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Oral History

Oral History: Bob & Edith’s Diner

Interview with Gregory Bolton

“Bob & Edith’s Diner with high rise apartment in background,” 2010. Photo by Emma Chaplin as part of the “Capturing Arlington” photo contest.

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Bob & Edith’s Diner has been an Arlington mainstay for more than 50 years. Established in 1969 by Bob and Edith Bolton, the original Bob & Edith’s got started when the couple took over the location of a “Gary’s Donut Dinette” for $800. The diner started with simple Southern dishes, such as country hams, scrapple, bologna, bacon, and country breakfasts.

The Boltons later added several locations in addition to the flagship diner on Columbia Pike, and in 1982, the diner expanded from a 10-stool counter to 5 stools and 7 booths. The interiors include many photos of the Bolton family, as well as Dallas Cowboys ephemera and a jukebox.

“Color shot of Bob & Edith’s Diner,” 2010. Photo by Muna Abdulkader as part of the “Capturing Arlington” photo contest.

In this oral history interview, Bob and Edith’s son Gregory Bolton describes the history and operations of the diner and its expanding menu. Today, his son and daughter, Christopher and Tamara Bolton run Bob & Edith’s, continuing the family tradition.

Narrator: Gregory Bolton
Interviewer: Virginia Smith
Date: December 19, 2011

Bob & Edith’s Diner featured in the South Arlington section of a 1984 Arlington hotel and restaurant guide.

Bob & Edith’s Diner featured in the South Arlington section of a 1988 Arlington hotel and restaurant guide.

Gregory Bolton: When I was growing up, there was no such thing as really a menu. What there was—above the, in front of the ten stools that were there, and above the grills, there were just signs, such as The Serviceman’s Special. We’d have an artist that would paint these signs up, roughly around sixteen inches, by maybe twenty inches. And it would, for example, would have a serviceman eating a chipped beef breakfast, that we would call it SOS, Serviceman’s Special. And each product was put across the front of the diner, and that’s how you would choose what you would like. There was no hand menu; it was across the board. And we’d replace them like once or twice a year.

Virginia Smith: And then when did you go to a menu, a printed menu?

GB: We probably went to a menu, I would say maybe about twenty-five years ago. The first ten or fifteen years it was pretty much all up in front of you; you picked it out, different ideas and different products. But the menu’s ten, fifteen times larger now than it was back then.

VS: Yeah. Did you get people coming down from the Pentagon?

GB: Yes ma’am. We had Pentagon, and the Navy Annex are very big customers. We had a lot of servicemen. I would say it’s seventy-five, eighty percent is government-related, whether it’s the County, state, Pentagon—

VS: Well, it’s affordable.

GB: —The military. They seem to be very pleased with the operation, and they keep coming back.

“The original Bob & Edith’s Diner,” 2010. Photo by Matthew Welborn as part of the “Capturing Arlington” photo contest.

Sources
https://www.bobandedithsdiner.com/About-Us

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: Margaret Troxell

Margaret Troxell (1909-2002) was a pioneering local journalist who helped found the Northern Virginia Sun.

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Margaret Troxell moved to Arlington in 1932 after attending St. Joseph College in Maryland. She first worked for the Commonwealth Monitor, where her salary started off at $8 (half of which was used to pay for her rent as a boarder on Fillmore Street). She later took on part-time work at the Washington Post and the Washington Times, as well as a music studio manager and music instructor, teaching guitar and mandolin.

Margaret Troxell at her desk, date unknown.

To make ends meet, she also did news broadcasts for the first radio station in Arlington, WARL. In 1935, Troxell and a group of other local journalists founded the Sun, a weekly paper based in Arlington. There she worked as a journalist and editor and was known for never missing a County Board meeting in her 16 years as news editor.

Troxell and the other owners sold the Sun in 1951, and it is now known as the Northern Virginia Sun. Later in life, Troxell opened a public relations office and worked on numerous campaigns around the County. She lived in Colonial Village for over 40 years, and outside of journalism, was an active member of Arlington’s Business and Professional Women’s Club and the Virginia Conservation Commission.

In the following oral history interview, Margaret Troxell discusses what initially inspired her to become a journalist, and how she became interested in writing.

Margaret Troxell’s press pass, issued October 22, 1946

Narrator: Margaret Troxell
Interviewer: Ellen MacMahon
Date: 1984
Note: The audio for this interview is currently unavailable.

