Ideal Image closes at Bethesda Row

Ideal Image has closed at 4930 Elm Street at Bethesda Row. The medspa is the first of a wave of similar businesses along Elm Street to fail. Heyday, OVME Medical Spa, and Prime IV Hydration Wellness are still going strong. Ideal Image started the trend when it signed a lease for the former Boloco space in December 2019, and Heyday and OVME followed in early 2020. All four businesses remained surprisingly resilient in opening and thriving amid the pandemic. Ideal Image has ceased to exist as a corporation, but it has tried to sell its individual clinics to new operators where possible, and that apparently wasn't in the cards here.

Sense of Thai opens in Bethesda

Sense of Thai has opened at 5314 Zenith Overlook at Westbard Square in Bethesda. The restaurant is holding a soft opening all this week. Of the restaurants to open so far at the new Regency Centers development, Sense of Thai has arguably the most elaborate interior design and ambiance. The menu is dominated by spicy entrees, but there are a number of milder dishes for the heat-averse. Operating hours are 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM Sunday through Thursday, and 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM on Fridays and Saturdays.

The restaurant held a blessing ceremony with Buddhist monks earlier this week. Early diners have given the menu and service rave reviews. Although the local chain has existing locations in Virginia, it's possible we could see a review by the Washington Post restaurant critic, as he is relatively new in the position and hasn't had a chance to write about the older Sense of Thai locations. So why not start with Westbard?

Former Bethesda movie theater available for lease

A former Bethesda movie theater space-turned-gym is now on the market for lease. The K-B Theatres Georgetown Square Twin building at 10400 Old Georgetown Road has sat vacant for over two years, after New York Sports Club moved out. According to the Cinema Treasures website, some structural or architectural remnants of the theater remain inside the 14000-square-foot building, but not having been a member of the gym, I cannot confirm this. The KB chain opened this two-screen cinema on December 21, 1973. Another reminder of the golden age of neighborhood movie theaters, which crumbled to dust by the end of the 1980s. 

I used to think their demise was a real estate developer scheme, but it turned out that the biggest theater chains colluded with the major studios to make the profit splits so high for blockbusters, and the commitment of weeks to show them so long, that 1-and 2-screen cinemas like Georgetown Square couldn't remain financially viable and still obtain first-run movies. You had to have enough screens to A) show the movie a sufficient number of times per day to recoup enough money from ticket sales and snack bar concessions, and B) move the blockbuster into a smaller auditorium, if moviegoer interest in that flick began to wane prior to the 4-to-6 week commitment the studios demanded, and thereby have room for the next major release simultaneously.

GEICO campus, Brookdale Park trees facing the clearcut chainsaw in Friendship Heights

What would Warren Buffett do? Well, we know what the Montgomery County Council and Planning Board will do. The recent mega-downsizing of GEICO from its lush, longtime campus in the Friendship Heights area of Chevy Chase to a modest office in Bethesda is quickly leading to a massive redevelopment of that land long feared by neighbors. Central to the plans to building luxury apartments and townhomes on the site is the removal of almost all of the large trees from the 29-acre campus.

"This includes trees that are over 50 inches in diameter; some have been there for more than 100 years," the Little Falls Watershed Alliance warned in a email. "LFWA opposes this large scale destruction of the trees as well as many other elements of the plan that will have a negative impact on the environment." Developer EYA is also seeking permission to remove trees from Brookdale Park, the organization said. LFWA is encouraging residents to email the Planning Department and County Council, and ask them to preserve the trees.

Nazlymov Fencing relocates to church in Bethesda

Nazlymov Fencing has relocated in Bethesda. Its former location at 7747 Old Georgetown Road in downtown Bethesda has closed. That former Jewelry Exchange building is slated for demolition to make way for a new apartment tower. Classes have moved to Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ at 1 Westmoreland Circle NW at the Maryland/Washington, D.C. line. One twist caused by the move is that fencing classes will no longer be available on Sundays. Nazlymov is offering to cancel memberships for students who cannot reschedule from Sundays to an alternate day. En garde!

Mural repainted on Parking Garage 35 in Bethesda

A lot of work has been going on at the Woodmont Rugby Public Parking Garage 35 in downtown Bethesda this spring. That included having the facade repainted, but...oops! There was a public art mural on the Woodmont Avenue side, and it was painted over or removed. Heckuva job, Brownie! You may recall that artist Megan Lewis won the Bethesda Urban Partnership Paint the Town competition six years ago, earning the opportunity to paint this work. She then painted the mural in the summer of 2020, amid the pandemic lockdowns. Well, it had to be sketched out and repainted all over again this month!

New electronic sign at ON St. Elmo in Bethesda

ON St. Elmo has added a new electronic sign to its facade at 4915 St. Elmo Avenue in downtown Bethesda. The digital sign features scrolling messages. ON St. Elmo opened in November 2024. Their space has been home to several memorable nightspots in Bethesda history, including Union Jack's and the famous Shark Club.

Cryptic Woodmont Avenue closure message puzzles Bethesda residents

A digital sign board placed on Woodmont Avenue between Elm Street and Bethesda Avenue has been displaying a message for several days. "Woodmont to be closed on or about 6/1/26." It doesn't specify why, for how long, or which segment of Woodmont it applies to. Over the last few days, I have combed through the Montgomery County Department of Transportation website news releases and projects page, and find no information about this closure. I've also reviewed the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center newsletters going back several weeks, and have found no mention of this. I asked MCDOT on X about the closure two days ago, and have not received a response as of this writing.

This will potentially be a major disruption to traffic in the Bethesda Row area and beyond. It will impact residents and businesses alike. And it is only a few days away. The public really needs to be informed by Montgomery County of the specifics of this closure.

Suspect arrested in North Bethesda Marriott hotel shooting death

Montgomery County police have arrested a suspect in the May 14, 2026 fatal shooting of a hotel guest outside of the North Bethesda Marriott Hotel and Conference Center at 5701 Marinelli Road in Rockville. Terrance Brainell Williams, 41, has been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Quentin Tyrone Davis. Police initially had reason to suspect the alleged shooter had fled on foot to the nearby White Flint Metro station. But after reviewing surveillance video, they identified a person seen walking from a car toward the hotel just prior to the shooting. That same person was seen returning to the vehicle immediately after the shooting, and driving away.

Detectives allege that individual is Williams. They also assert that Williams and Davis knew each other prior to the shooting. Williams is being held at the County jail pending a bond hearing.

Sneak peek: The Food Market in Bethesda (Photos)

Here's a sneak peek at the interior of The Food Market, the highly-anticipated restaurant opening at 4720 Hampden Lane, in the ground floor of the Hampden House apartment tower. As you can see, the interior fit-out is complete. Equipment and seating are in place, some with plastic covers still on. A plethora of artworks await hanging upon the beige walls of the dining room. This lease was quite a coup for developer Saul Centers.

It was way back in November 2024 that I broke the news that Chef Chad Gauss would be expanding his American cuisine concept from Baltimore and Columbia to downtown Bethesda. The Food Market specializes in steaks, seafood, inventive vegetarian dishes, stand-by appetizers like mozzarella sticks, and a number of international flavors ranging from tacos and pork belly to yellowfin tuna meatballs and red curry butternut squash soup. We don't have a Bethesda menu or opening date yet, but I can tell you that they are currently hiring for all positions.