Park View doesn't have much in terms of daytime spots to grab a coffee and a bite to eat. D.C.-area natives Ben Heller and Max Zuckerman are hoping to change that with the opening of their coffee shop, bar, and ping pong hangout, Colony Club, opening at 3118 Georgia Ave. NW sometime next week.
Heller has a coffee background, working for Joe Coffee shops in New York and Philadelphia. Zuckerman comes from real estate and calls himself a coffee enthusiast. Needless to say, there will be a big focus on coffee. Colony Club will use beans from Annapolis-based Ceremony Coffee Roasters and offer three different brewing methods (AeroPress, Kalita, Chemex) plus a full espresso bar. Muffins, biscuits, and scones from BakeHouse off 14th Street NW and sweets from local baked goods artisan Pollystyle will also be available during the day.
In the evenings, Colony Club will turn into more of a bar. There will be four beers on draft, four cans, four bottles, and a cellar list of "more exotic" offerings. The wine list is even more limited with three reds, three whites, a rose, and two sparkling options. There's not a cocktail list, but the bar will have spirits that patrons can order on their own or mix with Q sodas.
Colony Club doesn't have a kitchen, but it will serve some snacks, including nuts, olives, pickles, cheeses, cured meats, and an array of tinned seafood.
Upstairs is devoted to ping pong. Anyone can grab a paddle and play for free. Heller and Zuckerman are also interested in hosting tournaments. There's no bar upstairs, but you can bring food and drinks up there. If there's enough volume, Zuckerman says they might have someone selling cans of beer upstairs as well.
Zuckerman and Heller also welcome anyone who just wants to hangout or come work for a couple hours. Yes, there's free Wi-Fi as well as a self-serve tap supplying free seltzer water and an air-pump outside for bikes. The place also has a record player, and guests are welcome to bring their own records.
Colony Club plans to have a membership club where people can pay around $250 (the exact price is TBD) per year and get unlimited drip coffee, discounts on other coffee orders, and permanent happy hour for alcohol.
The establishment gets its name from Colony Flower Shop, which Zuckerman's grandparents used to run just up the street on Georgia Ave. NW from the 1940s through '60s. But it wasn't just the personal connection that drew him to the neighborhood.
"When we set out to open this place one thing that was definitely a goal was to be in a neighborhood that could use something like this," Zuckerman says. "We didn't want to just throw another coffeeshop at 14th Street... We did want to try to have some sort of positive impact for the people who are living in this area and don't necessarily have anything open during the day except for the liquor stores."
Take a tour of the space below.
Colony Club, 3118 Georgia Ave. NW; colonyclubdc.com
Photos by Jessica Sidman