After 20 years in journalism, Beth Lawton says she’s traded the stress of deadlines for the stress of owning a business in Old Town.
In addition to being a mom with two kids, Lawton has spent the last five years selling handmade items from dozens of local artists at her shop, Made In ALX. At the end of 2024, she had to hang up her journalism hat as the publisher of Alexandria Living Magazine and at least temporarily left behind a long career in journalism.
More details have been released regarding the former D.C. police officer facing more than two dozen felony sexual assault charges in Alexandria.
Timothy Valentin, 30, of Fort Washington, Md., goes to court in August on charges of rape by force, rape by incapacitation and abduction with intent to defile after a sexual assault that allegedly occurred in the overnight hours between Saturday, April 12, and Sunday, April 13, 2025.
As Alexandria prepares for a major waterfront festival next month, the Office of Historic Alexandria is seeking hundreds of volunteers to assist with four tall ship tours.
The city put out a call for volunteers to take shifts at the Sails on the Potomac waterfront festival from June 12-14, one of the city’s America250 events celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A highlight of the three-day festival will be free timed tours of four tall ships — Swedish Navy warship replica Kalmar Nyckel, Royal Navy schooner replica Sultana, historic fishing vessel Gazela and Alexandria’s own Continental Navy ship replica Providence.
Alexandria’s Amy Decker can’t say exactly what happens in her upcoming appearance on Food Network’s new show “100 Cooks.” Still, she felt comfortable enough to say that she didn’t win the $250,000 final prize but told ALXnow, “I got pretty damn far.”
Decker lives in Old Town with her husband and started cooking in 2020 while working as a staff operations officer for the CIA’s director of operations. She says she learned everything from cookbooks and that same year started Decker Delights, creating how-to videos for people stuck at home during the pandemic. That same year, she applied to be on a Food Network show hosted by Valerie Bertinelli, but it didn’t get picked up.
Alexandria’s world champion whistler Chris Ullman has his sights — and lips — set on whistling at an NFL game and before the Pope.
Ullman, the subject of a recent Wall Street Journal profile, sat down with ALXnow to talk about being a four-time national and international whistling champion (1994, 1996, 1999 and 2000) and the author of the memoir “Find Your Whistle.” Ullman has whistled for President George W. Bush and top administration officials in the oval office, on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno and “The Today Show” with Katie Couric, at Major League Baseball games, college basketball games, with jazz bands and symphony orchestras, and even a funeral.
In 2023, Jess Moak left behind a career as a program manager for large nonprofits to start her own interior design shop in Old Town.
The New York native opened her store Eries Interiors opened Eries Interiors at a 300-square-foot space at 101 S. St. Asaph Street in October 2024. The following month, a fire next door at 103 S. St. Asaph Street temporarily shuttered three women-owned businesses. The landlord spent nearly a year renovating the 1,800-square-foot space and approached Moak with a proposal to help design the interior and move in. Last October, Moak signed a lease and opened in time for Black Friday at 103 S. St. Asaph Street.
No injuries were reported after a fire at a townhouse on Prince Street in Old Town this afternoon (Thursday).
Alexandria Fire Department crews responded at around 1 p.m. and found a fire on the second floor of a three-and-a-half-story townhouse in the 100 block of Prince Street, near the intersection with S. Union Street. The fire was extinguished around 1:20 p.m., according to radio dispatches. AFD reported on social media at 1:40 p.m. that the fire was out, that no one was injured and asked the public to avoid the area.
Despite multiple failed attempts over the past decade, two Alexandria City Council members advocated Thursday (May 14) for bringing a Business Improvement District to Old Town.
Under a challenging economic outlook, City Council Members Sandy Marks and John Taylor Chapman said that Old Town’s business community needs an organized push to attract visitors. The council members made the remarks during the Chamber ALX’s annual City Council Breakfast, which was held at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town (1767 King Street).
With the closure of the parking garage underneath City Hall, Alexandria is working on several creative solutions for a growing problem — parking in the heart of Old Town.
The owner of a small historic home in Old Town wants to demolish and replace it with a three-level townhouse.
The Board of Architectural Review will consider the proposal at its meeting June 3. The one-story building at 1126 Prince Street is only 22 feet wide by 40 feet deep, and its use has shifted from residential to commercial and back over the years. The building was constructed in 1830 and was assessed at $117,855 earlier this year. The 1,700-square-foot lot was assessed at $385,951, putting the total property value at just over half a million dollars.
Alexandria will host a pre-construction meeting on Monday (May 11) ahead of several months of planned construction on a section of Route 1 in Old Town.
The city says that its South Patrick Street Median Improvement Project will “improve pedestrian safety and improve connectivity between the Southwest Quadrant neighborhood and Old Town Alexandria east of South Patrick Street (US Route 1).” The project, totaling nearly $4.3 million, is expected to break ground on June 1 and wrap up in late January 2027, according to a meeting description.
