REDDZ TRADING EXPANDS TO GEORGETOWN (PHOTOS)

Reddz Trading on Woodmont Avenue closed an hour early yesterday. But it wasn't for a lack of business.

Rather, it was just the opposite.

Reddz founder Wendy "Red" Ezrailson has experienced such success in Bethesda, that she is opening a second Reddz Trading in Georgetown.

Last night, Olympian Giuseppe Lanzone and "West Wing"/"House of Cards" actor Vincent DePaul lent some celebrity aura to a grand opening celebration in Georgetown.

Music was provided by DJ Neekola, who has (wo)manned the turntables at the annual Front Row at Bethesda Row fashion show in the past.

The new Georgetown store has an appropriately red facade.

Reddz has become known in Bethesda and beyond as the place where you might find something high-end Kate Middleton wore, for much less than Kate Middleton paid for it.

The upscale consignment shop also wants to buy your clothing, as well. Reddz Trading is right across Woodmont from Veterans Park.

BONOBOS CLOSES, PACKS OUT OF BETHESDA ROW (PHOTOS)

Bonobos is gone. While the upscale men's guide shop vacated as quickly as it moved in, it didn't go out of business. As regular readers know, Bonobos had planned all along to be a pop-up shop at Bethesda Row for the holiday season, and then move to its permanent, DC-area home in Georgetown.

If you stopped by while they were here, you've got your sizes now, and can easily order online in the future.

Having said that, we're now back to the status quo of having very little in the way of men's fashions around Bethesda Row. Adding a male-focused shop or two would certainly boost other businesses around the Row. After all, men are more likely to spend money at burger joints, for example, so why not bring more of them in?

BONOBOS BETHESDA ROW GUIDESHOP LIVES UP TO THE HYPE

ROBERT DYER

IN

"THE

RIGHT

TROUSERS"

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

How much angst could Wallace and Gromit have avoided, had there been a Bonobos Guideshop in their neighborhood?

Bethesda is fortunate to have one now on Bethesda Lane, but hurry, because Bonobos won't be here forever.  That's right, our Bonobos shop is a temporary one for the holidays.  After which, it will close and move to a permanent Georgetown location.  The good news is, if you come in now, you can get sized, and be able to order online after the shop moves.

After stopping by during the Guideshop's grand opening yesterday, I can tell you that the hype about Bonobos is true.  When you come in to the shop, by appointment or walk-in, an expert Bonobos Guide will provide a personal shopper-quality assistance in finding your perfect size and styles.

In my case, it was Jamie, who gave a grand tour of the store and explained some of the secrets of why Bonobos pants fit so well.

Inside the guideshop, you'll find the original washed chinos that started it all in the center of the space.  By the window are corduroys ranging from staid to inventive.  Witness the "critter pants," or the holiday season-appropriate Hanukkords, emblazoned with a pattern of menorahs.

In the front corner is the expanding Bonobos Golf line, with polos and golf pants that have a special stripe that keeps your shirt tucked in!

The left wall has dress shirts and formal suits, the latter starting in the mid $600s.  While everything sold here ships to you for free in 2 days, Bonobos will recommend tailors who can make any adjustments your suit might need.

Next to that are the office-friendly weekday pants.  Yes, there is one pair for each day of the week.

On the back wall, you'll find the premium denim and travel jeans.  Finally, they have accessories like neckties and scarves, as well as sweaters and jackets.

I started by trying on a Jet Blues pair of the washed chinos, in the slim-straight version.  And I became a Bonobos believer in the process.  Yes, the pants really do fit as great as they say.  At $88, they are more expensive than - for example - Dockers.  But it is well worth the price, because Dockers rarely fit properly, in my experience.

When I moved to the denim, surprisingly that fit just as well.  Part of the secret, as Jamie explained, is that the waistband is contoured to fit the natural shape of the body.  From my test, the cut of the pants is also more flattering overall than your standard, off-the-rack "business casual" trousers.  If you've compared the cut and fit of a Lacoste polo shirt to an XYZ store brand, you know there's a difference, and that's the type of experience you'll have with Bonobos.

