Doing Some Bipartisan Browsing in Georgetown

The Colonial charm of the Georgetown neighborhood is a welcome contrast to downtown Washington’s huge concrete-block government buildings. Perhaps that’s why Georgetown addresses are coveted among politicians, government officials and foreign dignitaries.

Those who walk Washington’s corridors of power by day retire to Georgetown during their leisure time for dining, entertainment and shopping.

Wisconsin Avenue Northwest, between M and R streets Northwest, is where you’ll find Georgetown’s most interesting shops, some of which are old enough to have become traditions. One of the best known is Little Caledonia (No. 1419), an ambling old house providing a perfect setting for a collection of gift items and home accessories. The interior walls of the building were never knocked down to make a large showroom, and that’s one of the charms of Little Caledonia.

Rooms and Hallways

Walking through the shop’s many rooms and hallways is an adventure. You wander from a small treasury of hand-painted French table settings with charming country scenes, and finely patterned English china with floral motifs, into a room filled with all sorts of gadgets for the kitchen, bath, closets.

In one room you’ll find antique desks that have undoubtedly held some important documents in years past, wingback chairs that have perhaps been the seat of power in this influential community.

One hallway dead-ends in a room with bolts of fabric. Another room is filled with all sorts of stuffed animals, games, handmade dolls and other toys for tots through teens. Little Caledonia is great for browsing, with reasonable prices for gift buying.

Also on the list of must-stop shops is the antique shop (No. 1525) of Washington notable Peter Mack Brown, who is frequently called upon to advise designers about acquisitions for Washington’s most elegant hotels, homes and embassies. The shop is well stocked with expensive 18th-Century French, English and American furniture, as well as moderately priced curios that would make great gifts.

Appalachian Spring (No. 1415) has been in Georgetown for 20 years, offering beautiful American handcrafts including ceramics, textiles, wooden objects and jewelry. The ceramics range from the smallest cups to the largest platters, with rough or refined surfaces, earthy colors and creamy, elegant whites. There are even ceramic bowls that look like woven baskets of various sizes and shapes.

The shop has wooden boxes, including a large satin-smooth jewelry chest with velvet-lined drawers ($500) and smaller cases with gnarled and rutted edges ($30 to $60). Letter openers are carved from twisted driftwood or tree branches ($13 to $23), a clipboard is made from three kinds of wood ($30) and a clock face is encased in a wood mosaic box ($80).

Appalachian Spring has handmade cribbage and backgammon sets ($60 to $180) as well as wooden butter knives ($6) and honey swirls ($1.50). For children, there are hand-knit finger puppets ($3) and hand-stitched leather moccasins in 12 colors ($15). The shop represents about 350 American artisans.

Two Georgetown bookshops are of particular interest. Audubon Naturalist Bookshop (No. 1621) has books of every sort on nature and natural science, as well as wonderful wrapping paper with nature themes ($1.50), lifelike kingfisher bird mobiles that you assemble yourself ($4) and attractively packaged natural teas.

The Aberdeen Book Shop (3236 P St. N.W., on the corner of Wisconsin Avenue) has several rooms full of used books, many priced between 50 cents and $4, and rare books. You can pick up ancient editions of anything from “Gulliver’s Travels” to “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin,” plus many art and history books.

Across Wisconsin Avenue at 3217 P St. N.W. is Nean’s, the grocery store in which part of “Heartburn” was filmed. This is the best market in Georgetown and is a great place for seeing Washington notables among the aisles of produce and canned goods.

Back on Wisconsin Avenue, Britches (No. 1357) is Washington’s version of L. L. Bean, but you shop directly instead of by catalogue. The shop was founded in 1967 by Rick Hindin and David Pensky and has grown into a Georgetown tradition. The racks display unisex hip- and knee-length rugby shirts in bright, contrasting colors ($35), three-button cotton jerseys in 24 colors ($18), cotton sox in as many colors ($35), cream-colored sweaters ($50) and great suede jackets ($99). There are red fedora hats ($25) and light wool baggie coats in navy and black ($150). Most good Washington wardrobes, contain a good sampling of clothes from Britches.

Britches has another shop, for men, with formal and business attire (No. 1247), with cotton suits ($150 and up), wool suits ($350 and up) and walking sticks with scrimshaw dog or owl head handles ($32). There is also a women’s store with suits, dresses and accessories for successful business dressing. The women’s shop is in Georgetown Park, the district’s posh mall at 3222 M St. N.W., near Wisconsin Avenue.

The Phoenix (No. 1514) boutique has hand-loomed cotton dresses with elaborate embroidery and ribbon trim, made in Mexico by Josefa (about $225) and Opus One (about $175), as well as shawls, serapes and leather, ceramics and handicrafts of other materials from Mexico and Latin America.

Francis Reilly (No. 1361) has moderately priced children’s clothes including a green-and-black houndstooth woolen coat with two rows of buttons down the front and a matching bonnet (about $60) in various sizes for little girls, trousers sets for boys. The shop has been in business for 40 years and has outfitted the children of many prominent Washingtonians.

Youngsters’ Headgear

Children of all ages will enjoy the headgear displayed at Hats in the Belfry (No. 1237). This shop has an assortment of novelty caps with wings, ears, horns and other appendages that move or not, as well as a selection of men’s and women’s high-fashion hats, both traditional and trendy, to top off any outfit.

Wisconsin Avenue’s trendiest shop is Commander Salamander (No. 1420), with primarily punk fashions and accessories for men and women. There are body shirts and leggings in wild prints and hot colors, denim jackets with lots of medals and diamond pins to dress them up. Jeans and overalls galore are attractively displayed against walls of fashionable black. There’s the requisite rock music background.

Best bets are the Commander Salamander high-top sneakers in hot pink and yellow, with little salamander silhouettes scampering over the canvas ($27), and salamander sox to match ($7). Commander Salamander adds a note of new wave to charming old Georgetown.