After moving from one temporary location to another on Columbia Pike, The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington has settled into its new digs — for now.
The museum is currently located on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building (3045B Columbia Pike), but it has bounced around the Pike ever since it transitioned from an online museum to a physical location in 2018.
Museum President and Director Scott Taylor tells ARLnow he is still looking for a permanent home for the museum that stays close to the Pike.
“We were across the street, then we were down the street, now we’re here,” said Taylor. “I would love us to stay in this corridor of Columbia Pike because there’s so much history here.”
Taylor told ARLnow that the museum’s current location was built on Camp Casey, which was an African American Civil War camp from 1862-1865. The home of an enslaved man in the late 1800s, is down the street and the historical African American neighborhood of Queen City was located nearby. Back in the day, he said, the Pike had clear views of Arlington House, the historic home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Taylor’s appreciation for history is what has kept him at the museum without any compensation. He said that the stories of his ancestors inspire him.
“I’m always around these stories and these people, so it gives me energy just to keep pushing,” said Taylor.
Taylor devotes a lot of time and energy toward the museum’s success, which has seen an uptick in attendance this month for Black History Month. Much of that time is spent on fundraising to cover the high cost of rent and exhibits, as the museum does not receive aid. Amazon gave the museum a grant in 2019 but since then, the money for the exhibits have come out of his own pocket.
“Right before Covid, I was driving an Uber as a part-time to have money to pay for the things that we needed here,” said Taylor.
Taylor also said that he would host fundraisers, sell merchandise and write a monthly newsletter to inform people about the museum.
Despite the financial hardships, Taylor said that he does this work “all day, every day” because it matters to him.
“I live and breathe this and I don’t expect anybody else to do that,” said Taylor.
The museum has kept busy in February co-hosting events for Black History Month, but there are a few more to look out for as the month closes out. They include a photo scavenger hunt featuring historic landmarks, taking place all this month, and, in partnership with the Arlington Historical Society, the installation of “stumbling blocks,” or bricks with the names of enslaved people, at former Arlington plantations.
Taylor said he is happy the museum is involved in partnerships this year as opposed to hosting individual events. He said that he hopes more partnerships come outside of Black History Month.
“I’m trying to convey to people that you don’t have to just do this once a month or once a year — we can do this all-year round,” said Taylor.
Taylor said that Black history is American history and that it should not only receive attention in February. He said he hopes his efforts at the museum will have the impact on others that it did on him.
“Arlington is creating a voice for these people, a lot of them were enslaved at one time, a lot of them sacrificed their time, jobs and livelihoods to make things better for me,” said Taylor. “Hopefully, I’m doing the same. “
A century ago, a stately brick building in Virginia Square was an elementary school. Now it is the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (MoCA), perhaps currently best known for a horizontal Lady Liberty out front.
Putting “Reclining Liberty” on the front lawn is looking like a smart marketing move for the recently rebranded museum.
The national monument, in repose, caught people’s attention and sparked an increase in attendance, MoCA Executive Director Catherine Anchin tells ARLnow.
“We will see people walking by, stop and taking pictures, there have been children and people climbing on it and taking their photos with it,” she said. “That’s what the artist wants, for the public to really engage with the work directly; touch it, feel it, and really consider it.”
That is what Blair Murphy, MoCA’s exhibitions curator, says the museum wants, too.
“We’re really interested in being an accessible sort of warm place where people can come and get an introduction and maybe meet some artists and talk to them about their work and feel like they are comfortable in the space,” Murphy said.
On a recent tour of the museum, Anchin told ARLnow that in decades past, the building was less a museum and more of a studio space that served to “connect the community to contemporary art and artists.” It was founded in 1974 by a group of contemporary artists, who named it the “Community Art Council of Arlington.”
Since then, the organization morphed into the Arlington Arts Center before becoming the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington in 2022. Anchin says the new name does a better job of signaling people can visit.
