Four restaurants in the Alexandria area have been named among the region’s best for 2026 by Northern Virginia Magazine, though only two are located in the city proper.
While the city’s dining scene was completely left out of the magazine’s ranked top 10, which were unveiled last Friday (Oct. 16), it received a bit more love in the full list of Northern Virginia’s 50 Best Restaurants released at noon today (Wednesday).
Halloween festivities are starting to ramp up in Alexandria as October continues on.
This weekend, the “Thriller” Zombie Flash Mob descends upon Old Town, retailers will host the new Sticker Treat sticker crawl, and the Spooky Mad Science Expo returns for an 11th year at Patrick Henry Recreation Center. The Ethiopian Fall Festival has also been rescheduled for this weekend.
A new sticker crawl will join the spooky season festivities this month in Old Town and throughout the city.
Old Town retailer Penny Post is hosting the first-ever Sticker Treat, a Halloween sticker crawl, from Friday, Oct. 16 to Sunday, Oct. 18. Ticketed participants at Penny Post (1201 King Street) will receive a reusable sticker book and treat map designed by local design studio No Plan. Using the map, they can locate where to find stickers and show the sticker book at each participating business to gain a sticker.
After living nearly 100 years in Alexandria, Pat McArtor celebrated her birthday by singing jazz hits in Del Ray on Thursday night (Oct. 8).
McArtor couldn’t miss her weekly Thursday night gig with the Not So Modern Jazz Quartet at St. Elmo’s Coffee Pub (2300 Mount Vernon Avenue). This week, the coffee pub was packed to celebrate the band’s oldest performer, and she sang “Baby Face,” “It Don’t Mean A Thing If You Ain’t Got That Swing” and more.
After years of treating patients with preventable chronic illnesses, Nicole Batts wanted to leave the healthcare industry and help people get healthy before reaching the hospital.
Batts took over ownership of Old Town’s Fitness Together Alexandria (300 N Washington Street, Suite 106) in 2019. That comes after working in nursing in the surgical intensive care unit at Washington Hospital Center, the emergency room at Inova Loudoun Hospital and nursing manager of the clinical cardiac rehab program at Inova Fairfax Hospital.
Despite spots of rain, thousands of people attended the 31st annual Art on the Avenue festival in Del Ray on Saturday (Oct. 6).
Hundreds of juried artists sold their work, live music was performed on four stages and the event welcomed a number of new businesses to the neighborhood. The event also shut down Mount Vernon Avenue from Hume to Bellefonte Avenues.
Two West End restaurants that were forced to close for more than a month after a delivery truck driver hit a power line behind the Shoppes at Foxchase are reopening on Thursday (Oct. 1).
ALXnow confirmed that La Casa Restaurant (4551 Duke Street) and Hong Kong Express (4545 Duke Street) will reopen with their normal operating hours. No other businesses were affected.
A shop that sells New Zealand-style meat, sweet and veggie pies in Alexandria has renovated its interior and expanded operations.
Kiwi Kuisine Pie Shop at 4548 Eisenhower Avenue has still been selling sweet and savory pies for delivery and pickup, and at the Old Town Farmers’ Market and at Whole Foods in the city and across the country. On Saturday, Oct. 10, the shop will reopen its renovated interior with seating for customers and new morning hours.
A childhood passion for building with Legos has led an Alexandria resident down an unexpected career path.
Dylan Blanco expects to open Bricks & Minifigs, a Lego resale store, in Old Town in early October. The store will open at 110 N. Royal Street, directly west of City Hall. A grand opening celebration is planned for November.
A California-based jewelry store has filed paperwork to open a location at 726 King Street.
There are more than 130 gorjana jewelry stores across the country, the nearest located in Tysons Corner, D.C. and Bethesda, Md. The company is asking Alexandria’s Board of Architectural Review to approve its certificate of appropriateness at its meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Crooked Beat Records is reopening in a new location in Del Ray this weekend.
Owner Bill Daly announced on social media that the store will be open at 2101B Mount Vernon Avenue on Friday, Sept. 25, from 4-7 p.m., Saturday from 2 to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 1-6 p.m.