In conclusion, I think I am definitely in the target audience for the Bonobos Guideshop concept:  Tired of shopping for pants and jeans that don't fit, or having to try on 100 pairs to find one that does.  But skeptical of dropping a sizable amount on an internet shopping site, without any way to know if they really fit like they say.

Having gone in and tested it for you, if you're in that category, you're likely to enjoy shopping at Bonobos.  Many of the styles are similar to what you're wearing now, but they fit great.  And with the in-store option, you can be sure you are satisfied before buying.  But there are free returns, so you can still ship them back if you change your mind.

So stop by before the holidays are over.  I'm disappointed we'll be losing Bonobos after that, because of the severe lack of dedicated men's apparel shops around the Row.

Bonobos:  where even Wallace and Gromit will have a hard time finding "The Wrong Trousers."

AVOID WEEKEND METRO FAILS WITH NEW BETHESDA TO DC NIGHTLIFE SHUTTLE

DC HOPPER JOINS

UBER - WILL PRIVATE

TRANSPORTATION

REPLACE

PUBLIC TRANSIT?

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

Are you sick and tired of using the Metro Red Line on weekend nights?  Delays, single-tracking, breakdowns, and - my personal favorite - total closure of the Bethesda Metro station - even on a holiday weekend?

There's a new option.

The DC Hopper, a "nightlife shuttle," launched in Bethesda this past weekend.

You can board the Hopper at the corner of Norfolk and St. Elmo Avenues, across from Hanaro.  Just check the schedule, go to the Hopper stop, pay by credit card (or even with your phone - they accept Square payments!), and even while they're processing your credit card, you're already on your way into DC.

The Hopper will take you to - and bring you back from - Georgetown (1218 Wisconsin Avenue NW) and Dupont Circle (18th Street and Connecticut Avenue NW).

But wait, there's more!

You'll also get a wristband that entitles you to VIP line access and discounted drinks, among other perks.  Participating clubs include Modern, Dirty Bar and Third Edition.

This service is being specifically marketed as an alternative to the poor-performing Metro system, just as private car service Uber has offered a high-quality alternative to taxis.

We know Metro is a public system.  But taxis are so over-regulated by local governments, that they have essentially become public transportation, as well.  What Uber has started, is a textbook demonstration of the power of free markets and competition.

You provide a terrible service?  Well, guess what?  I don't have to use your service!  This other guy is going to provide a better product, and that's who is going to get my money.

Is there any surprise that some on the DC Council want to stop Uber?

It makes you wonder about the future of transportation.  I think Metro was great, and could be great again with the right leadership at WMATA and regionally.

But to keep making the public pay more for service and quality that consistently gets worse - we can't go on like this.

Services like DC Hopper and Uber suggest that, unless public agencies and elected officials clean up their act soon, we might witness a revolution in private transportation.   Paper card?  Smart card?  Who needs a card, when your smartphone summons and pays for the whole thing!

This is a positive development, and ultimately, government will have to compete or give up in the transportation marketplace.

THE DRYBAR AT BETHESDA ROW SNEAK PREVIEW - EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS!

A BLOW DRYER

LIGHT FIXTURE?

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

Okay, ladies, I know how excited you are about The Drybar opening at Bethesda Row, so once again, I'm delivering the goods with these exclusive shots.

You won't find these anywhere else:  exclusive photos of the interior of the future Drybar at Bethesda Row!

By golly, that light fixture really is
made of blow dryers!  Nice theming

Would you believe, the word "drybar"
is in raised letters on the front counter?

LUKE'S LOBSTER ADDS GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES TO BETHESDA ROW MENU

THEY'RE NOT JUST

FOR GEORGETOWN

ANYMORE!

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

When Luke's Lobster opened a Georgetown location in August, word was that grilled cheese sandwiches would be on the menu - but just in Georgetown.

Last night, a sandwich board (no pun intended) was out on Bethesda Lane at Luke's Bethesda Row shop...

...we officially have Grilled Cheese sandwiches, too!  You can order a Grilled Cheese combo, as well.

BETHESDA PHANTOM HUGGER MAY HAVE ATTACKED ANOTHER WOMAN IN GEORGETOWN

VICTIM DESCRIBES SIMILAR

METHODS, PHYSICAL

APPEARANCE OF PERP

IN EARLY SUNDAY A.M.

