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.
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MoCo History
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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).
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Charles P. Lazarus, a Washington, D.C. native, founded the company now known as Toys R Us. In 1948, he opened a baby furniture store named Children’s Bargain Town. Two years later, in 1950, he added a few select toys to his inventory. It wasn’t long before he realized that toys, unlike furniture, tended to break or quickly fall out of favor with children, prompting him to introduce a larger toy selection while scaling back on furniture.
In 1957, Lazarus adopted a supermarket-style shopping experience that allowed customers to walk around with a cart and choose items that caught their eye. His first Toys R Us location opened on Route 355 in Rockville, Maryland, slightly north of the Mid-Pike plaza site now remembered by many—a spot once home to Mi Rancho and Chesapeake Seafood House, near today’s Party City.
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The History of the 495 Bridge Graffiti (Near the DC Temple)
The first form of ‘Surrender Dorothy’ that was seen on the bridge leading up to the LDS temple on 495 was created with wadded up newspapers that were placed in the chain link fence by Catholic school girls. More specifically, young ladies from Holy Child’s graduating classes of 1973-76. They went with the now locally famous phrase for two reasons; the temple reminded many of Emerald City and The Wizard of Oz was the school play that was coming up a few weeks later. The papers were removed within 24 hours.
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The creator of the show, Darren Starr, graduated from Churchill High School and was going to base it on his experience in the area.