Ellen MacMahon: Can we talk, then, about your work - when you got started in journalism and what made you choose journalism.

Margaret Troxell: Well, when I was in school, in those days, professions for women were somewhat limited to teaching or nursing or something like that and, of course, I had started writing just as a child.  I have a vivid imagination, and I used to send articles and stories to papers and I would have them returned with a check when I was just 10, 12 years old - and, of course, they had no idea how old I was.  And this was very encouraging so when I reached the college level each summer in high school I worked on a newspaper.

EM: A local newspaper?

MT: Local newspapers.  Since we had this summer home in Emmetsburg, I worked on the Emmetsburg Chronicle, and that was a weekly - and I went in to see the editor, and he told me he couldn't pay me anything.  That was perfectly all right because at the time I didn't need any money.  But he taught me so much. And we had a regular barter system.  I used to go out and collect bills, and if people couldn't pay, I'd take a bushel of apples, a couple of chickens or a ham.  That was a lot of fun.  And then I worked on The Baltimore Sun one summer - different papers, Gettysburg Times and a little paper in Thurmont - and that was very interesting because I went there just to work on the paper, and the editor became very ill, and I ran the paper all summer.

EM: What an experience.

MT: That was quite an experience.  It gave me a lot of experience.  Then when I was ready to go to college, the family had a conference, and they decided that newspaper was not for their daughter, certainly not.  My father was very broadminded, and he said, "Sis, you stick to your guns, and I'm on your side." So it was finally agreed that I could take journalism if I also took education. So I am a graduate teacher.

A selection of clippings from some of Margaret Troxell’s human interest articles, from the Northern Virginia Sun (Dates from right to left: October 13, 1939; September 15, 1939; August 25, 1939)

This interview is available at the Center for History, and issues of the Sun and Northern Virginia Sun are available online through the CLH Community Archives and through Virginia Chronicle.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: The First Students to Desegregate Arlington Public Schools

Interviews with Lance Newman and Michael Jones

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

This week marks the 62nd anniversary of the desegregation of Arlington Public Schools. On February 2nd, 1959, four students – Lance Newman, Michael Jones, Ronald Deskins, and Gloria Thompson – entered Stratford Junior High School, making them the first students to desegregate any public school in Virginia.

This 1959 article from the Anti-Defamation League describes the first day of integrated school at Stratford Junior High School in Arlington and the preparations that had been made to make a smooth transition.

This momentous event was the culmination of decades of work from activists and community members who navigated both legal action and other acts of protest to reach this landmark decision.

In the following oral history interviews, Lance Newman (1946-2018) and Michael Jones describe their experiences attending Stratford, what the preparation leading up to February 2nd looked like, and their experiences growing up in the close-knit community of Hall’s Hill. In this segment, Newman and Jones discuss their first days at Stratford.

Narrator: Lance Newman
Interviewer 1: Judith Knudsen
Interviewer 2: Joanna Dressel
Date: February 13, 2016

From left to right, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, Ronald Deskins, and Gloria Thompson entering Stratford Junior High School on February 2, 1959.

Judith Knudsen: Let’s go back to that first day and describe the first day.

Lance Newman: Okay. Let’s see. I remember getting up, getting ready, and I think my mom was—she was probably—she told me later she was a nervous wreck.

JK: I’m sure.

LN: Yeah. And I was kind of. I wasn’t—because I was there with my buddies. Actually, Ronnie and Michael and I were really good friends because we played softball together. Gloria—I knew Gloria, but I kind of felt sorry for her because she was the only girl. But so, we went down, and we all gathered at Ronnie Deskin’s house. And there were reporters there and then all the people—community leaders. And then, we sat around and they took pictures. We got some pictures, then we piled into Mr. Jones’ car and went down to Stratford, and I guess on Old Dominion Drive they let us out, and we went—we actually went in the back of the school, not the main entrance at the front. I remember going down and getting off—crossing Old Dominion Drive. They had blocked it off—and then walking down the long pathway near the football field and tons—well, it seemed like just a gauntlet of Arlington County police. They were in their riot gear with helmets and their riot gear.

