Lost Laurel

I recently had the idea to take a few of my vintage Laurel matchbooks for a little field trip… back to their origins. Standing either on site or within sight of the businesses they promote, I photographed them. It’s funny how such a small (and now virtually obsolete) form of advertising can trigger so many vivid memories—especially when shown in this context.

Covering pretty much all corners of the town, the matchbooks represent a range of eras—from the 1930s to the 1990s.

In some cases, if a business was around long enough, (like Peoples Drug, for instance) it had multiple matchbooks over time, showing logo and brand evolution. I plan to photograph as many as I can, and include multiple locations, if possible.

This will be an ongoing project I’ll add to as time permits, and of course as I find more matchbooks. If you have any old ones from Laurel hiding in that kitchen junk drawer, please let me know!

For as long as Laurel Shopping Center has been around, (1956) there’s been a bank where Bank of America sits today. When Gov. George Wallace was shot on this site while campaigning for president in 1972, it was an Equitable Trust.

Pappy’s opened at 14817 Baltimore Ave. in 1976. If you timed it right, you could see the movie on the Wineland’s Laurel Drive-In screen from the back of the restaurant. Currently a Wells Fargo bank.

The Taco Bell at Town Center (RT. 197 & Contee Rd.) was, in the 1980s, a Church’s Fried Chicken.

It’s an office that sells double-wide trailer homes today; but in the 1950s, this building off RT. 1 just south of Davis Ave. in North Laurel was Texas Barbecue. By the mid-60s, it was briefly a night spot called the Cardinal Club. (If anyone happens to find a matchbook from THERE, kindly let me know!)

Before it was Sullivan’s, O’Toole’s Roadhouse had a brief run at Laurel Plaza in the late 1980s.

This North Laurel McDonald’s (10001 Washington Blvd.) spent a few years as a Roy Rogers in the 1980s. But in the 70s, it was home to Gino’s.

Now vacant, (and likely to be demolished) this building was most recently Wild Buffalo Grill. It was well-known in the 1970s and 80s as Chaucer House, but dates to the 1930s when Allen’s Cabins/Al’s Flamingo featured the restaurant and cabin-style motel rooms “for $1 and up”. In 1967, when the restaurant was known as Allen’s Town House, this parking lot saw a bizarre two-hour standoff between a Ku Klux Klan-led mob and about 25 University of Maryland students who’d gathered to guard the building after manager John Morris twice refused service to a group of robed Klansmen. The leader of that group, self-proclaimed head of the Interstate Knights of the Klan, Xavier Edwards, happened to own the Phillips 66 gas station directly beside the restaurant, just on the other side.

Laurel still has an IHOP, but its original location—complete with the big, blue gabled roof—was where Starbucks, etc. sits today at the Rt. 1 entrance to Laurel Shopping Center.

The CVS at Laurel Shopping Center has only previously been a Peoples Drug—and was there when the shopping center first opened in 1956.

Tucked away in ye olde Georgetown Alley in the 1970s was Ye Olde Fireplace Shoppe. Today, this entire section of Laurel Shopping Center—at one time a vibrant, innovative corridor—sits vacant, awaiting redevelopment.

One of the original Laurel Lakes restaurants when the shopping center opened in 1985 was El Torito, located where Teppanyaki Grill is today.

The current Chi’bal Tequila Bar & Mexican Grill had been a number of different restaurants since the 1970s. Most recently the notorious Laurel Station, it was originally Ponderosa.

Montpelier Shopping Center had something very special when it had Delaney’s Irish Pizza Pub.

Pantry Pride was the original anchor grocery store at Montpelier Shopping Center in the 1970s.

Like the Irish Pizza Pub, Tag’s was another classic Laurel restaurant lost to fire—making a matchbook memento sadly ironic.

Flashback Friday: The iconic Giant Food sign at Laurel Shopping Center was grandfathered into the lease—as long as the store is here, the sign stays. Here’s a matchbook cover from the era it came from, circa 1956.

Citizens Bank of Maryland had multiple locations in Laurel over the years, including this one at the south end of Town Center.

By the 1980s, there were more High’s stores in Laurel—like this one on Main Street—than today’s 7-Elevens and Starbucks combined. Today there are none.

Thankfully, the Tastee Diner is still open around the clock, but here’s a 1980s-era matchbook that features artwork of one of their FORMER locations—the current 29 Diner in Fairfax, VA.

Laurel had its share of Drug Fairs, too—like this one at Montpellier.

The CVS at Laurel Shopping Center has only previously been a Peoples Drug—and was there when the shopping center first opened in 1956. This was Peoples’ final brand identity from the late 80s.

When it opened in 1990, Laurel’s Silver Diner was only the second restaurant in the popular chain. The location closed suddenly after 25 years, when the landlord decided to double the rent. Fortunately, Baltimore’s Double T Diner is in the process of taking over the space.

