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Getting to Know your Civic Building and Veterans Plaza

The Silver Spring Regional Center is hosting a “must-attend” event to learn everything you may or may not have wanted to know about the big, arching construction that so rudely displaced our beloved turf. It’s looking kinda cool, actually. Meeting goes down March 23 from 7:00-9:00PM at Discovery Communications (enter from the Wayne/Georgia intersection).

The event is billed as a way to “find out what’s going to happen in the building and on the plaza; discover how you, businesses, and organizations can use the facility; and get information on how to rent, schedule, and access the space.”

Your Silver Spring Photo of the Day

Okay - so it’s not in Silver Spring, but I thought it was worth mentioning. As a Crimson Tide fan, it was hard to beat having front row seats (from which I took this photo) to the East Room ceremony at the White House with President Obama, Nick Saban, and the entire Alabama football team to honor their National Championship. Roll effing Tide, folks! And special thanks to MR for the access.

On a sad note…
A beloved Silver Spring resident and activist, Harry Sanders, passed away today. Harry focused a lot of energy promoting transit solutions for this region, and while he was a big Purple Line advocate, he was active in a vast array of community issues. He will certainly be missed.

Checked out Joe’s Record Paradise on Georgia Avenue this morning. Very impressive, but it’s what I expected. Great, eclectic selection of vinyl, CDs, cassettes - the works. Even some inexpensive (and functional) turntables, posters, tchotchkes, and books.

One of my favorite things is the shrine. Not sure about the story behind it, though, and I was in a hurry so I didn’t get a chance to ask. One thing I did thumb through, though, was the selection of 45s. I have a soft spot in my heart for these, growing up with a nice little collection myself. They have some good stuff here.

This actually got me looking through my own collection, which I think I might start cataloging. I regret to admit that it includes things like “Urban Chipmunk” and “Pac-Man Fever,” among all the Rush, Pink Floyd, and Jethro Tull.

Welcome to the neighborhood, Joe!

I think the headline in today’s Gazette “Residents embrace new hotel project in Silver Spring” might be a bit of a generalization, but I think it’s a job well done. Dr. Glee and his peeps were at the ESSCA meeting on Monday (review live tweets from the meeting here), and it’s a sound project with lots of community input. And by input, I mean people from the community working with the developer, owner, and architect to come up with a good, solid plan. This could be a good model going forward for future development.

Formerly the Moda Vista, the project, now dubbed Silver Spring Park and set at the southeast corner of Fenton and Silver Spring, will include 58 residential units in a 45′ structure, office space, ground floor retail, and a hotel (Fairfield Inn by Marriott) that maxes out the 60′ height set by the zoning amendments adopted in 2008 by the Montgomery County Council.

Of course, we’ll lose a couple of older homes on the block, and people are decrying both that and the general change in the neighborhood (echoed by one ESSCA non-member: “Inch by inch, house by house, these people are eroding, taking away our neighborhood.” Whatever.), but it looks like the plan will go forward and break ground in spring 2011.

Capital City Cheesecake coming to Takoma Park
I saw one of these Capital City Cheesecake vans driving down Georgia the other day and immediately got hungry. The next day, I got this press release:

Currently operating out of Colonel Brook’s Tavern and online, Capital City Cheesecake is moving into the old Savory space on Carroll Avenue. Anticipated opening date is on or around end of Spring/early Summer. Open kitchen, classes, children’s parties, weekend brunch, vegan and gluten-free options, Capital City Cheesecake has a bit of deliciousness for everyone!

Of *course* they would have vegan and gluten-free options. It’s Takoma Park. I hope they do better than Savory did. I never went there, mainly because I can’t pass up a trip to Mark’s Kitchen whenever I go to Takoma Park.

Your Silver Spring Photo of the Day

I can’t wait for Hook & Ladder to open.

On a different note: Did anyone go to the Fillmore meeting last night? Reports? I was unable to attend.

Tom Sietsema, the esteemed Washington Post food critic (whose job I so envy) reports via Twitter that Frank Morales has left Jackie’s Restaurant already. Tom’s tweet (in 140 characters or less):

Every critic’s nightmare: Chef leaves before review runs. In other words, Frank Morales is gone from Jackie’s (& I have no column for 2/28).

After, what, a couple of months? This can’t be good. Stay tuned for the backstory.

In other news…
This photo from the Paul Sarbanes Transit Center Project was sent in by that hackjob reader Bonifant More Sinister Than Thayer:

While I knew this was happening, seeing a sign like this is 10,000 kinds of awesome. We must get good video of the blasting action to post.

Gird your loins, folks. If you’re to believe the forecasts, we’re in for 20″ of snow. Make sure you have enough milk, bread, and toilet paper IMMEDIATELY. Now onto the show…

First Baptist Church Development
Here are a couple of the high-resolution renderings direct from the source:

Renderings courtesy of Torti Gallas and Partners

One shows a view from the opposite corner of Wayne & Fenton (already seen plenty of places). The other shows the view from a point south of Bonifant near Easley & Fenton. You can see this is the 6-story section (due to the gradation of Fenton) that allows for parking garage access and loading dock door.

