Artifacts | Lost Laurel

Mar 02 2019

Postmark Laurel: Kickstarter campaign now live!

Nearly five years ago, I launched a Kickstarter campaign that resulted in the successful publishing of my very first book—Lost Laurel. It was a tremendous experience; and the crowdfunding aspect allowed me to create a better product and make it available to a broader audience. In addition to selling the entire supply, I was able donate copies to Laurel High School and the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (where I worked throughout high school and college, shelving books!)

Although I hadn’t pushed a book cart in 20 years, I took a moment at the grand opening of the new Stanley Memorial Library to ceremoniously re-shelve my *Lost Laurel* books!

In the years since, many folks have asked me, “When will you create another book?” I’m happy to report that I’m doing exactly that. In fact, while there are three other books that I’m currently working on with the Laurel History Boys, I’ve officially launched the Kickstarter campaign for this one—Postmark Laurel: Historic Picture Postcards of Laurel, Maryland.

The book is a surprisingly diverse collection of over 120 different postcards from Laurel, dating from the early 1900s to the late 1980s, faithfully reproduced at full size—front and back.

In fact, the correspondence on some of the cards is often as charming as the cards themselves. Check out this one, and remember that it was mailed from laurel 110 years ago:

The Kickstarter campaign will help fund the printing and distribution of a first run of books, and it’s also a chance for you to have a part in its creation. As an early backer of the project, your name will appear printed in the book’s acknowledgments. There are also different pledge levels, in which you can not only purchase the book, but some of the original historic postcards themselves!

The campaign runs for 30 days, and is an all-or-nothing endeavor. So please make your pledges now, and share the link with friends and family to ensure that the minimum goal is met. If the goal is exceeded, I can upgrade the book—including making a hardcover edition.

If funded, all books should be printed and delivered by this July—plenty of time for Christmas gifts!

Click here or the image below to visit the official Kickstarter page and reserve your copies now!

Tagged books, kickstarter, Laurel History Boys, lost laurel book, postcards, postmark laurel, Richard Friend

Feb 03 2018

4 Comments

Artifacts, Stores

A Lost Laurel Super Bowl Story

This Sunday’s Super Bowl match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots has special meaning for me. And despite the conflicting geography, it all points back to Laurel.

I should start by confessing something—I grew up rooting for the Eagles. (Hold your jeers, please). I was only 7 years old when my cousin’s family moved from Laurel to the Philadelphia suburbs; and visiting there, being immersed in Eagles fever (this was 1980, the year the Eagles would go on to their first Super Bowl) I naturally gravitated towards the green and silver. The first NFL game I attended in person was an Eagles/Redskins game at Veterans Stadium—and I was hooked.

I should’ve seen it as a relationship that was doomed from the start. That January, our TV decided to break. It was still in the shop at Belmont TV by the time Super Bowl XV aired, and my dad and I were forced to listen to the game on the radio, like it was the Great Depression or something. And depressing it was—the Eagles, actually favored to win, somehow lost to the Oakland Raiders. And they wouldn’t make another Super Bowl appearance for 24 long years.

My entire childhood—and then some—was spent rooting for a team that was at times great, and at other times awful. And at all times, just never quite good enough to win the big one.

I was about 9 or 10 when my parents took me to Montgomery Ward at Laurel Centre Mall to pick up something I’d been drooling over in their Christmas catalog for weeks: NFL Action Team Mates®. They were 7″ posable figures which came with numbered sticker sheets, letting you create your own players.

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This was decades before McFarlane would introduce their magnificently-crafted NFL figures; and even several years before we’d see the first Starting Lineup® figures, which were pretty revolutionary, themselves.

But getting back to the Action Team Mates®, I had my heart set on the Eagles and Redskins.

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There was one problem. The Wards associate informed us that they didn’t have any Eagles figures in stock. I was crushed. And I had exactly 10 seconds to decide which other team figures I wanted.

I couldn’t stand the Cowboys; I had no interest in the Giants. Instead, my mind went directly to Laurel’s all-time favorite sporting goods store owner, Bob Windsor. Bob had actually played for the New England Patriots, and would always give customers an autographed photo. Mine was taped to my bedroom wall at the time, I’m sure.

