BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 21, according to crime data:

Drug arrest. Wisconsin Avenue at Commerce Lane.

Theft. CVS Pharmacy, 7809 Wisconsin Avenue.

Theft. 7600 block Arlington Road.

Theft. 8100 block Woodmont Avenue.

Theft. 6700 block Wisconsin Avenue.

Burglary. 4900 block Dorset Avenue (Somerset).

Vehicle burglary. 5800 block Kingswood Road.

Vehicle burglary. 10500 block Weymouth Street.

Theft. 11400 block Rockville Pike (White Flint).

Drug arrest. I-270 spur.

Drug arrest. 11600 block Nebel Street (White Flint).

Drug arrest. Pre-Release Center (White Flint).

Vehicle burglary. 7100 block Democracy Boulevard.

Theft. Westfield Montgomery Mall.

Theft. 7100 block Westlake Terrace.

Vehicle burglary. 10200 block Westlake Drive.

THE MOVIES MOVIE THEATER CLOSES AT MONTGOMERY MALL (PHOTOS)

One cinema era has ended at Westfield Montgomery Mall, while another is about to dawn later this year. While the massive ArcLight Cinemas and dining terrace construction project is getting a lot of attention, the unassuming 3-screen The Movies has quietly closed forever. As old as the first Back to the Future movie, The Movies opened in 1985, when the mall was known simply as Montgomery Mall. Renovated last in 2010, but still of an earlier design era, The Movies was previously known as Montgomery Mall 3, and P & G Montgomery Mall 3. Its operators included Cineplex Odeon, and Loews.

Mall customers were actually asking where the theater was Friday afternoon, since - as you will note in these photos - you can hardly tell there is a theater in the now-shuttered space. The only notable clue at the mall was the suddenly-blank marquee on Democracy Boulevard (see photo above).

It's always sad to see a theater close, but fortunately, a spectacular new ArcLight Cinemas luxury multiplex is on the way this fall. The selection of movies, concession choices and luxury appointments will be far beyond what The Movies ever offered. 

I surely will miss the arcade at The Movies, and hope Westfield will find a spot for a similar coin-op collection elsewhere in the mall. And the classic design of this multiplex certainly holds some nostalgia. But I think fellow movie buffs will agree that the ArcLight will be a major upgrade. This closure does not pain me as much as the demise of the Baronet II (part of the now-demolished Bethesda Square shopping center in downtown Bethesda), Congressional Plaza, Jenifer 1 and 2, MacArthur Theatre (now a CVS), Druid Theatre (now a Rite Aid), Georgetown Square, Outer Circle 1 and 2, The Cinema, Pike Theater, Roth's Parkway 1-2-3, and the Aspen Hill shopping center theater. And I've left out at least one other on Wisconsin Avenue in the District. None of those theaters was ever replaced.

It's very sad, but at least this time we're getting a replacement theater. The real concern I have is, what will happen if the Regal Bethesda 10 gets torn down with the Apex Building? With the developer not required to replace it under the proposal approved by the Montgomery County Council, Bethesda could become the only significant urban center in the area without a mainstream multiplex theater.

A last peek inside

The curtain has fallen

The former entryway into the lobby
and arcade

The view you'd have if
entering from outside the
mall

NEIGHBORHOOD GRILL-OUT IN DOWNTOWN BETHESDA TODAY AT 4 PM

Piazza Beer Garden, on the patio outside Cesco Osteria at 7401 Woodmont Avenue, will be hosting a Neighborhood Grill-Out today, May 24, at 4:00 PM. They'll be serving grilled sausages, and a selection of beers. There's no information regarding whether or not there is a special price, however. This might be a place to stop by after an opening day visit to the Bethesda Pool.

BETHESDA BANK DEMOLITION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

It's all over but the crying at the former site of United Bank on Old Georgetown Road. The rubble and debris are being carted away, making this a rare subtraction of a bank in a county currently exploding with new branches opening (with TD Bank seeming to have unlimited resources, in that regard). Technically, we didn't lose a bank, as United moved to Wisconsin Avenue prior to the demolition. As I mentioned previously, the bank is being replaced by a luxury residential building.

DRYBAR ENDORSES ARIANA KELLY AT BETHESDA ROW (PHOTOS)

Drybar, the popular blowout salon on Bethesda Avenue, has placed a campaign sign in its window for Delegate Ariana Kelly (D), who is running for reelection in District 16. Kelly was instrumental in changing state policy that previously forbid the salon from serving alcoholic beverages to customers during their appointments. She drafted what became known as "the Drybar bill," which passed the General Assembly, and was signed into law a few weeks ago by Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Drybar will now be permitted to offer beer or wine to customers, as it does at other nationwide locations. Among the other (more typical) political endorsements Kelly has received are those of The Gazette, Montgomery County's teacher's union, the Maryland League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, the SEIU, Equality Maryland and NARAL Pro-Choice PAC.

The District 16 race has heated up with the late entry of incumbent Bill Frick (D), and a host of other prominent Democrats competing for the 3 delegate seats.

BETHESDA BIKESHARE STATION VANISHES! (PHOTOS)

The Capital Bikeshare station on Montgomery Lane has vanished - temporarily, according to the company. A renovation of the sidewalk there, similar to those already completed elsewhere in downtown Bethesda, apparently required removal of the station. Some have questioned the logic of this location to begin with, but that was resolved after the recent opening of a Capital Bikeshare station closer to the Bethesda Metro station entrance.

BETHESDA POOL OPENS SATURDAY

The Bethesda public pool will open for the summer season this Saturday, May 24 at noon, and will close at 6 PM. Expect great weather this weekend, and the pool will be open those same hours on Sunday and Memorial Day.

Admission will cost $7 for minors and $8 for adult residents.

