Frank Stallone reminisces on growing up in Silver Spring

One of the famous celebrities who grew up in Silver Spring had the town on his mind today. Frank Stallone shared a photo of himself with family and friends at Glen Echo Amusement Park, taken some time around 1955, on his Facebook account this afternoon. He recalled Silver Spring as a "sleepy town," and one could argue - downtown noise and crime waves aside - it still is a sleepy town in many ways. Stallone also remembered having Goldie Hawn and Ben Stein as neighbors. Yes, yes, Sylvester may be the more famous member of this former Silver Spring family, but Frank is a star in his own right, for his fantastic self-titled rock album of 1984.

Photo via Facebook 

Montgomery Hills Car Wash demolished, but hidden historic cemetery remains

The Montgomery Hills Car Wash at 9500 Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring has been demolished. But buried underneath the landmark business remains an earlier, lost landmark: Mount Zion Episcopal Cemetery. The property has been purchased by the Maryland State Highway Administration for use as a construction staging area for the War-on-cars Georgia Avenue Safety and Accessibility Project. It's certainly disrespectful, to use a burial ground as a staging area. But probably par for the course for today's SHA, which has become heavily politicized over the last decade, responding to the every need of our corrupt elected officials, engineering best practices and basic human decency be damned.

Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Cemetery remembered in Silver Spring

A banner has been placed at a former car wash site to remind the public that there was a church at this location in the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring - and that many of its members remain interred beneath more recent buildings and asphalt today. Mount Zion Methodist Episcopal Church was a landmark at Georgia Avenue and Seminary Road from 1825 to 1964. The church was sold in 1964, but the burial ground associated with it was somehow allowed to be built over by Montgomery County. This was hardly an unusual abomination in the County during the 1960s, tragically.

The good news is that the descendants of some of those buried here are on the case now. Ground penetrating radar has identified over 100 confirmed or potential graves. Some may even be beneath Georgia Avenue itself. The descendants are asking the Maryland State Highway Administration to exhume remains from graves under Georgia Avenue, and reinter them within the burial ground, and return the properties associated with the cemetery to a memorial park use.

It's heartening to see the tragedy of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda lead to a reexamination of similar travesties countywide. The fascinating part is that the political cartel that runs the County behind the curtain loudly declares its purported belief that "Black Lives Matter," but pushes back with every ounce of strength against actual Black people advocating for the poor souls whose eternal rest has been - and still is - threatened by the rapacious real estate development that is The Only Thing That Matters to the Montgomery County cartel.

Silver Spring church lists property for sale

A Silver Spring church has listed its entire property for sale. First Faith Church is located at 12323 Bluhill Road, but has prime frontage along heavily-traveled Randolph Road. The property includes not only the three-level church itself, but also a classroom building, a parsonage residence, and a 40-space parking lot. It's also within walking distance of the Glenmont Metro, if you're in good health and have high-quality walking shoes. Or you could take the M42 or M44 Metrobus from Glenmont Metro, and get off at the Randolph-Bluhill bus stop for Sunday services. 

This church is notable for several reasons, including its architecture. I do not know the name of the architect, but it clearly was designed to fit in seamlessly among the homes around it, using an identical color scheme and materials. The original church structure was built in 1962. You rarely see this level of sensitivity and community spirit in Montgomery County today. 

But, then again, this was happening amid the early years of the golden age of Wheaton and Glenmont. That vaunted era delivered countless architectural gems that today's developers don't often have the time or financial generosity to provide. We continue to admire those that remain standing, like the fine and sturdy midcentury modern brick homes, or the Aspen Hill Library. And mourn the loss of those that have been mindlessly demolished, such as the Wheaton Youth Center. Yes, Led Zeppelin did play there.

Real estate broker NAIknlb is marketing the property as a turnkey church opportunity. One imagines that the increasingly-bonkers zoning guidelines of Montgomery County may also permit all kinds of lucrative redevelopment options, as well. Cue the rubbing hands of developers. The asking price is $3,200,000, according to the online listing.

Canada Dry bottling plant facade rehab ahead in Silver Spring

A facade rehabilitation project is imminent for the historic Canada Dry bottling plant at 1201 East-West Highway in downtown Silver Spring. The art moderne-style bottling plant opened in 1946, and ceased operations in 1995. It was then used as a warehouse by the beverage company until 2003, when part of the building was demolished. Today, the portion that remains is a protected historic structure, and is part of the Silverton condominiums. It has been largely hidden from the street by trees in recent years.

You could live in this Silver Spring firehouse!