So, without hesitation, I asked, “Do you have the New England Patriots?” They did. And after several minutes of waiting in the catalog order pickup department, I went home with a complete set of NFL Action Team Mates®, including the cardboard field, the goal posts, sideline markers and benches, and the Redskins and Patriots—two teams which, ironically, I can’t recall ever having even faced each other. But I digress. It was awesome.

Now let’s flash forward a few decades.

By the late 2000s, I was admittedly growing tired of being an Eagles fan—something I never thought could happen. I still loved the players; but the perennial disappointment of underachieving teams had worn on me. Worse, I didn’t like the way the management seemed to have an air of entitlement, despite having never won a Super Bowl. They’d cut veteran players as soon as they turned 30 years old, and being a 30-something at the time, myself, that was frustrating.

Frankly, I also didn’t like the reputation Eagles fans had—especially here in the DC area. As the team became more successful/popular—going to a string of consecutive NFC Championship Games, especially—displaced fans tended to overcompensate and go out of their way to be obnoxious. Having grown up attending games in Philadelphia, I knew that the majority of the actual hometown fans were not really that bad. For the most part, they’re knowledgeable and passionate about their team, and nowhere near the stereotype you see so often in this area. I certainly was never like that. And I didn’t want to be associated with that reputation.

Between that and the constantly-changing rosters due to free agency, I decided to step away from being a die-hard Philly fan, and actually tried to root for my hometown Washington Redskins in earnest these past few years. However, I quickly realized that this team—particularly its management under Dan Snyder and Bruce Allen—makes cheering for them infinitely harder than anything I ever endured with the Eagles.

But getting back on topic, it was during this period of transition that I parted ways with a lot of my Eagles memorabilia—keeping only a few mementos from the earlier years that I’ll always treasure.

And while weeding through that stuff, I came across a couple of those old NFL Action Team Mates® figures, a couple of which had somehow survived relatively unscathed. (Not this one, unfortunately):

I found a Patriots figure to which I’d applied the number 12 some 30 years earlier, and decided to list it on eBay—playing to that legion of Tom Brady fans. To my surprise, somebody actually did a Buy It Now for $150.

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I absolutely detest the Patriots—particularly after their 3-point win over Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX—and even moreso in the years that have followed, with the cheating scandals and the general arrogance that they project. But I did get some degree of satisfaction knowing that I fleeced one of their fans for $150—for an action figure that was, to me, just a stand-in for the team I’d really wanted.

The Patriots are once again favored to beat the Eagles tomorrow night in what will be their record 10th Super Bowl appearance. And like the last time they faced off, the Eagles aren’t 100% healthy. But for some strange reason, I’m surprisingly optimistic… I can see Philadelphia actually getting to Brady and pulling off the upset. I’m just trying to visualize how it would feel, seeing the dream of them finally win a Super Bowl realized.

Either way, I’m encouraged with the direction the Eagles are heading. Win or lose, they should be legitimate contenders for the foreseeable future. And I’m happy to have rekindled some of the childhood passion I had for this team. Unlikely as it may seem, cheering for the Philadelphia Eagles brings fond memories of growing up in Laurel, Maryland.

Tagged 1980s, Bob Windsor, Bob Windsor's All-Pro Sports, montgomery ward, new england patriots, philadelphia eagles, super bowl, vintage toys, washington redskins

Aug 27 2017

3 Comments

Advertisements, Artifacts, matchbooks

Matchbooks: You Are Here

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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

Tagged Lost Laurel, matchbook

May 07 2017

4 Comments

Artifacts, News, Paper Ephemera, Photos, Stores

“Top of the World, Ma!”

Laurel Plaza shopping center, at the intersection of Routes 197 and 198, has always had something unique to Laurel at any given time. Zayre (and later, Ames) was the anchoring department store on one end, and Grand Union (and later, Basics) was the grocery store on the other—a space that would later become the longtime home to Village Thrift Store. But, of course, Laurel Plaza was also home to the greatest sporting goods store of all time, Bob Windsor’s All Pro Sports—owned by former San Francisco 49ers and New England Patriots star, Bob Windsor.

But Laurel Plaza was also where the Laurel Boys & Girls Club-sponsored traveling carnivals set up when I was a kid; and every year around this time, I think back to them fondly.