ASSAULT

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

It's hard to believe no one else noticed, but a widely-reported sexual assault in Georgetown this past Sunday could well have been the latest attack by the Phantom Hugger of Bethesda.

Sunday morning at 4 A.M., a woman was attempting to enter a residence in the 3200 block of Cherry Hill Lane N.W. in Georgetown.  A man snuck up behind her, and hugged and groped her from behind.  Sound familiar?

The victim screamed and the man fled.  Exactly the response of the Phantom Hugger in his 3 summer assaults in Bethesda.

Then get a load of the description of the assailant given by the victim:  White or Hispanic male, 5'9"-6', dark hair, thin, t-shirt and shorts.

The Bethesda Hugger was described as "White or Asian," which - if you know anything about Latin America - it is entirely possible for someone to be Latino and have Asian features.  Or for such a vague description of any kind to be given in the dark, and in a panic situation.  This "white or _______" description suggests none of the victims knew the exact background of the assailant.  So you add that to your list.

Then, take the height.  5'9"-6' is definitely within the range of the Bethesda Hugger, said to be up to 5'10" by his victims.  Check number two.

Dark hair?  Check.  Thin?  Check.

Finally, how about that wardrobe?  T-shirt and shorts for both the Bethesda and Georgetown assailants.

It's elementary, my dear Watson.

Certainly, there is a possibility that the Bethesda Phantom Hugger has struck again.  Perhaps feeling the heat of recent police scrutiny, he went to another jurisdiction.  It would be a good idea for the MPD and MCPD to compare notes, and perhaps something one department knows could help them close this case together.

WHAT A GEORGETOWN TO GLEN ECHO STREETCAR MIGHT LOOK LIKE

This week's news that the DC streetcar will be extended from Union Station out to Georgetown has fueled speculation about the possibility of it one day reaching Glen Echo.

In recent days, Montgomery County Councilmembers Hans Riemer (who has also advocated having DC streetcars cross into Maryland) and Craig Rice have correctly noted the incompatibility of the proposed BRT system boondoggle with the county's current fiscal situation.

It's clear there simply is neither the revenue, nor the debt capacity, to build the pie in the sky, by and by, BRT network.

This is the time to focus on projects that will actually qualify for federal funds, and which can be built with private investment capital.

Such projects include something as simple as a new parking lot at the Boyds MARC station.  I'm rarely in agreement with developers, but I think there is a lot more potential in the MARC system than we are giving credit to these days.  I was at the council hearing for the bill regarding the issue of development near MARC stations, and Councilmember Riemer spoke correctly on that issue, as well.  To have housing right at a station, while improving MARC service, could certainly take some cars off the road during rush hours, if not during the rest of the day.  In Boyds, you have people who want to ride MARC, but there isn't enough parking.  We should have applied for stimulus money for that project.  That was a missed opportunity.

The Rockville Freeway is a larger project that fits the federal funding/private funding criteria.  This 50-year-old master plan highway, that today would connect exploding employment and residential centers in White Flint and Columbia, would carry more commuters per day than the entire proposed BRT system.  That is a key qualification for federal funding.

Finally, a streetcar line from Georgetown to Glen Echo would qualify, as well.  As I mentioned yesterday, the old streetcar right-of-way is still there, and is already entirely separated from automobile traffic.  This means that the Glen Echo streetcar will literally travel faster than a car making the same trip out MacArthur Boulevard, with red lights and a speed camera-enforced 25 MPH speed limit on that road.

Beyond that huge incentive for ridership - actually reducing your commute time - the Glen Echo right-of-way allows stops to serve major employment centers at Sibley Hospital (currently unserved by rail transit) and, most importantly, the future intelligence campus at the former Geospatial Intelligence Agency site on Sangamore Road.  As you know, there has been a controversy over parking garages there.  Apparently, no one realized the old streetcar right-of-way was the answer!

With the federal government needing to move its employees to and from that campus, they have real, practical reasons to help fund a Glen Echo streetcar.  The speed of the streetcar - possibly the fastest in the nation, on its own right-of-way that is already paid for, no demolitions necessary - is the second major selling point for Uncle Sam.

