Georgia Avenue is the artery that connects three vibrant Northwest DC neighborhoods of Petworth, Park View, and 16th Street Heights. Historically home to primarily black families, the neighborhood has become more diverse and gentrified. Trendy local businesses are popping up along bustling Upshur Street, 14th Street, and Georgia Avenue. On the dense side streets of Petworth and Park View, blocks of brick rowhouses climb gentle hills, each porch a little higher than the one next door. In quiet 16th Street Heights, you’ll find bungalows, stately four-square homes, embassies, and a variety of houses of worship. Here are new reasons to visit each neighborhood.

Food and Drink

Almeda

The Upshur Street space that now houses Almeda has been home to at least five restaurants that have closed in the past decade. But chef Danielle Harris knows the area well: She moved her cafe, Little Food Studio, here from across the street. Almeda pays homage to African diaspora cuisine with a compact menu of dishes like jollof risotto with pickled plantain and cabbage and the Midwest-inspired fried catfish with spaghetti. Harris keeps Little Food Studio open for takeout during the day in the new space.

popsicle

Proving that DC’s Ethiopian food scene is among the most diverse and inventive anywhere, Ice ‘N’ Slice presents what is likely the only Ethiopian pizzeria in the country. Owner Semret Asfaw opened the spot in 2022 as a complement to Heat Da Spot, an Ethiopian cafe ten blocks down Georgia Avenue that has become a neighborhood favorite. Doro Wat pizza is topped with the kitchen’s classic slow-cooked chicken, and the vegetarian Addis Ababa pie is packed with seasoned veggies like cabbage, lentils, and spinach. Breakfast sandwiches, kitfo wraps, and a wide selection of smoothies and ice cream are also worth your attention, and you can pick them all up at a takeout window.

San Matteo

Since last August, pretty San Matteo has been serving regional Italian pastas like Mafaldine Norma, Agnolotti e Limone and Pappardelle Funghi. White marble tables, brass fixtures and checkered floors adorn the upscale joint. The trattoria from the team behind Al Volo and Soleluna is also your place in Petworth for a summer afternoon with a spritz and some salumi.

Hedzol

Candice Mensah’s pan-West African Hedzole is as distinctive and personal as fast-casual bowl restaurants can get. Mensah’s ruby-red vegan jollof rice is one of the base options, and you can add vegetables like kale, sauces like jerk barbecue, melon seed and chili-infused stews, or proteins like baked salmon or braised oxtail. Hedzole was a roving pop-up restaurant, but is now a destination-worthy anchor for the modest strip mall at Colorado Avenue and 14th Street.

Activities and shopping

Flowers by Alexes

In a story fit for the Hallmark Channel, Alexes Haggins reopened her family’s flower shop, Flowers by Alexes., in Petworth last year – nearly 20 years after they were forced to close it in 2003 due to the death of their father, Bernard Haggins. Bernard, a delivery driver for what was then Colony Florist in the 1960s, eventually took over the business, renamed it after his daughter and moved it to Upshur Street, where he was a popular figure and was often seen chatting to customers while selling flowers outside the shop. Alexes – now the owner – continues her father’s legacy and can also be found outside on sunny days, selling fresh flowers in lush, handmade bouquets from the small shop, as well as houseplants and other gifts.

Yoga Reunion

After the pandemic forced the 20-year-old yoga studio Hot Spot Dupont to close permanently, one of its former teachers, Holly Hancock, set out to reunite her community of yogis at a new location, Reunion Hot Yoga., in Park View. Named for its intention to bring people together and also a nod to the Sanskrit translation of the word yoga — “union” — the hot yoga sanctuary has been celebrating Namaste since last August, with a focus on inclusive and beginner-friendly yoga. Work up a sweat with the studio’s original hot yoga class, a 90-minute sequence of 26 poses and two breathing exercises, or release tension with the slow flow class, which combines mindful movement with deep breathing.

