Workers have been preparing for the opening for weeks, and the interior is now all set. The public was allowed to come in and taste the food this past weekend.
For now, the restaurant will open at 5:00 p.m. from Monday through Saturday, and at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday. A manager tells us that once the kinks are worked out and things start running smoothly in a couple of weeks, the normal lunch hours will kick in as well.
The photo on the left is of Tops Drive Inn at 40 N. Glebe Road, circa 1955. In 1953, James J. Mathews opened this restaurant, the first of what would become an 18 restaurant chain in the D.C. metro area. Tops touted itself as “Home of the Sir Loiner,” which was a double decker hamburger similar to today’s Big Mac.
The original Tops was a 15 seat facility, but really became popular for its “Teletrays” — the drive-in restaurant feature that allowed visitors to order food without leaving the car.
One light went in this week on southbound Glebe Road at N. 9th Street, and another on the northbound side at N. Vermont Street. According to the Department of Environmental Services, it was part of a site plan development with the new construction on the west side of Glebe Road.
New buildings in the area, including the recently opened residences at The Jordan and the Virginia Tech Research Center building, which houses commercial tenants such as The Greene Turtle, have brought additional pedestrian traffic. It’s expected to increase even more once the office building at 800 N. Glebe is completed.
AWLA considers this one of its most important fundraisers of the year. Money raised will help care for all the homeless animals brought to AWLA every day, from dogs to hamsters to birds.
The three mile walk or one mile stroll will start and finish at Bluemont Park (329 N. Manchester Street). Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the walk starts at 9:30 a.m. In addition to sponsor booths, there will be demonstrations by WOOFS! Dog Training Center of Shirlington, and by the Arlington County Sheriff’s Department K-9 Unit.
International developer and construction company Skanska is working on the five story building at 1776 Wilson Blvd, which will contain both retail and office space.
To earn LEED certification, a developer must earn credits in six categories called Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation in Design & Regionalization. The rating system has a total of 110 points, and 80 are necessary to receive platinum certification.
The “Battle of the Dance Crews” show ends a week of events in the D.C. area for a transatlantic hip-hop festival. The Urban Corps Festival will feature dancers from the United States, France and Senegal, who are trained in a variety of techniques such as contemporary dance, Brazilian capoeira, karate and gymnastics.
Performances will highlight the dancers’ interpretations of hip-hop culture through urban dance. The festival website says this type of artistic event “serves as proof that urban issues are not only local, but mutually influenced on both sides of the Atlantic and across the globe.”
After 21 years in business, Rosslyn Renaissance (RR) will cease to exist and its urban design work will be taken over by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District (BID).
RR was created by the Arlington County Board in 1991, and lists its mission as “to work with residential, commercial, cultural, and government communities to realize Rosslyn’s potential as a distinctive urban environment through a focus on urban design and development.”
The goal of the annual event is to get people out into their communities to have some fun and connect with their neighbors. Events are planned throughout the county, some aimed at local communities and others for all Arlington residents.
A full list of activities can be found on the Neighborhood Day website, which is updated as new entries come in. Here are a few of the events:
William Polly, of Penrose, has been named World Sport Stacking Champion for the second year in a row. That’s according to The Wauneta Breeze, a local newspaper in the Nebraska town where Polly’s grandparents live.
Not only did Polly capture the coveted Individual All-Around honors at the tournament — with a combined time of 9.34 seconds in the 3-3-3, 3-6-3 and cycle sequences — but he’s also getting another TV appearance out of it.
The restaurant touts itself as serving comfort foods traditional to the Delmarva Peninsula. Some menu items include the “Chesapeake Chicken” sandwich, which is topped with crab dip, and the “Eastern Shore” fried egg sandwich. The drink menu features wines and beers crafted in the Delmarva area.
The website says the restaurant, which will offer a casual atmosphere, hopes to be open this fall. A location in Baltimore is scheduled to open sometime this spring.
The barbecues will take place on the first Sunday of each month throughout the summer.
On the menu are items like grilled bratwurst, barbecue chicken and angus burgers. The bar team will be featuring summer beers, bourbon and specialty cocktails.
The photo on the left is of the Hicks Store on Lee Highway at N. Culpeper Street, taken in 1960. The store was in an area known as Hall’s Hill — now often called High View Park — which became a predominantly black community when freed slaves settled there shortly after the Civil War. Many family run stores owned by black residents opened in the area during the early 1900s. Hicks store was one of several businesses owned by the Hicks family.
Near the store, the Hicks cemetery is where family members were buried, until the land was condemned in 1959, to accommodate for the widening of Lee Highway west of Glebe Road. The remains were moved to a cemetery in Herndon.
