USMC Birthday and Veterans Day

Happy 240th birthday to the United States Marine Corps today, November 10 2015! Also wishing all those who have served our country the best on tomorrow's Veterans Day November 11. Despite it being a rainy day, the weather picked up at night and the gloom led to some great Instagram shots from the Iwo Jima USMC memorial in Rosslyn.

Most Interesting Man in Arlington

Join Mel (of Sarah, Ty, & Mel at 107.3) at Don Tito on Saturday, October 24th at 6:00pm to help her crown the first ever “Most Interesting Man In Arlington.”

Be at Don Tito with all of your friends by 6:30pm ready to compete. Contestants should come prepared to endure various challenges and be judged on their overall Arlington “look” by audience response. There will be prizes award to the top contestants.

 Must be 21+. No experience or special preparation needed. Don Tito, All The Hits 107.3, and any associated sponsors, are not responsible for the outcome for the contest, just the Clarendon bros will be to blame for the results.

Arlington Shamrock Crawl

Clarendon is set to be a crazy green mess on Saturday March 21 with the annual Shamrock Crawl! Between 2-5:30pm and get ready to rave at some of Clarendon’s most popular bars including: Spider Kelly’s, Hunan One, Mister Days, American Tap Room, Mad Rose, Whitlow’s, Hard Times Cafe, SoBe, Iota, and the brand new Don Tito.

Irish drink specials:

•  $2 Yuengling Lagers & Light Lagers     
• $3 Smirnoff Vodka     
• $3 Captain Morgan White Rum     
• $4 Shamrock Shots     
• $5 Irish Car Bombs

Tickets cost $15 for early bird prices go up to $20 on March 3 at midnight. $30 at the door.

SER opening in Ballston

An exciting new venue named SER is getting ready to open this week in Ballston. Spanish for "to be", SER wants to be a small neighborhood restaurant serving up authentic, mouth-watering comfort foods from Spain in a casual and friendly environment. I'm really looking forward to the modern and stylish venue opening next to Melting Pot and Booeymonger at 1110 N. Glebe Rd.

Earlier this year, Christiana Campos won the Ballston BID Restaurant Challenge and began a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new Arlington restaurant. SER is under final construction now and is set to open Wednesday February 4, and is looking to hire staff here.

Dangerously dark on Clarendon Blvd

For at least a week now, the new LED street lamps on eastbound Clarendon Blvd have not been lit at night. This creates a dangerous area as there is heavy pedistrian traffic here at night, especially with the Clarendon Metro station on one side, Mad Rose and Sobe late night bars on the other, and then a not obvious crosswalk not at an intersection connecting them.

Usually this type of infrastructure issue doesn't belong on this blog, but I feel annoyed by this avoidable situation. Having a key area of the town in darkenss really doesn't help a situation full of intoxicated people and speeding cars. Despite reporting the problem to Arlington county and its Twitter feed, I haven't heard anything back. For a county that loves shiny new funding projects like $310 million for a street car and $2.4 million for Artisphere, I don't think its unreasonable for me to expect them to maintain basic utilities like street lighting.

Blog to follow: DCsocialite

Next on the  list of sites to highlight on my blogroll is DCsocialite. I've been long overdue in posting about Paul's blogging on his adventures in the city. Recently he visited our side of the river and wrote reviews about Circa and Crumbs in Clarendon.

DCsocialite has been around for over two years by my count, and hoping they continue to post restaurant and event reviews. Looking forward to more posts about Clarendon from them!

Blog to follow: Arlington Nightlife

I'm late on posting about this, but we are happy to have a great new blogger join the Arlington community: Arlington Nightlife. The blog and twitter feed is focused on the local evening attractions and events and is updated very frequently. Arlington Nightlife would pose some worrisome competition to me if Clarendon Nights wasn't non-for-profit.

It's great to watch such popular blogs like ARLNow and Clarendon Culture spring up over the past year or so and really contribute a lot to the local online community. Hoping Arlington Nightlife will also stick around and be just as successful. Welcome to the Arlington blogging scene!

Arlington #1 in Walkability

According to Walk Score, Arlington is the most walkable city in Virginia, barely beating out Alexandria. Clarendon is one of the most walkable sections of Arlington, getting about an 90 out of 100 score. This is no surprise to the residents here, as those who either live in the apartment high rises or flanking single family homes are within an easy walk to dozens of restaurants and bars, a Whole Foods, many high end stores, two Starbucks' and one anti-Starbucks.

Crystal City also ranked well this pedestrian-friendly competition, as our blue line cousin got very high marks. Thanks to Under One Roof for the tip, check out their blog post for more details.

Local Dives: LA Bar & Grill

LA Bar & Grill is hidden away behind Columbia Pike and claims to be the "least douchiest bar in Arlington." Although I hesitate to use the word "dive bar" around this area, LA Bar & Grill is refreshingly unpretentious. This is one of those places that makes you want to become a regular and have the staff know you by name Cheers-style.

I visited it on a Sunday, which due to the NFL games being shown is probably a different experience than the weekdays there. There are specials and events just about every day at LA Bar, including half price burgers on Wednesday. I enjoyed their Applewood Smoked Bacon burger, with nice steak cut fries that disappeared too quickly. A mountain of onion rings can also be substituted for fries.

Looking forward to going back for Acoustic Open Mic Night on Thursdays 9pm!

Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill

Arlington Rooftop Bar & Grill opened up on 2424 Wilson Blvd a couple weeks ago above the existing Subway sandwich shop. Despite not having its rooftop on yet as its name implies, I was very impressed with the establishment. After trekking up a flight of stairs customers are greeted by a very tall ceiling, warm dark brown wood accents and more TVs than you can count.

The food is not cheap but good, as it strives to be a slightly more higher end restaurant and not a typical sports bar. their burger pictured here is $10 but includes shoe string fries and bacon if you desire.

Highly recommended as a nice happy hour venue to watch a game or a date night. Can't wait for the spring to arrive so I can try out the roof top deck!

Party Crashers Art Show at Arlington Arts Center Nov 19

Comic book influenced art is invading Arlington Arts Center this weekend as the Party Crashers show debuts Nov 19.  The show "mashes up comic art and contemporary gallery culture, and features artists who pass back and forth between the two worlds." Thanks to Andy Warhol for jump starting this trend.

The Arlington Arts Center is a private, nonprofit contemporary visual arts center just down the street from Clarendon past Mario's and Pio Pio. The show premiers to the public with an opening reception Friday Nov 19 from 7 to 9pm at 3550 Wilson Blvd Arlington. The art will be on display until Jan 16.

Frontpage in Ballston

Frontpage in Ballston has always been a sports bar to me, similar to its neighbors Union Jack's, Rock Bottom and Bailey's. Besides hosting a few charity fundraisers, I thought of Frontpage as another place for jerseys to gather during football season.

But after getting a $20 coupon for a $40 meal at Frontpage from LivingSocial,  I decided to try their dinner options. I was pleasantly surprised that the dining section was more upscale than I expected, with white table cloths, large booths, and a menu with prime ribs, crab cakes, and tasty appetizers. Now I know why the restaurant was featured on the cover of Northern Virginia magazine in May.

Frontpage's weekly dinner specials are:

• Monday - Seafood bar (also Wii Night)
• Tuesday - Lobster
• Wednesday - 1/2 price burgers
• Thursday - 2 for $1 tacos from 5-8pm
• Friday - Different every week
• Saturday - Rib Special
• Sunday - Prime Rib (also Wii Night)

Wine Night at Arlington Cinema Drafthouse

Tonight after 6:15 Arlington Cinema Drafthouse is hosting their weekly Wine Night at the Movies. Wine tastes are $1 for each 1oz poured by Washington Wine Academy experts. Stay for light dinner or the $5.50 movies, which are Knight and Day and Grown Ups tonight.

Bomb Scare at Ballston Mall

On Sunday night parts of Clarendon's neighbor Ballston was shutdown or closed early due to what is rumored to be a bomb scare on the corner of Wilson Blvd and Randolph Drive.

Some of the nearby restaurants like Noodles & Company closed early and cleared out patrons from their spaces in reaction to the police and fire department activity.

Hoping everything turns out peacefully, but the activity did add some excitement to a humid Sunday evening.

Update: At around 9:30pm Sunday night Brian reported that police declared the area clear. Thanks for the update! Check out his Twitter feed for the minute by minute updates of the event.

Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival

Tonight was the free outdoor showing of the 90s classic drama "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" at Gateway park in Rosslyn. A small park at the foot of the 14th street Key bridge and one block north of the Metro, its a nice location for the fun and casual Friday Film Festival series.

Tonight was hot and humid and not too crowded. If you arrive after 8:30 you will have a hard time claiming a plot of grass. The event starts around 6pm with games like bean bag toss and t-shirts as prizes. One of the pre-movie videos featured local comedian Remy promoting the Arlington arts community.

Make sure to bring a blanket for your group, or better yet a very low chair. Regular sized chairs will block the view of people behind you, unless you sit on the pavement on the edges of the park. Also recommended is to bring a cooler with chilled water and snacks to fend off the summer heat, or just grab an ice cream cone from the McDonald's next door.

Next week "Empire Records" is playing.

Outdoor Film Festival @ Rossyln

Thanks to What's Happening in Arlington Village for the heads up on the I Love the 90s outdoor film festival going on in Rossyln at Gateway Park.

It will opened yesterday with Clueless (1995) and continues with Wayne's World (May 7), Mrs Doubtfire (June 18), Romeo + Juliet (Aug. 6) and The Wedding Singer (1998).

Films will be screened every Friday night, rain or shine, at dusk. Bring a picnic, a blanket and lawnchair. Show up early for pre-show 90s themed games and prizes.

Fashion, Food, Music for a Cure on Friday

This Friday April 30 the Caribbean Breeze Restaurant is rolling out the red carpet – literally – for Washingtonians at the 3rd Annual Spring-Summer Fashion Show. Former Washington Redskin LaVar Arrington and his wife, Trish, will host the event, with proceeds benefiting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Against Breast Cancer.

9:00 PM – Doors open to the public
9:30 PM – Media interviews with LaVar Arrington, Mike Cordero, Ellie Aguilar, and Anna Tavongsa
10:00 PM – Seating for show begins
10:30 PM – Musical performances by D.C.’s Jason Cerda and Jewels followed by the start of the runway show

The public is invited to purchase tickets at http://caribbeanbreezeva.com/html/fashion_show.html or by calling (703) 812-7997 for $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Proceeds will benefit Race for the Cure.

Thanks to Stacy Viera for the tip!