Tastee Diner
National Jukebox Day comes around every year– November 25th, and one of the only places you’ll find a jukebox is in a diner. So, in honor of National Jukebox Day, let’s take a moment to celebrate one of the most famous diners in Montgomery County: Tastee Diner.
Bethesda’s Tastee Diner was the first to open in 1935 on Wisconsin Avenue, and soon became an important landmark in the area. The diner has had numerous influential figures dine at their location, including John F. Kennedy Jr and his girlfriend Caroline Bissett, Julia Child, Julie Louis Dreyfus, and Annie Leibowitz. Tastee Bethesda moved to Woodmont Avenue in 1958, where it’s been ever since.
Silver Spring followed Bethesda and opened a Tastee Diner in 1946. It sat at the corner of Wayne Avenue and Georgia Avenue for 65 years, until the diner faced being closed and destroyed to make room for Silver Spring’s Discovery Building. However, local residents rallied to save and move the diner to its current location at 8601 Cameron Street. Bill Griffith, creator of the comic Zippy the Pinhead, memorialized the event in a special comic featuring his characters.
Despite Montgomery County’s rapid development, both diners have managed to continue to stay open and serve the community. As long as the local support behind Tastee Diner continues, future generations will have a chance to dine at MoCo’s iconic diner.
Photo courtesy of Tastee Diner Silver Spring’s Facebook.
Congressional Roller Skating Rink
Do you remember this popular Rockville destination from decades back? Once located at 140 W. Bouic Ave, adjacent to Congressional Plaza off of Rockville Pike, this airplane hangar turned roller skating rink drew local crowds from 1956 to 1983.
Roller skating gained popularity in the 1930s, but it evolved and changed throughout the decades. To start, rinks typically played organ music, but eventually merged with disco music to create “roller disco.”
While some rinks played records at the rink, Congressional Roller Skating Rink chose to continue with organ music. Ronnie Mandel, former manager of the Rockville rink, told the Washington Post in 1978, “We were thinking of playing rock records, but our people didn’t respond to this.”
Sadly, the rink was bulldozed in 1984 to make way for new development. A Hilton Hotel now stands where the old rink once was.
Roller skating has since declined in popularity as rinks closed around the area. However, the hobby has now been on the rise because of the social media app Tik Tok. So if you still have your roller skates in the back of your closet, you may want to dust them off!
Photo courtesy of Forgotten Roller Rinks of the Past.
Tuffy Leemans played in the NFL from 1936-1943. In his rookie season, he led the league in rushing and was named an All-Pro.
In 1978, Alphonse “Tuffy” Leemans was inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame for his time with the New York Giants. At that point, he hadn’t just achieved one of the highest honors in the NFL… he had also become a local legend among Duckpin Bowlers in Montgomery County.
Following his impressive rookie season, he married Theodora Rinaldi in Silver Spring. Tuffy and his family moved to Silver Spring following his NFL playing and coaching career. He started a laundry and dry cleaning business in D.C. Later, he opened Tuffy Leemans’ Duckpin Bowling Lanes.
Tuffy Leemans’ Glenmont Duckpin Bowling Lanes, located in the basement of the Glenmont Arcade, boasted 24-lanes and a place for casual players and serious league bowlers to have a good time.
Duckpin bowling was becoming incredibly popular on the East Coast and in Montgomery County when Leemans’ opened in 1952. Duckpin bowling alleys were popping up around the area, including an alley in White Oak that opened in 1959 and still operates today.
Tuffy passed away in 1979, but his family continued to operate the bowling until it closed in 2002.
Tuffy Leemans has made a lasting impact on Montgomery County, where even today residents share fond memories of bowling at the alley.
“This has been disappointing me all my life… there is no arcade there!”
“That ain’t no arcade.”
These are a couple quotes from people who commented on a picture of the Glenmont Arcade sign on when we posted it last week on Instagram. Despite its name, this wasn’t a gaming arcade. Originally built in 1952, the Arcade was a mini mall inside a strip mall. 11 store fronts were open for “one-person businesses.”
A number of local businesses have opened and closed in the Glenmont Shopping Center. In 1957, a 24-lane bowling alley, Tuffy Leemans, first appeared at the strip mall located in the basement of the arcade and stayed open until 2002. There, you could find multiple pinball games, which many believed was the reason for the “arcade” name. Later on, arcade games were brought in, but that was long after the sign and name came about.
