ThayerAvenue.com

It all started with one simple post. Thanks to all of you who have provided content, comments, and other fodder over the past year. This endeavor has been more fun than I imagined, and I look forward to more in the years to come. Incidentally, that makes our birthday 4/20. Coincidence? I think not.

Rites of Spring
The first day of the Fresh Farm Market was a sight to see. Interesting that it’s being set up this year on Ellsworth west of Fenton. I kinda like everything centrally located over there, but I anticipate it will get pretty crowded as the season progresses. I’d also like to give a warm welcome to newcomer Praline Bakery. Man, are those some tasty treats, or what? If anybody liquidates the [edited so as not to divulge tastiest treat there] before I get there on Saturdays, I’ll cut out your heart with a spoon.

Jesus is The Man
This banner went up at the church on Bonifant near Fenton.

Is my translation correct? Jesus is The Man? Or would that be el Hombre? el Jefe? Do they mean this in a good way? I work for “The Man” (*not* the Jesus one) and assumed the capital “M” had negative connotations. Am I reading this right? Does this mean Bonifant isn’t that sinister after all?

Caption Contest
This photo op was too priceless to pass up. Feel free to post potential captions:

By the way - the fountain appears to be off-limits for the time being.

Once again, Washington City Paper has bestowed its distiguished “Best of D.C.” honors to several Silver Spring establishments. I couldn’t agree more with (most of) them:

BEST HAMBURGER: Quarry House Tavern
I was one of the ones that thought the post-Jackie’s burger was subpar to the original. Nothing beat the old school burger-and-onion-rings basket, even though I wasn’t a big fan of PBR or wine from a jug. To be fair, I haven’t had a burger at QH in some time, preferring to indulge in the fantastic draft beer and excellent whiskey selection. But I have had my fair share of tater tots (washed down with the aforementioned beverages), and they’re money. After the review, I’ll have to pump $20 into the jukebox and give the burger (medium rare, with bacon & blue cheese, please) another whirl.

BEST RED-SAUCE ITALIAN RESTAURANT: Olazzo
I couldn’t be happier for this Silver Spring newcomer. As many of you may know, I’m a fan of the Tuesday night martini specials at Olazzo, but I haven’t delved all that deep into their menu. Now I’ll certainly explore more. The food I’ve had has been excellent, the staff is top-notch, and we’re hoping for bigger and better news from the Pietrobono boys very soon. (You’ll know it when you hear it.)

BEST DELI: Parkway Deli & Restaurant
A short time ago, Silver Spring Penguin espoused the virtues of our Deli to the West. Sure - it’s a little bit away from DTSS proper, but it’s one of my favorites and worth plugging here. The reuben is awesome, and the pickle bar, so choice. We’ve tended to hit Woodside Deli recently for such a fix, but now it’ll be back to Parkway.

BEST STEAK HOUSE: Ray’s the Classics
When looking strictly at a cost benefit analysis, this is a fantastic choice: Great, perfectly cooked steaks at affordable prices. But I still miss Michael Hartzer. And the pastry chef they used to have. And the good bar service. And having the bar stock Hendrick’s gin. The absence of the sausage biscuits and other appetizers, as well as some of the key desserts, really took this place down a notch or two in my book. As a special occasion place, it’s nice - but if I want a good steak now, I tend to fire up the charcoal in the backyard, visit with the neighbors, and relax on the porch.

BEST DIM SUM: Hollywood East Café on the Boulevard
Yeah, it’s in Wheaton, but it’s worth the drive, and Wheaton could always use a little love. I haven’t set foot in the Triangle since El Pollo Rico went all Cheech and Chong on us, and I’ve found myself standing in line outside Oriental East more often lately. But having spent three years on Dennis Avenue in the shadow of Wheaton and digging on Hollywood East since they opened, they certainly deserve it.

What about the others?
I’m proud of Bombay Indian Restaurant (which I’ve never tried but plan to remedy), and happy about the pupusas from Sabor Carry Out, but I really don’t care that much about some of these places on the periphery. Not my hood. And the places I mentioned from outside my immediate vicinity are ones I know I like and want other people to know about. Want to promote those? Get your own blog.

Reader, commenter and Thayer Avenue resident David S. took it upon himself to learn more about the demographics of Thayer Avenue by delving into publicly-available census data and compiling some interesting information. Here is a brief snapshot from the larger document which can be downloaded below.

