A new fast-casual seafood restaurant opened yesterday in Falls Church, serving New England-style lobster rolls and seafood.
Annapolis, Md.-based Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls is soft opening now on the ground floor of The Oak condominiums on 243 West Falls Station Blvd. It’s the first restaurant to open at the West Falls development, with more eateries expected later this year.
County Approves Grants — “On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, the Arlington County Board awarded grants totaling more than $1.8 million to 23 nonprofits serving Arlington. This funding was awarded as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 2026) equity-based grant program, RACE to Rebuilding Trust & Community.” [Arlington County]
Arlingtonians Protest Cuts — “Parents and teachers across the country, including the DMV, are standing against cuts to the U.S. Department of Education. It’s part of the National Education Association’s ‘Walk-In to Protect Our Students and Families.’ … Parents and students at Barcroft Elementary School stood outside Wednesday morning expressing their concerns about dismantling the Department of Education and how it could hurt students, families, and teachers, especially at Title I schools.” [DC News Now]
Pedestrian Struck Tuesday Afternoon — A pedestrian was struck by a driver along Washington Blvd, near ramps to and from the GW Parkway. Initially reported to be unconscious by 911 callers, the pedestrian suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to U.S. Park Police. [ARLnow/X]
ACFD’s Busiest Rescue Truck — “In 2024, Rescue 109 was our busiest Rescue in Arlington with 1,928 calls. Our Rescue Companies are staffed with 4 personnel that are all trained to a specific specialty team. R109 is part of the Hazardous Materials Team and responds to all incidents that involve victim rescues.” [ACFD/X]
D.C. Cherry Blossom Update — “Mild weather is hastening the development of D.C.’s famed cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin. On Wednesday, the National Park Service said the blossom buds reached their third stage: extension of florets.” [Capital Weather Gang, National Mall NPS/X]
It’s Thursday — Expect cloudy conditions and rain showers after 2pm with a high of 71°F, accompanied by a southeast wind of 9-15 mph, gusting up to 24 mph, and a 90% chance of precipitation. Rainfall amounting to a quarter to half an inch is possible. On Thursday night, showers will mainly occur before 2am, with lows around 37°F, a northwest wind of 11-18 mph, and gusts up to 37 mph. There’s an 80% chance of precipitation with similar rainfall amounts. [NWS]
When Eddie Kaufholz and his family moved to Arlington nearly five years ago, they were not thinking about starting a business. They wanted to live in a place that was diverse, interesting and full of opportunity, with a school system they could rely on. Arlington fit.
In the years that followed, working out of a home office off Columbia Pike, he consulted with organizations across Northern Virginia and around the country: nonprofits, advocacy groups, mid-sized companies, agencies of various sizes. The work itself was good. But somewhere across all those projects, he started to notice a pattern.
”The agency model has gotten really bloated,” Kaufholz says. ”Layers, handoffs, middle management. The senior people who pitch the work often disappear once it starts. The idea with PILLAR was to strip all of that down; keep senior people on the work, approach each client with humility and care, do world-class strategy and execution, and pass the efficiency back to the client instead of absorbing it as agency margin.”
That thinking, slowly, became PILLAR, the Arlington-headquartered creative, communications and marketing agency Kaufholz founded.
PILLAR, he says, is built on an old idea. ”An idea that has always been possible but rarely practiced: that an agency should be structured to serve the work itself.” The team that delivers the work is assembled around the specific needs of each client and only stays as long as the work calls for them.
”The senior strategist on your kick-off call is the senior strategist writing your messaging,” Kaufholz says. ”Every person on a project is there because the work specifically calls for them.”
PILLAR’s recent work has spanned human rights, executive leadership, higher education, advocacy and direct-to-consumer ecommerce. The roster has included national nonprofits, a national multimillion-dollar direct-to-consumer brand and a number of institutions navigating significant moments of strategic change. The model is built to scale up to be the agency of record for a national brand, or to scale down to design a logo for a neighborhood nonprofit. PILLAR takes equal pride and care in both.
What Kaufholz did not understand when he started, he said, was how much the County itself would matter in making any of it possible. (more…)
Add hotel-occupancy rates to the Arlington County government’s growing list of economic concerns.
Projections for the next 60 days suggest Arlington’s hotel-room usage will be down 15% from a year before and expected hotel revenue down 12%.
Arlington neighborhoods have long held what amounts to veto power over the installation of new sidewalks, but that may soon change.
County Manager Mark Schwartz recently told two advisory panels he is interested in developing a countywide sidewalk plan to fill in gaps — and potentially override the views of individual communities.
Join Jadin O’Brien, Olympic athlete, 3x NCAA pentathlon champion and 10x All-American (heptathlon) winner for this in-person and virtual 5K. This event is sponsored by The Alex Manfull Fund to raise awareness and advance research on debilitating infection-associated neuroimmune disorders (including PANS and PANDAS) that affect young people. The 5K is part of the organization’s 36 Hours for PANS and PANDAS Advocacy in Motion event. Runners will receive a Finisher’s Medal, Technical (Drifit) Event Shirt and A Chip Timed Event. The event commemorates the life of Alex Manfull, who died at age 26 due to PANDAS. Susan and William Manfull established the Fund in their daughter’s name with the vision that no life ever again be cut short—or interrupted—by these illnesses. Learn more at TheAlexManfullFund.org.
Good Wednesday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar.
The following articles were published earlier today — Mar 19, 2025.
Here is what’s going on Thursday in Arlington, from our event calendar.
Expect showers to begin after 2pm with a high of 71°F, accompanied by a southeast wind of 9-15 mph, gusting up to 24 mph, and a 90% chance of precipitation. Rainfall amounting to a quarter to half an inch is possible. On Thursday night, showers will mainly occur before 2am, with lows around 37°F, a northwest wind of 11-18 mph, and gusts up to 37 mph. There’s an 80% chance of precipitation with similar rainfall amounts. See more from Weather.gov.
“A heart filled with love is like a phoenix that no cage can imprison.”
– Rumi
The MonumentCam screenshot above is used with permission of the Trust for the National Mall and courtesy of EarthCam.
Thanks for reading! Feel free to discuss the day’s happenings in the comments.
A proposal to redevelop a Lyon Village church as affordable housing for LGBTQ+ seniors continues to get pushback from some neighbors.
Clarendon Presbyterian Church has been seeking to redevelop its property at 1305 N. Jackson Street in partnership with True Ground Housing Partners. Conceptual site plans filed last May depict a six-story building with 102 units, as well as a church and childcare center totaling 8,530 square feet.
Arlington prosecutors have declined to pursue charges against a convenience store employee accused of slashing an alleged shoplifter with a knife.
The 24-year-old employee faced two misdemeanor charges stemming from the Dec. 16 incident, in which he allegedly pursued and confronted two men who left a 7-Eleven in Arlington Heights without paying for beer and other items.
The First Four games of March Madness continue tonight (Wednesday), with American University facing Mount St. Mary’s at 6:40 p.m.
Arlington and Falls Church are home to no shortage of venues to watch the game while enjoying a happy hour. Here are a couple places to find food and drink deals, watch parties and some friendly bracket competitions.
A new nightlife attraction with karaoke and Chinese cuisine is open in Crystal City.
Lantern Restaurant & Bar opened at 320 23rd Street S. late last month, debuting a nearly 5,500-square-foot space decked out with high quality sound systems and LED lights. The venue is currently taking reservations, owner Shen Zhao told ARLnow.
