A longtime boutique in Old Town is getting ready to spread some wintery holiday cheer in the week following Halloween.
Red Barn Mercantile is hosting its annual Holiday Unveiling at 6 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) at 1117 King Street. The festive gathering will reveal a “winter wonderland” of new holiday decorations and gifts at the boutique, along with complimentary treats and party favors.
The Alfred Street Baptist Church is asking for the city’s permission to construct a four-story, 145-unit affordable apartment complex at an existing Old Town apartment.
The church is proposing to demolish a 1.2-acre portion of the Olde Towne West apartment complex and redevelop it to “expand the number of affordable housing units” in the neighborhood, according to a proposal. The plan is slated for review by the Planning Commission at its Dec. 2 meeting.
It was a festive Halloween in Old Town, and S. Lee Street was packed with Wicked Witches and Dorothys, superheroes and villains, fairies and giants, and ghouls and goblins.
All of S. Lee Street was shut down for the holiday tradition, with some locals spending thousands of dollars on decorations and candy.
A Taco Bell Cantina on King Street will be the starting point and finish line for hundreds of runners competing in a “Taco Bell DC 50K” race next month.
Described as “the ultimate mix of endurance and spice,” the unlicensed event takes runners through a course of eight Taco Bell restaurants across Alexandria, Arlington and D.C., where they must eat at least one menu item per stop — Baja Blasts not included.
Alexandria City Council unanimously expressed support Tuesday night for expanding the city’s parking enforcement pilot program after data showed substantial improvements in citation rates, response times, and revenue collection since contractors began supplementing city staff in December 2023.
The pilot program, which deployed contractors to enforce parking along King Street and adjacent blocks in Old Town, has increased monthly citywide citations by 61%, from approximately 5,000 to nearly 8,000, according to a presentation by Deputy City Manager Yon Lambert at the Oct. 28 council meeting.
Abel Meri wants to make life easier for his business clients, but at what cost?
Meri is CEO of the Old Town-based Notice Enterprises, an automation company he founded in 2019. Notice has seen exponential growth over the last few years by using artificial intelligence to revolutionize how small businesses manage nearly every aspect of their workflows, from AI receptionists to the composition of lengthy legal documents.
It’s the end of the week, Alexandria. Here’s a look at ALXnow’s top stories.
The most-read story this week is about the potential sale of two large Alexandria properties that could settle millions owed to the government by real estate developer and former Connection Newspapers CEO Peter Labovitz.
Sandy Williams IV’s proposal for an art installation in Alexandria to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was approved this week by the city’s Commission for the Arts.
The work, entitled “10:00,” will feature 600 limestone rulers stacked into a 40-inch-by-48-inch-by-50-inch box. Williams has calculated that if you walk at a pace of 1 mile per hour, you cover 17.6 inches every second. Every ruler in the piece will be 17.6 inches long, and Williams says that it takes about 10 minutes (600 seconds) to read the Declaration.
The Alexandria City Council will host a town hall meeting on Nov. 5 (Wednesday) at the Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center (1108 Jefferson Street) in Old Town.
“Members of the Alexandria City Council will be present to speak about the issues impacting you and your family. You can also get the latest news on upcoming projects and initiatives in Alexandria,” the city said in a release.
Halloween will not be interrupted by repaving on S. Lee Street in Old Town.
Residents of Lee Street received a letter from the city today (Oct. 23) advising that all of S. Lee Street would be repaved from Oct. 28 to Nov. 3. Despite a plan for work crews to wrap up daily by 3 p.m., the repaving work would have coincided with the annual Halloween celebration on the roadway, which is attended by thousands of people every year. Now, the city has confirmed to ALXnow that the repaving will be rescheduled to the following week.
Nowadays it’s as if Gabriela Bell needs her own virtual assistant.
In 2016, the Alexandria-based mother of four kids was getting divorced from a 20-year marriage and needed extra income. As a military spouse, she tapped into her experience working as a virtual assistant and marketed herself as a cost-saving option for small businesses. The following year, she founded Organized Q virtual assistant services, scaling up incrementally until the pandemic in 2020 brought a wave of unexpected business.
