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The Childe Harold - Final Pilgramage


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;) What's happened to the Childe?
What she said.

Actually, I found this: click

The last entry, from this past Saturday, says there's a "for lease" sign out front. I haven't set foot in the place in years, but I used to go there all the time in the 70s-80s. I saw the legendary jazz fiddler Stephane Grappelli there (performing, not just hanging out).

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What she said.

Actually, I found this: click

The last entry, from this past Saturday, says there's a "for lease" sign out front. I haven't set foot in the place in years, but I used to go there all the time in the 70s-80s. I saw the legendary jazz fiddler Stephane Grappelli there (performing, not just hanging out).

wow...was just in there last fall (it's a long haul from Denver...) To a hick kid from Warrenton having a beer at the Childe Harold in, say, the early 70's when I turned 18 meant one had entered the sophisticated big city life....seeing acts spoken of on, gasp, WHFS...

Had a pint or three and was joined by wife and stepdaughter there after they wore out their legs & credit cards in various Dupont Circle boutiques....I swear there was a dude there who had been sitting there since 1979 when I moved to Denver. Stepdaughter at that point had lived 2 blocks east of the Circle for two years, and had never been in the joint, though at least a weekly visitor to Zorba's next door...sic transit gloria mundi

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Apologize for causing unnecessary pain, but I heard from friends that a couple of months ago the Childe looked closed, had a for lease sign out front and this served to confirm what I heard in news reports that the owners of the Childe had not been able to conclude a new lease with their landlord. I will make inquiries and find out what's going on and report backwhen I am able to swing by Dupont Circle.

[edited for update] Just got off the phone with a former bartender at the Childe who told me that they are now closed for lunch on Mon-Wed but otherwise open for dinner on those days and lunch and dinner the rest of the week. I will still try to find out what the long-term arrangements will be.

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I was just at The Childe Harold with a group of friends, including one that works there, and tonight is their last night - at least the last night they're serving food (they might be open tomorrow for drinks).

Does anyone know why they've suddenly closed. My friend, who is a waiter there, seemed pretty surprised that they were closing.

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Does anyone know why they've suddenly closed. My friend, who is a waiter there, seemed pretty surprised that they were closing.
The original owner of the Childe Harold -- who was a fairly poor businessman, may he rest in peace -- declined to buy the town house that it is located in when he opened the Childe in 1967. The building then was avaiable for a song. By the time the present owner acquired the Childe, leasing was really the only good option, because he lacked the capital to buy out the lease. Now with real estate in the Dupont Circle area going off the Richter Scale, the owners have visions that they can cash in for a price far higher than the owner is willing to pay and therefore the lease will not be renewed.
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Ahhh, The Childe...

One would hope for a somewhat more Byronic ending to such an institution than a rent-hike.

For me the site of many youthful, snowblind and lustbound pilgrimages.

My tales from there would have to be described less as the game of Chasseur and more as spewing from the filthy mouth of Boccaccio, but still, by any measure the Childe's closing is the completion of a remarkable cycle.

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Ah the memories...The first time I set foot in the Childe was April 1973 when my prep school's History Club was conducting its own pilgrimage to Washington over Spring Break. One of my buddies had a friend at GU Law School who introduced us to the joint as the place with the best burgers in town -- and they were, then. Then when my family moved to DC a few months later I practically lived at the downstairs bar (drinking age was 18, so I was legal). While I never caught Springsteen there I did see so many really great shows before they stopped the live music. I remember old Bill Heard stumbling up to the stage and informing everyone that he was chartering a jet to fly some of the band and some of his closer customers out to LA or Vegas to party after the show. No joke -- that's why he eventually had to sell the Childe to Hossain, who started out as a busboy but loaned Bill so much money over time that he eventually owned more than half of the restaurant, and Bill just sold him the other half. This is true Americana -- a penniless Iranian comes here as a refugee, works hard and becomes a moghul (Hossain still owns The Guards and other real estate in G'Town) while an heir to millions goes from riches to rags (the last time I saw Bill Heard, he was sleeping in his car somewhere around Dupont Circle, although he eventually went on the wagon and passed away in Indianapolis where he was working as a janitor in a Church there.)

Like they say: the Childe was an institution, and near the end, most of its customers could be/should have been institutionalized. :blink::P

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Ah the memories...The first time I set foot in the Childe was April 1973 when my prep school's History Club was conducting its own pilgramage to Washington over Spring Break. One of my buddies had a friend at GU Law School who introduced us to the joint as the place with the best burgers in town -- and they were, then. Then when my family moved to DC a few months later I practically lived at the downstairs bar (drinking age was 18, so I was legal). While I never caught Springsteen there I did see so many really great shows before they stopped the live music. I remember old Bill Heard stumbling up to the stage and informing everyone that he was chartering a jet to fly some of the band and some of his closer customers out to LA or Vegas to party after the show. No joke -- that's why he eventually had to sell the Childe to Hossain, who started out as a busboy but loaned Bill so much money over time that he eventually owned more than half of the restaurant, and Bill just sold him the other half. This is true Americana -- a penniless Iranian comes here as a refugee, works hard and becomes a moghul (Hossain still owns The Gurards and other real estate in G'Town) while an heir to millions goes from riches to rags (the last time I saw Bill Heard, he was sleeping in his car somewhere around Dupont Circle, although he eventually went on the wagon and passed away in Indianapolis where he was working as a janitor in a Church there.)

Like they say: the Childe was an institution, and near the end, most of its customers could be/should have been institutionalized. :blink::P

My first visit to DC was in 1975 as a college senior on a research trip. We stumbled into the Childe just because it was there and we were hungry. Connecticut Avenue was a riot of construction at the time for the new Metro. Over the years, it's been the offbeat place to have drinks when the usual places were boring. It will certainly be missed. To say the crowd was eclectic is gross understatement.

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