Retail Ghost Town

Will this bloodshed never end? I didn't think I'd ever be doing two posts about stores closing in DTSS on the same day, but unfortunately that is indeed the case. The Golf, Etc. on Fenton Street is presently in the process of packing up and moving to Rockville. First The Man is closes our local golf course, now this.

Interestingly, the two retailers we lost this week were probably the two highest end of the bunch. Some people might be happy about this retail regression, but frankly it kind of sucks.

Also going bye bye for good? Ritz Camera. Their downtown store liquidated earlier this year, but the location in Burnt Mills lived on to fight another day. At least until now, that is. The entire chain is now liquidating.

So who's the present #1 in the Silver Spring Retail Dead Pool? My bet is on Pier 1, which is doing better than expected, but still plans to close 50 stores by the end of the year.

And now, once again, the official Silver Spring Retail Fail theme song:

Nicaro Hut

So here's the full scoop on the future Silver Spring restaurant from former Nicaro owner and chef Pedro Matamoros, courtesy of Tom Sietsema's WP.com chat earlier today:

Pedro Matamoros is going out on his own, to open a place called 8407. The name comes from its address, at 8407 Ramsey Ave., which is conveniently located between the Metro station and the Discovery building.

His business partner, Nancy Mola, tells me that Matamoros intends to focus on small plates, charcuterie, seafood and the like. 8407 will be BIG: 5,000 + square feet to accommodate a ground floor bar and three upstairs dining rooms, including banquet facilities.

Mola says a web site for the restaurant, which is expected to open in October, is planned for next week.

8407 Ramsey is, of course, the former home of the Luau Hut. So much for re-opening it as a tiki bar... for now.



Credit goes to J.S. for coining the phrase "Nicaro Hut".

I'm A High End Retailer, Get Me Out Of Here!

I would appear the slumming experiment is over for Marrimekko. According to ThayerAvenue.com the company absconded from their Ellsworth & Georgia location in the dead of night with little fanfare or warning, like a Finnish Robert Irsay.

When it opened in 2007, ours was just the third Marimekko Concept Store in the U.S., with the others located in Miami and Cambridge, Mass. Only one store, in Manhattan, has opened since. While I admit that I never personally purchased anything from Marrimekko, its existence was at least a source of bragging rights for Silver Spring. If the store re-opens in Bethesda, Clarendon, or somewhere similar, it will be a real slap in the face.

The difference between this and past DTSS store closings, which included Storehouse Furniture, Bombay Company and Ritz Camera, is that the action wasn't part of a chain-wide bankruptcy. It would appear that the Silver Spring store itself just wasn't cutting it. I'm not sure why they made the decision to open a shop that sold $50/yard fabric in Silver Spring in the first place, but to have it taken away after two years is kind of a black mark on our retail record.

So now what? Again according to Thayeravenue.com, the Pyramid Atlantic retail store may be moving to that corner, at least on a temporary basis. That's nice for them and all, but at some point Peterson needs to get permanent, paying tenants in these spaces. I imagine if they could have filled the Bombay/P.A. space after all this time, they would have. If someone's interested in partnering with me to start a cupcake/coffee/gelato joint in that location, let me know. No, really, I'd do that in a second.

Let's just hope it doesn't get bad enough that we get a dollar store on The Promenade. Don't laugh, it could happen.

And now, once again, the official Silver Spring Retail Fail theme song:

Outdoor Movies Return to Silver Spring

If you're still lamenting the loss of Silver Spring's outdoor movie series, fear not - it has returned, albeit in a much scaled-down form. Starting tomorrow, "Screen on the Lot" will be showing movies in the parking lot of the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. In keeping with their stated mission of "nurturing artistic excellence through imaginative programming in the visual arts", Pyramid Atlantic will be screening such avant-garde films as Transformers, Iron Man and School of Rock.

While some may dislike the experience of watching films outdoors, it's better to have them available than not. Rockville Town Square still shows flicks outside, although their selections include I'd-rather-eat-a-bullet-rather-than-watch-this motion pictures such as He's Just Not That Into You. Perhaps next year Silver Spring can use the soon-to-be-abandoned Sligo Creek Golf Course for outdoor movies...