Some of the other businesses to first open in the mall were a hardware store, a dry cleaners, and a restaurant. By 1962, the shopping expanded to have a Chinese restaurant, hair styling and barber shops, a People’s Drug Store, a Grand Union Supermarket, and more.
A relic from the rapid and explosive development that came to Montgomery County after WWII, the Glenmont Arcade sign is a rare landmark now. Scott Whipple, a historic preservation planner at the county’s Planning Department, told Greater Greater Washington that “there aren’t many remaining examples of architecture from the 1950’s and 60’s.”
Right now, it’s unclear whether or not the County will keep the iconic sign. According to the Montgomery County Planning Department, there are plans to redevelop the Glenmont Shopping Center but no mention of what will happen to the Glenmont Arcade sign.
Photo courtesy of the Montgomery County Planning Department.
Did Abraham Lincoln spend time at Silver Spring Mansion with the Blairs?
Lincoln and the Blairs were close. The Blairs already had a strong family friendship with the Lincolns in Kentucky. Francis Preston Blair Sr. had advised U.S. presidents before Lincoln, which means that Lincoln and Blair Sr. would most likely have had at least a close work relationship. The two families were clearly political allies since Lincoln made Montgomery Blair, Blair Sr.’s son, the administration’s postmaster general.
With both Montgomery Blair’s mansion, Falkland, and Silver Spring Mansion only 7 miles outside of Washington, it’s likely that Lincoln could have spent time on the Blairs’ estates.
Though there aren’t any historical documents linking the 16th President to Silver Spring, there are two accounts that claim Lincoln spent time there. Jerry A. McCoy, founder of the Silver Spring Historical Society, found these memories tucked away in biographies on Lincoln.
One anecdote is from the grandchild of Blair Sr., Francis Preston Blair III, who recalled how as a young boy he saw his grandfather and Lincoln spend time with each other at Silver Spring Mansion. Later in 1899, Blair III wrote about his memory of Lincoln playing “town ball” in Silver Spring for McClure’s Magazine.
Photo courtesy of the Official White House website.
O.A.R. Embraces Their Rockville Roots
It was 2014 and the band O.A.R. was releasing its eighth studio album. After becoming an international success and touring all around the world it seemed fitting to go back to where they started and name their album “The Rockville LP,” after their hometown in Montgomery County, MD.
The album was “a concept where we said…We need to go home and be inspired by where we grew up,” Richard On, O.A.R.’s guitarist, said in an interview with the Washingtonian.
The band members met each other while attending Wootton High School in Rockville. They would play together at the Grand Marquis in Onley and pass out CDs to other students at school. After high school the band went to Ohio State, using Columbus’ nightlife to build the O.A.R.’s reputation.
The band even came back to Wootton High School and played a concert on the football field, back in May of 2001.
Years later in 2008, O.A.R. reached Billboard’s Top 100 chart with their hit single “Shattered (Turn the Car Around). Despite the national fame and attention, O.A.R. didn’t forget their Rockville roots. On described the band coming back and recording in their hometown as “awesome, so nostalgic.”
Rockville isn’t the only place in MoCo that inspired the band. The song “Black Rock” is about place that’s special to you when you need to get away. Black Rock Road in Germantown is where some of the band members would go hang out when they needed that kind of time.
Scattered across the US, O.A.R. is still creating music after 20 years. Although On still lives in the Washington area in Ashburn, Va. He visits Rockville occasionally and still loves the city, adding, “the reason why we loved growing up there was because we felt comfortable in our skin.”
Photo courtesy of O.A.R’s official band website.
In a press release today, Montgomery County Officials wrote out guidelines that the County recommends residents to follow during the upcoming holidays.
“We understand that everyone is growing weary of the pandemic and the associated restrictions, but we have worked hard as a community to address COVID-19 and we need to continue to be vigilant in order to keep our family, friends and others safe,” said County Executive Marc Elrich.
Officials asked residents to reconsider traveling this holiday season and they strongly recommended families to not hold large gatherings. If they do, gatherings should be outside when possible. The press release advised attendees to wear masks and social distance. Montgomery County officials encouraged hosts to invite small numbers of people and guests who live in the same area in order to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The press release also reminded residents that Montgomery County hosts free coronavirus testing sites. It’s free and it doesn’t require a doctor’s order.
