It turns out that before Comet Ping Pong, there was a liquor store at that address and JA decided to keep both the sign and the name of that store:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41932-2005Mar16.html ( http://archive.is/GBGK4) )

As discussed in a forum in 2006:

"Though it is the offspring of the dynamic duo in charge of Buck's Fishing & Camping, the pizza parlor apparently owes its name to last year's sad passing of liquor store owner and neighborhood legend Sid Drazin, who, with his wife Bernice, ran Adams-Morgan's Comet Liquors for 25 years. Carole Greenwood and James Alefantis have acquired the sign and, barring objection from the usual neighborhood cranks, will get it up, no doubt, where they're good and ready. "

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/94534-comet-ping-pong-new-haven-ish-pizza/ ( http://archive.is/foe88) )

The whole thing fits of course very well:

• CPP only opens at 17:00 and got a permission to remain open until 02:00 in the night
• The whole outside looks more like a night club than a pizza joint (not just the sign but also the colored light bulbs)

Some people have argued that the symbolism of the sign (stars and crescents) are related to paganism/satanism. I could not verify anything of that, but found a few links about Comet Liquors / Sid Drazin:

http://jewishfoodexperience.com/comet-liquors-deli-brightened-neighborhood/ ( http://archive.is/oxgUe) ) http://intowner.com/2016/02/13/opposition-to-former-comet-liquors-building-in-adams-morgan-based-on-review-of-recently-withdrawn-plans-owner-to-submit-revisions/ ( http://archive.is/jJ5nf) ) He also appears in two books, in one ('AND WHEN THE RABBI LAUGHS'': A DELIGHTFUL COMPENDIUM OF CONTEMPORARY RABBINIC HUMOR ) he is described as "arrogant, overbearing and extremely difficult to work with"

He was married but seems to have had no children.

The place is very large for a liquor store and the owner was also well-connected in DC, he and his wife is also featured in this book (with a picture): "KaBOOM!: How One Man Built a Movement to Save Play" which is about the "journey of a man who grew up in a group home with his seven brothers and sisters and went on to build a world-class nonprofit that harnesses the power of community to improve the lives of children."