Have you always wanted to live in a firehouse without the danger of actually risking your life as a firefighter? This Silver Spring property is for you! Located at the historic National Park Seminary, Firehouse-1 at 2701 Hume Drive #200 was actually a working firehouse at NPS in the early 1900s. Now it is a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom condo with everything from a Bertazzoni gas range to an electric car charger, topped off by a rooftop patio. Yet, it still retains many of the visual cues of a retro firehouse. The asking price is $729,000, according to the online listing. 

Dollar Tree to open new store in White Oak

Dollar Tree will open a new location in White Oak later this year. The chain has leased the space at 11130 New Hampshire Avenue. That was formerly home to Montgomery County's last Office Depot store until 2023. The 10,770-square-foot retail space was also once home to a W. Bell & Co. store. Montgomery County police officer Phillip Carl Metz was tragically killed in the line of duty at this W. Bell & Co. location, when he was shot by a burglar breaking into the store on March 27, 1981.

Historic downtown Silver Spring U.S. Post Office available for lease

The historic U.S. Post Office building at 8412 Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring is being marketed for lease. Located on one of the busiest commuter routes in Maryland, the building has a 5,645-square-foot main level, and a 5,609 lower level basement. The two spaces can be leased together by one tenant, or separately by two tenants. 

Unleashed by Petco was located in this building for roughly 7 years before closing in 2022. KLNB is marketing the building for retail use. The classic architecture would make for a grand restaurant setting, as well, in my opinion. Ten dedicated parking spaces are located at the property, and it is within walking distance of a public parking lot and several garages.

Last Office Depot in Montgomery County closes in White Oak

The last Office Depot store in Montgomery County has closed at 11130 New Hampshire Avenue in White Oak. Signage has been taken down from the storefront, and windows have been papered over. I'd like to thank a loyal reader who brought to my attention another, more notorious, reason this store location was notable in the past. A Montgomery County police officer, Phillip Carl Metz, was tragically killed in the line of duty here when it was a W. Bell & Co. store on March 27, 1981. Officer Metz was 33 when he was fatally shot by a gunman who had broken into the store.

A last look at Tastee Diner in Silver Spring (Photos)

Here's a last look at the venerable Tastee Diner at 8601 Cameron Street in downtown Silver Spring in its original form. Opened in 1935, the historic diner closed March 22, 2023. Roadside Development, which plans to redevelop this and adjacent property into a mixed-use residential building, has promised to retain the north, east and west facades of the diner car and its canopy in the design of the future high-rise.

Hidden dragon: The kung fu era of Silver Spring's Capri Theater

Subterranean Silver Spring holds many surprises. One treasure buried under an office building on Fenton Street is the Capri Theater. Today, we are taking a look back at a brief era in its late history, when it was one of several around the country to become a weekly haunt for fans of martial arts movies. The Capri opened at 8630 Fenton Street on January 19, 1972, according to the Cinema Treasures website. Filmgoers who descended the escalator to the lobby that night would have seen the Otto Preminger dramedy, Such Good Friends.

Escalator from street level down
to the former Capri Theater

But under the later ownership of Feifei Chan in February 1981, the Capri was rechristened the China Capri Theater, specializing in martial arts films. The 1970s kung fu craze is most associated with the legendary Bruce Lee. At the China Capri, though, many of the films were the more violent, authentic product directly from Taiwan and Hong Kong, rather than the edited fare found on Saturday television screens by the 1980s. "These show more blood," a teenage Silver Spring resident emerging from the Capri told The Washington Post in July of 1981. 

According to Chan's son, Steve Chan, the concessions stand was stocked with products from the family's Chinese grocery business. A growing Asian population in the region fueled demand and filled seats at the China Capri, and at the other kung fu palace in Montgomery County at the time, Roth's Manor theater in Rockville.

As a fan of martial arts movies myself, it sounds like the China Capri would have been a tremendously fun place to go, Alas, the one-screen theater closed in 1982, which ironically was one of the greatest years in cinema. It lies dormant in the dark today, waiting for a smart and wealthy businessperson to reopen it once again.

No shortage of East MoCo books at Wheaton Target

Supply line snafus may have some shelves looking spotty, but there's no shortage of books on the topic of eastern Montgomery County history at the Target at Wheaton Plaza. One can find tomes on the history of Silver Spring, or the more recent development of downtown Silver Spring. 

There are volumes on Forest Glen and Takoma Park, as well as on the County at large. And a chance to learn about life in Montgomery County during World War I or the Civil War. Each book offers the opportunity to learn something you didn't know about eastern Montgomery County.