“The word museum signals to the general public and people walking by that ’That’s a place I can go in, it’s a public space, and it’s somewhere where I can go to see something,’” said Anchin. “The organization has evolved with the community and the name change and the rebrand was just another step in the organization’s evolution and enabled us to grow and serve more people.”
Beyond changing the name, MoCA has added new programs to help people engage with the space and the art. Guests can do yoga in the galleries Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Mondays at 6:30 p.m. or hit up upcoming one-time events, including a sound bath next Saturday at 2 p.m. and a comics for teens contest on March 1.
Now through March 17, visitors can see “Hitched to Everything Else,” an exhibit depicting “where human infrastructure interrupts or collides with the natural environment” and highlighting “humans’ conflicted relationship to nature.
Next up is “Solace and Sisterhood” (Feb. 22-May 26), in which a trio of friends of African descent explore the importance of Black sisterhood through topics such as self-identity, Black female beauty and spiritual discovery. A limited-time solo exhibition series by Mid-Atlantic-based artists will kick off March 30 and end April 6.
Outside its four walls, the museum brings art to local schools and affordable housing communities and has a foothold in Pentagon City. There, it offers “MoCA on the Move,” a free art-making activity at Met Park sponsored by Amazon, and recently opened its Innovation Studio + Store, which offers free classes and opportunities to meet new artists, within Amazon’s second headquarters.
For its 50th anniversary, MoCA will put on an exhibition inspired by the organization’s history, with details to be finalized in the coming months, says Anchin.
Al Minor, who has curated for Georgetown University’s art galleries, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Hirshhorn Museum, created a show that will “include artists from every decade of MoCA Arlington’s history while reflecting the vision, range, adventurousness, and ambition of the museum’s 50 year legacy,” she said.
“As the only art museum in the region founded by artists, we thought it was fitting to work with one of the area’s most accomplished artist-curators for our 50th anniversary exhibition,” Anchin continued.
Bronze plaques dubbed “stumbling stones” will honor the lives of three people once enslaved in what is likely Arlington’s oldest house, the Ball-Sellers House.
The three commemorative markers are the first of their kind and will be the subject of a dedication event later this month. The event will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Ball-Sellers House (5620 3rd Street S.), which is now a free museum.
The markers remember a woman named Nancy and two unnamed men who were enslaved by the Carlin family, which lived in the house from 1772 to 1887. The Carlins are the namesake for Glencarlyn, one of Arlington’s oldest neighborhoods, in which the Ball-Sellers House is located.
The Arlington Historical Society (AHS) found records of these three enslaved people while combing through historical records. This effort is part of an ongoing project to uncover the lives and restore the humanity of enslaved people.
The project, dubbed Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington, 1669-1865, is led by AHS Board Member Jessica Kaplan, with help from volunteers and support from the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington,
“Few records exist in Arlington that document enslaved individuals, and even fewer that provide names,” the historical society said in a release. “Yet, after two years of research, Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington has shed light on these early Americans, and many others, who contributed so much to the economic, social, and cultural development of our county.”
Black Heritage Museum Director Scott Taylor tells ARLnow the museum believes “it is vital and important having these plaques around” Arlington.
“I just know it will make us a better and healthier community as we recognize those unsung heroes who had a stake filled with blood, sweat and tears in efforts to making us triumphant,” he said.
One of the memorialized slaves is Nancy, who was born around 1775 and died between 1835-38. As an older woman, Nancy “waited on” her enslaver, Elizabeth Carlin, from the 1820s until Elizabeth died in 1834, according to probate records AHS reviewed.
Elizabeth was the wife of William Carlin, who bought the Ball-Sellers House from the estate of John Ball in 1772. She also enslaved one of the unnamed men who will be memorialized.
The second unnamed man was enslaved by Letitia Carlin, the widow of James Carlin, one of William’s sons, per census records from 1850 AHS reviewed. For the two enslaved men, only their birth years are known, circa 1806 and in 1844, respectively.
