News

In recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month in June, Del Ray’s seasonal pop-up bar will open in early May as Pride on the Avenue, it’s owners tell ALXnow.

Bill Blackburn and his business partner “Mango” Mike Anderson of the Homegrown Restaurant Group and their staff gutted the space that was home the last few months to their ski lodge concept, Aspen on the Avenue. Just what they’re planning for the interior is still under wraps, as is the menu, but Blackburn said that renovations will be extensive.


News

Kevin Harris didn’t like the way the 2021 City Council primary went down and now he’s taking another shot.

Harris was edged out by just 750 votes, with Council Member Kirk McPike taking the sixth and last available Council spot. Now he faces 11 opponents in the upcoming June primary.


News

After years of planning, a new neighborhood was just approved to replace the former Vulcan Materials site in Alexandria’s West End.

City Council approved the proposal 5-1 at their Saturday public hearing, with City Council Member Canek Aguirre voting in opposition.


News

There’s a new barbecue restaurant in an Old Town space that was previously home to… You guessed it — a barbecue restaurant.

Mystic BBQ & Grill formally opened this month at 220 N. Lee Street in the space previously occupied by Myron Mixon’s Pitmaster Barbeque, the Zebra first reported. Myron Mixon’s closed last Christmas Eve.


News

For all intents and purposes, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor James Ross isn’t going anywhere.

Actually, this fall Ross is starting work as the director of orchestral studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He also just renewed his contract in Alexandria another three years. Ross says that his new contract in Philadelphia stipulates that he will be allowed to return to Alexandria the week before a symphonic performance in order to get the orchestra ready.


News

Alexandria City Council Member Alyia Gaskins has more than doubled the campaign contributions raised by her opponent Vice Mayor Amy Jackson and triple the amount raised by former real estate developer Steven Peterson.

As of March 31, Gaskins raised $149,107 with $69,425 on-hand. Jackson has raised $59,984 and has $22,682 on-hand, while Peterson has raised $44,700 with $14,019 on-hand.


News

A 41-year-old Maryland man is being held without bond after allegedly executing the family dog in a fit of rage, according to a recently released search warrant affidavit.

The incident occurred on Feb. 25 in an apartment in the 4300 block of Raleigh Avenue, which is near the Shoppes of Foxchase on Duke Street.


News

Tsehayinesh Menberu says that she and her West End neighbors often choose between buying groceries and paying their rent.

Menberu has lived at the Southern Towers complex in the West End for more than a decade. On Saturday, she and about 50 others demonstrated for increased affordable housing outside City Hall during City Council’s public hearing on the fiscal year 2025 budget.


News

No arrests were made after a fight resulted in a single shot being fired from a gun in the Lincolnia area of Alexandria on Saturday afternoon, according to the Alexandria Police Department.

APD was notified of the gunshot at around 3:30 p.m. in a parking lot of an apartment complex in the 6100 block of Lincolnia Road. Police were told that multiple males were fighting, and that the fight was broken up when the suspect fired the gun in the air.


News

Alexandria mayoral candidate Alyia Gaskins won the Alexandria Democratic Committee’s Straw Poll on Sunday night.

Gasksins defeated Vice Mayor Amy Jackson 117 votes to 23 votes, or 81% to Jackson’s 16%. A third mayoral candidate, Steven Peterson, did not show up for the event, and received 4 votes (3%).


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