Secrets of Arlington: The Ride Series

[Erin Potter]

Hi y’all,

BA is working on coming up with a series of rides called “Secrets of (neighborhood name)” that will be fun exploratory social rides. Something like, “Secrets of Crystal City” or “Secrets of Shirlington,” etc. The “Secret Bike Passageways” thread and some comments on the Comfort Map is what gave me the idea to post here.

So I’m looking to plumb all the awesome-ness of the forum for help. What’s your favorite weird little thing you pass all the time on a ride? Any haunted houses? Favorite piece of public art? Neat community group that should get a shout out? Secret murals? Secretly awesome sides streets? The tree mermaid of absurd proportions on Lee Highway would have been perfect–but we’ll just have to mourn her loss. Pretty much anything that would be fun to show someone on a bike ride, I’m interested in.

Looking forward to seeing what you all have to share!

Topic

[Tim Kelley]

You guys are great.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

@KLizotte 123526 wrote:

You mean this thing? https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8576558,-77.0648702,3a,75y,5.69h,80.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2KYASoVr29ipEuFK7IbE6A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1?hl=en

Yeah you got it!
then you can turn around and ride up the secret aborted section of S Lynn street (the path going up behind the flower pots and bushes is actually a somewhat paved street, often lined with raccoon catching cages)
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8543411,-77.0666408,3a,75y,182.81h,71.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sasgZx6cZhLP4E88rKT9W1Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

and then the adventurous rider can take the overgrown, narrow, and incredibly steep path down arlington ridge (I would never recommend anyone to actually ride on Arlington Ridge Road) through Oakcrest Park to somewhat creatively and dangerously reconnect with the 4MR trail
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.849629,-77.0641407,3a,75y,183.68h,64.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4xYncd5Z1OV__kcy_MMEAA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[KLizotte]

Huh, those places are right in my backyard and I never knew where they existed. Now I need to go find the bamboo house.

[KLizotte]

There is Grace Murray Hopper Park located in front of the Riverhouse complex on S Joyce Street.

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8619699,-77.0635684,3a,75y,229.92h,78.71t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sBB2knTttMftR5PGuFzh7sA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

There is a nice plaque there detailing her very impressive life achievements:

Grace Brewster Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992), née Grace Brewster Murray, was an American computer scientist and United States Navy rear admiral.^[1] She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer in 1944,^[2] invented the first compiler for a computer programming language,^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and was one of those who popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages which led to the development of COBOL, one of the first high-level programming languages. She is credited with popularizing the term “debugging” for fixing computer glitches (in one instance, removing a moth from a computer^[8]). Owing to her accomplishments and her naval rank, she is sometimes referred to as “Amazing Grace“.^[9][10] The U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG-70) is named for her, as was the Cray XE6 “Hopper” supercomputer at NERSC.

[chris_s]

Oh also this guy has some top notch “bowling balls on top of steel rebar” lawn art. You can sort of catch a glimpse of it on Streetview.

[chris_s]

Also a lot of folks don’t realize that Inner Ear Studios, where a lot of famous local acts have done recordings is located in Arlington, down near Shirlington.

[baiskeli]

@KLizotte 123494 wrote:

There is the parking garage in Rosslyn where Deep Throat met with the journalists. There is a plaque outside the garage commemorating the site. I stumbled upon it by accident one day.

People wonder and theorize for decades about who Deep Throat was and where that garage was, and you just stumble on it.

[baiskeli]

I like to gawk at (and ridicule) McMansions like these two, which are on the Bluemont Junction trail – seen from there, you can see that one extends almost entirely to the back of the property and could swallow three or four of its neighbors whole.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Bon+Air,+Arlington,+VA+22205/@38.8733375,-77.125725,3a,75y,35.53h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sC8WqPOD5zb9dP1DaK35JUA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DC8WqPOD5zb9dP1DaK35JUA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D29.070063%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x89b7b46adc6ceb3b:0x4ba7088e543c61e6

I guess my own little backyard beer garden decorated with old bike parts could qualify as art, and its on a bike trail too. But it’s a secret – you have to find it.

[baiskeli]

Okay, I thought about it and came up with a few better ideas.

Cool art thing along the trail: https://publicart.arlingtonva.us/locations/named-stones/

DC boundary stones, many on or along trails: https://www.arlnow.com/2013/09/19/d-c-boundary-stones-a-silent-part-of-arlington-history/

Coffee shop and popular cyclist hangout was once Nazi HQ: http://blogs.weta.org/boundarystones/2013/01/02/nazis-arlington-george-rockwell-and-anp

[dasgeh]

Fort CF Smith Park seems like a secret. But maybe I’m just obsessed with the idea of a pump track or cx course there

[baiskeli]

Duh just thought of this. The springs that once fed pools that were part of a small amusement park just off the W&OD railroad are still with us, along with a historical marker (text below). You can find the springs by walking a few feet from the W&OD trail just before you go under Route 50 heading west. The Carlin House is

If you arrived here by train on a summer Sunday afternoon in the 1870s, you would find crowds of people enjoying Arlington’s premier amusement park.This wooded spot near the confluence of Lubber Run and Four Mile Run was a natural place for a park. Since the railroad’s beginnings in the 1850s, this had been a regular stop for steam trains replenishing water from the springs. The Carlin family, owner of the property since 1766, built the Carlin’s Springs amusement park here in 1872. It offered the popular attractions of the day — a large swimming hole, a bar, dance pavilions, and a 250-seat ice cream parlor. In 1887 the property was sold to developers for a residential community. The Carlin family house is preserved and open to the public as a museum.

[KLizotte]

Then there are the spies of Arlington.

Robert Hanssen at Long Branch Park

And more recently, the Russian spies that were found to be living at Riverhouse Apartment Complex at Pentagon City.

And Monica Lewinsky was interviewed by the FBI at the Ritz Carlton at Pentagon City.

[PotomacCyclist]

Though it doesn’t exist anymore, there’s the memory of Luna Park, a trolley park/amusement park that once existed near the intersection of S. Glebe Rd. and S. Eads St. It operated from 1906 to 1915, when the roller coaster burned down. The park couldn’t recover financially so it shut down. The site now houses the sewage treatment plant.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]9544[/ATTACH]

http://library.arlingtonva.us/2006/07/11/back-pages-riding-the-shoot-the-chutes/

[PotomacCyclist]

@KLizotte 123494 wrote:

There is the parking garage in Rosslyn where Deep Throat met with the journalists. There is a plaque outside the garage commemorating the site. I stumbled upon it by accident one day.

The garage won’t be around forever. There are plans to demolish the garage and redevelop the site. The plaque would be reinstalled after construction is complete.

https://www.arlnow.com/2013/08/26/planned-redevelopment-will-demolish-watergate-garage/

[Henry]

@KLizotte 123695 wrote:

Then there are the spies of Arlington.

Robert Hanssen at Long Branch Park

And more recently, the Russian spies that were found to be living at Riverhouse Apartment Complex at Pentagon City.

And Monica Lewinsky was interviewed by the FBI at the Ritz Carlton at Pentagon City.

Marv Albert was arrested in 1997 at the same Ritz Carlton for forcible sodomy and biting his mistress in the back (among other things).

Don’t forget Aldrich Ames house is in N. Arlington.

Lorena Bobbit worked at the Illusions salon in Shirlington.

And the 9-11 hijackers got their fake IDs at the FMR DMV.

Many of these sites are on my informal Notorious ARL ride. It was twice sold at nonprofit silent auctions, but never redeemed.

[Author]

Replies