Laurel Plaza carnival, May 1987. (Photo © Richard Friend)

Operated by Winchester Amusement Company, you didn’t have to be a certified safety inspector to tell that the rides weren’t exactly in optimal condition. Disney World, this most certainly wasn’t. And you could also count on some kind of trouble brewing at some point during the two-week run—usually a drunken scuffle or three after an argument over the (very-possibly-rigged) games of chance.

But the rides were true carnival classics: the Scrambler, the Trabant, and the Scat (among others) were there year after year. The crown jewel, however—the one that literally first caught your eye and immediately registered “carnival”—was the Ferris Wheel.

And Winchester Amusement Company had one of the biggest Ferris Wheels—a 50-footer. Anyone approaching Laurel Plaza simply couldn’t miss it.

Thirty years ago this week, (on May 14th, 1987, to be exact) I got to experience that 50-foot Ferris Wheel from a very unique perspective:

I got stuck at the top, and had to climb down via the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department’s 100-foot ladder truck.

I literally remember it like it was yesterday, but my memory is surely aided by these photos that I took the day after the fateful ride.

The infamous Ferris Wheel at Laurel Plaza, the day after the incident. (Photo © Richard Friend)

I’ve never been a particular fan of Ferris Wheels, mind you; I’m more of a roller coaster guy. But I’d had it in my mind to try out every ride the carnival had to offer. Ferris Wheels always struck me as incredibly boring; but as luck would have it, this one quickly turned into what was arguably the most exciting ride in the history of the Laurel carnival.

It was around 8PM that night when I boarded the Ferris Wheel—the ride only about three quarters full with nine people, total. It made exactly one full rotation, and as I passed the motor at the base of the ride, I flinched as a large cable literally snapped off the drive wheel system. Seconds later, as my car ascended to the top, the entire Ferris Wheel shimmied side to side briefly—that’s when everyone realized that something had gone wrong. For a split second, I thought it was going to collapse. That, or we were literally going to start rolling down Route 198.

The broken cable the day after the incident. Photo © Richard Friend

Instead, we heard what sounded like a generator cutting off, and the wheel simply ground to a stop—with my car literally stuck at the very top.

I remember seeing the Ferris Wheel operator frantically trying to figure out what to do; and when his best option was evidently to try to manually rotate the giant wheel—with his bare hands—I knew this was serious.

With curious onlookers beginning to congregate, carnival employees shouted up to us that they would have us down safely soon; but at least an hour went by before we finally saw salvation…in the form of fire trucks.

A pair of firefighters climbed the 100-foot ladder to my car, and spent a few moments securing the car to their ladder. I was told to hold onto the back of the car I was sitting in, because the second I started moving, it would swing forward. Sure enough, I found myself looking straight down at the asphalt parking lot for a few unnerving seconds. But I was safely harnessed to the firefighter, who assured me that if I fell, he would fall, too—and that he wasn’t planning to fall.

The safety bar on Car #9, still open the day after I’d climbed out from the top of the Ferris Wheel. (Photo © Richard Friend)

He instructed me to carefully step out of the car, and to throw my legs over the top of the Ferris Wheel, one at a time. Literally, over the top of the Ferris Wheel, and onto the ladder. I did that, and we slowly descended together. As we did, I confided to him, “this is a lot more fun than the Ferris Wheel.”

I’d just gotten safely to the ground when a man whom I assume was the owner/manager of the carnival approached me. I’m not exaggerating when I say that he looked exactly like the guy from “The Blues Brothers” who owned Bob’s Country Bunker.

Bob, owner of Bob’s Country Bunker. (“The Blues Brothers,” 1980).

He was smiling jovially as he handed me a small cup of Pepsi. “Are ‘ya thirsty? Here, have a soda!” And then he handed me the real reward for my experience: a pair of complimentary ticket books. They included 12 tickets for free rides. I still have the covers in my collection:

I went straight home after that, and found my mom furious that I was over an hour and a half late. Not only that, she didn’t believe my story of being stuck at the top of the Ferris Wheel—even when I showed her the ticket books I’d received. It actually wasn’t until the following Thursday, when the Laurel Leader reported the incident, that she realized I’d been telling the truth!

