Grevey's Closing

[mitlen]

Trick question. You failed. The correct answer was "Good Guys? I don't think I'd ever frequented that establishment."

The correct answer is, "There were days I never left."     

[tomterp]

The correct answer is, "There were days I never left."     

that's a lot of singles.

[mitlen]

that's a lot of singles.

    Nothing like wakin' up after a night out on the town and all you have is 6 or 7 rolled up dollar bills.    Can't remember if you went to Good Guys or your buddy scored a couple of lines.

Went there once after a Bears/'skins game at RFK (saw Walter Payton).   Had my binoculars with me and we were pretty trashed.   Sat right by the stage so I flipped up the binoculars.    Bouncer came over and said, "Excuse me.   You're embarrassing the dancer."     I said, "She's naked.   How embarrassed can she be?"    BTW, I did put the binoculars down.   

[tomterp]

    Nothing like wakin' up after a night out on the town and all you have is 6 or 7 rolled up dollar bills.    Can't remember if you went to Good Guys or your buddy scored a couple of lines.

Don't forget Camelot or King Arthur either. 

Then there's the good ol' days of Marion and the "This Is It?" club.

[mitlen]

Don't forget Camelot or King Arthur either. 

Then there's the good ol' days of Marion and the "This Is It?" club.

I went there one night to see Grace Shell.    Ya know, just to see if she was worth all the pub.   

[mitlen]

Keeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeriste, I used that google thing and found out the 'skins/Bears game could have been in '78.   

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

oh gawd 

Where was Good Guys?

[mitlen]

oh gawd 

Oh yeah, Ali never went there.     

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Only to pick up my GF and take her to Georgetown Cafe or Pied au Couchon for another 4 a.m. shot-fueled late-night lecture about the shortcomings of my gender 

I saw a picture of her and her son not too long ago.  To my enormous relief, there can be no doubt that his patrimony lies elsewhere.

Oh yeah, Ali never went there.     

[mitlen]

Only to pick up my GF and take her to Georgetown Cafe or Pied au Couchon for another 4 a.m. shot-fueled late-night lecture about the shortcomings of my gender 

Pied au Cuchon aka Lehi Bar and Grill.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Didn't some KGB guy pull a runner there?  Oof.

[mitlen]

Didn't some KGB guy pull a runner there?  Oof.

Not on my watch.         But yes, he did.

Restaurant(s) Where Spy Games Were Played

AU PIED DE COCHON, GEORGETOWN

Vitaly Yurchenko was a 25-year veteran of the KGB who defected to the United States in 1985. It was quite a coup for the CIA—he was the fifth-highest ranking Soviet spymaster at the time, and the Kremlin was terrified at what he might reveal. Then he disappeared. Then he reappeared in the Soviet Union and was eventually given an Order of the Red Star.

So what happened? Because he was such an important figure, he had a CIA escort at all times. He and his American counterpart were having dinner at Au Pied de Cochon in Georgetown. According to Time, Yurchenko asked his guard, “What would you do if I got up and walked out? Would you shoot me?” The CIA man said, “No, we don't treat defectors that way.” Yurchenko replied, “I'll be back in fifteen or twenty minutes. If I'm not, it will not be your fault.”

He didn’t come back.

He excused himself to the restroom, climbed out a window, and bolted for the Soviet Embassy. The KGB proceeded to drug and interrogate him to make sure he wasn’t a double agent, and when he passed muster, the Soviets held a press conference and had a great time mocking the United States. There are a lot of theories about why, exactly, he defected and redefected. Maybe he was crazy. Maybe it was a love affair gone wrong. Maybe he was tired of the CIA following him around.

Today, the former spymaster is a security guard at a bank in Moscow; the Soviet Union collapsed and dissolved into fifteen states. And Au Pied de Cochon is a Five Guys hamburger joint.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Bistro Francais also closed fairly recently.  No idea where Russian gangsters go to do blow in the bathroom after steak tartare these days.