Montgomery County activists celebrate failure of "racist" cemetery bill in Maryland House

Macedonia Baptist Church on River Road
in Bethesda, where some past members are buried
in the nearby Moses African Cemetery

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition celebrated a win in Annapolis Wednesday, as the Maryland House of Delegates declined to bring a controversial cemetery preservation bill to a vote as the 2021 session ended the previous day. HB 1099 was designed to provide funding for a statewide study of African-American burial grounds, and allow specific stakeholders to apply for a separate state grant for the purpose of preserving and commemorating a black cemetery. It had support from many established preservation groups in the state, and initially appeared likely to pass when the session began.

Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda is a prominent example of a black cemetery that was erased from the map in the mid-20th century. The grave markers were bulldozed or removed when the cemetery came into the possession of new landowners. In the late 1960s, the cemetery and many gravesites were further desecrated during the construction of the Westwood Tower apartments. Witnesses at the time have recounted that many remains within the footprint of the building were illegally relocated elsewhere on the property in a mass grave. Remaining graves were paved over for a parking lot for the building.

Such stories are common at African-American burial grounds across Montgomery County, Maryland and the nation. Sadly, many of these stories do not even come to light as development literally paves over the past. 

Even the historic African-American community that existed around Moses cemetery until the 1960s had been erased from County history, until I researched and brought it to light during the BETCO/Hoyt Property redevelopment hearings at the Planning Board in 2011. At the time, I warned the Planning Board, the County Council and the National Capital Planning Commission that there would likely be a cemetery related to that community that had been hidden in the area, and many historical artifacts to be located. 

Those government bodies did not listen. In 2014, the cemetery location was finally pinpointed, thanks to citizens who were contemporary witnesses to it, just as an out-of-state developer prepared to construct a new building and parking garage atop it. Those plans have been temporarily halted, but only thanks to years of effort and protest by cemetery advocates. But no further action has been taken by any branch or level of government to investigate, restore or commemorate the lost community, cemetery and the illegal desecration there.

The BACC, which is now leading efforts to restore and commemorate Moses cemetery, opposed HB 1099 because it "would have paid white preservation groups and their chosen consultants to entrench white supremacist control of historic Black burial grounds and sow division among their descendant communities, all while the desecration of Black burial grounds and cemeteries like Moses continued unabated." Declaring the bill "racist," BACC organized opposition and testimony against the bill as it moved through the legislative process this winter and spring.

When the bill was not brought to a vote Tuesday, the BACC celebrated the successful effort. "Defeating the bill seemed impossible in the face of its support from powerful politicians, developers, and white preservation establishment, bolstered by a calculated media misinformation campaign, but this grassroots mobilization turned delegates against it and killed the bill," the BACC said in a press release yesterday. "H.B. 1099 would have passed without this action, which demonstrates again that the people will always win."

One active front on the Moses cemetery battle is the construction of a self-storage facility on land directly adjacent to the cemetery's property line behind the McDonald's on River Road. That work recently resumed. Concern that remains may have been buried or illegally reburied beyond the cemetery boundaries led cemetery advocates to oppose construction of the facility prior to a thorough archaeological study of the self storage site. 

Montgomery County overruled that request. The County has been so strongly opposed to any archaeological investigation of the cemetery itself, that it not only blocked every attempt to achieve an independent survey, but even acquired a part of the cemetery to prevent any further investigation though private landowners who might cooperate in such efforts.

The self storage developer has retained a credentialed archaeologist, who has determined no remains or funerary objects were encountered during excavation of that site so far. BACC has dismissed that assessment as biased, and continues to hold protests near the construction site. Another protest is scheduled for Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 5:00 PM at 5204 River Road.

Ghost of Armand's Pizzeria hovers over Krazy Steve's closing auction in Silver Spring

Krazy Steve's is closing at 1909 Seminary Road in the Montgomery Hills area of Silver Spring, according to an online auction listing. You can bid on the usual kitchen equipment, and even a food truck. But what stands out the most to longtime area residents is that there are items from the previous tenant at this location, Armand's Chicago Pizzeria, up for bid as well.

There is a 37" Armand's Pizzeria sign. And Armand's Pizza delivery signs for vehicles. Those have to be bid on as a set. These would be nice keepsakes for the Armand's fan, while supporting the owner of Krazy Steve's, as he winds down operations in this difficult time for all restaurants.

The virtual disappearance of the Armand's chain in the area has been more lamentable by the day, as dietary trends seem to favor thin crusts in the new pizzerias that have opened in recent years (R.I.P., Pi Pizzeria in Bethesda, one of the few deep dish entries). Fortunately, there is still one Armand's left, in Rockville. Enjoy a takeout slice from there at home, under your new Armand's Pizzeria sign!