LN: And actually, we were walking in by ourselves. They purposely had us come after school started, so we just went in. We went into the central entrance near the flagpole in the back, went to the principal’s office, Mr. Richmond. They sort of had—they had a conference and they told us what to expect and all of this, tried to calm us, I guess. And then we were escorted down to our first class, and I remember going into—well, he was—my math teacher was Mr. Marks—and going into the class and seeing about thirty or—thirty all-white faces, and it was kind of tense. He was pretty good because he shook our hands and stuff and said, “Kids, this is—” and had us sit down. He had a seat and a desk for us. It was right upfront.

LN: And that was a Monday, I believe. Yeah, it was a Monday. And then, the next day—I mean it went okay. That class—and then I remember the first-period bell ringing and going out in the hallways, and Stratford was a lot bigger than HB*. I went to HB first. And I was going out in the hallway and seeing this mass of humanity changing classes, and people were kind of—pretty much—I think they were kind of staring. People were kind of—you know—wanted to ignore us. But it was tense, and then that day after school, we went back to—I guess actually we went back to my house, and then we had this press conference with the—and I remember the Washington Post and the local television stations were there and had big cameras set up, and a guy interviewed us.

*Note: Hoffman-Boston was, until 1964, the only high school for African American students in Arlington. It remained open until its final graduating class in 1964 and reopened as an elementary school in 2000.

Narrator: Michael Jones
Interviewer: Judith Knudsen
Date: July 17, 2016

Stratford Junior High School, 1959. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Judith Knudsen: So, what do you remember about the day when you—when it happened? What was—?

Michael Jones: You know, the further we get away the furthest—the more I forget. The only thing I remember is getting up early that morning and crossed my mind—they dressed me and made my hair and all that—made sure my hair and everything was looking good—nice long coat and everything. We were to meet at Ronnie’s house, and then—our house is right where I stayed—my mother lives now. So, Ronnie’s house is in apartments. Well, I’m two minutes away—just across the street—and you go down to his apartment there. So, we went to his apartment, and someone drove us around—drove us to the school. Now, my recollection—and I talked to Ronnie and Lance, and they think it’s different. I always thought—and it’s too bad it’s not to the day where I could—where it would be on YouTube. I could just look it up.

JK: Exactly.

MJ: Yeah. But I always thought we went into our—Vacation Lane—went in that way, straight down that little street there and went up the steps. But they said we went in the other way. But I don’t know. I guess somebody’d go to—but anyway, went in there and we met with Mr. Claude Richmond for a while.

JK: He was the principal.

MJ: He was the principal at the time. He met with us maybe—I guess less than a half an hour before we went into class, and Ronnie and Lance were together, and me and Gloria were together. I think now that’s because Ronnie and Lance went to the Methodist church at the time. Gloria and I went to the Baptist church. So, I think that’s why they put us together in classes. And we went to the first class and—

JK: What was that like?

MJ: I don’t know. You know what? I can not—I don’t remember anything that stood out negative. So, to me, it was just a normal class. We went in there, and I guess I didn’t know anybody, which was difficult when you go—most classes—

JK: Of course. New class.

MJ: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I didn’t know anybody, so when we went into class, I guess we sat pretty close to each other, and that was it. Came out. I guess we had a ride home that first week or so—something like that. Or maybe first—maybe—I don’t know. Came home and it was—it was up. Fairly uneventful year. The only thing that I can think about that first year is some guys used to call us names in the hall, and that’s it. But nothing even bad as you see today—getting beat up or anything—and I guess because the focus—everybody knew the focus was on us at the time. If anything happened, it would be negative on not only them but the school, the state, and everybody else. So, nothing happened, it was uneventful except for those.

JK: And did—my understanding was that you stayed in the same class for all the classes. I mean, you changed classes, but you had the same group, so it was the same group all the way through the day.

MJ: Yeah. Correct. Right. I don’t remember me being in the class by myself that first year. I think Gloria was in all my classes I had.

From left to right, Michael Jones, Ronald Deskins, and Lance Newman at the February 2, 2016, County event, “An Evening to Celebrate Arlington’s History Makers.” Photo by Blake Tippens.

A plaque dedicating the Stratford Auditorium, February 2, 2016. Photo by Blake Tippens.