While Nancy and the two unnamed men were identified through probate and census records, others could have come and gone between census years, Kaplan says.
“[The Carlins] could have hired many enslaved people which was common but the records don’t exist to tell us about it,” she tells ARLnow.
As for the plaques honoring them, AHS made a point of involving Arlington Public Schools teachers and students. Career and Technical Education teachers helped design the plaques and students at Arlington Tech and Washington-Liberty High School will make them, Kaplan said.
“Students… will be cutting the bronze for the Ball-Sellers House plaques, engraving them, mounting them on hand poured concrete pillars and helping put them into place at Ball-Sellers,” she said. “All the students involved have learned about the three enslaved people they are making the plaques for and given an overview of slavery in Arlington.”
Bright and early this morning, Lady Liberty in repose rolled into Arlington on a flatbed truck.
Then, the turquoise lady was lifted by a crane onto the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (MoCA), the county’s recently rebranded art museum at 3550 Wilson Blvd.
“Reclining Liberty,” by New York City artist Zaq Landsberg, is inspired by traditional Asian art depicting the reclining Buddha on his path to enlightenment, appearing serene at the knowledge of his imminent death.
The artwork is intended to invite passers-by to contemplate the ideals of liberty and freedom embodied by the Statue of Liberty — put in conversation with Buddhist enlightenment ideals, Arlington’s military architecture and nearby national monuments.
“Recontextualizing ‘Reclining Liberty’ in Arlington makes sense for our current moment. Placing it within a few miles of Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon, the National Mall, etc, adds a new layer onto the work,” Landsberg said in a statement earlier this summer.
There will be a public event on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to celebrate the sculpture’s arrival with an artist talk, food, art and other family-friendly activities.
The museum is also planning a series of accompanying talks and conversations, in partnership with Arlington Public Art, which will address issues related to the work: the role of monuments and memorials in public life, immigration and democracy. A schedule is forthcoming.
“Reclining Liberty” will lie in repose there until July 28 of next year. Prior to her immigration to Arlington, she had year-long stints in Harlem and Liberty State Park in New Jersey.
A 25-foot-long lounging Lady Liberty is emigrating from the New York area and taking up residence in Arlington, among its bronze Marines and steel spires.
During the first week of August, “Reclining Liberty” — inspired by traditional Asian art depicting the reclining Buddha on the path to enlightenment — will move to the front lawn of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) Arlington. She will be transported by truck and a crane will position her.
After year-long stints in Harlem and Liberty State Park in New Jersey, she will lie in repose in front of the recently rebranded art museum in Arlington (3550 Wilson Blvd) until July 28 of next year, per a press release from MoCA Arlington.
MoCA Arlington Curator of Exhibitions Blair Murphy tells ARLnow she reached out to artist Zaq Landsberg and sold him on bringing Lady Liberty to Arlington. They agreed it would be fitting to juxtapose her and Arlington’s war memorials and defense infrastructure and D.C.’s monuments.
“Recontextualizing ‘Reclining Liberty’ in Arlington makes sense for our current moment. Placing it within a few miles of Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon, the National Mall, etc, adds a new layer onto the work,” Landsberg said in a statement.
“[It] allows for a new set of meaningful interactions with different communities, and adds to the local and national reevaluation of monuments — their history, how they function in public space, how they’ve changed from their inception, and their impact on society,” he continued.
Against this backdrop, MoCA curators say they hope “Reclining Liberty” encourages viewers to contemplate the ideals of the Statue of Liberty.
“I love that the work brings the Statue down to the eye level and reach of the public. Its playfulness and accessibility suggest that the ideals of liberty and freedom represented by the Statue of Liberty are active, tangible, and evolving and need to be directly engaged with, debated, and defended,” Murphy said in a statement.
“Reclining Liberty” was originally installed in Morningside Park in Manhattan in April of 2021. Last May, she moved to New Jersey to greet those taking ferries to Liberty Island, per the press release.
