I feel like a lot of posters on here are - gulp - pretty old (?). I mean, I am 40, and people on here are posting about doing something (as an adult) in the 70s or 80s? I was 7 in 1980. And again, I am 40, so no spring chicken. Some of you all have memories that make me think you are more like my parents' ages? 60s or so? Not saying that is wrong, I am just curious to see people of this age group on DCUM? Who knew. Oh well. Enjoying reading some of the memories! Thx!

In high school, my mom would give me notes so that I could use her credit card at the mall (early 90s!!).

Buying my mom cigarette cartons at the grocery store when I was in high school, again, with one of her notes.

I went to HS in Bethesda (Whitman) in the 70's and then made the move to Reston in 81. You are right on about the postings being Monkey County centric - most of us must be from that side of the river. I commuted to a job in Reston in the mid to late 70s for four years from B-town (through Tysons or on Rt 193) and here are a few observances from that period.........

Lake Anne and the local shops were brand new and you could rent paddle boats and drink beer in the open.
Worked in the same building as Warner Cable (the Scope building) on Whiele and Sunset Hills.
Reston was the first "cabled" community in the US.
A camera operator was producing porno's in one of the Warner Cable studios after hours - one of the ladies got drunk or drugged and raised a ruckus and the police came and the operation was shut down.
Restion International Center was the only large building all the way to Tysons.
Egalitarian planners filled Reston with walking trails and then wondered why the 500K homes (now 1.5M) next to the projects kept getting burgled.
Herndon was a sleepy little town.
I joined the Herndon Moose lodge but quit six months later when I was told my friend (who was African American) could not come in with me. This was 1981 - not 1951.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 things that jump out at me reading this thread: One, it's very NW & Montgomery County centric. Two, few posters from Virginia. I guess that's because most of what we know as NoVa now was only built starting in the 60s and really with gusto in the 80s. Where are the Arlington & Alexandria posters? Falls Church? Prince George's?

Not from Virginia but when I lived here in the 70s in college I remember four-wheeling on a dirt road in my Jeep behind Tysons Corners. Couldn't do that today!

I just posted the above 2-3 memories from the Tysons area. Grew up in McLean in the '70s and '80s!

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 things that jump out at me reading this thread: One, it's very NW & Montgomery County centric. Two, few posters from Virginia. I guess that's because most of what we know as NoVa now was only built starting in the 60s and really with gusto in the 80s. Where are the Arlington & Alexandria posters? Falls Church? Prince George's?

Not from Virginia but when I lived here in the 70s in college I remember four-wheeling on a dirt road in my Jeep behind Tysons Corners. Couldn't do that today!

the old movie theater on the 2nd level of Tysons I, next to Farrell's. . .how you'd walk down the stairs to get to the theaters. . . .

bday parties at Farrell's, of course. . . .

waiting outside on hot hot hot summer nights in the long long line outside Chesapeake Bay Seafood House, on Route 7, where the On the Border now is located. . .it was so exciting once you finally made it INTO the restaurant bc then you were finally almost to the front of the line. . . walking around to see the various fish tanks they had in each of the dining rooms. . . .their hushpuppies they served in the little brown bowls while yoiu were waiting for your food. . . .

Anonymous wrote:Is my memory playing tricks on me or did Shakey's have, at one time, a banjo player live?

I remember the window at Shakey's where you could look in and watch them making the pizza. I was baaaaaaarely able to see if I stretched up as high as I could on my tippy tippy tippy toes, clenching onto the wooden frame of the window with my fingers, my breath (from the exertion of it all) fogging up the bottom of the glass. I wanted so so so badly to look thru that window to watch them make the pizza!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I LOVED Shakey's pizza so much. Have never tasted pizza as good as Shakey's pizza since then.

Katz's deli in 4 corners. . .

Wheaton Plaza.

I also remember the Lyons girls kidnapping - so sad. Wish their family could get some closure. Their kidnapping changed the life of every little kid in the area, including mine.

I was of similar age as the Lyon sisters and Wheaton plaza totally creeped me out after their disappearance. I don't go there often now, but when I do those old feelings come back.

They made Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyon_sisters

sad

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And Peter Pan's hush puppies. Whatever happened to Peter Pan?

http://www.nealjconway.com/diningguidepast/peterpaninn/peterpaninn.html

We used to eat at Peter Pan in Urbana. We even went to the affiliated Kapok Tree Inn in Clearwater, FL one year.
http://benzplace.com/kapok/history.html

Do you remember the Shirley Temple drinks with the sugar sticks and little umbrellas?

Is my memory playing tricks on me or did Shakey's have, at one time, a banjo player live?

Being able to eat a whole Shakey's large pizza by myself without gaining an ounce!!! Oh, and a pitcher of sugary root beer to keep it washed down.

As part of the Bethesda Boys Club, winning the Marriot Super Bowl in 1974 - big doings!!! Got to see myself on WTTG (Channel 5). We beat Lamont-Riggs. My coach used to say, 'show them that the rich kids really can play football.' Thanks, Bill Hardt, for your reckless, wild manner - just what I needed at the time to nurture my masculinity. (Ladies, you won't understand unless you have an adolescent son - and if you don't/but you do, make sure to read John Eldridge's book, Wild at Heart.)

Blessings to you Mill hardt, may you RIP.

I remember holding and attending "field parties" in Potomac. We would just drive and find a deserted field and pick out our spot during the day. We would then call a couple of friends with the location and head back at night with a keg and cups. Then the Whitman party network would work its magic. A crowd of our closest (maybe) friends would show up. By 11 the keg was magically kicked. Amazingly, this worked before cell phones. Not so amazingly, it was also when Potomac had wide expanses of active farm land (1976-77). Police were never an issue. Today, you would have helecopters circling and SWAT teams swarming. Sorry 2012 teenagers, we adults take things way too seriously today.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jumping the fence of the Radnor Rd water towers in B-town and climbing the ladder to take a refreshing swim on a hot August night.

What? In the water tower? Thats crazy! How did you get in/out? Sounds pretty dangerous.

It was one of many stupid things I did as a Whitman teenager on summer nights. The only hard part was climbing the barbed wire on top of the fence. You just climbed up the exterior water tower ladder which later angled across the top and up to a hatch located about ten feet past the top vertical section. There was a stub of a ladder that disappeared into the dark and went in to the water. Very easy to get in and out.

My apologies to those in the Radnor neighborhood who unknowingly drank my toe jam.