It'd be great if someone organized some MobMovs in Silver Spring this summer. There's got to be an adequate space back in the imaginary Ripley District or elsewhere around downtown. I can imagine the humorless MoCo cops would frown upon this idea, however.



I love drive-ins, but right now the closest (official) one is way out past Baltimore. Are there any hipsters out there that want to be on point for this mission? I'll supply the cupcakes.

Just to clarify - you sit on the ground/chair/blanket for the movies at Pyramid Atlantic. If we had MobMovs, which we don't, you'd be in your car.

Trendy Confectionery God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?

Why is Silver Spring so far behind the cupcake curve? It's been nine long years since Carrie Bradshaw chowed on that fateful cupcake, yet Silver Spring has yet to sprout its first über-trendy $3 cupcake place.



Cupcakes, which were apparently invented sometime during the last decade, have spread across the metro area like a sugary plague. Capitalizing on a New York trend, places like Georgetown Cupcake, Red Velvet Cupcakery and Hello Cupcake have sprung up around the District in the past couple years. And it's not just DC proper, either - there are "cupcakeries"(real word?) in Virginia as well, and Bethesdans are getting their very own Georgetown Cupcake so they won't have to drive all the way down Wisconsin Avenue to queue up.

Now, I love me some cupcakes as much as the next red-blooded American and really have no problem paying a few bucks for a quality cupcake, but the concept of standing in line a half an hour or more to get one is a bit absurd. I do give maximum respect to proprietors of these places - they are milking this cupcake bubble to the fullest. Hell, I'm sure baking cupcakes is probably a lot more interesting than my job. Having a Land Rover for a cupcake company car is a bit over the top, though. You don't want to end up as the Evander Holyfield of cupcake bakers.



Anyway, I see lemmings customers lined up down the block at Georgetown Cupcake at all hours of the day, so there is clearly substantial a demand for cupcakes in our area. I can't believe that this need doesn't extend across the District border to Silver Spring. Nevertheless, despite the frosting-laden treat's apparent astronomical popularity, to my knowledge no one yet is planning on opening up a cupcake joint in The Spring. Are we that poor and/or unhip? There must be enough pent-up cupcake demand in our little corner of MoCo to sustain a dedicated cupcake shop. We're supposedly getting a new donut shop, but I'd take a cupcakery over that. (A good gelateria or bagel place would trump either of these, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Yes, there is a Cakelove in DTSS, and they do indeed sell cupcakes, but you never see people lined up out in front of the store. Why the Cakelove cupcake fail? Here's a few theories:

- Cakelove sells non-cupcake food. Why would you want to be in a line for a bakery when someone might think you are buying something other than a cupcake?

- Cakelove is soooo 2003. If it opened up now, it'd be hot.

- According to comments made on this blog and others, people don't exactly love Cakelove's cupcakes. (Their cupcakes only scored a 4.5 out of 10 in a Washington Post cupcake-off.)

Come to think of it, we don't have a fake Pinkberry frogurt place yet, either. Plus we never got a Krispy Kreme when those were the unhealthy food du jour, either. (Look what happened to them, though.) Maybe we're just flyover country when it comes to dessert trends. Well, at least we all won't end up with Type 2 diabetes.

Par 3 for The Course?

Sadly, it doesn't look like the county is going to keep operating our poor little Sligo Creek Golf Course after this year. Many are holding out hope, putting up websites and starting Facebook groups in support of the course.

Meanwhile, all sorts of folks are coming out of the woodwork with grandiose ideas for alternative uses for the space. The Frisbee golf proposal previously mentioned here is apparently still in the mix, but who knows if anyone of import within the County is taking that one seriously.

Montgomery Soccer, which apparently has a lot more money than the county, wants to build a multi-million dollar soccer facility in the space, construction of which will no doubt be funded in part with our tax dollars. Didn't like the idea of traffic for a driving range, golf course neighbors? Just imagine what a soccer tournament would look like. Minivans as far as the eye could see. Personally, I think this is a crap idea, since quite frankly I don't get any benefit from it. Who does? Little kids who don't even pay any goddamn property taxes, that's who. Have them play on the muddy field across the street and let us adults have something of our own.

