Good morning, Alexandria! Today is Tuesday, Sept. 30, the 273rd day of 2025. There are 92 days left in the year.
🌥️ Today’s weather: Cloudy, with a high near 78°F. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Cloudy tonight, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low around 60°F. North wind around 7 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.
Want to judge a pie-eating contest? A popular art festival coming to Del Ray next month is seeking volunteers and donations.
The 30th annual Art on the Avenue is coming to Mount Vernon Avenue on Saturday, Oct. 4, and the event brings thousands to the city’s Del Ray neighborhood. The event features sellable art from hundreds of artists, live music, family-friendly events, and more. The Del Ray Business Association hosts it.
The Alexandria General District Court held a preliminary hearing on Wednesday on the eviction lawsuit against the owners of a popular Beer Garden in Del Ray.
In late August, Jeremy Barber and Justus Frank, the owners of The Garden (1503 Mount Vernon Avenue) filed a lawsuit in the Alexandria Circuit Court against their landlord, who listed the property available for rent on Sept. 1. The landlord, Twenty-Third Street Corridor LLC, then filed an eviction lawsuit in General District Court. Barber and Frank want both cases heard simultaneously and contend that their case was filed before their landlord. The pair is trying to get their landlord’s case dismissed, and all parties will go back to General District Court on Friday, Oct. 10, Barber told ALXnow.
Pak Soii Izakaya and Bar is set to open in Del Ray, and will finalize its menu with a popup at their sister restaurant, Gin Ramen & Asian Tapas (500 John Carlyle Street), on Oct. 4 and 5.
“We need to get feedback from our customers,” owner Jay Chainam told ALXnow, and said that the offerings will include sushi, yakitori, highballs, and sake.
It’s been quite a week, Alexandria. Here’s a look at our top stories.
Our most-read story this week is on Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley sermonizing against President Trump’s decision to fly flags at half-staff across the country for slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Speaking at the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church, Wesley condemned the Sept. 10 assassination, but said he should not be expected to honor Kirk, who he called an “unapologetic racist who spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land.”
Mount Vernon Community School students in Alexandria got a visit on Tuesday from Washington Commanders players, who gave away $5,000 worth of food, plush footballs, hats, and notebooks.
Commanders running back Christopher Rodriguez, Jr., wide receivers Jaylin Lane and Chris Moore, and mascot Major Tuddy visited the school in collaboration with the nonprofit Blessings in a Backpack. In addition to receiving signed team merchandise, students also got bags with yogurt, pretzels, fruit cups, cereal, soup, macaroni and cheese, and tuna.
Here’s a rundown of our top stories.
Our top story this week is on the Thursday, Sept. 11, announcement that Systems Planning and Analysis (SPA) will expand its Alexandria headquarters and create 1,200 new jobs over the next five years as part of a $46.9 million investment across Northern Virginia. The defense contractor bought, and will renovate, a 239,000-square-foot office building at 2001 N. Beauregard Street. Attendees at the announcement included Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins and Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay.
A popular open mic night in Del Ray is celebrating its third anniversary next Wednesday (Sept. 17).
Greg Roth and Gabe Fry started the What-Have-You open mic at Evening Star Cafe (2000 Mount Vernon Avenue) in September 2022, and since then — with the exception of January — have hosted the event from 8:30 to 11 p.m. on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Next Wednesday’s event has a numbers, acronyms, and abbreviations theme, with musicians asked to perform hits from bands like R.E.M., AC/DC, INXS, and the B-52s, among others.
A Del Ray musician will premiere his latest musical next month in Bethesda, Maryland.
Neal Learner’s “French Cupcakes” will be performed Oct 10-12 and 17-19 at the Bethesda Writers’ Center (4508 Walsh Street). The Bethesda Little Theater is producing the play, which features a cast of 15 actors who tell the story of a legendary cafe similar to one in Learner’s college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The owner of a new Japanese restaurant in Del Ray wants to open by the end of this month.
Pak Soii Izakaya and Bar (1909 Mount Vernon Avenue) has undergone an extensive interior renovation since owners Supattra Pummora and Jay Chainam signed a lease in April. While Chainam says that the restaurant will be ready by the end of the month, it could possibly open in October as he and his partner await final inspection approvals from the city.
The landlords of a popular beer garden in Del Ray have filed a civil claim for eviction against their tenants in Alexandria’s General District Court.
The filing from Twenty-Third Street Corridor LLC cites that the owners of The Garden (1503 Mount Vernon Avenue) are paying the default rent and operating on a month-to-month lease. Before the filing, The Garden’s owners, Jeremy Barber and Justus Frank, filed a suit in the Alexandria Circuit Court against the landlord, who listed the property available for rent.