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To my knowledge, no charges or lawsuits were ever filed, as no one was injured. I went back to the carnival in the days afterward and used my free tickets—even riding the Ferris Wheel again once it was operational. Although, that was the last Ferris Wheel ride I’ve ever taken.

I’ve tried to find out whatever became of the Winchester Amusement Company, which (not surprisingly) seems to be out of business. I’d heard that the Laurel Boys & Girls Club, concerned with their quality control, eventually replaced them with another carnival operator in the 1990s. And in 1998, there was an incident in Hagerstown where a teenager was seriously injured after being ejected from one of the rides operated by Winchester Amusement. I doubt there were any free ticket books and Pepsis after that one, and it may very well have spelled the end for the longtime carnies.

Nevertheless, I’ll always have the memory of climbing down from the top of that Ferris Wheel at the carnival in Laurel Plaza—which may as well have been the top of the world. It’s just hard to believe that it’s been 30 years. Driving past the shopping center today, the parking lot is still teeming with activity; but nothing like the night of May 14, 1987.

Tagged 1980s, carnival, ephemera, Laurel Plaza

Apr 17 2016

5 Comments

Architecture, Artifacts, Laurel TV, News, Restaurants, Signs, Video

Laurel Theatre / Petrucci’s: Demolition Pending

My next episode of Lost Laurel will focus on the long history of the derelict building at 312 Main Street, which originally housed the Laurel Theatre, and was the longtime home to Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre before a string of increasingly unsuccessful comedy clubs led to its demise. Here’s a preview:

Unfortunately, the City’s efforts to find a developer willing and able to salvage the critically-deteriorated building weren’t successful, and having recently had the opportunity to tour it myself, I completely see why.

A big thanks to SORTO Contracting, LLC (particularly Francisco Sorto, David Muir, Blaine Sutton, Harry Garlitz and Patrick Fink) for extending the invitation to see and document the building’s final days, and for sharing some truly fantastic finds that I’ll be including in the full episode. In addition to the building’s history, you’ll see for yourself just how far gone the structure actually was. (Yes, those were angry pigeons living inside… and I’m deathly afraid of birds.)

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The SORTO team was also kind enough to carefully remove and save the “Theatre” lettering from the façade for me—these are individually-cut wooden letters that are the only remaining vestiges of the Petrucci’s era (they originally spelled out the full name, “Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre” and matched the adjacent Pal Jack’s Pizza font. laurel-theatre-preview-pic5 laurel-theatre-preview-pic6 laurel-theatre-preview-pic7

The letters are badly deteriorated, and frankly, I’m amazed that they came down intact. I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m going to restore them. laurel-theatre-preview-pic8 laurel-theatre-preview-pic9 laurel-theatre-preview-pic10

Blaine Sutton and Patrick Fink of SORTO have also been sharing some of the unexpected treasures that only tend to resurface when walls start coming down. And in a movie theater that dates to 1929, that means some very old candy boxes and soda bottles, for starters! Here’s just a glimpse of what they’ve found:

Photo courtesy of Blaine Sutton

Photo courtesy of Patrick Fink

Patrick tells me that the pristine Pepsi bottle pre-dates 1951, at which point Pepsi stopped using the double-dot in their logo. It had been stuck in the plaster mortar in the ceiling below the balcony for at least 65 years.

I’ll have plenty more photos to share in the next blog update when the full video is ready. Those who don’t get Laurel TV will still be able to see the episode right here.

Tagged demolition, Laurel Theatre, Lost Laurel, Main Street, Petrucci's, Sorto Contracting

Apr 12 2016

1 Comment

Advertisements, Artifacts, News, Paper Ephemera, Restaurants

Surprise Closing: Silver Diner

Photo: Chris B. Daniel

Yesterday evening, I got a text from Rodney Pressley—one of my oldest friends from Laurel. He’d just gotten a most unexpected email from Silver Diner. It wasn’t a promotional coupon, or an announcement about an upcoming event:

Courtesy of Rodney Pressley

They weren’t just announcing that the popular restaurant at 14550 Washington Boulevard was closing—they had already closed, effective immediately.

Rodney sent me the above screenshot, which I posted on the Lost Laurel Facebook page essentially as breaking news, because this information seemed to have come out of nowhere.