Her arrival will be marked with an opening celebration with an artist talk, food, art and other family friendly activities on Aug. 5 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The museum also has a series of accompanying talks and conversations, in partnership with Arlington Public Art, which will address issues related to the work: the role of monuments and memorials in public life, immigration and democracy, Murphy said. A schedule is forthcoming.
The budget for the project is $45,000, which includes the costs for the programs. Funding from Arlington Public Art is covering half and MoCA Arlington is covering the other half, Murphy said.
“Arlington Public Art is delighted to co-sponsor this ‘enlightened’ temporary public art project in the County’s Maury Park,” Director of Arlington Public Art Angela Anderson Adams said in a statement. “We look forward to the community conversations that this sculpture will inspire including those related to monuments and memorials, immigration, and our democratic ideals.”
When living civil rights legend Joan Trumpauer Mulholland participated in sit-ins, she carried a Bible with her.
She kept her birth certificate inside “so that they could identify the body,” her son, Loki, said during an event on Saturday at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington honoring his mother’s activism.
Joan piped up: “I didn’t have a driver’s license or anything like that. So I needed some way for them to know who I am.”
For protesting segregation with lunch counter sit-ins and bus trips known as Freedom Rides, Mulholland was briefly incarcerated in a maximum security prison and hunted by the Ku Klux Klan. In the intervening 60 years, her activism inspired books and documentaries and the creation of the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation, which provides anti-racist education.
During the event — just shy of the 60th anniversary of a historic sit-in in Jackson, Mississippi, in which Mulholland participated — people gathered at the Columbia Pike museum to hear from her and check out an expanded exhibit with objects from her days as a Freedom Rider.
Just under her Bible, visitors can see memorabilia from the historically Black sorority she joined, Delta Sigma Theta, to advance racial integration.
Nearby is a blue dress she wore during a sit-in at the Woolworth’s in Jackson, Mississippi on May 28, 1963, in which white people attacked her and other Tougaloo College student and faculty demonstrators.
“We want to honor her… because when I talk around and ask people to name some white, anti-racist civil rights leaders, they can’t name anybody but Abe Lincoln, but there’s a lot of them,” museum president Scott Taylor says. “If you don’t know what to do with white privilege, you can look at this right here and she’ll show you.”
Author M. J. O’Brien told attendees that seeing a photo of two demonstrators flanking her — “in all her glory, getting sugar dumped on her, as if she wasn’t sweet enough” — moved him to write a book about the impact of the Jackson Woolworth’s sit-in, “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
Reminiscing, Mulholland said that photo, taken by local newspaper photographer Fred Blackwell, “went worldwide.”
“Back in the days before color photography in the press, it was colorized on the front page above the centerfold of the Paris Match, the most widely read newspaper in Europe,” she recounted.
Mulholland called it “the most integrated picture” of a sit-in, as fellow demonstrators included Anne Moody, a Black woman, and John Hunter Gray, who was of Native American descent.
“We didn’t have any Asian-American students at that time in the school, but we had it pretty well-covered,” she said.
(Updated at 5:20 p.m.) It’s set to be a busy month at the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington as it continues to look for a permanent home.
The museum is participating in a number of Black History Month programs while preparing to put up new exhibits, museum director Scott Taylor told ARLnow.
This past weekend, the museum partnered with the Columbia Pike Partnership and the Embassy of Switzerland on a program focused on the importance of museums in the community.
On Sunday (Feb. 5), families and staff from Tuckahoe Elementary School visited the museum. Plus, Taylor monitored a panel last night for the local PBS station WETA discussing the production of last year’s documentary series “Making Black America.”
Coming up on Sunday, Feb. 19, the museum is again partnering with WETA as well as the Arlington Public Library for a screening of the documentary American Masters: Roberta Flack at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse on Columbia Pike.
