The gourmet cupcake trend really took off back in the late ’90s when HBO’s Sex and the City series name-checked New York’s Magnolia Bakery.

But I don’t think the craze began spreading (seriously) to Washington, DC until a few years ago. Hello Cupcake appears to have opened in August 2008, while Red Velvet Cupcakery didn’t open until January 2009. Georgetown Cupcake claims to have opened in February 2008 as “DC’s first and only cupcakery.” Cupcakes Actually located in Fairfax, VA opened in May 2009. And Frosting in Chevy Chase, MD opened sometime in late 2009 or early 2010.

So if the lines of people stretching up the block from Georgetown Cupcake aren’t enough evidence for you, how can you verify the spread of this fad? Well, the Washington Post‘s Going Out Gurus have added a “best cupcake” to their Best Bets guide, and personal blogs have also sprung up on the topic.

DC has no shortage of good (traditional) bakeries — Patisserie Poupon in Georgetown is one of my personal picks. So what makes people shun the old school bakeries in favor of what a type of sweet that has in the past been considered a low-rung “poor man’s” product? One commenter on the DCist blog sums up my thoughts on the matter rather succinctly:

Anyone who is willing to stand in line for a cupcke for the same amount of time it would take to bake a dozen cupcakes deserves to stand in line for a cupcake.

And another notes, “And pay as much for one cupcake as it would cost to make a couple dozen.” Perhaps somewhat less PC, a third commenter adds, “I see about several people in this photo who would be better off jogging around the block a few times rather than standing in line all day for cupcakes.” All in all, waiting as much as an hour in line for a cupcake seems like a waste of time (especially when you can bake a dozen in your own oven for probably about $5). The mark-up on these “designer” bake good is enormous — As DCist again notes, I hope this is one fad that has already jumped the shark.

The concept of car-sharing is no newcomer to the DC region — Massachusetts-based Zipcar opened its DC office in 2001, and Seattle-based Flexcar was also in the area (before its merger with Zipcar). However, bicycle-sharing for commuters (as opposed to tourists) hasn’t been as quick to catch on. SmartBike DC is a self-service public bike rental program operated by Clear Channel Outdoor and the DC’s Department of Transportation. It consists of 100 bikes and 10 rental stations in downtown DC — Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, Foggy Bottom, Gallery Place, Logan Circle, Judiciary Square, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Reeves Center, and Shaw.

The announced expansion, according to the Washington Post, will create the largest regional network in the United States — Arlington will add 15 bike stations while DC will add 90, bringing the total number of available bikes to a whooping 1,100. James R. Sebastian, a city transportation planner in DC says that 1,500 current members take about 100 trips a day on the present system, and Chris Hamilton, Arlington’s commuter services chief, praised the expansion, saying: “We join the cities where people enjoy the urban core without a car… and that is the future. That is where we are going.”

The expanded network will be called “Public Bike System” (or Bixi) and will utilize solar power and wireless technology — the system has been running in Montreal since 2009 and will also be coming to Minneapolis, Boston and London. Unlike Zipcar, the pay scale will focus more on annual fees rather than fees for individual rides: Annual membership will be $80, monthly membership $30, or daily $5. All of these memberships allow for an unlimited number of rentals — After the first 30 minutes of free use, members will be charged a usage fee for each additional increment of 30 minutes.

But although it looks like DC will be getting more bikes this Fall, the reality still remains that the city lacks a good network of bike lanes (compared to some other urban centers), and in the Central Business District, it’s illegal to cycle on DC sidewalks.

• Click here for a PDF map of DC bike routes.
• Click here for more resources on where to bike in the DC area
• Click here for some common commuter routes

See also:

• Borderstan: DC, Arlington Launch Regional Bike Sharing Program

To Do:

• Pick apples at a local farm and make an apple pie completely from scratch
• Take photos of the Air Force Memorial at sunrise
• Eat a burger at Ray’s Hell Burger
• Eat Japanese noodles at Wagamama (if they open a DC location, as is the rumor)
• Fly a kite in the Smithsonian Kite Festival
• Attend at least one event at this year’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

Have Done:

• Visit the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Anacostia
• Take pictures of the National WWII Memorial at night
• Wander around Adams Morgan Day Festival (I think the last time I went was in 2006)
• Watch free international films at the National Gallery of Art and the Freer/Sackler
• Eat Greek food at St. Sophia Cathedral’s annual summer festival (again, it’s been years since I attended)
• Taken pictures of the sakura over the Tidal Basin at sunrise

So all the suckers who move out to the suburbs to get away from urban traffic (yes, I know it’s a pain when cars back up through Georgetown trying to get across Key Bridge, and all you want to do is park your car, but no one will give you the space to do so) are now realizing that this very traffic is following them out to Fairfax and even more distant exurbs. Of course, with traffic like that (oh yeah, and gas prices too), it’s not surprising that Meto’s ridership has increased in the past three months despite a record price hike this December. Now if only the region were finally able to build that long-awaited Dulles rail line…

But despite these ongoing traffic woes, it appears that real estate is beginning to rebound in areas such as Prince William, Manassas and Manassas Park. One report says, “Metropolitan Regional Information Systems data show that the number of housing sales for Manassas is up 33 percent in March 2008 from March 2007. Although 673 active listings remained on the market at the end of March, 52 units sold, compared with 39 that sold in March 2007. Eighty-six sales are pending.” Of course, my first question would be — who in the world wants to like in Manassas? But since the numbers are saying that people are indeed purchasing homes out there, I guess that’s rather beyond the point. And although data shows that sales in Fairfax and Loudoun counties and in the city of Alexandria are down significantly from last year, it’s just my luck that Arlington’s market is still as strong as ever (more proof that I’m not off my rocker when I say I’d rather pay higher prices for prime location).