Learn more:

”The Story of Arlington Public School Desegregation,” tells a detailed narrative about the history of the desegregation of APS

”Oral History: Desegregation of Arlington’s Public Schools” and “A Fight for Educational Equality: Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Hamm” both detail the life and work of Dorothy Hamm, who led the efforts to desegregate APS

Project DAPS is a digital exhibit featuring nearly 2,000 digitized documents and stories related to the desegregation of Arlington Public Schools from the Arlington Public Library’s Community Archives

”Back to Stratford: Honoring Arlington’s History Makers” features a panel discussion with Michael Jones, Lance Newman, Ronald Deskins, and other community members about the desegregation process and it's legacy

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: The Arlington Food Assistance Center

Interviews with Ann Rudd and Andy Lee

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

The Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) was founded in 1988 under the goal of “obtaining and distributing groceries, directly and free of charge, to people living in Arlington, VA, who cannot afford to purchase enough food to meet their basic needs.” Its formal mission statement as of 2020 is “to feed our neighbors in need by providing dignified access to nutritious supplemental groceries.”

Established by a small public-private committee, the organization began distributing food in a Red Cross van, which was purchased at the Capital Area Community Food Bank in Northeast D.C. The group initially delivered to a small, rotating list of families provided by local churches. Its early founders were Anne Rudd, William Knull, and Anna Barber, who had attended Rock Spring Congregational Church together.

AFAC's Certificate of Incorporation, June 30, 1988.

After over a year of operating out of the van, the First Baptist Church of Clarendon offered AFAC its first fixed operating site, increasing the number of clients the organization could serve. In 1992, AFAC acquired its own full-time operating site at 2900 North Washington Boulevard. The organization moved to its current headquarters at 2708 S. Nelson Street in June 1997 to accommodate its growing operation. More than 30 years after its founding, AFAC now serves more than 3,000 families per month.

In these oral history interviews, founder Anne Rudd and longtime AFAC volunteer Andy Lee describe the early days of AFAC and how the organization grew to become a cornerstone of the Arlington community.

Example of a fundraising effort held by AFAC, advertised in the Washington Post, October  12, 2000. Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

Narrator: Ann Rudd
Interviewer: Michelle Jones
Date: November 20, 2013

Michelle Jones: And how do you really get started? That’s a large—that’s a large job to accomplish.

Ann Rudd: Well I know that they started out—they were using the churches for storage of food.

MJ: Oh.

AR: They were—they used the Baptist church in Clarendon. And they used the Unitarian church and they used Little Falls Presbyterian.

MJ: And what you—

AR: They were sites where people picked up food. Twenty-five years ago was what? Something around three sites.

MJ: So this is around 1988?

AR: Yes. Yeah, so it’s been twenty-five years.

MJ: Okay. So um—Well how did you get—information out to the community?

AR: Well they worked through the county with the Department of Human Services, churches, and community organizations, you had to be referred-you could get food the first time.

MJ: Is that how you received funds? Or how—

AR: No!

MJ: — how did you get started and find a place and—? (speaking at same time)

AR: They did not—they just started calling churches to find a place. As for the money, it was donations. People donated food.

MJ: And what was your involvement in getting all of this going? Were you more on the ground trying to get donations and actual goods or—

AR: I think I was more-or-less contacting churches to see if they would let us set up there. So I think it was those three churches, but it was mainly on the Baptist church when Clarendon was the main place. And it was only open on Saturday morning.

AFAC informational mailer distributed to community members.

Narrator: Andrew “Andy” Lee
Interviewer: Anne Webb
Date: September 30, 2013

Anne Webb: So—what—but you started volunteering when AFAC was still rather small and you’ve seen it grow exponentially. Tell me about your role in all those changes.

Andy Lee: Absolutely. Sure. When I first started volunteering we were serving —serving I think around 70 families per week.

AW: Um-hm (affirmative)

AL: We had one bagging on Friday night and then one distribution on Saturday morning. AFAC was housed in the basement of what was then, Clarendon Baptist Church, and subsequently, as we grew and hired our first staff, we needed office space so Bill Knull at the time, who was president of the board, found a location at 10th and Washington which was at the time we found it, it was being used as a motorcycle repair shop, so it was an absolute mess. … We remained there for several years and then the vision was that we need to expand further as our client load increased and we also need to be closer to our clients. Being in Clarendon the majority of our clients at the time were in Arna Valley, which no longer exists as far as low-income housing but that’s where a lot of our clients were, as well as in the Columbia Pike corridor.

