A man who was walking down Lee Highway while drunk and naked last night was arrested after being tased twice by officers, according to Arlington County police.
The incident happened shortly before 9 p.m., roughly between Spout Run Parkway and the Inns of Virginia hotel.
Sloppy Mama’s Barbeque has started serving breakfast items like buttermilk biscuit sandwiches and hash browns with special dipping sauce.
The new menu is available from 8-11 a.m Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant’s standalone eatery at 5731 Lee Highway is currently open, while its Ballston Quarter food hall location is set to reopen Thursday. Sloppy Mama’s remains closed at Union Market in D.C.
(Updated at 9:45 p.m.) Arlington County firefighters battled a blaze at the Domino’s Pizza on Lee Highway Friday night.
The fire broke out just before 7:45 p.m. at the pizzeria on the 4800 block of Lee Highway, which serves much of residential north Arlington. Flames could be seen coming from the roof, before being extinguished by arriving firefighters.
It may not look very different from the outside, but the Safeway along Lee Highway at 2500 N. Harrison Street has been going through some big changes on the inside.
The grocery store chain has been giving some much-needed love to some stores in the region, which had previously earned nicknames like “Soviet Safeway” and “Un-Safeway.”
After some setbacks, including minor delays caused by the pandemic, Bob and Edith’s Diner owner Greg Bolton said he’s planning to open his new Lee Highway location (5050 Lee Highway) at the beginning of next month.
Bolton says the pandemic delayed the diner’s opening by, at most, a few days. If everything goes smoothly over the next few weeks, he said, the new location should be open on August 1. The diner will replaces what was once Lee Highway restaurant Linda’s Cafe.
McDonald’s Rebuild Decision Delayed — “Action on a proposal to rebuild the existing McDonald’s fast-food restaurant in the 4800 block of Lee Highway has been put off for another two months. Arlington County officials and the applicant had sparred over the plan, which also would include a revamped traffic-circulation design.” [InsideNova]
Bollards Deter Dangerous I-395 Driving — VDOT has installed new bollards to prevent drivers from cutting across northbound I-395 to access the HOV bridge. The barriers appears to be doing the trick, succeeding where orange barrels previously failed. [Twitter]
It would be easy to blame closing down shop on COVID-19, but Jojo Tchalekian doesn’t. When Sam Torrey Shoe Service at 5267 Lee Highway closes on July 31 after 75 years in business, Tchalekian says it will be a long time coming.
Tchalekian is closing down the brick and mortar location that he and his father took over in 1986 from the original owners — who founded the store in 1945 — but he said he will continue to work on garment repairs remotely.
Fox News in Arlington — “An apparently news-starved fox has taken matters into its own paws and has been spotted stealing copies of the Post from the porches of unsuspecting Arlington residents.” [Washingtonian]
In-Person Census Visits Starting — “To achieve a complete count, Census Takers will begin conducting home interviews. Starting the week of July 20 — nearly three weeks before the nationwide August 11 launch date — Census Takers will be visiting homes in Arlington, including an estimated 27,000 households that have not yet responded to the 2020 Census.” [Arlington County]
(Updated at 11:40 a.m.) Arlington’s Lee Highway Alliance, with the county’s blessing, is embarking on a renaming process for Lee Highway.
In a press release this morning, the nonprofit said it will be convening a working group to compile a “shortlist” of new names for Lee Highway, which will be sent to the County Board for consideration. The county is expected to coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions on the name.
Hotel-to-Apartment Project on Hold — “A proposal to convert the Arlington Courts Suites extended-stay hotel in the Courthouse area to apartments is on hold, at least for now. The project had been slated for County Board consideration on July 18, but has been deferred until at least October at the request of the applicant, citing ‘economic concerns about the project due to the COVID-19 emergency.'” [InsideNova]
Controversy Sparks Idea for Fundraiser — A local man has raised more than $140,000 “after starting a GoFundMe page to buy Goya Foods products and donate them to local food pantries after critics called for a boycott over pro-Trump comments from Goya’s CEO. ‘People are seeing in the news a double standard for one political view,’ 27-year-old Casey Harper of Arlington, Va., told FOX Business.” [Fox Business, GoFundMe]
Amid the pandemic, Arlington County is sifting through which planning processes are ready to continue moving forward and which ones are being delayed.
The County recently announced that it is still moving forward with plans for updating guidelines for development in Pentagon City, a relatively time-critical issue with Amazon’s permanent HQ2 under construction nearby.
As Cowboy Cafe (4792 Lee Highway) adds new outdoor seating, as temporarily allowed by the county, co-owner Jim Barnes wanted to spruce out the exterior of the restaurant a little.
The result: a towering, colorful mural currently being painted onto an empty brick wall.