Pollo Campero was the longtime site of Laurel’s Tastee-Freez—which, when demolished in 2009, revealed the iconic red & white tiles of Laurel’s first McDonald’s.

This corner of Laurel Shopping Center has been bricked up for years, but was originally home to the White Coffee Pot.

The CVS at Laurel Shopping Center has only previously been a Peoples Drug—and was there when the shopping center first opened in 1956. This was Peoples’ brand identity throughout the 70s and early 80s.

Would you believe there was a fashionable dress shop in the building that’s been the Laurel Meat Market for nearly half a century? The Vogue Dress Shop was indeed here before relocating to Laurel Shopping Center.

Chaucer House opened in 1975, in what had been Al’s Flamingo—a restaurant & bar dating to the 1930s. Now vacant, (and likely to be demolished) it was most recently Wild Buffalo Grill. Just beyond the building is a former gas station that was owned in the late 1960s by a local Ku Klux Klan leader, Francis Xavier Edwards. Edwards and his minions once attempted to have dinner in this restaurant—in full KKK regalia. I’m proud to say that they were refused service and never welcomed back.

When Laurel Shopping Center expanded in 1966, it brought with it a Hot Shoppes—which eventually became Horn & Horn Smörgåsbord. Today, the space is occupied by Books A Million.

The legendary Turf Club, demolished in 1989, has been home to a Public Storage facility ever since.

Laurel’s longtime IHOP location was originally a Bob’s Big Boy.

When it closed in 1989, Gavriles’ had been a Main Street mainstay for nearly 80 years. The building has new life today as Ragamuffins Coffee House.

Despite being somewhat hidden in the shadow of the Steward Tower high rise, the Ranch House did fairly good business throughout the 1980s. Subsequent restaurants, however, just never caught on. It’s currently vacant, and once again available for lease.

Roadway trucks were a common sight throughout Laurel for decades. The terminal on Marshall Ave. now sits empty, with plans for a large multi-use development still being hashed out.

Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre, which occupied the old Laurel Theatre building from 1977–92, later became a series of increasingly underperforming comedy clubs (although one did host a young Dave Chappelle). Faced with exorbitant renovation costs and a mold problem that nixed any hope of salvaging it, the city purchased the building and demolished it in 2016.

The building was demolished in 2012 (along with the old blue American National Bank building at the intersection of Rt. 1 & 198) to make way for Walgreens, but it had housed Rustler, Montana’s, and Kenny Rogers Roasters, among other things.

Not many folks seem to remember Bradlees, but when Laurel Lakes opened in 1985, the department store was one of its anchors. Today, it’s a Ross.

Stewart Men’s Clothes was one of the original tenants of Laurel Shopping Center when it opened in 1956. It was located in the space where Hobby Works—itself a long-time tenant—remains today.

In the days of DiGennaro’s, you were just a few doors away from the Town Center Twin Cinema. Literally, dinner and a movie.

From a time when television was a new thing. (Peter & Martha (Kalbach) Lewnes collection)

Shane’s Sandwich Shop has been a dependable late-night staple in Laurel since it opened beside the bowling alley in 1979, but even IT isn’t original. It used to be Harley’s.

The Paddock Hotel & Restaurant was located in the Patuxent Building at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Main Street in the early 1950s. In hindsight, with “paddock” being a nod to the nearby horse races, I’m not sure that was the best name for a restaurant “known for the finest steaks”… In fact, some of their print ads even featured cartoons of horses!

Food Fair opened on this site (where CVS and Five Guys currently is between Route 1 North/South and Bowie Road) in 1962, and remained until 1971—when the store relocated to the new Montpellier Shopping Center as the rebranded Pantry Pride. The old Food Fair building spent the next two decades as Frank’s Hardware and Frank’s Nursery and Crafts before being demolished and replaced with the new CVS.

The current Famous Dave’s Bar-B-Que at Laurel Lakes began life as Shoney’s in 1985, when the shopping center was built.

One of the more generic-sounding grocery stores in Laurel, Acme was located at Maryland City Plaza in the early 1970s. An earlier Acme store had actually been on Main Street in the 1950s, where Laurel Glass & Mirror is today.

The building was demolished in 2012 (along with the old blue American National Bank building at the intersection of Rt. 1 & 198) to make way for Walgreens, but it had housed Rustler, Montana’s, and Kenny Rogers Roasters, among other things.

Years before Potbelly, Bennigan’s was a popular spot at Laurel Lakes.

In addition to the pharmacy, Dougherty’s featured a popular lunch counter.

The original anchor grocery store at Laurel Plaza, Grand Union became “Basics”—a subsidiary of Grand Union—in April 1980 before beginning a long stint as Village Thrift Store just four years later. It’s currently Planet Fitness.