So, we found a location in Shirlington working with real estate agents, Bill Knull primarily, looking at different sites and the current location on South Nelson Street, proved to be for the most part meeting the majority of our needs and so we moved in there I believe in 1996 or 1997 timeframe after some reconstruction of the infrastructure of the building and we’ve been there ever since.

In an addition, we had two primary satellite distribution sites, Clarendon Methodist Church as well as the Gunston Community Center while I was on the board. That has since expanded to multiple different locations, you know we are doing outbound. But at the time South Nelson Street was our primary location as well as the two satellite sites that we had.

As far as the client loads, as I said, when I started, we were about 70 families a week. I think at the peak last year we were around 1,600 families per week on average. I think it’s down now a little bit. But it’s still very high compared to what it used to be.

The AFAC logo as of 2020. Image courtesy of AFAC.

These interviews are available at the Center for Local History. Oral history interviews with Fred Jones, Robert Gallagher, Roberta, and John Overholt, and Ed Nolan also detail the history and work of AFAC.

Want to learn more? Record Group 313 in the Center for Local History also holds documents from and related to AFAC dating from 1948 to 2018

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: Remembering the Early Businesses of Columbia Pike

Interview with Ruth Levin

Exterior of Columbia Furniture, 3102 Columbia Pike. Circa 1962.

Arlingtonian Ruth Levin describes her memories of her family’s businesses that helped make up the vibrant landscape of the Columbia Pike. These included jewelry stores, a gift shop, and later, the Columbia Hardware & Appliance Company – which later changed names around 1956 to Columbia Furniture.

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

The furniture store was also a community gathering place: Levin’s father, Sol Cohen, would keep the store open late to show the Friday night fights on TV for those who wanted to come and watch.

In this interview, Levin also discusses attending synagogue and Hebrew School in Arlington, participating in Girl Scouts, and watching the Pentagon (or, as it was known then, the Federal Building) being constructed.

Columbia Hardware & Appliance Company, 3102 Columbia Pike. Circa 1950s.

Narrator: Ruth Levin
Interviewer: Sara Collins
Date: April 16, 2007
Note: The audio for this interview is not currently available.

Interiors of Columbia Furniture, 3102 Columbia Pike.

Ruth Levin: In Arlington Village, there was Cohen Brothers Jewelers. Then eventually up where my father had the furniture store, Uncle Ben had Richard’s Jewelers. He named it for his son. So he had the jewelry store there. You know, that building was two stores. And he had the jewelry store in the little store, and my father had the hardware store – then converted to a furniture store.

Sara Collins: And that’s in the Charles Building?

RL: No, No. It’s Columbia Pike and Highland Street. It’s a picture frame place now.

SC: Oh, yes, of course. With the Kirby front.

RL: Yes. My father had that - Behm and Beger built that store for my father after the war. During the war because my father didn’t go into the service, he had to do something, so my uncle had Cohen Brothers Jewelry Store down in Arlington Village and my father opened up a gift shop there. That was a good place because all the servicemen from the Navy Annex and the Pentagon used to come up Columbia Pike and they would come in there and shop. And then after the war, my father had that building built and had a hardware store, it was Columbia Hardware.

SC: Where was that, that building that’s there now on Highland Street?

RL: Right. He just started kind of somehow getting into furniture, and so then he got out of the hardware and it was completely furniture. So instead of Columbia Hardware, it became Columbia Furniture. He had the furniture store there until he retired and sold the store to Max and Max had it until he died. Then he rented the building to the picture frame guy. They’re still there. And then eventually my father sold the building to him because he didn’t want to be bothered with it anymore.

Sher family in front of M. Sher & Sons General Merchandise, Columbia Pike and Walter Reed Drive, circa 1922. Charlie Sher can be seen in front of the family’s Model T Ford Utility Truck.

Want to learn more? The Ruth Levin Photograph Collection is digitized and available in PG 212. The Center for Local History also has a digitized oral history interview with Levin’s uncle, Charlie Sher, who helped run M. Sher & Sons General Merchandise.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: Attending Hoffman-Boston High School in the 1940s

Interview with Delores C. Downing

Many Arlington students are now returning to school, albeit in a very different manner than back-to-schools in the past. In this oral history interview, Delores Downing describes attending Hoffman-Boston in the 1940s.

