Hot on the heels of the previous article, in which I explored how an Iraqi bakery (temporarily) replaced an old Quiznos, this time I touch on internationalism with a much, much larger retail footprint—an entire mall. The mall in question is Security Square, a few miles to the west of Baltimore city limits, at a
As unpredictable weather and utilities challenges impede my ability to crank out articles quickly, I offer what might initially seem like a “throwaway”. It’s a reference to one of my favorite topics: not just a labelscar, but one in particular for an eatery I’ve featured way more often than its current national prevalence (or lack
Several months ago, I stumbled into a restaurant cluster called The Block in Annandale, a somewhat distinctive suburban district in the overwhelmingly suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, just south of Washington DC. The unassuming exterior (which I’ll review shortly) betrayed a lively, hip interior that managed to generate at least medium buzz after 9pm in this
This isn’t the first time I’ve covered a sublease within a gym or health club, hereafter referred to as a “physical fitness marketplace”. A few years ago, I noted how a physical therapy clinic had moved into a space within a larger health club—a glassed-in chamber that previously served as a racquetball court. This time,
In a scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of November, I offer a simple ponder and an almost 360° view at a single intersection. A series of photos offers all that is necessary to conceive a small manufacturing city’s metamorphosis through the increasing prevalence of the automobile over the twentieth century.
Coming on the heels of an article where I unexpectedly concluded that the best decision might be to save a strip mall in College Park, Maryland, I now view more or less the same subject through a different lens. Leaping across the Potomac River to Virginia, the state might change but the metro area is
Biking along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) in the final days of summer yielded some unexpected opportunities for leaf-peeping. The GAP, a massive rail-trail conversion linking downtown Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, allows uninterrupted bike/pedestrian access from the Steel City to Washington DC, by means of a transfer onto the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Canal Towpath
As a person who loves bicycling, I am hardly one to cavil when a municipality installs new bike-friendly infrastructure. Quite the opposite, in fact. As a general rule, most places in the US are still less bike-friendly than they could be. And while we have witnessed visible improvement over the last two decades, and I
It’s hardly earth-shattering for a storefront to have two separate entrances, if it’s over a certain size. Sometimes even smaller establishments decide that they want two doorways for customers. (Building and safety codes often require a distinct fire/service entrance in the back of the establishment, if its over a minimum size.) Then again, this is
I’m not an entomologist—not even of the armchair variety. Nor am I a conservationist, or a meteorologist. My schooling in ecology does not extend beyond a single graduate-level course that dealt with how urban development disrupts various animals’ habitat and migration patterns. And it is that course content that I can apply against a backdrop
Hot on the heels of the previous article, in which I explored how an Iraqi bakery (temporarily) replaced an old Quiznos, this time I touch on internationalism with a much, much larger retail
As unpredictable weather and utilities challenges impede my ability to crank out articles quickly, I offer what might initially seem like a “throwaway”. It’s a reference to one of my favorite topics: not
Several months ago, I stumbled into a restaurant cluster called The Block in Annandale, a somewhat distinctive suburban district in the overwhelmingly suburban Fairfax County, Virginia, just south of Washington DC. The unassuming
This isn’t the first time I’ve covered a sublease within a gym or health club, hereafter referred to as a “physical fitness marketplace”. A few years ago, I noted how a physical therapy
In a scramble to meet my quota of articles before the end of November, I offer a simple ponder and an almost 360° view at a single intersection. A series of photos offers
Coming on the heels of an article where I unexpectedly concluded that the best decision might be to save a strip mall in College Park, Maryland, I now view more or less the
Biking along the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) in the final days of summer yielded some unexpected opportunities for leaf-peeping. The GAP, a massive rail-trail conversion linking downtown Pittsburgh to Cumberland, Maryland, allows uninterrupted
As a person who loves bicycling, I am hardly one to cavil when a municipality installs new bike-friendly infrastructure. Quite the opposite, in fact. As a general rule, most places in the US
It’s hardly earth-shattering for a storefront to have two separate entrances, if it’s over a certain size. Sometimes even smaller establishments decide that they want two doorways for customers. (Building and safety codes
I’m not an entomologist—not even of the armchair variety. Nor am I a conservationist, or a meteorologist. My schooling in ecology does not extend beyond a single graduate-level course that dealt with how