5.10.04
Warning: Bethesda Geek-Out Ahead
So Second Story Books has moved.
This follows my favorite Chinese restaurant being basically booted out of the same shopping center on Bethesda Ave. (though they've thankfully re-opened, many months later, right down the street - Shanghai Village now, formerly China Village, but just as good), and Rio Grande (Bethesda's favorite meat-heavy Tex-Mex restaurant) pulling almost exactly the same move as Second Story, but in reverse.
It was a pretty good move on Rio Grande's part - they used to be basically the center of gravity in Bethesda, but in the last five years, with the presence already of...sigh...Barnes and Noble on the corner of Bethesda and Woodmont, and the redevelopment and population of the preceding block of Woodmont with popular and good restaurants (e.g., Raku, Jaleo, etc.) AND the opening of the super-cool Landmark's Bethesda Row theaters...the writing was on the wall (and the balance sheet, I'd imagine) - and now it's busy again, though I've heard not as good.
So now Fairmont, once bustling, has several empty store fronts...but now it also has Second Story, in addition to Big Planet Comics. Combine that with the Ben and Jerry's, and CalTor being a block and a half away (along, of course, with Night Dreams), and the Fairmont Ave. corridor just might enjoy a renaissance as the UNcool half of Bethesda.
Seriously - all within a block and a half, there's
What more could a loser want? An indie book/record shop? Oh yeah - that's also half a block away.
I've at times lamented the constantly accelerating pace of glitzification of Bethesda - which even in my childhood had some pretty seedy backwaters in its relatively small footprint - but if this coalition of the uncool can hold together, maybe there's a chance at at least preserving some heterogeneity. For the kids, y'know?
This follows my favorite Chinese restaurant being basically booted out of the same shopping center on Bethesda Ave. (though they've thankfully re-opened, many months later, right down the street - Shanghai Village now, formerly China Village, but just as good), and Rio Grande (Bethesda's favorite meat-heavy Tex-Mex restaurant) pulling almost exactly the same move as Second Story, but in reverse.
It was a pretty good move on Rio Grande's part - they used to be basically the center of gravity in Bethesda, but in the last five years, with the presence already of...sigh...Barnes and Noble on the corner of Bethesda and Woodmont, and the redevelopment and population of the preceding block of Woodmont with popular and good restaurants (e.g., Raku, Jaleo, etc.) AND the opening of the super-cool Landmark's Bethesda Row theaters...the writing was on the wall (and the balance sheet, I'd imagine) - and now it's busy again, though I've heard not as good.
So now Fairmont, once bustling, has several empty store fronts...but now it also has Second Story, in addition to Big Planet Comics. Combine that with the Ben and Jerry's, and CalTor being a block and a half away (along, of course, with Night Dreams), and the Fairmont Ave. corridor just might enjoy a renaissance as the UNcool half of Bethesda.
Seriously - all within a block and a half, there's
- comic book shop
- lame fetishist/sex toy store
- used book/record shop
- burrito shop
- ice cream shop
What more could a loser want? An indie book/record shop? Oh yeah - that's also half a block away.
I've at times lamented the constantly accelerating pace of glitzification of Bethesda - which even in my childhood had some pretty seedy backwaters in its relatively small footprint - but if this coalition of the uncool can hold together, maybe there's a chance at at least preserving some heterogeneity. For the kids, y'know?
perma-linky posted by jkd : 16:53