The neighbouring estates

You’ve probably seen Jodi Kostelnik’s handicrafts in local gift shops. She’s known for her foodie-themed tea towels, tote bags, rompers and aprons – often nestled in paper berry baskets and hand-printed with whimsical illustrations of fruits and vegetables. After handling orders from her basement at home for the past few years, the Washington, D.C.-based artist moved her thriving gift business, The Neighborgoods, to, to a new studio in Petworth, where she fulfills orders for more than 900 retailers nationwide. While the studio – which is decorated with her own cheery window decals – is not open to the public for shopping, she does occasionally host open studio events, such as an upcoming event on September 14, where you can shop and take a look at how her art is created.

Rhizome bodywork

Lying on your stomach with little to no clothing on a massage table can be a vulnerable experience, especially for people with marginalized identities, disabilities or insecurities. Informed by her own experience as a trans woman and driven by the belief that everyone deserves a therapeutic massage without fear of stigma, Vanessa Crowley is bringing her practice, Rhizome Body Works, to Park View. It will be the first permanent home for the practice—she previously worked in a physical therapy office—and will offer massage for chronic pain, deep tissue work and myofascial release, among other services. It is scheduled to open in late fall to early next year. The 120-square-foot, one-level space will be fully accessible and feature automatic doors and inclusive massage tables with adjustable width extenders.

Dance Loft on 14

When the dilapidated 1920s Art Deco building at 4618 14th Street came up for sale in 2018, Diana Movius — owner of Dance Loft on 14, which had been hosting dance classes in the building since 2015 — saw an opportunity. She dreamed of a state-of-the-art neighborhood event center, but also recognized the need for more affordable housing. So she decided to pursue both. She and affordable developer Heleos bought the property and began working together to create a mixed-use “green arts complex” that will contain two theaters and four studios on the ground floor — plus a dance lobby, theater lobby, and gallery wall — and 100 apartments above, two-thirds of which will be affordable. The current estimate for completion of the ambitious project is 2027.

Carter Barron Amphitheater

Those yearning to see a show at Rock Creek Park’s beautiful Carter Barron Amphitheater will have to wait a little longer…okay, a lot longer. The venue, located on Colorado Avenue, closed in 2017 after an inspection found the stage’s structure wasn’t sturdy enough to support the weight of the performers and equipment. Seven years later, it’s still closed, and the National Park Service is still working on designs and seeking funding. At this point, the NPS doesn’t expect Carter Barron to reopen for several years.

Classics from the neighborhood

While Petworth and Park View are changing quickly, some of Georgia Avenue’s long-standing food and snack bars are still around – and they’re still extremely affordable. Foodies should check out these affordable spots.

Büna Coffee House

At this popular corner cafe, you’ll find a cross-section of the neighborhood—multigenerational families, telecommuters, punks, and Ethiopian Orthodox clergy—and you’ll get everything from smoked salmon bagels to spicy, fluffy injera-based firfir.

Fish in the neighborhood

This corner seafood restaurant’s decision to add “Neighbor” to its former name, “Fish in the ‘Hood,” has raised a lot of eyebrows: Was Park View so gentrified that it wasn’t a neighborhood anymore? In any case, it’s nice to see that it’s stuck around, frying whiting and catfish to order and serving homey soul-food sides like collard greens and potato salad.

Heat Da Spot Cafe

Semret and Timnit Goitom only opened this cafe in 2015, but already it’s hard to imagine Park View without its amazing Ethiopian breakfast, chai and bacon, egg and cheese croissants. Above a row of chic gold-plated chairs, a sign reads: “We are not fast food. We make and eat with love. Order, pay and sit on the throne, kings and queens.”

Chinatown

The classic DC takeout dish—fried chicken wings with mumbo sauce and maybe some chips or fried rice—is nowhere better than at HoChi, a completely spartan corner Chinese joint near Howard University that’s been open late for nearly 30 years.

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What sells

Petworth and Park View offer affordable townhomes alongside modern condos, while 16th Street Heights boasts historic single-family homes. Here are some of the homes that have recently sold.

This article appears in the August 2024 issue of Washingtonian.