When you add in the potential partnership with DC, and their plans to build their next streetcar routes with private partnerships, a Glen Echo streetcar project is even more fiscally viable.

If Montgomery County were to share streetcars with DDOT, they might look like this:

Photo: United Streetcar, LLC/Oregon Iron Works

This is the USA-built streetcar DDOT is purchasing from Oregon Iron Works, which kindly sent me this photo to share with you.

Oh, and by the way, the Glen Echo right-of-way allows double-tracking, as the original DC Transit operated two tracks.  So it is all set for that contemporary "must" for rail transit engineers.  The original electrical poles and wires are still in place, and still operating.  All that is needed is to clear the brush from some sections, and install the overhead catenary, and we are back in business.

With no Metro route serving this corridor, a streetcar line makes abundant good sense, as Rick Perry would say, from both a transportation and fiscal standpoint.  It would not cause "sprawl," because it travels through some of the most dense residential neighborhoods in the DC area.  Neighborhoods currently underserved by transit.  Not to mention that a Park-and-Ride lot could be built right off the Beltway near the old Cabin John streetcar turnaround, for even greater ridership.

This is such a great concept, and worked so well in the past, I'm surprised no one is taking action on it.

DC STREETCAR INCHING TOWARD GEORGETOWN ...AND THEN TO GLEN ECHO?

More exciting streetcar news from Washington, DC:   Mayor Vincent Gray and DDOT are actively pursuing a future streetcar line that replicates a famous one, Union Station to Georgetown.

One question is whether or not the route will travel along M Street.

The important point for those of us out here in Bethesda, is for the streetcar to climb the hill up to Prospect Street from M Street.

That will connect the streetcar to a possible future extension to Glen Echo.  After turning left on Prospect towards Georgetown University, the streetcar would gain access to the original - and still existing - right of way that goes all the way to Cabin John.

A streetcar traveling between Georgetown and Glen Echo would be the fastest trolley line in the region, if not the nation.  That's because the entire right of way, with the exception of a few blocks in a residential Palisades neighborhood, is off-road.  Separated from auto traffic, the streetcar will be faster than a car, a clear advantage for commuters that will ensure boosted ridership.

The Georgetown to Glen Echo streetcar is an idea whose time has come... again!

DC MOVES FORWARD WITH H STREET STREETCAR AS MONTGOMERY COUNTY GOES OFF RAILS WITH BRT

Big streetcar news was announced quietly on a Saturday by the DC Department of Transportation:  DDOT has awarded a partnership of M.C. Dean, Inc. and Facchina Construction the design-construction contract for the H Street-Benning Road streetcar line.

Dean-Facchina will build the western and eastern termini of the route, the overhead catenary that will deliver power to the streetcars, and the Benning Road-26th Street, NE car barn.

Work will begin immediately once DDOT issues the paperwork, pending council approval, according to Director Terry Bellamy.  The timing will keep the streetcar on schedule to start service in late 2013.

If you're a streetcar fan, you've got to be excited just to hear a phrase like "car barn" again.

Much like the Purple Line (and at one time, the light rail concept of the now-ruined Corridor Cities Transitway) here in Montgomery County, the H Street streetcar is a targeted expenditure, bringing the benefits of rail transit to serve a route expected to grow in density.

Contrast that with the scattershot boondoggle known as Montgomery County BRT, which duplicates existing Metro routes, lacks the density to support it according to the county's own master planner, is slower and costlier than rail, and has no responsible financing.

With BRT, the county is literally going off the rails.  And wasting money that could have been better spent on a light rail CCT, on its own right-of-way as originally planned.  Or purchasing more Red Line or MARC capacity.  Or funding a new parking lot at the Boyds MARC station, where more commuters actually want to take the train, but have no parking!

Or cooperating with DC on restarting the streetcar line from Georgetown out to Glen Echo.

We still have the right-of-way for the whole Glen Echo route; do we have the leadership to create a modern transportation system in Montgomery County?

BRT rush-to-ruin tells serious transit advocates we don't.