For more information, please visit the link provided.
https://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=28113
Ron Klain, a Chevy Chase Resident, to be Biden’s Chief of Staff
President-elect Joe Biden announced that he chose Ron Klain to be his new chief of staff. Klain, a Chevy Chase resident, tweeted in response, “I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH.”
Klain previously worked for Biden as his Vice President Chief of Staff. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, President Obama appointed Klain as the administration’s Ebola response coordinator. Klain continued to work closely with Biden as a senior advisor to his campaign and helped draft Biden’s plan to fight coronavirus
Excited to work with the Biden administration, Klain said in a statement Wednesday that he’s ready to “tackle their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to heal the divides in our country.”
Photo by Official White House Photographer Pete Souza
This Montgomery County native is an accomplished musician, a New York Times Best Selling author, and Twitch streamer. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he grew up in the West Deer Park neighborhood in Gaithersburg. He also worked at Joe’s Crab Shack in Rio and performed there a few times when he started off.
Originally under the name Psychological, he started performing professionally in 2009. As to why he called himself that, he said, “ I just loved this word because it was about the mind and I knew that’s what I wanted my music to consist of; something that really challenges the mind.” Years later, he would rise to international fame and receive 2 Grammy nominations.
Sir Robert Bryson Hall II, also known as his stage name Logic, has since become much bigger than his MoCo roots. From signing with Visionary Music Group at the beginning of his career to signing with Def Jam Recordings in 2013, Logic shot to mass popularity in 2017 with his hit album “Everybody.” Its lead song “1-800-273-8255” took the third spot in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and ranked as a top-ten song internationally.
Hall released his novel Superman in 2019 and the book became a New York Times Best Seller. At the same time, he has built a Twitch following, where he live streams video games. Unfortunately, Hall released his last album and announced his retirement from the music industry this year. He now focuses on his Twitch career and being a new father.
Below is a recent picture of Logic, from his Instagram @Logic
The Leonid Meteor Shower is coming to MoCo.
The annual Leonid meteor shower is coming to Montgomery County this November. The showers typically last throughout the whole month, but the best night to look for the Leonids will be during the shower’s peak on November 16-17.
NASA recommends viewers to travel to a remote area, preferably without any city lights. Stargazers should be facing east while trying to take in as much night sky as possible. The shower starts at midnight and will last until dawn, so don’t worry if you don’t see any meteors right away.
The best weather for a meteor shower is a clear sky. Clouds can completely ruin an opportunity for a beautiful show. Fortunately for Montgomery County, the night sky is predicted to be mostly clear and partly clear for November 16 and 17 respectively.
The Leonid meteors come in bursts about every 33 years when Earth enters a debris trail from the comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle. However, when Earth enters a massive dust cloud from the comet a Leonid meteor storm can occur. Sadly, Astronomy enthusiasts will have to wait until 2099 to witness the next storm.
According to American Meteor Society and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, this year’s Leonid shower will have about 15 to 20 meteors at its peak. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to catch a glimpse of this spectacular phenomenon.
Photo courtesy of NASA.
Col. E. Brooke Middle School to be Renamed Odessa Shannon Middle School
The Montgomery County Board of Education has voted to rename Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School to Odessa Shannon Middle School.
The Board had originally voted to change the middle school’s name on June 29, 2020. The two other names proposed by the Board were Katherine Johnson and Josiah Henson.
Ultimately, Board members voted unanimously to rename the school after Odessa Shannon. As the first African-American Board of Education member and a lifelong activist, Shannon worked tirelessly to help close the achievement gap for minority families. She was the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Human Rights Hall of Fame, the African American Living Legend Award, and Hornbook Award for Outstanding Service to Education.
Shannon’s name will replace Col. E Brooke Lee, a Maryland politician whose policies shaped Montgomery County’s zoning and land use in the 1920s. These laws barred African-Americans from living in Silver Spring, with the exception as domestic servants. It wasn’t until 1968 that Montgomery County enacted fair housing policies.
The new name Odessa Shannon Middle School is expected to take effect on Shannon’s birthday next year.
