Finest in the district!
Posted on 03/21/2009 3:29:03 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In the Old Town historic district here, tourists and shoppers stroll brick sidewalks along King Street and peer into a wide range of boutiques — rug shops, antiques dealers, a cheese shop, even a comic book store.
Old Town’s latest offering, though, has been stopping visitors in their tracks since it opened in January. It is called Le Tache, a “couples boutique,” more commonly known as a sex shop, which is sandwiched between art galleries whose offerings are more common in Old Town than colorful vibrators and steamy DVDs. The boutique’s owner leased the building after a dispute between the property owner and the city.
Near a busy visitors’ center and numerous historic sites, Le Tache — which the owner intended to mean “the spot” in French but which also means “the stain” — has been a source of dismay for many, curiosity for some and glee for others.
SNIP
La Tasca restaurant nearby offers Spanish tapas; Le Tache has pasties for the topless. A lingerie shop sells lacey underwear; its rival has racks of lace-up corsets. A pet bakery sells dog collars and leashes; Le Tache has a selection for humans.
For the owner of the building, Michael Zarlenga, his new tenant is a satisfying tweak to city officials who rejected Mr. Zarlenga’s plan to expand his own successful hunting and fishing business, the Trophy Room, which had been in the basement of the three-story brick building that dates to around 1800.
“They got what they deserved,” Mr. Zarlenga, 41, said. “Their karma brought this business to Old Town.”
SNIP
“There is a certain amount of comeuppance, of getting what you deserve, when you behave this way toward your own good corporate citizens,” said Mr. Gudenius, whose home-expansion plan was rejected by the board last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
One up on the Zoning Nazis. Way to go!
I think this is funny as hell
I’m sorry, that’s just hilarious. From “The Stain” to the very last paragraph.
This is in Alexandria Virginia. I was born there many years ago. I grew up with Joel T. Broyhill(R) as my congressman. Now it is a pit of liberal vipers led by the child beater Jim Moran. Warms my heart to see them squirm.
bttt
We have owned historic properties and locked horns with several historic preservation rackets and more zoning boards than I care to remember. Sex shops are IMO too good for them.
Those guys totally piss me off.
Cheese shop?
Finest in the district!
Are you esurient? May I interest you in some cheesy comestibles?
Alexandria is a leftist ghetto.
I spent some time in Alexandria years ago. But it’s a slippery mess now. Several blocks are posted with something like those “adopt a highway” signs you see elsewhere. But the local cleanup group named is a queer advocacy group. I don’t expect Alexandria would tolerate the posting of critical comment below the signs. I had to levitate to avoid the area. The tone of Oldtown is oh-so-cultured, a bit like the Episcopal Church. But then the entire Washington area (and Oldtown was part of DC at the start, until DC gave it back to Va.) is more or less like this, maybe not so toney. I’d guess the local government is a bit like Berkeley.
Excellent story.
‘Yay’ for the building owner.
Good lord, what a hilarious story illustrating the sad state of affairs in Old Town. I don’t go there anymore...would rather be in Middleburg, where the last major controversy was when they put the stop light in, lol.
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