Hoya Saxa! A Love Letter to Georgetown (and the Print That Takes You Right Back)

By Liz Neighbors | Liz Neighbors Studios

There's something about Georgetown that never leaves you.

Maybe it's the cobblestones on 37th & O. Maybe it's the way M Street buzzes on a Friday night. Or the way Wisconsin Ave looks in October when the leaves are turning and everyone's in their finest Georgetown gear. Maybe it's just Jack the Bulldog trotting across campus like he owns the place….which, honestly, he does.

Once a Hoya, always a Hoya.

I painted the "Hoya Saxa" print because I kept hearing from people who had that look when Georgetown came up in conversation. You know the look. Eyes light up. A smile they can't quite contain. And then the stories start pouring out….

The late nights at The Tombs. The kind of nights that started with "just one round" and somehow ended hours later, everyone talking over each other, laughing about nothing and everything all at once. The afternoon runs to Wiseys….for the uninitiated, Wiseys is the kind of place you don't fully appreciate until you're far away from it, craving one of those sandwiches at midnight. Tsweets for a cone. Darnall for….well, surviving. Lol.

Leo's. Everyone has a Leo's story. Usually it involves a very long line and a very strong opinion about the pasta station!

Gaston Hall for the big moments. Dahlgren for the quiet ones. Red Square when the weather finally broke in spring and everyone emerged blinking into the sunlight like they'd forgotten it existed. Henle Village if you were lucky enough to land that housing. The long walk down to the waterfront when you needed to clear your head….or celebrate something good.

And Dixie Liquor, standing faithfully at its post. Clyde's for the grown-up dinners….parents' weekend, a birthday, the nights you wanted to feel like a real adult for a few hours.

Washington, DC humming just beyond the gates, always there, always electric. You'd walk down to the Mall or catch the Metro and remind yourself that you went to school here….in this city, in this neighborhood, at this place that somehow felt like its own small world tucked inside one of the greatest cities on earth.

The "Hoya Saxa" print started because people wanted a way to keep that world close.

A Georgetown alumna in South Boston has it in her home office. A dad in Florida ordered one after dropping his daughter off for freshman year….a little piece of the place to carry home with him. A couple ordered the notecards for their Georgetown-themed wedding stationery. Every order comes with a story. That's my favorite part, always.

Whether you're Class of '89 or Class of '24….whether your people were Henle people or Village A people….whether you spent more time at The Tombs than you'd like to admit or you were a Lauinger Library regular (no judgment, truly!)….this print is for you.

It's for anyone who hears "Hoya Saxa" and feels something.

Shop the Hoya Saxa print and notecards → [lizneighborsstudios.com/shop-colleges]

Once a Hoya, always a Hoya. Xo 🩷 Liz

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