The Bethesda pool is located on Little Falls Parkway between the Capital Crescent Trail and Hillandale Road.

There is parking, and an overflow lot on Little Falls Parkway past Arlington Road. But for downtown residents, the CCT makes it an easy walk from Bethesda Row.

BETHESDA ROW CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

We're starting to get a better sense of the scale and footprint of The Flats and The Darcy, rising fairly quickly at the (future) intersection of Bethesda and Woodmont Avenues. The Lot 31 project is being developed by StonebridgeCarras, and will also include a 900-space parking garage that will run beneath both buildings and Woodmont Avenue.

Street level of The Flats (L)
will house Passion Fish

A look down the future
Woodmont Avenue toward
Barnes and Noble

Part of The Flats (L) and
The Darcy (R); the new
Woodmont Avenue will
run in-between them

The yet-to-be-named Silver Diner
"concept" restaurant will be
in the curved part of The Darcy
you see behind the "Road Closed"
signage

Grab a copy of The Gazette,
why don't you?

The lighted front of Barnes and Noble
can be seen in the distance

I don't always rent cranes, but
when I do, it's from Miller and Long

The Flats

The Flats (foreground) and
The Darcy (background)

The Sacks neighborhood, which a
developer tried to buy and demolish
a few years ago, to extend the
urban district toward
Little Falls Stream Valley Park

Future Pottery Barn (R)

BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 19, according to crime data:

Vehicle theft. 7300 block Wisconsin Avenue.

Vehicle theft. 8500 block Gavin Manor Court (Chevy Chase).

Theft. 9200 block Bardon Road.

Theft. 7200 block Woodmont Avenue.

Burglary. 5000 block Park Place.

Theft. 7100 block Democracy Boulevard.

Theft. 11800 block Rockville Pike (White Flint).

LANDOW BUILDING ENTRANCE TEMPORARILY CLOSED IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The Woodmont Avenue entrance of the Landow Building is temporarily closed for renovations. Tenants and visitors are being directed to the St. Elmo Avenue entrance. This is one of several buildings developed by Nathan Landow in Bethesda. What you'll notice in his buildings are the upscale finishes, and the resort hotel design elements he incorporates into his residential towers (including Fairmont Plaza, The Seasons, and the cruise ship-esque Promenade).

BETHESDA ROW CONSTRUCTION SITE GIVING HINT OF NEW WOODMONT AVE. ALIGNMENT (PHOTOS)

One major change the massive Lot 31 development project will cause is a slightly-new alignment for Woodmont Avenue, east of Bethesda Avenue. This required the county to abandon the original Woodmont Avenue right-of-way, and dedicate a new one. That new right-of-way, interestingly, does not include the ground "to the center of the Earth" (as a memorably-odd 2012 planning memo put it), but only the soil below the road required to house utilities and stormwater systems.

The smaller Lot 31A property - now being developed as The Flats, a luxury apartment building - will extend further out than it did as a parking lot. Woodmont Avenue's alignment will shift westward as a result. Now that both The Flats, and sister building, The Darcy, are rising well above street level, we can get a hint of what the future Woodmont Avenue will look like. In the top photo, Woodmont will essentially be aligned between the two tower cranes. You also have to imagine that the two buildings on the left of that photo will be blocked by The Flats. And that the Darcy will rise well beyond the top border of the photograph.

Below, you can see the curve of Woodmont reflected in the architecture of the future Darcy condominiums:

BETHESDA CRIME UPDATE

Here's a roundup of crimes reported across Bethesda on May 18, according to crime data:

Theft. 5400 block Wisconsin Avenue (Friendship Heights).

Assault. 6300 block Walhonding Road.

Drug arrest. 12300 block Parklawn Drive.

BETHESDA-CHEVY CHASE CANDIDATE FORUM 7:00 PM TONIGHT

Several Bethesda and Chevy Chase-area civic groups are co-sponsoring a forum for At-Large candidates for the Montgomery County Council tonight at 7:00 PM. The debate will be held at the 4-H Youth Conference Center, at 7100 Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase. Free parking is available behind the building.

Audience members may submit questions on cards, in addition to questions posed by moderator Charles Duffy, of Political Pulse on Comcast Channel 16.

The sponsors of the event are: Chevy Chase View, Chevy Chase Village, Chevy Chase West, Citizens Coordinating Committee on Friendship Heights, East Bethesda, Edgemoor Citizens Association, Garrett Park, Rollingwood Citizens Association, Somerset, Town of Chevy Chase, Village of Chevy Chase Section 3, Village of Chevy Chase Section 5, Village of Martin’s Additions, and the Village of North Chevy Chase.

BETHESDA VOLVO DEALERSHIP CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (PHOTOS)

The future EuroMotorcars Volvo dealership at 7106 Woodmont Avenue is still under construction. Here's a look at the progress so far on the interior; as you can see, it's a sizable space, and there's still quite a ways to go on this project. This dealership was formerly home to EuroMotorcars' Rolls Royce and Bentley operations.

PEET'S COFFEE OPENS IN BETHESDA - WIN A WEEK OF FREE COFFEE! (PHOTOS)

Here are photos from opening day at Peet's Coffee & Tea at 7629 Old Georgetown Road, in downtown Bethesda. Like Starbuck's, you can expect to find a good selection of breakfast and lunch items to go with your coffee, such as sandwiches and pastries. The first Coffee of the Month at Peet's is Tanzania Mbeya.

Most importantly, stop by Peet's Neighborhood Party on Saturday, May 31, at 6:00 AM - the first 25 customers through the door will win a Peet's limited-edition tumbler, good for a week of free coffee.

Instagram-ready shot on
the wall

Outdoor dining

Iced coffee