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Downing attended Hoffman-Boston from the beginning of her schooling at age five to her graduation at 16, when she was the youngest of a four-person graduating class. In the interview, Downing talks about her time in school, businesses in her neighborhood, the construction of the Pentagon, and what it was like growing up in Arlington.

Downing’s parents also attended Hoffman-Boston, the first junior, and later senior high school, for African-American students in Arlington. Built in 1915, Hoffman-Boston replaced the Jefferson School, Arlington’s first school for African-American children, which opened in 1870.

Hoffman-Boston was named after Edward C. Hoffman, former principal of the Jefferson, and Ella M. Boston, former principal of Kemper, another school for African-American children in Arlington. Hoffman-Boston remained open until its final graduating class in 1964 when Arlington desegregated its school system.

Hoffman-Boston High School, circa 1950s. Part of the George Melvin Richardson Collection.

Narrator: Delores C. Downing
Interviewer 1: Sara Collins
Interviewer 2: Joan White
Date: May 28, 2003
Note: There may be some discrepancies between the audio and written transcripts due to edits and additional details provided by the narrator after recording.

Science demonstration involving a fan at Hoffman-Boston, circa 1950s. Part of the George Melvin Richardson Collection.

Sara Collins: Tell us about the school. What did it look like when you entered the front door?

Delores C. Downing: Open lobby, always clean. To the left and right were the classrooms. If you walked straight ahead there was the auditorium (which is more or less in the same area in the present time). The elementary area was downstairs, junior/senior high upstairs if I remember correctly. Very small school, but a very good school. I do have a picture, maybe I’ll send a copy to you one day.

Children from Green Valley (Nauck) and Halls Hill (High View) area were bussed to HB, due to segregation. We worked from used books passed down from the white schools, but our teachers being who they were worked extremely hard and made good use of books and all supplies and equipment that we did (did not) receive to the best of their knowledge to give us the best education we had. We have P.E. in the back of the auditorium (there was no gym). But so much togetherness in whatever we had to do. During my school years, there were three graduations; from 6th grade to 7th, 9th to 10th, and finally completion of the 12th grade.

SC: I think that would be very helpful.

Joan White: Since you spent all of your school days at Hoffman-Boston, can you tell me during your time there, did the school configuration change? When you were in the first grade, was it like two rooms, and as time progressed did it become larger, or did they have to make it change because of the number of students attending?

DD: When I attended you had specific rooms for each grade.

Group of Hoffman-Boston students stand talking. Student with his back to the camera wears a Hoffman-Boston letterman sweater. Circa 1950s. Part of the George Melvin Richardson Collection.

JW: So there were a number of rooms on the first floor to accommodate all of the elementary grades. Were those large rooms?

DD: They weren’t huge but they were comfortable rooms.

JW: Approximately how many students were in each room? I’m just curious as to how you all were in there.

DD: I don’t know but we were quite comfortable. We weren’t overcrowded. But I can’t give you dimensions on the size of the room. But then we used to have cloakrooms to hang our coats in. I’ll never forget, we had to memorize “The Night Before Christmas,” I think it was Ms. Burke’s class. On the cloakroom door, she pasted all the pages and from time-to-time, you would not stand in the same place, you would have to memorize that page. So even now I still know “The Night Before Christmas,” basically.

Hoffman-Boston Elementary School today. HB reopened an elementary school in 2000 in the Oakridge neighborhood of Arlington. Image courtesy of Arlington Public Schools.

This interview is part of the Center for Local History’s oral history collection, VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no. 183. Watch "Memories of Hoffman-Boston" to learn more about the Hoffman-Boston School.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Fun in the Sun: Summers of Arlington’s Past

Arlington may not come to mind when you think of a beachy oasis, but in the 1920s, we had one of the region’s premier beaches right here.

The Arlington Beach and Amusement Park opened on May 30, 1923, on the Potomac River in the area near the Fourteenth Street Bridge (then known as Long Bridge). For nearly a decade, this was a go-to spot on a hot Arlington day.

Arlington Beach, circa 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The beach was an immensely popular Arlington spot, with crowds of up to 12,000 during the most sweltering days, according to Arlington Magazine. The location featured both a sandy beach on the shores of the Potomac as well as bathhouses and the accompaniments of a full-scale amusement park: a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, aerial swings, a rollercoaster called “The Whip,” and a ride called “The Dodgem.” Swimmers could use the beach’s diving board and swim at night under searchlights.