Flack is known for several number-one hits including “Killing Me Softly” and grew up in Green Valley.
All of these events and programs have kept Taylor so busy that he hasn’t had a chance to put up any new exhibits, but that’s hopefully changing this week.
The museum is planning to set out a display featuring items from what was once Hoffman-Boston High School, Arlington’s only high school for Black students at a time when the county’s schools were segregated.
“We have some sixty-plus-year-old yearbooks that people see and feel and look at,” Taylor said.
There will also be a “few new things” from Fire Station 8, including several firemen hats and boots. Located in Halls Hill, it was Arlington’s only fire station staffed with Black firefighters. A state-of-the-art station is replacing the old one and is expected to be completed later this year.
Later this month, Taylor plans to put up an exhibit about Camp Casey featuring a gun from the era as well.
All of this comes as the museum continues its search for a permanent home. In September, it moved into a new space with the Columbia Pike Partnership on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building at 3045B Columbia Pike.
While Taylor appreciates the temporary home, it is small and the museum is often unable to do everything it wants to do.
“Arlington needs this and, most people who come through, want [us] to expand,” he said. “I have things that I can’t even put up because we don’t have enough space.”
The museum is not close to finding its own home, Taylor said, noting money is the main obstacle.
“The rent in Arlington is just crazy. These new buildings want $10,000 a month,” he said.
At their grand re-opening in September, Taylor said he had a conversation with several County Board members about possibly moving into the building across the street if it ends up getting redeveloped by the county into a library.
But that remains only a possibility and somewhat far in the future.
The Black Heritage Museum is a “big asset” to the county, he said, one that he says needs to be cherished and given assistance to.
“This history is not being taught in schools. We bring voices to unsung heroes,” Taylor said. “This history belongs to Arlington.”
A $10,000 state tourism grant will revamp how Arlington promotes its Black history to tourists.
Currently, the county’s tourism webpage outlines some of the important historic moments and existing landmarks. The landing page links to blog posts featuring Black businesses and artwork celebrating Arlington’s Black culture and history.
Travelers who want more can download a 68-page online tour guide last updated in 2016.
Arlington Convention and Visitors Service — the tourism division of Arlington Economic Development — wants to give the branding for these resources a facelift. And on Saturday, the Arlington County Board accepted a $10,000 grant from the Virginia Tourism Corporation to fund these upgrades.
“The Black Arlington experience is an incredibly representative one of American history and we are really excited to welcome in more tourists to learn about those landmarks and narratives,” Board Chair Katie Cristol said during the Saturday meeting.
The changes would make it easier to plan a trip engaging with Arlington’s Black history and support its Black-owned businesses.
“One idea is to create a customized map that highlights sites and experiences that honor and commemorate Arlington’s Black history across the County as well as showcase Black-owned business locations,” said ACVS director Emily Cassell. “We’re also considering adding suggested itineraries for visitors.”
The grant will pay for fresh photos, a professional video of major sights and digital assets for social media.
How Arlington celebrates its Black history has changed since the last reprinting of the tour guide.
Nauck — a historically Black neighborhood named for a Confederate soldier — was renamed Green Valley in 2020. The Nauck Town Square was dubbed the John Robinson Jr. Town Square and construction there on a new plaza and sculpture wrapped up this spring.
Last summer, Lee Highway was renamed Langston Blvd and Arlington Public Schools unveiled panels at Dorothy Hamm Middle School honoring the four students who integrated the building — formerly Stratford Junior High School — six decades ago.
On Friday, the Black Heritage Museum celebrated its grand reopening in a new space at 3045B Columbia Pike.
Eventually, visitors will be able to see more historical reminders of Arlington’s Jim Crow era. The new Fire Station No. 8 (4845 Langston Blvd) will pay tribute to the Hall’s Hill Volunteer Fire Department, which served the historically Black neighborhood, and the forthcoming restaurant in the former Green Valley Pharmacy space will pay homage to the only lunch counter and pharmacy that served Black people during segregation.