Now, I don't fancy myself a John Daly or anything, and my golf experience doesn't extend far beyond driving ranges and mini-golf. However, I can see myself picking the game up someday, and the Sligo Creek Golf Course Location is really convenient to my house.

Perhaps there is some way to preserve the space as a golf course without incurring the full weight of the financial burden the county claims they can't presently shoulder. I know - make it a par 3 golf course!

What's a par 3 course?

From the Encyclopædia Britannica:

Par-three golf courses, on which each hole measures 100 yards (90 metres) more or less and plays at par three, were developed as a result of the shortage of available open land in congested urban areas. Whereas a regulation 18-hole course may stretch to more than 7,000 yards, about 4 miles (6.4 km), an 18-hole par-three, or short-hole, course can be laid out in about 1,800 yards (1.6 km).

Why a par 3 course? Here's a few benefits:

- More accessible than a proper course to people that suck at golf. Namely, me.
- Less maintenance, presumably, as there will be fewer fairways to mow.
- More people can play at any time - the present nine holes could be expanded to many more par 3 holes.

Here's an article that more fully details the benefits of a par 3 course.




I've passed plenty of par 3 courses located in fairly dense urban settings, though not in the D.C. metro area. As best as I can tell, the closest course of this type to here is way up in Gambrills. I don't see why the county couldn't support a par 3 course, maintenance costs for which would be partially covered by revenue from fees, snacks, and a pro shop. (Also - mini golf???) I mean, Compton has one, for goodness sake. Are you telling me that they can support a golf course of this nature, but MoCo, one of America's richest counties, can't?

I wonder where a par 3 course falls under the onerous agreement that the county has with the Revenue Authority. Would it really be considered as competition to one of the Authority's 18-hole courses?

Lost Silver Spring: The Luau Hut

Have you ever wondered about this bright yellow, vaguely Asian-looking edifice on Ramsey Street that seems so incongruous with the drab gray transportation-related structures that encircle it? The building now sits boarded up and vacant, having most recently served as the home of the Caribbean Style Restaurant and Lounge, the proprietors of which are likely responsible for the building's current bright orange-yellow livery. You may recall that street outside was the scene of a 5:30 AM shooting last year, an event which I suspect may have been at least partially responsible for the restaurant's demise.

For many years, beginning in the mid-1960's, this building served as the home of the Luau Hut, which I assume had to have been Silver Spring's only tiki bar.

The Luau Hut was born when a group of employees from the Washington Trader Vic's held a party at Moon Kim's Ramsey Avenue Korean restaurant, the Moon Garden. Among the guests was Paul Malonson, a Trader Vic's maitre d', who suggested to Kim that she expand the cuisine and transform the the restaurant into Polynesian-themed restaurant and bar. In 1964, the restaurant began to serve pan-Asian and Polynesian cuisine while serving up a variety of strong, rum-based Polynesian cocktails. Malonson and Kim, who were married in married in 1965, eventually opened up a second Luau Hut location on F near Union Station in the building that is now The Irish Times.

Along with being a restaurateur, Kim, who recently passed away, was a talented singer who attended Juilliard and even put out three rock albums (!) on the RCA label. Eventually, the popularity of her singing led her to perform three sets a night at the Luau Hut.

Side note: According to a 1966 Washington Post article, Silver Spring had itself a bit of a live music scene back in the 60's. Most entertainers in Silver Spring appear to have been pianists, though a big attraction at the time was dance music performances by the Kenny Duca Duo at the Villa Rosa Restaurant. According to the article, "Duca [was] one of the county's foremost exponents of the cordovox, an accordion with attachments that give it half a dozen sounds." Those last two sentences right there just undid all the hard work two seasons of Mad Men has done to make the 60's seem cool.

The Luau Hut served up a variety of drinks bearing fabulous names such as "Virgin's Downfall", with the highlight of the bunch being the Zombie, the only drink on the menu restricted to two per customer. (Whatever bar ends up being Zombie Walk HQ this year needs to learn how to prepare these.) You could choose to get you drink in a "tiki tumbler", which was yours to take home as a souvenir. Many of these mugs from the Luau Hut are still floating around out there, and I've scoured the internet for photos of the different varieties the restaurant offered. (See the slideshow at bottom of post.)