Dance pavilion, Arlington Beach. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The park’s dance pavilion was also one of its major draws in its opening season, providing a spot for people of all ages to spend summer evenings – the Washington Jazz Orchestra even performed here. In line with the rising car culture of the early 20th century, the park also advertised extensive parking facilities – important to draw customers from all around the region.

It’s notable that as popular as the Arlington Beach was, it was among the many segregated recreational areas in the County. Even though it was located near predominantly African American neighborhoods, including East Arlington and Queen City, the beach and amusement park were segregated for the duration of their existence.

Beachgoers at Arlington Beach, June 16, 1923. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

According to a research project on segregation in Arlington conducted by Lindsey Bestebreurtje at George Mason University: “County resident James ‘Jimmy’ Taylor recalled that Black children swam ‘in a creek on Route 50 called Blue Man Junction.’” African American Arlingtonians were also not permitted to use public pools, and the county’s first pool to allow African American children wouldn’t open up until the 1960s.

Interview with Ruth Jones

In a 1999 oral history interview with Ingrid Kauffman, Ruth Jones described going to the beach as a teenager. Born in March of 1913, Ruth began to visit Arlington Beach around 1927. Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Narrator:  Ruth Jones
Interviewer: Ingrid Kauffman
Date: March 23, 1999

Ingrid Kaufman: And so can you tell us about Arlington Beach?

Ruth Jones: Well, I was just a young girl, 14 or 15 years old and I met my husband, well, he eventually was my husband.

IK: What was his name?

RJ: Raymond Jones. And he lived in Washington. And we started going to Glen Echo and to Arlington Beach and just having a good time for kids, you know. And so they had a roller coaster, a carousel.

IK: How much did that roller coaster cost?

RJ: Ten cents. A ride at your own risk. That’s the truth, too. It was rickety. After I came to Washington, it was only there for 2 years, 2 or 3 years, then they tore it down.

IK: They tore down the roller coaster?

RJ: Everything. And shut the beach down and all, to put the airport there.

Along the waterfront, Arlington Beach, circa 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

As Jones describes, the location was eventually compromised by the construction of the nearby Hoover Airport. The traffic at the airfield grew to include both passenger and mail air service, which provided disruptive to the festivities of the beachgoers and park attendees. The Hoover airfield was also notoriously dangerous – and the aviation industry notoriously unregulated at this point – so the proximity of the beach and park also became a safety issue.

Girls from Keith’s [vaudeville circuit] at Arlington Beach, April 29, 1925. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1929, the Washington Air Corporation bought the beach property in order to expand the Washington Airport, which later merged with the Hoover Airport as the Washington-Hoover Airport. However, with the construction of the Washington National Airport (now Ronald Reagan), the Washington-Hoover Airport closed. The former beach grounds were then purchased by the U.S. Department of War and became part of the Pentagon.

Amusement park, Arlington Beach. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Rides at Arlington Beach. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

This article was expanded from previous articles on Arlington Beach from 2008 and 2017.

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Oral History: LGBTQ Activist Lilli Vincenz

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

In celebration of Pride Month this June, we are highlighting Arlington activist Dr. Lilli Vincenz, who has worked tirelessly throughout her life to support and advocate for members of the LGBTQ community in Arlington and beyond.

Dr. Lilli Vincenz came to the Washington, D.C., area in 1963 as a member of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). During her time in WAC, Dr. Vincenz was outed as a lesbian and received a general discharge. After this, Dr. Vincenz found a community in LBGTQ activism.

She was notably involved with the Mattachine Society of Washington – a branch of the national Mattachine Society and also a significant local organization. She was one of the first lesbian members of the group and was the first editor of the organization’s newsletter, The Homosexual Citizen. In 1969, Dr. Vincenz and fellow activist Nancy Tucker co-founded an independent spin-off of the Mattachine newsletter, a publication called the Gay Blade, which later evolved into current gay news organization, The Washington Blade.