According to the 2000 Census, 2570 people (1220 males and 1350 females) live along Thayer Avenue between Fenton Street and Dale Drive. The median age of Thayer Avenue residents is 37 years old.

Thayer Avenue consists of 1155 housing units and, as anyone who lives or has visited Thayer Avenue knows, the housing stock is a mix of detached houses and apartments. Census blocks 1002, 20006, and 3003, consists mainly of apartment buildings and have an average of 324 housing units per census block. The other six census blocks along Thayer Avenue consist mainly of detached houses and have an average of 42 housing units per census block.

Thayer Avenue is home to 1260 households (a household includes all of the people who occupy a hosing unit) and 545 of these households consist of individuals living alone. Another 116 households consist of non-family members living together. (A family includes a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption). 545 families live on Thayer Avenue and 157 of these families consist of married couples with children under 18.

According to the 2000 Census, Thayer Avenue’s population is 46% African-American, 32% White, 18% Latino, and 7% Asian. In addition, 7% of respondents indicated that they are of 2 or more races. American Indian and Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders comprised less than 1% of the Thayer Avenue population.

Are there any apparent demographic differences between those Thayer Avenue residents that live in apartments and those residents that live in detached homes?

The differences do not appear to be appreciable. The total non-white population of the census tracts where apartment buildings predominate is 70%, whereas the total non-white population of the blocks where detached homes predominate is 61%. The average household size of the residents in the blocks with mostly detached homes is 2.23 persons whereas the average household size of the apartment dwellers is somewhat smaller (2.10 persons). The ratio of families to the total population in both areas is similar.

If the 2000 Census’ data is still relatively accurate, than Thayer Avenue’s residents comprise a portrait of America’s diversity. We’re younger and older, single and coupled, living alone and living with family members, and we’re a cross-section of races and ethnicities. If data on income, national origin, and languages spoken were available at the block level, it is likely that there would be many differences in these areas.

The documents below show comprehensive census information and track maps relative to the information above. I highly recommend you look to see the specific area maps and caveats to the data.

Thayer Avenue Census Data (165K MS Word doc)

Thayer Ave Excel Data (24K MS Excel doc)

It’s unfortunate (perhaps) that all my posts recently have been a mishmash of short things, but after April 10, my life will begin returning to normal. More on that after the fact.

Goodbye, Mr. Heston
Can we have that gun, now?

Hook and Ladder Wins Beer Madness Tourney
As if there wasn’t enough reason to be excited about Hook & Ladder opening up a brewpub here, they went and won the Washington Post Beer Madness Tournament. From the article:

Their Backdraft Brown, this year’s Beer Madness champion, is an American-style brown ale with a chocolate caramel sweetness from the specialty malts, balanced by a splash of citrusy Cascase hops. The Fleischer brothers donate a portion of the proceeds to groups that help burn victims: a penny per pint, a quarter per case, and $4 from every keg sold! If we needed an additional reason to drink their beer, this is an admirable one.

Congratulations to Hook & Ladder! Meanwhile, in my March Madness brackets, I picked UCLA over North Carolina in the finals. Damn.

Urinate. But if you were better looking you’d be a 10.
There’s been some concern/hilarity on the listserv lately, depending on what side of the fence you’re on (literally). Someone has been urinating in soda bottles and leaving them in odd places - in people’s yards, dropped over fences, sitting by the curb.

I get my fair share of crap in the yard. Living on a main thoroughfare between stops for the 20 bus, there’s always plenty of bottles, bags, garbage, etc. And if it came down to urine-filled Gatorade bottles, I’d be hesitant to post it to the listserv for discussion. But thanks to those with the chutzpah to do so for the humor.

Live Nation Update
As reported on Silver Spring, Singular, among other places, some of us got together with Ted Mankin of Live Nation to see what the company had in store for The Fillmore Silver Spring. First off, this is NOT a done deal. If you’re for this deal, I urge you to actively support it. Ted will be answering questions for the general public at the Lee Building on April 8. Help make this happen.

And for all you bozos that think the Silver Spring Blogosphere is a mouthpiece for the Live Nation movement, please take take a trip down to 9:30 or The Birchmere and have another cool glass of STFU. I want music sooner rather than later, and I think this is the right ship to be on. Period. Get behind it or get your folk-song-singing-NIMBY-lovin’ ass out of the way.