It appears that two District-based food trucks are dying an inglorious death in a Columbia Pike parking lot.
The trucks — Meathead Mobile Eatery and La Gloria Mexicana — were spotted cooling their heels last night in the parking lot of the former Bob & Edith’s Diner II location at 4707 Columbia Pike. Once free to roam the streets of D.C. and serve meals to hungry office workers, now they sit food-less on the Pike with “for sale by owner” signs in the window.
A car crashed into the front of the CVS Pharmacy at 5017 Columbia Pike just after 5:00 p.m. today, injuring two people.
The car hopped the curb, smashed a low stone wall and broke several large windows. Only part of the front of the car actually entered the store.
Above: A look back at last year’s presentation of a steel beam from the World Trade Center at Arlington County Fire Station 5. Firefighters from Fire Station 5, in Pentagon City, were among the first to respond to the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
School Budget Approved — The Arlington County School Board has approved a new $475 million budget for FY 2012. The budget funds pay raises for teachers and staff, expands professional learning activities for teachers and eliminates ‘early release Wednesdays’ at four elementary schools. It also includes $1 million to study options for addressing the school system’s looming capacity crisis. [Arlington Public Schools]
What was once a muddy construction pit is now a lush, grassy field.
Sod was recently planted at the Penrose Square development on Columbia Pike. The sidewalk in front of the development, which was once completely blocked by construction, is now navigable by pedestrians.
The Salsa Room Starts Serving Mexican Cuisine — Best known as a dance club, The Salsa Room (2619 Columbia Pike) has relaunched with a new food menu. Gone is the Bolivian food from the location’s days as Cecilia’s Restaurant. In its place are Mexican dishes like fajitas, chimichangas and fish tacos. A Sunday brunch menu will launch on June 5. Yesterday the restaurant offered a 50 percent off Groupon (the deal has since ended).
New Library Hours — Starting July 1, the library will expand the hours at certain branches on certain days. Among the branches with new hours: Columbia Pike, Shirlington, Westover, Aurora Hills, Cherrydale, and Glencarlyn. Central Library hours will not change. [Library Hours]
Sazon means “seasoning” in Spanish, which is a good way to describe the contrast of the cafe’s smartly-decorated interior to the rather drab section of Columbia Pike outside its windows. Open since January, Cafe Sazon specializes in South and Central American food and baked goods, with a few American items thrown into the mix.
Co-owner Adriana Torres, who has not left the area since she moved from Bolivia to this section of the Pike as a seven-year-old kid, says that business has started out slow but is picking up. Thanks to a favorable mention on the “22204” email listserv, she says her customer base — primarily Hispanic — has gotten a bit more diverse lately.
Just in time for Easter, we spotted this detailed painting of Jesus on the hood of a cherry red pickup truck, parked near the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. Four Mile Run Drive.
A granite sign that went missing from the side of Columbia Pike has been found.
The sign (shown above, before it went missing) was placed on the east end of Columbia Heights to announce to drivers that they were entering the neighborhood. On Tuesday we reported that it had disappered.
The sign announced to folks heading westbound on the Pike that they were entering the Columbia Heights neighborhood. It was installed several months after the County Board approved a $12,500 neighborhood sign project for Columbia Heights.
Christine Nixon, chief of the county’s Neighborhood Services Division, says the sign itself cost about $900.
Demonstrators with Alexandria-based Tenants and Workers United (TWU) chanted “tax the rich, jobs now, homes now” while dancing the “Tax the Rich Shuffle,” as part of a national tax day protest. TWU Interim Executive Director Jennifer Morley said they targeted Bank of America because the giant financial company paid no corporate income tax this year.
“For too long, the government has allowed corporations and the wealthy not to pay their fair share,” Morley said. “Unrestricted greed has led to lay-offs, foreclosures and high rates of unemployment in working class communities.”
Local Mexican restaurant chain Taqueria Poblano will opening a new location on Columbia Pike.
“Coming soon” signs are up on the ground floor of the Penrose Square development, at the corner of Columbia Pike and South Adams Street.
Capital Bikeshare Stations Launch in Rosslyn — Four Capital Bikeshare stations were quietly installed around Rosslyn on Saturday. There were no public notices or proclamations before the installation — unlike earlier in the week when officials announced that four stations were to be installed on Wednesday. The county followed up that announcement with a notice that the installation was delayed indefinitely. Update at 12:05 p.m. — See info on the installations from Bike Arlington. [Patch]
Humpback Bridge Work Nears Completion — The National Park Service expects construction on the Humpback Bridge reconstruction project to wrap up in mid-June. The final construction phase will allow a full merge from I-395 onto the northbound GW Parkway. [WTOP]
