Friday, August 21, 2009

what's up the pike: pop-rock and coke

Coca-Cola Building, Elton Road, Hillandale
- It's probably really easy to call B.S. on my constant harping about the teenagers who hang out on Ellsworth Drive, but when you hear that one of the co-stars in the new movie Bandslam described as "gawky, curly-haired", "indie-rock-loving", and "a nerd [hero]," you almost could say "that kid must be from Silver Spring." And he [20-year-old Gaelan Connell] is! But it's very strange that the Majestic, the theatre Connell himself said he'd go see the movie at when it premiered last Friday, has only one showing scheduled today - at 12:40pm! The Movies, Popcorn and Candy Committee will probably be pleased that I can't drag him to see Bandslam with so few showings. (Thanks to Alan Bowser for the heads-up.)

- Speaking of youthful statements: the Expression Live festival returns for its second year in Downtown Silver Spring. Dozens of local artists, including spoken-word artist/my friend Jonathan Tucker, will be there (click here to see what he had to say about it). Check it out tomorrow from 4:30 to 8pm in Silver Plaza.

- Looks like somebody wishes they went to architecture school: Silver Spring, Singular takes us on a study of midcentury design in Downtown, looking at the 1960's-era Weller's Dry Cleaners on Fenton Street and drawings from the 1969 Preliminary Master Plan for Silver Spring, which envisioned how the CBD would look in the future.

Other nice examples of midcentury modern architecture in East County can be found in the (endangered) Perpetual Building on Georgia Avenue; architect Charles Goodman's Rock Creek Woods and Hammond Wood subdivisions on Veirs Mill Road in Wheaton; the Coca-Cola building on Elton Road in Hillandale (above); and the C & P Telephone (now Verizon) Building at Route 29 and Musgrove Road. The Modern Capital blog is an excellent resource for more info.

- The Gazette reports that the Postal Service's economic woes mean the Burtonsville post office won't be leaving its temporary location on Dino Drive any time soon. It's left unclear where the branch can go after being evicted from the redeveloped Burtonsville Shopping Center last summer. Reporter Amber Parcher also erroneously places the "hard to find" post office (Google Maps doesn't even list it) in Spencerville (which has its own zip code) rather than in the Burtonsville Industrial Park east of the Route 29 bypass.

- You commenters are smart. Wednesday night's re-cap of the "kiss-in" protest at Tastee Diner was slammed as unresearched and hastily written. And, having been written in roughly forty-five minutes, it was. Sorry about that, y'all. If a post needs to spend more time in the oven, I should never rush it.

3 comments:

Sligo said...

Well, you got me there. It would be a lot more interesting than what I actually do. I have some other architecture-related posts that I haven't got around to doing yet.

I am on a mini-modern architecture highlight tour right now. Just went to Fallingwater and will visit Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavillion soon.

Speaking of which, did you know the Kaufmann Desert house is for sale? Can I borrow $20 mil?

Dan Reed said...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House in Alexandria is worth a visit only because it's close and afterwards you can go to one of three (!!!) Roy Rogers nearby. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Sorry, but I'm saving my $20 million for a condo overlooking the High Line in New York. It makes me wish we had more industrial grit in Silver Spring that could be translated into futuristic parks.

Sligo said...

I've been meaning to go to the Pope-Leighey House for awhile, but that would require me to go into Virginia.

I like the Standard Hotel that straddles the High Line.