Information like this is expected to migrate to a new tourism website that will go live next year.
“We are well into plans for a new website launching in 2023, and are actively working on improved and expanded tourism content across the board,” Cassell said. “We are very pleased that this new [funding] will help us enhance visitor experiences and better tell the story of Arlington’s African American heritage. We’re also thrilled with today’s ribbon cutting at The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington and look forward to our continued partnership.”
The grant will facilitate collaboration with other groups, too, including Arlington’s business improvement districts, neighborhood groups, libraries, the county’s Historic Preservation Program, Walk Arlington and Bike Arlington, according to the county report.
ACVS applied for the grant early this year as part of an effort to conduct strategic tourism planning as travel recovers from the pandemic, according to a county report. From February through May, ACVS heard from nearly 40 “local hospitality stakeholders” on ideas they thought could boost local tourism.
“Of numerous ideas considered, participants expressed enthusiasm for promoting visitor sites and experiences that showcase Arlington’s African American heritage,” the report said.
Other ideas for improving tourism, discussed in the report, include a more up-to-date calendar of events, more live music venues, and water taxi routes to Reagan National Airport, the Pentagon and Rosslyn.
The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington and the Columbia Pike Partnership are nearly ready to open the doors to their new home.
The two Pike-centric organizations will host a joint grand opening celebration on Sept. 16 from 4- 6 p.m., on the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building at 3045B Columbia Pike. Local officials are expected to attend and the public is welcome to attend with an RSVP.
“The Black Heritage Museum of Arlington is excited about the grand re-opening of our museum in a new space!” the museum’s president Scott Taylor said in a statement. “We are so thankful to so many of you, who have been with us every step of the way so that this day would finally come again for us to display information and be a voice to many unsung Arlington heroes who have certainly a hand in making Arlington the great county/city it is today.”
We reported in May that the museum and the Columbia Pike Partnership (CPP) had found a new home a few blocks from their former one at 2611 Columbia Pike. Both were forced to vacate — along with all of the businesses at the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center — due to the impending demolition and redevelopment of the shopping center.
It took about four months to settle into the space, CPP’s deputy director Amy McWilliams told ARLnow, but now they are ready to start welcoming the public. Their new home was originally intended as retail, not an office space, but with a majority of employees still working from home often the reconfiguration isn’t a big deal, said McWilliams.
Part of the office will be taken up by a display of photos from the Columbia Pike Documentary Project.
The Black Heritage Museum will be taking up a large chunk of space for its displays, exhibits, and artifacts. Museum president Scott Taylor said this allows the museum to display a few new artifacts and a couple of newer displays, including vintage items from an old drug store as well as photos of Arlington-raised singer Roberta Flack.
“A new space and change is always good,” Taylor wrote ARLnow in an email. “We still have some of this same items that we’ve always had in which is okay because there are still a lot of people who have not experienced us yet.”
Taylor told ARLnow in May that the museum was still hoping for its own space. With the county acquiring 3108 Columbia Pike, there remains a possibility the museum could go back to the building it occupied several years ago.
For now, the museum is once again sharing space with CPP and taking advantage of what they do have.
“Unfortunately we still don’t have as much space as we would like to have but we are making the best of what we do have and I can’t wait for everyone to see!” said Taylor.
The Columbia Pike Partnership and Black Heritage Museum of Arlington are moving down the Pike due to the imminent redevelopment of Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, both announced yesterday (May 18).
The two local organizations are set to move by the end of the month into the first floor of the Ethiopian Community Development Council building at 3045 Columbia Pike, only a five minute walk from its current home at 2611 Columbia Pike. Among their new neighbors is a Subway sandwich shop.
They are moving because the shopping center is set for demolition and redevelopment. In March, the Arlington County Board officially greenlit turning the aging retail strip into “The Elliot.” The new building will feature 247 market-rate apartments above a grocery store (maybe an Amazon Fresh), a renovated CVS, and a relocated Burritos Bros.