Pretty classy, you say? I agree. But, of course, the historical people say it would be too much of a loss:

“The retention of the two historic Silver Spring Baptist Church structures ‘bookended’ with the planned Silver Spring Library directly across Fenton Street would serve as recognizable and symbolic American icons that uniquely provide a gateway into Fenton Village.  To lose the prominence and visibility of these important buildings to probably another Starbucks would be a sad commentary on the continued apathy shown by this community to preserving and celebrating its heritage.”

First of all, losing these classy structures *is* a loss. But there will be almost no way around it, and I prefer to have the density in the CBD anyway. Bottom line is First Baptist Church no longer wants the church it’s in. It needs a lot of work, and if the work starts, a lot of additional investment has to be spent to bring it up to code and ADA compliance. So there are some options:

• Option 1: Continue with this development.
• Option 2: First Baptist Church finds someone with millions to spare - and give - to the church to do all the remodeling necessary.
• Option 3: First Baptist Church abandons the entire space, sells the land to whoever will buy it, and the churches still inevitably get torn down for some other type of development.

Take your pick. Option 2 just ain’t gonna happen. Option 3 is a worst-case scenario. Even without those caveats, Option 1 looks pretty damn good.

In other news…
Silver Spring is working with the MDoT’s State Highway Administration to make particular intersections more pedestrian friendly, citing the unfortunate fatalities in November at 16th & Colesville and last month on Georgia between Forest Glen and Dennis. I hope that one of the solutions is jail time for blatant jaywalkers. You know who I’m talking about. The idiots who cross Georgia at Colesville or Ellsworth at Fenton with a blatant disregard for traffic and common civility. I will weep for none of them as they lie bleeding in the street.

Finally: Dog Shit
Yup. I haven’t seen this much single-subject traffic on the listserv since, well, someone throwing Gatorade bottles full of urine over someone else’s fence. Bottom line is some people are afraid of dogs. Others are afraid of stepping in dog shit. Still others think the leash laws should be rewritten one way or another. I’ll compile the best comments in another post soon, as things have gotten kinda heated at times. Also because I know how much the list moderators love it when I publish their “private” conversations only meant for our neighborhood. Priceless, some of them.

News of Joe’s Record Paradise’s pending arrival carried a fair amount of buzz. I was walking around Silver Spring taking some photos the other day and they now have the sign up with paper over the windows. (Attention sign makers: CDs and DVDs are NOT contractions or possessives. Please lose the apostrophes.) The Rockville store closed last Sunday, and their web site says the Georgia Avenue location will be open in February. (Note awesome phone number: 301-JUKEBOX)

I managed to catch a glimpse between the window coverings, and this place is big. Bigger than I had anticipated, at least. The back room (yes, it’s currently pink) looks like it could hold a small band and its associated crowd.

Is their inventory going to fill up this space? Could it be multipurpose? And if so, for what? It’s a small space in front, but the back room is enormous. Curious…

Bagelgate?
According to Washington City Paper, it appears there is some testiness within the extended Goldberg New York Bagels empire. (via @SSSingular)

Finally…
This man was preaching the word and calling for donations for Haiti Disaster Relief. PA system and all. Right here in Silver Spring. Yes, I’ve donated, and I hope the infrastructure down there gets the support it needs to deliver the necessities. And with that, we have the long-awaited link between a mention of Haiti relief and a Silver Spring blog, meaning that *someone* can step away from the keyboard.

Happy New Year, everyone. Good to be back from the holiday hiatus. A few things happening around the ‘hood, the most important of which (as far as I’m concerned) is the opening of the new Fenwick Beer & Wine store at the corner of Fenwick and Second Avenue in the little house previously occupied by, among other things, Long & Foster Realtors. There had been some buzz on the listserv about it, so I checked it out this weekend. It’s still in the beginning stages, but they have a pretty good selection already.

Most impressive is their selection of large bottles of beer, something to which I’m particularly attuned. I normally end up going to Gilly’s Craft Berr & Wine in Rockville or piggyback a Costco trip to The Perfect Pour in Columbia. The latter has the best selection in the greater DC/Baltimore area, but it is, after all, in Columbia. And Gilly’s actually has food and three taps to sample in-store. But it’s nice to have something in the Silver Spring CBD that has something akin to it.

Among the items I’m really happy with is their selection of Unibroue beers, as well as a growing selection of brews from the Southern Tier Brewing Company. The also have a broad selection of six packs like Dogfish Head, Brooklyn, Magic Hat and more. As everything is currently stacked up in the store on boxes, I anticipate the inventory and interior decor will grow as the business does.

As for wine, their selection is small but full of things you might not find at a lot of other stores. I tend to go to other outlets for wine, though. Or have it shipped direct to DC and bring it across the state line because the idiots in Maryland still haven’t let go of their regressive direct shipment laws. (I was also told by the director of Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control Board that this is entirely legal, so until they change the direct shipment laws, I encourage you to have at it.)

