Food, drink, and atmosphere
When the Anchor Inn was still in business, its menu consisted mainly of American fare. Entrees were predominantly in the range of $12 to $20 and consisted of pasta, seafood, and steaks. [3] It drew many customers who were looking for Chesapeake Bay seafood specialties such as oysters, shrimp, and crab cakes. [4] The restaurant had however been criticized for being inconsistent and having generally worse food on the weekends when the crowds were heavier. [5]
The Anchor Inn was one of the first six establishments to apply for and receive a liquor license in Montgomery County in December 1964. The county had just recently repealed by referendum a prohibition era law which allowed liquor to only be sold at three restaurants in the county. [6]
The restaurant was also a favorite of locals who held special occasion dinners and club meetings at the venue. The Kiwanis Club of Wheaton held its meetings at the Anchor Inn on Wednesday afternoons and had a photograph of the Anchor Inn on the front page of their website. [4] The Wheaton Chamber of Commerce held regular board meetings [7] [8] and the Silver Spring Business and Professional Women's Club held social events [9] at the restaurant.
Closing and redevelopment
In 2003, the owner of the Anchor Inn, Harry "Selby" Scaggs Sr., testified in front of the Montgomery County Council and Maryland State Legislators in Annapolis, Maryland indicating that a smoking ban, which was under consideration at the time, would hurt his business. [10] After a smoking ban went into effect on October 9, 2003 in Montgomery County, Scaggs reported that his sales of Keno, beer, wine, liquor and food sales were down nearly 40% as customers flocked to nearby municipalities which still allowed smoking. On August 11, 2004, the Anchor Inn closed its doors for the last time citing the smoking ban as a major reason for its closure. [4]
The property was sold to Greenhill Capital Corp. and developer Lenny Greenberg, CEO, who already owned a majority of the block on which the Anchor Inn was situated. The building was leased to Anthony Fahey who reopened the Anchor Inn on January 19, 2005, but again had to close only after a few months. The Anchor Inn building was subsequently demolished on May 8, 2006. [2] [11]
After initially indicating that the parcel which the Anchor Inn was situated would be used as part of a $50 million, 600,000 square foot (56,000 m2) mixed use project, Greenberg and his team changed course and opted to build a standard strip mall due to a changing real estate environment. [2] [12] SIGAL Construction Corp. announced on August 31, 2007 that they had received the contract to build a new two story structure at the site where the Anchor Inn had once stood which they expected to complete by January 2008. [13]
The site does however retain the Anchor Inn sign which has been renovated and now reads "Georgia Crossing at the Anchor Inn". The sign had originally read "Anchor Inn Seafood House & Lounge". [4]
A pub is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in the late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
- is open to the public without membership or residency
- serves draught beer or cider without requiring food be consumed
- has at least one indoor area not laid out for meals
- allows drinks to be bought at a bar
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Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-most populous place in Maryland after Baltimore, Columbia, Germantown, and Waldorf.
Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C., and northwest of downtown Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), a career officer in the United States Army and volunteer from Rhode Island in the Union Army who rose to the rank of major-general while serving before, during and after the Civil War.
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Glenmont is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The United States Census Bureau had combined Glenmont with nearby Wheaton to create the census-designated place of Wheaton-Glenmont, from 2000 to 2010. It had a population of 16,710 in 2020.
Brightwood is a neighborhood in the northwestern quadrant of Washington, D.C. Brightwood is part of Ward 4.
The Gazette published weekly community newspapers serving Montgomery, Prince George's, Frederick, and Carroll counties in Maryland, including a subscription-based weekend edition covering business and politics throughout the state. The group of papers consistently won awards from the Suburban Newspapers of America, as well as regional awards. It was based in Gaithersburg.
Alcohol Beverage Services, previously known as the Department of Liquor Control is a government agency within the County of Montgomery, Maryland and is the wholesaler of beer, wine and spirits alcoholic beverage throughout the county's 507-square-mile (1,310 km2) area. Montgomery County Department of Liquor Control also exercises control over retail sales for off-premises consumption, either through government-operated package stores or designated agents.
Port Plaza Mall was an urban area shopping mall/multi-use facility located in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin. The mall opened on August 10, 1977, and featured 3 anchor stores over the years, with JCPenney and H.C. Prange open at its launch and Boston Store added by 1982. The mall would go into a state of decline in the late 1990s and 2000s, Boston Store closed in 2000, Younkers which replaced Prange, closed in 2004, and JCPenney closed in 2005. The mall would close on February 27, 2006. The mall property was razed during the 1st half of 2012 as part of a redevelopment project; the headquarters of Schreiber Foods now stands on the main mall footprint.
Laurel Mall was a shopping mall located on the west side of U.S. Route 1 in Laurel, Maryland. The mall opened on October 11, 1979 and connected two pre-existing structures – the freestanding Montgomery Ward on its south side and Laurel Shopping Center to the north. The mall closed permanently on May 1, 2012.
Westfield Wheaton, formerly known as Wheaton Plaza, is a 1.7 million square-foot, two-level indoor shopping mall in Wheaton, Maryland, north of Washington, D.C. It is owned by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and Its anchor stores include Macy’s, Target, JCPenney, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Costco.
Alcohol laws of Maryland vary considerably by county, due to the wide latitude of home rule granted to Maryland counties.
SmokinginCanada is banned in indoor public spaces, public transit facilities and workplaces, by all territories and provinces, and by the federal government. As of 2010, legislation banning smoking within each of these jurisdictions is mostly consistent, despite the separate development of legislation by each jurisdiction. Notable variations between the jurisdictions include: whether, and in what circumstances ventilated smoking rooms are permitted; whether, and up to what distance away from a building is smoking banned outside of a building; and, whether smoking is banned in private vehicles occupied by children.
Cheshire Bridge Road is a mainly north–south thoroughfare of Atlanta, Georgia, USA traversing the Morningside-Lenox Park and Lindridge-Martin Manor neighborhoods from Piedmont Avenue to Buford Highway just north of Interstate 85.
On October 17, 2018, cannabis was legalized in Canada for recreational and medical purposes. It was already legal for medicinal purposes, under conditions outlined in the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations issued by Health Canada, and for seed, grain, and fibre production under licence by Health Canada.