A former Little Tavern employee shared the recipe for those famous little burgers with the owners of Laurel Tavern Donuts; so once again, you can “buy ’em by the bag” in Laurel.

The Route 1 landscape looks drastically different without Bay ‘n Surf’s trademark lighthouse.

You don’t hear of many businesses closing, only to reopen years later… in the same location. That’s the case with Oliver’s—the 1980s saloon that’s thriving once again in what was, from 1902–1925, Laurel’s trolley station.

This corner of Laurel Shopping Center has been bricked up for years, but was originally home to the White Coffee Pot. In the 1970s, it became The New Yorker, and throughout the 80s, Mac’s Place Plus One. (If anyone finds a matchbook from the latter, kindly let me know!)

Some 20 years before the Big T, Laurel’s first Tastee-Freez was located at 10081 N. 2nd Street—now home to AmeriCar Auto Center.

Not only is the bowling alley still open, it has duckpin lanes once again! However, it hasn’t been Fair Lanes in quite some time.

The former CJ Ferrari’s—which opened in 1985—has sat empty for three years now, with a Peruvian chicken restaurant supposedly planning to take its place. Work on the building seems to have resumed in earnest.

The “Safeway Shopping Center” opened at 123 Bowie Rd. In 1966. Originally, the building to the right was a Safeway Super S—an early (and failed) general merchandise and pharmacy concept that closed less than a year later, while the Safeway proper continued to thrive. The building sat empty until 1969, when Dart Drug arrived. Safeway & Dart Drug lasted until 1985, when the grocery store relocated to the then-new Laurel Lakes Centre. The building has since spent time as Village Thrift Store and Office Depot.

They say rainy days are for the ducks, right? Here’s one from the 1980s–90s on Sweitzer Lane. The former Best Western is now Doubletree by Hilton.

Montgomery Ward and its automotive center sat at the corner of Cherry Lane & Fourth Street. Opened in 1969, Wards was a standalone building that had to be retrofitted in 1979 to connect to the new Laurel Centre Mall. When Wards closed, it became Burlington Coat Factory. It, and the mall, were demolished in 2012.

An old matchbook from the oldest bank in P.G. County.

Yes, North Laurel once had a strip club. Opened in 1991, it became Howard County’s only all-nude dance club—and quickly drew the ire of local residents. County and state representatives were petitioned, and legislation was drafted that made it increasingly difficult for such a business to prosper; and four years later, Good Guys closed its doors. The DC location continues to operate to this day.

Many of the acts that played at the Laurel Pop Festival in 1969 stayed at the HoJo. One of my favorite stories involves Sly and the Family Stone walking to Keller’s on Main Street to buy produce.

Old gas stations never really die; some become flooring companies.

In March of 1982, Laurel was excited to have Woolco take over the former Hecht Co. building at Laurel Shopping Center—after Hecht’s had just relocated into the brand new Laurel Center Mall. However, just six months later, the bankrupt Woolco decided to close all 336 stores in the United States. Jamesway occupied the space for the next decade, followed by Lionel Kiddie City and Toys R Us. In 2012, the building received an extensive makeover and is now home to a hugely-successful LA Fitness.

A matchbook from the early days of the “new” Laurel Diner, which replaced an older model in 1951. The Tastee Diner—still very much open for business today—is actually the THIRD diner on the site, dating to the early 1930s.

This building at 143 Bowie Road has seen more restaurant turnovers than most have in Laurel, but when it was originally built in 1969, it was the Village Inn.

Originally Village Inn Pizza, this building at 143 Bowie Rd. had a FEW runs as various pizza joints over the years—including a brief stint in the early 80s as Shakey’s.

The ever-evolving bank at 207 Laurel Bowie Rd. originally opened as a Suburban Trust in 1975.

There’s still an empty lot where the old Laurel Theatre building stood at 312 Main Street until last year. Built in 1929, it closed in 1976; but went on to enjoy new life as Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre until 1992. A succession of comedy clubs failed after that, (in spite of hosting the likes of Dave Chappelle and Richard Jeni) and the building sat vacant from 2007 onward.

In the days that Loyola Federal operated at 317 Main Street, it wasn’t sitting beside a large office building—it was beside Keller’s/Knapp’s newsstand.

Laurel’s Pearl Vision Center has been in business for over three decades now. But in the 1970s, the little building looked a lot bigger—as a Red Barn restaurant.

Demolished and rebuilt as a Days Inn shortly after two of the 9/11 terrorists stayed there in the days before the attacks, the Pin-Del Motel had been a longtime fixture in North Laurel. It’s name was a phonetic spin on the owner’s name, Douglas B. Pindell.

All photos ©2017 Richard Friend | Lost Laurel