Raising minimum wage to $15 per hour in MoCo is once again being discussed, this time with modifications made to the proposed bill (I don’t have specifics on the modifications). A public hearing on the matter is expected at the end of September.
I took to Twitter to poll our followers and it looks like 60% of 1,321 voters would like to see a $15 minimum wage. The poll ran for 24 hours.
If you grew up in Montgomery County (anywhere near Gaithersburg), you’ve likely seen Sam Eig Highway numerous times…but maybe weren’t sure to pronounce it (it sounds like I’d with a g instead of a d…i’g ). Most GPS systems mispronounce it to this day, which could lead to a second generation of confusion regarding the pronunciation of his name.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s talk about the man behind the locally famous name. Sam Eig was born in Byelorussia (now Belarus) in 1899, living there for 15 years before moving to the United States in 1914. He lived in Seattle and New York City before moving to the Washington D.C. area in the 20s. Eig owned a grocery store in D.C. before opening Eig Liquor Store when Prohibition was repealed (also in D.C.). At the same time, he was focusing on real estate in the Silver Spring/Takoma Park area and chose to stick with that full-time in the 40s. His real estate holdings were already worth over $100 million before deciding to expand his real estate empire to Gaithersburg in the late 50s/early 60s. He was even one of ten men mentioned as the “vanguard of the postwar millionaires” in a 1952 issue of Fortune magazine. Due to his success with real estate across the county, Sam Eig earned the nickname “Mr. Montgomery County.”
Updated November, 2021:
Using area codes was second nature before cell phones made it easy enough to call someone with the tap of a finger, but for the first 15 years of my life I dialed 7-digits to make a local call.
One of our Twitter followers informed us of a rumor swirling around Olney about the possibility of Sakura closing and being replaced with an IHOP. For what it’s worth, I called Sakura last night and the manager told me that this is not true.
K-Mart and Payless in the Kentlands will both close by the end of this summer.
http://www.mymcmedia.org/closings-and-changes-at-kentlands-square-shopping-center-in-gaithersburg-photos/
Ole-nee jumped out to a huge lead from the start and never dipped below the 74% it ended with, but this incited some comments from staunch “All-nee” supporters.
“The people voting Ole-nee are just wrong. No doubt, All-nee.” said longtime Olney resident, Mark Hajjar.
Our 2016 Top 10 Pizza Spots in MoCo list included #2 Continental Pizza and #8 Frankly…Pizza! The team recently revisited both of them in preparation for our 2017 expanded rankings and were once again delighted.
One of my favorite things about each place is how different they are. You walk into Continental and there’s barely any room to move. Half the tables and chairs are wobbly and it’s still cash only. Frankly…Pizza! Has a rustic decor and extremely friendly servers that are more than willing to explain the differences between each of their pies.
The city of Gaithersburg has put out some fun versions of their logo over the last year or so. I’m not sure if they’re used anywhere else, but I was […]
According to the Roy’s Place website, they began serving their 200+ sandwiches in Rockville in 1955. After a couple moves within Rockville, they settled in the Gaithersburg location so many know and love in 1971.
Roy Passin, the original owner, was a huge part of Roy’s Place until his passing in May of 2009 at 87. Many say the restaurant just wasn’t the same during the 4 years it lasted without him. His creative sandwich ideas, based on what his friends enjoyed and the ingredients available in the restaurant, grew the menu from 2 pages to 23, according to a 2009 Gazette article.
Here’s a commercial from 1987:
Some referred to Kim’s Karate as “McDojos” since they kind of popped up everywhere in this 15 year span and promoted people to black belts quite a bit faster than most martial arts training centers.
We were told that one of the managers of Middlebrook Square shopping center has told our follower (very close connection between the two) that the first dispensary in MoCo will be located in the Germantown Shopping Center.
A quick search resulted in the screen capture found in this article; a job listing on Indeed.com
with a listing for ‘Medical Cannabis Dispensary Agents (Budtenders)’ in Germantown, MD.
In the mid-80s, Aris Mardirossian opened his convenience store named “6-Twelve,” based on the worldwide chain 7-Eleven (7,400 stores in North America with hundreds more across the world at the time).
By 1990, his Gaithersburg-based chain grew to 20 stores and there were rumors that he would be purchasing 600 7-Eleven stores in the DMV (the rumors were denied by 7-Eleven executives).