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It quickly became one of Lost Laurel’s most engaging posts—ever—with over 300 shares and over 44,000 people reached. (The page has even had more than 150 new likes in the past 24 hours). Clearly, the unexpected departure of the Silver Diner caught all of us off guard, even those who weren’t regular patrons.

A number of people commented that they’d actually just eaten at the restaurant the day before, and there had been absolutely no clue that they had planned to close. Silver Diner’s website (which had already erased the Laurel location from its website at the time of the email) eventually updated its FAQ page with a special notice about the Laurel restaurant’s closing. They also included a detailed PDF.

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In short, it seems that the restaurant had a 25-year lease on the property, which had just ended. The landowner(s) wanted considerably more money to renew the lease than Silver Diner was willing to pay.

One would think that there would have been some sort of communication with the employees and the community at large before the decision to close was made, though. Had there been, I’m guessing there would have been strong support for Silver Diner to remain open. After all, the restaurant seemed to have a full parking lot at all hours of the day and night—they weren’t hurting for business.

And from a historical perspective, (albeit recent history) this is actually a pretty big deal. The Silver Diner opened in late 1990, and was only the second restaurant in the chain’s history (behind Rockville). It even had an early review in the Washington Post.

Twenty-five years. Think about that for a second. In an age when we’ve sadly come to expect businesses to change every couple of years, this one ended up staying for a quarter of a century. While it honestly didn’t seem like it, the novelty of this polished chrome and neon facsimile of a classic diner had steadily become a classic itself. At the very least, it had become a fixture in the shadow of Laurel Lakes.

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Photos: Bonnie Oskvarek

With the news of its closing, rumors and misinformation quickly began flying, as is often the case with social media. Some folks were confusing the Silver Diner with its elder counterpart—the legendary Tastee Diner at 118 Washington Boulevard—which is still very much open for business, and now in its 65th year. Others mistakenly thought the entire Silver Diner chain was going out of business, blaming its revamped menu, among other things.

Others were speculating that the restaurant had closed due to a fire—a fate all-too familiar for other longtime Laurel restaurants. (See also, “Bay ‘n Surf,” “Delaney’s Irish Pub,” and “Tag’s”…)

In fact, there had actually been a minor fire at the Silver Diner on closing day—but it had nothing to do with the chain’s decision to close the Laurel restaurant.

Courtesy of Megan Wheatley Shurman

So, Laurel’s Silver Diner has closed its doors. There was no forewarning, and no chance for customers to stop in one last time to reminisce. And 25 years’ worth of memories is significant. I’ve heard from several people who had gone to the restaurant on their first dates; and one Lost Laurel reader commented that she’d met her future husband there—he’d been her waiter.

That being said, I suppose there’s never been a more perfect time to share these items from my collection. Frankly, I didn’t really expect to share them; I assumed, like everyone else, that the Silver Diner wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. These flyers, menus, and coffee cup date between 1990–92—the restaurant’s earliest days:

This one’s a two-fer: local oldies radio station XTRA104 didn’t last very long into the 1990s.

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Note the two locations: it was just Rockville and Laurel at the time.

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For what it’s worth, Silver Diner’s website mentions that they are “looking at multiple opportunities in the Laurel and Columbia areas and (they) hope to return to the Laurel area soon.”

Tagged 1990s, Laurel Lakes, Silver Diner

May 01 2015

2 Comments

Artifacts

Brick by Brick

I still occasionally get comments from new Lost Laurel Facebook readers, asking why certain businesses don’t seem to be featured. One that comes up quite often: “What about Dottie’s Trophies?” And I have to explain that A) the concept of Lost Laurel is that these are all places that are no longer in business. And B) Dottie’s Trophies—sometimes to the surprise of many—is indeed still open for business. Since 1968, in fact, they’ve been continuously producing countless trophies and awards for sports teams and corporations in the Laurel area and beyond.

It also dawned on me recently that I’d never actually been to Dottie’s Trophies in all these years. I’ve driven by it at least 1,232,000 times; and I’ve had at least a couple bowling trophies as a kid with Dottie’s name on the bottom. I decided to remedy that, and came up with what I think was a unique way to utilize their craft.

Let me backtrack for a moment.