Here's the Luau Hut's cocktail menu from 1968:


(click to enlarge)

The restaurant's trademark image was that of the hula girl, who appeared partially nude on the restaurant's mugs and menus, but more modestly clothed for appearances in newspaper ads. Can you imagine the scandal today if a respectable MoCo restaurant had the audacity to put a topless chick on the cover of their menu?

In the 70's, the Silver Spring Luau Hut was apparently a favorite haunt of Bullets star and NBA Hall of Famer Elvin Hayes. This would be kind of like Gilbert Arenas hanging out at McGinty's on weekends, but in an alternate reality where the Wizards were good and people gave a damn.

Eventually the popularity of Tiki Bars fizzled out, and like many similar establishments nationwide, the Silver Spring Luau Hut faded into oblivion.

Somewhat surprisingly, the structure appears to have survived unscathed through the long period where the county felt that areas surrounding Metro stations were only good for parking garages. I'd love to lease the space and bring back the Luau Hut with the slightly-modified moniker "Luau the Hutt". The hula girl on my custom-designed mugs would be clothed in a Polynesian interpretation of Princess Leia's metal bikini and I'd use them to serve secret new cocktail recipes such as the "Thermal Detonator". You'd always get your way when holding a Thermal Detonator.

Here's a slideshow of Luau Hut related images that I've culled from the Internet and collected in a Flickr Set. These primarily came from from online tiki resources Arkiva Tropika and Tiki Room. (A few of the images I've enhanced a bit through the magic of Photoshop.)



Thanks to MG, KR and JM for contributing to this post.

UPDATE: For those curious about the Kenny Duca Duo and the Cordovox, here's a little slideshow of Cordovoxes with music featuring Kenny Duca. The Cordovox jam begins at about 0:58. Yes, it's cheesy, but what else could I do with ten minutes and Windows Movie Maker?

Welcome to Xanadu - Plenty of Great Condos Still Available!

I've been thinking more about the fabricated names ("Ripley District", "Fenton Village") that have recently been assigned to different areas of downtown Silver Spring as a precursor to their planned redevelopment.

I don't know why it bothers me so much when these names are used in an unironic manner, but it does. Same thing with Penn Quarter, NoMa and SoFlo (!) in the District. I obnoxiously feel the need to educate D.C. noobs that these places don't really exist, much like the fictional "Reagan Airport". Nevertheless, I am pretty much resigned to the fact that neighborhood re-branding has become an undeniable fixture of urban redevelopment.

I've decided what bugs me is not so much the fact that these neighborhoods (term used very loosely) are being branded, but that they are being assigned such lame names as "Fenton Village" and "Ripley District". I mean, come on, Ripley District? Unless this is meant to honor the protagonist of the Alien Quadrilogy, it's a naming fail. And how is this a district? It's like two blocks wide and the existing "streets" really aren't much more than alleys. (At least the current plan will create the fabulously named "Ripifant Street", the evil bastard progeny of Bonifant and Ripley streets.)

What County rule mandates that the name of re-branded areas must incorporate the name of an existing street? I mean, look at Ripley Street today - is this really what you want your neighborhood named after?



This is a tremendous opportunity to name parts of Silver Spring whatever we want. As an alternative to the generic nomenclatures coming out of MNCPPC, we ought to assign fantastical names to these areas, such as Xanadu, Valhalla, or Strawberry Fields, for example. We could even rename Ripley Street "Diagon Alley". Why not? Kids'd eat that up - at least until J.K. Rowling sues our ass. Imaginative names would certainly create a lot more buzz to attract potential residents for all these condos and apartments that are supposedly being built.

What position at Park & Planning has the responsibility for christening these places, and where do I apply for it? And no, it will not be a "community" decision. I would be Naming Czar. Hell, I'll do it for free. Ike - call me.