I spoke to the owner, Suman, and they’re having a grand opening celebration on January 23, with free tastings of Belgian beer from 1:00-3:30om, and wine from 4:00-7:00pm. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by. Would love to see these guys stay around a while.

On a Much Sadder Note…
Our beloved Silver Spring Penguin will cease and desist operations as of this Friday, January 15, 2010. Jen Deseo has been a great asset to the community and I, for one, will miss her greatly. If you’re looking for blame, point it at Penguin photog Ron Pace, who was given a great opportunity up in New York.

Calling all Downtown Silver Spring Twitterers
Don’t forget the DTSS Tweetup - a gathering of local twitterers (tweeps?) - on Friday, January 22 at Mi Rancho. Use hashtag #DTSStweetup for Twitter promos and live tweeting. Margaritas start flowing at 6:00.

There’s been some buzz recently about Mayorga moving somewhere in Silver Spring, once they announced they were closing their Georgia Avenue coffee shop. Word has it, though, that they’re bailing on Silver Spring for the time being and setting up shop in the People’s Republic of Takoma Park. Assuming this is true, this surprises me some and none, all at once.

None, because it’s close, the people of the Republic tend to treat local businesses well, and nothing goes better with the scent of patchouli than coffee. On the other hand, I rarely drink coffee without a big slab freshly seared foie gras. They go so well together. But they frown on that there. And they don’t like me anyway because I think East Silver Spring should not designate itself as an historic district, much like the one those people came in and pushed at an ESSCA meeting some time ago.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m happy for Mayorga. I really am. But for the sake of the people in Takoma Park, I hope that the food is better, they provide more vegetarian and vegan options (because nothing tastes better than fried vegans), and the service is less sucky than what I’ve experienced over the past several months. I will say it could be a great complement to Mark’s Kitchen, one of my (seriously) favorite places in the greater DC area. And I hope they continue to serve the booze. That was a bonus. I might actually trek down there for that.

Otherwise, it’s Highland Origin for me.

Yeesh - has it been that long? Shame on me. No, I haven’t died. I think it was just the tryptophan. At any rate, I’m back, and a lot is going on in the ‘hood these days…

Mayorga Blogger Mayhem
As you have no doubt seen from The Gazette, the plethora of blog posts, and the press release from the horse’s mouth, Mayorga’s fuel-injected enterprise is coming to a close. (Props to SoCo Eats for being the one to sent the InterWeb into a flutter with his mention.) As everyone has mentioned, things have been going downhill there lately. The food had become subpar, they took the French Cuban sandwich off the menu, and servie was spotty at best (bar notwithstanding).

And as a parent, I can say this: Mayorga is NOT the place for parents to sit and chat while their children run wild, yet that’s what it turned into many weekday mornings. At any rate, it will be interesting to see where the daily campers with their computers end up. And if you never went for beer pong (sponsored by Hook & Ladder), you really missed out.

In Less-reported News…
On or about November 23, Montgomery County Police reported an arrest was made for drugs at Red Lobster in DTSS. How this did not make the wider gossip circle for ridicule, I’ll never know, but I’m gonna push it. I, for one, have never eaten at that Red Lobster, but my wife and I continue our threats to go in order a drink, ask for several baskets of Cheddar Bay Biscuits, chow, and leave. Stay tuned to the Twitter stream for up-to-the-minute action.

But I digress. What drugs? Patrons or workers? Dealing or using? The mention in the crime report, of course, contains no details, but the place always seems to have a pretty good crowd. And for the record, searching Google images with the keywords “lobster” and “drugs” brings back some interesting results.

Have a slice. Don’t cost nothin’.
Silver Spring’s new pizza joint, Flippin’ Pizza (8517 Colesville Road, across from Discovery), is having their Grand Opening on Tuesday, December 15. You can score two free slices (cheese or pepperoni) and a drink for free from 4:00 to 7:00pm. Expect a big honking queue for that one as it gets RTed all over the Twitterverse over the next five days.

Celebrity Panhandler
There’s been much hullabaloo on the listserv about some guy (white male) panhandling from door to door in the neighborhood. He’s apparently making up stories about needing to get somewhere or his mother being sick, or some other such nonsense. Everyone and their mother has called the cops on this guy, yet he continues to evade apprehension. Theoretically, walking up to someone’s door and asking for money is not against the law, but I can see the public nuisance issue. Posts about his exploits have become so ubiquitous on the listserv that someone busted out the term “Our Neighborhood Celebrity Panhandler.” (Well done, Jerry!) I can only hope this guy surfs the Web from the library or something from time to time and recognizes his status.

On a serious note, if you run into him or he comes to your door, call the Montgomery County Police Non-Emergency Line at (301) 279-8000.

The recent unveiling of the revamped Whole Foods coffee bar has revealed something with interesting potential: A freezer that looks an awful lot like something that would hold several bins of gelato. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Sligo.)

The sign says the cafe will be opening tomorrow (November 16), but there are still inspection issues. Let me know if you see any progress in the morning.

In other news…
Shitty Place is looking particularly shitty as of late:

It’s like someone needs to just put it out of its misery.