A little over a year ago, I was giving a presentation for the Laurel Historical Society when I met Mike McLaughlin—and he gave me a wonderful surprise gift. A pair of them, actually—pieces of concrete from the recently demolished ruins of two of my favorite Lost Laurel sites: the Tastee-Freez and the Laurel Centre Mall. Mike had taken and shared some wonderful photos of the demolition process of both, and managed to salvage a few pieces of the buildings—literally—before they were gone for good.

The amazing thing about the Tastee-Freez coming down was the reemergence of the red and white tiles underneath the exterior facade. The tiles were from the 1960s, when the building was originally Laurel’s first McDonald’s.

The white brick from the Mall still had those tiny flecks of crystal that would catch the sunlight on the Hecht’s/Macy’s side. It’s funny how even a single brick can still trigger an image of the Mall as a whole.

I thought of these bricks recently when it became apparent that demolition work on the Stanley Memorial Library is finally imminent. (As of this post, the building is still standing; but it’s surrounded by chain link fencing and work is likely to begin any day now.) My very first job was as a clerical aide at that library, and I ended up working there all throughout high school and college. It was and will always be a special place for me. When the building comes down, I’d like to get a few bricks for myself and some former colleagues.

It turns out I didn’t have to wait for the library to fall down to get my brick, at least. On a recent stop to photograph it, Pete Lewnes noticed one just sitting there loose near the missing cornerstone, (which I’m guessing either Prince George’s County Memorial Library System or the Laurel Museum had removed for posterity) and grabbed it for me.

So, getting back to Dottie’s Trophies…

Because these old bricks and shards of masonry mean something to me—and hopefully to anyone with fond memories of the buildings they once comprised—I decided to have small, engraved name plates attached to them. And who better to do that than Dottie’s Trophies?

It adds a sort of reverence even I wasn’t quite expecting. It also makes me wish I had a brick from all of the legendary places that have vanished from the Laurel landscape over the years. I could put them all together to form an actual Lost Laurel wall… if not an actual Lost Laurel Museum.

Tagged 1960s, 1970s, architecture, Big T, Laurel Centre Mall, laurel library, tastee freez

Apr 20 2015

The Year of Tastee-Freez

The Nickell family celebrating 25 years of Tastee-Freez ownership in 1999. (Laurel Leader photo by Jason Lee, 8/5/99)

It was 1974 when James Nickell took over the Tastee-Freez from its original owners, Mr. & Mrs. James DeLorenzo—who’d opened the franchise in what had previously been Laurel’s first McDonald’s.

So, it’s fitting that the first and only Tastee-Freez/Big T calendar I’ve come across would be from that very year. Here it is, scanned in its entirety.

Tagged 1970s, Big T, tastee freez

Dec 25 2014

Merry Christmas Past

I’m guessing that when this Laurel family received this Christmas card in 1935, they never dreamed it would find its way onto the internet 79 years later. Or that there’d be something called “an internet”.

Wishing you and yours the merriest of Christmases!

~ Richard

Tagged 1930s, Christmas

Dec 05 2014

The Winning Picture!

A while back, I thought it would be fun to run a little contest, and asked readers who’d bought the Lost Laurel book to take a photo (or modify one in Photoshop, etc.) that creatively incorporated the book. The idea actually came from a photo that Facebook fan Mike Flester posted shortly after receiving his copy in the mail. He wrote:

The awesome #LostLaurelBook has arrived and found it’s place on Main Street. The book stirred up lots of nice memories of things and recollections of things I remember the older generations talking about. Thanks Richard!

While I want to thank everyone who took the time to send in a photo, I think it’s safe to say that this one nailed it from the start. It also reminded me that I still have to find some of these vintage Cat’s Meow® Laurel landmarks for my own collection! I’d never even seen the ones for Cook’s, Gavriles’, Petrucci’s Dinner Theatre, and the Laurel Meat Market before, so if anyone has extras they’d like to sell, kindly let me know!

Mike, I did find this very small one, which would look great front and center in your photo:

For his entry, Mike wins another signed copy of Lost Laurel—just in time for Christmas. It’s on its way!

Tagged photo contest

Lost Laurel

Revisiting the Vanishing Retailers of Laurel, Maryland

Category Archives: Artifacts