Silver Spring News 'N Notes

- So the Big Greek Cafe is (almost) back. I wonder - will The New Big Greek Cafe have the same menu as the Greek Place (née The Big Greek Cafe), being that the people who presumably created the menu at the later now will run the former? Is there such a demand for Greek cafes that two establishments can survive within shouting distance of each other? If not, which will outlast the other and avoid the hair-salon-conversion fate that frequently befalls failed Silver Spring businesses? I look forward to the drama.

- Brock Parker, a Springbrook High graduate, just won $225K in the won the $2,500 Six-Handed Limit Hold'em event at the World Series of Poker. Of course, the first commenter on the post challenges whether Springbrook is actually part of the "Real Silver Spring". (I will abstain from providing my opinion on this matter.) I'm waiting on the obligatory "All of Silver Spring sucks" comments that are sure to follow.

- Greater Greater Washington has an analysis of the proposed Wayne Avenue portion of the Purple Line route. It pokes holes is one of the B.S. arguments of rail opponents that bugs me the most - the supposed additional noise these trains will create, as if the county were going to run CSX cargo trains down the street. Hell, I can't wait for the Purple Line. I could walk a few blocks and hop a train to Bethesda. At that point I imagine public transportation will be my only option, as odds are I'll be far too old to drive. Of course, they may have teleporters by then, so the train will be obsolete anyway.

- This blog has an interesting photo that shows what Silver Spring Avenue above Fenton looked like years ago before they tore down the houses to put in parking lots.

Now this area is being developed as part of the "Fenton Village" project. I still contend that "Fenton Village" is an imaginary place, existing only in the minds of marketers. Village of what? Surface lots? Doesn't the term "village" imply a primarily residential population?

vil⋅lage
–noun
1. a small community or group of houses in a rural area, larger than a hamlet and usually smaller than a town, and sometimes (as in parts of the U.S.) incorporated as a municipality.

It seems kind of ironic for the county to retroactively assign the label of village to an area years after they've torn down most of the houses. This doesn't look too village-y to me.

Friday News 'N Notes

- This Sunday from 10-5, Silver Spring will host the first ever Handmade Mart crafts fair, featuring over fifty craft vendors along with live bands playing throughout the day.

Last June, the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Silver Spring was the site of the first Crafty Bastards crafts fair outside of D.C. Not sure why they didn't repeat the event this year - perhaps the use of the word "Bastards" was just too much for our suburban sensitivities. The stalls of the Handmade Mart, an event that still seems to be loosely affiliated with Crafty Bastards, will occupy prime real estate along The Promenade. I can't say that I'm personally into crafts all that much, but I find these things interesting as you never know what kind of random thing you might find. I did pick up a Obama-supporting piece of tofu at Crafty Bastards last year.

A map of the vendors can be found here. (PDF) Also, check out the Handmade Mart blog for more info on the participants.

- It's a busy weekend on The Promenade, as Silver Spring will also host an outdoor chess tournament from 1:15-4:30 on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully violence will not break out. This event follows the regularly-scheduled farmer's market and will in turn be followed immediately by the Spirit of Silver Spring "dance party", which will feature an 80's cover band...

- No doubt to the great chagrin of frolf enthusiasts, the Park and Planning Department has decided to attempt to continue to maintain the Sligo Creek Golf Course as a golf course. The problem here, outside the apparent financial barriers, is the non-compete clause the county signed with the Revenue Authority. It will be interesting to see if the RA tries to hold the county to it.

Another proposal, submitted by MSI, is to convert the space into soccer fields. I'm not even sure how that would work based on the present hilly landscape. (Personally, I prefer frolf to this idea.)

I still contend that a miniature golf course could bring in much-needed supplemental revenue. The county already operates a course in South Germantown. Wait, there's a South Germantown? Based on the usual naming conventions in MoCo ("North Bethesda", "North Potomac", "North Chevy Chase", etc.), I'm surprised it's not called North Gaithersburg. Perhaps Gaithersburg's name doesn't carry the same cache. They should just call it Bavaria. Now that would be clever.

- Silver Spring: the "Docu-wood of the East Coast"?

- The City Paper: Love the Tastee Diner, hate the food.

- The NAACP is considering moving its headquarters to Silver Spring. More than likely, they plan to use us as a pawn for better leverage with the Baltimore government. Similar things have happened before.