnow cofounder and editor. He's covered Alexandria since 2014 and has been with Local News Now since 2018. When he's not reporting, he can usually be found playing video games or Dungeons and Dragons with friends.

Around Town

Freddie’s Beach Bar Celebrates 20th Anniversary with Bright Outlook on the Future

By Vernon Miles
Freddie’s Beach Bar on 23rd St. S in Crystal City (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Freddie Lutz has a lot of stories.

One of his favorites was a time when several men came into his bar, Freddie’s Beach Bar (555 23rd Street S.), and started stirring up trouble. As they started causing trouble and making crude remarks, all Lutz had to do was pick up the phone and a few seconds later a few burly, “football player” friends showed up from a nearby sports bar and gently escorted the troublemakers away.

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Events

Arlington Agenda: June 21-27

By Vernon Miles
Drama Discoveries program (via Soaring Starts)

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

Encore Learning Presents and the Arlington Public Library is hosting crossword puzzle expert Adrienne Cadik to discuss her experience and offer tips on getting better at crossword puzzles. The event can be accessed via Zoom.

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Events

Arlington Agenda: June 14-20

By Vernon Miles
Washington Revels Jubilee Voices performing "Our People: A Juneteenth Story" (photo via Washington Revels Jubilee Voices)

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in and around Arlington County. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

Arlington Civic Federation is considering whether to suggest improvements in Arlington’s form of government and electoral system, considering alternative electoral options that might suit the County’s size.

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Events

Arlington Agenda: June 8-13

By Vernon Miles
The Fountain in Crystal City

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

Local historian Martin Suydam will provide a look at the Frasers, one of the lesser known “founding families” or Arlington. The event is sponsored by the Arlington Historical Society and is free to the public.

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News

Arlington Agenda: May 17-23

By Vernon Miles
Kojo in Our Community (image via WAMU)

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County and local events being held online. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

WAMU host Kojo Nnamdi will be part of a round-table discussion with a panel of experts to discuss the state of mental health in the wake of the pandemic. Kojo and the panel of experts will discuss the effects of COVID-19 on mental health and what can be done to get people the needed help.

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Events

Arlington Agenda: May 10-16

By Vernon Miles
Yorktown Theater one-person-plays (image via Yorktown Theater High School Theater Arts)

Arlington Agenda is a listing of interesting events for the week ahead in Arlington County. If you’d like your event considered, fill out the event submission form to submit it to our event calendar.

Come hear from the two Democratic County Board candidates — Takis Karantonis and Chanda Choun — for a discussion about the arts in Arlington. Registration is required; RSVP to [email protected].

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Around Town

Pierogi Joint in Ballston Cooks Up Star Wars-Themed Specials

By Vernon Miles
Yody Perogis at Zofia's Kitchen (photo via Zofia's Kitchen/Facebook)

Ballston Quarter’s Zofia’s Kitchen (4238 Wilson Blvd) is cooking up a limited edition batch of Star Wars-themed snacks, and missing out would be a Wookie mistake.

The restaurant is operating with limited staff but said in a press release that they decided to go all in on “May the Fourth” — a sort of quasi-holiday for Star Wars fans on May 4 rooted in a “May the Force be with you” pun.

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News

Broadway Star Traces Roots to Arlington Golf Club

By Vernon Miles
Audra McDonald (image via PBS)

(Updated at 2:30 p.m.) In the latest episode of PBS’ Finding Your Roots, historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. helped guide six-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald on a tour of her family lineage — a journey that led her to a golf club in Arlington.

McDonald’s trip through her family tree started with her maternal grandfather, whom she credited as a major influencing force on her life. Her grandfather, Thomas Hardy Jones, was described by McDonald as “born into the depths of the Jim Crow era” but managing to build a respected career as an educator in historically Black institutions.

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News

Incumbent Delegate and Alexandria Vice Mayor Square Off in Unique 45th District Race

By Vernon Miles

The race for the 45th District House of Delegates seat is a weird one.

Delegate Mark Levine announced in December that he would be running for Lieutenant Governor. A month later, Alexandria Vice Mayor Elizabeth Bennett-Parker announced that she would be running for Levine’s delegate seat. The wrinkle in all of this, however, is that Levine is also running for reelection in the 45th district as a precaution in case he doesn’t win the fairly crowded Lieutenant Governor primary.

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Events

Vintage Clothes, Pirate Cookies and More Headed to ‘National Landing Market’ Next Month

By Vernon Miles

A new bazaar is planning to bring everything from vintage clothing to artisanal food to a National Landing Market starting next month.

The new market is scheduled to launch Saturday, May 15 with a selection of artist vendors. The market will be held at Plaza at 220, a surface parking lot at 220 20th Street S. in Crystal City, and will be open every Saturday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

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News

The Crossing Clarendon Has a New Name and May Be Getting a New Pedestrian Plaza

By Vernon Miles
The Crossing Clarendon (staff photo)

Big things are afoot at The Crossing Clarendon (2800 Clarendon Blvd) — a stretch of interconnected stores, restaurants, offices and residential space formerly known as Market Common Clarendon — as the center starts to brush off the dust from the past year.

As an overview: The Crossing refers to a multi-block stretch of mixed-use development that includes the Whole Foods, the Cheesecake Factory and the Apple Store. With some recent rebranding, the collection of retail on the opposite side of Clarendon Blvd from the Whole Foods is now known as The Loop.

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