What it won’t include is a number of the current tenants, including the partnership and the museum.
“When the news came that we would need to move, our Board of Directors decided it was important for the organization to have a presence on the Pike — people need to find us, and we need to stay in touch with the community as well,” CPP’s Amy McWilliams tells ARLnow. “After a long hunt, we found the space at 3045B Columbia Pike, and realized it could house the Columbia Pike Partnership as well as the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington, continuing our collective partnership.”
Last year, the Black Heritage Museum moved into the offices of the partnership, then called the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization. Sharing the space was supposed to be temporary as the museum looked for a permanent home.
That’s still the plan for this new space, says the museum’s president Scott Taylor, as the museum continues to search for a new location — possibly in its old home.
“We have just recently signed a two year contract with our new landlord. We will continue to strive for a permanent location,” says Taylor. “There is even some talk about us going back to 3108 Columbia Pike as the county has acquired that property and may allow us some room there when they complete the new project there.”
CPP and the museum hope to have the space open to the public by June 18.
With all businesses needing to vacate the shopping center by May 31, several others have closed or announced their next moves in recent months.
H&R Block closed earlier this year while CVS will move into a trailer during construction and, then, back into the new building when completed. Atilla’s, a Turkish restaurant and grocer that’s been there since the 1970s, is closing next weekend and is in search of a new location.
Legend Kicks, which re-opened in its current location in 2018, is also set to close and possible move, but it’s unclear where.
ARLnow reached out to the business and its owner, who also owns the still-yet-to-open Eska just down Columbia Pike in the former location of the Purple Lounge, but has not heard back as of publication time.
New Organ Debuts Tomorrow — “The new organ [at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Virginia Square] cost $1.2 million… Opus 28 arrived in Arlington on Oct. 3, 2021. For three weeks, Pasi put together the 500,000 parts that constitute it. He spent the next two months ‘voicing’ the organ: doing the painstaking adjustments necessary to make everything sound just right.” [Washington Post]
Reminder: Pizza Boxes Can Be Composted — From Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services: “There’s No ‘I’ in Food Scraps: Arlington viewers of ‘The Big Game’ can give 110% and go all in in the green curbside cart: pizza crusts and boxes, wing bones and greasy napkins. You won’t be denied.” [Twitter]
County Helping With Museum Renovations — “As efforts begin to renovate its museum, the Arlington Historical Society is working to embrace close collaboration where possible with the Arlington County government. Whether that will turn into a financial partnership remains to be seen, but county staff will be providing their knowledge to help the renovation move ahead.” [Sun Gazette]
Public Defender Pay Bill Fails — “A measure to equalize pay between staff of Virginia prosecutors and those working in public-defender’s offices died in a House of Delegates subcommittee. The measure, patroned by Del. Alfsono Lopez (D-Arlington-Fairfax), would have required localities that supplement the compensation of staff in its office of commonwealth’s attorney beyond state minimums to do the same for staff of a public defender’s office, if a locality has one.” [Sun Gazette]
Nearby: Scammers Impersonating Police — “Officers have received reports from community members who stated that callers contact them claiming to be members of a police department or sheriff’s department. The law enforcement impersonator may… tell the community member they missed a court appearance or jury duty [and] state they need to send money or a warrant will be issued for their arrest or they may turn themselves in to jail.” [City of Falls Church]
Snow Possible This Weekend — “Light to moderate snow could fall in the D.C. area on Super Bowl Sunday. But it’s still not clear whether it will snow hard enough or be cold enough for it to amount to much and have serious effects on the region.” [Capital Weather Gang]
It’s Thursday — Sunny, with a high near 55 today, and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Sunrise at 7:04 a.m. and sunset at 5:40 p.m. Sunny again tomorrow, with a high near 57 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. [Weather.gov]