Dr. Lilli Vincenz appeared on the cover of a 1966 issue of The Ladder, an independent lesbian magazine. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Dr. Vincez was also a filmmaker, capturing LGBTQ protests in real-time to preserve on film. In 1968, she made a short documentary called “The Second Largest Majority” about a Philadelphia picket protest. Though only seven minutes long, it captured signs and messages the protesters were expressing, creating a vivid portrait of the demonstration. Two years later, she made another film documenting participants in New York’s first Pride Parade, where people can be heard chanting “Gay and proud, gay and proud, gay and proud.” These clips have been featured in other documentaries about the gay rights movement, and both of these short works are available through the Library of Congress.

Dr. Vincenz also hosted a weekly open house for lesbian women from 1971 to 1979 where members of the community could gather. One regular attendee wrote a song about the gatherings:

“Come all you women in the D.C. vicinity / If loving women is your proclivity / Rev up your engine, roll up your bike / And point your wheels to Columbia Pike / Carlyn Springs to 8th Place; turn to the right / For Lilli’s open house on Wednesday night.”

Dr. Lilli Vincenz, date unknown. Image courtesy of The NLGJA.

In this audio clip, Dr. Vincenz shares her memories of protesting discrimination against gay and lesbian sexuality with the Mattachine Society.

Narrator: Lilli Vincenz
Interviewer: Diane Kresh
Interview Date: November 14, 2013

Transcript:

DK: Can you talk a little bit about the Mattachine Society?

LV: Oh, I loved it. Yeah. I went there immediate—and I felt so good. It was wonderful. I just loved it.

DK: Well, what did you love about it?

LV: I was free. And then the picketing started and I have that noted also in there. And it was so exciting that that was the most important thing for me. I’ve got to do this, because there’s all the lies that have been made for people who think that gay people are bad people socially. And well, nobody had really told people that it’s all right to be gay. But now, of course, we’re getting this quickly now that this—everywhere now we’re—

DK: Huge change.

LV: Another marriage, another marriage, they’re doing all that!

DK: Did you think that that would happen in your lifetime, those kinds of changes?

LV: Well, early on I didn’t think right away, but I only knew I had to be there. I had to do it, because so few people could do it. And I felt that I could do it.

In 2013, the Library of Congress acquired the Lilli Vincenz Papers, which includes journals, speeches, writings, interviews, and other documents relating to the life and work of Dr. Vincenz in the collection. In 2019, Dr. Vincenz was inducted into the LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association for her contributions to journalism and the gay rights movement.

For more information about Lilli Vincenz, see the Lilli Vincenz collection at the Library of Congress.

This Oral History is a repurposed post from June 15, 2017. It includes additional information about Lilli Vincenz, as well as an additional photo.

Oral History: Bringing the Metro to Arlington

Interview with Roye Lowry

The arrival of the Metrorail in 1977 forever changed the landscape of Arlington, shaping the region for decades to come.

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

In 2010, Arlington County released the documentary, “Arlington County’s Smart Growth Journey." It focused on the development of Arlington via the Metro system and featured interviews with people involved in this historic growth period. In this interview, narrator Roye Lowry details the trials and tribulations of the landmark Metro project, some of which are featured in the Smart Growth documentary.

Lowry served on Arlington’s County Board from 1962-1965. During that time he helped lay the groundwork for the construction of the Northern Virginia Metro system and related County development.

Metrorail car, 1969, WMATA photo.

Narrator:  Roye Lowry
Interviewer: Mary Curtius
Date: December 5, 2007

From the documentary:

[7:35]: The schools were a major interest. But also, the development of Arlington became of interest because we were just building apartments and gas stations almost everywhere.

[14:57]: The first place was Rosslyn. We got to give a lot of credit to the man who was then the head of our highway division, Stoneburner, Mr. Stoneburner because they wanted to run 66 right flat down what would have then been the middle of Rosslyn, which would distort any possibility of development.

[13:27]: When they began to talk Metro plans, we were for it because that is the only way we’re going to escape having highways.

[29:17]: The notion was we tried to unite public purpose and private profit. If you can successfully do that in anything you’ve got a winner.

From the oral history interview:

On the Metrorail coming to Arlington:

Roye Lowry: Arlington was just in the way. People who lived out in the hinterlands, no matter where, they just wanted to get through here to get to Washington. We lived here. We were in the way and we weren’t going to move. We had this notion of preserving a community of approximately 200-210,000 people. That was the notion and it turned out to be pretty good.

Mary Curtius: What was the population back in ‘61, ‘62? Was it anywhere near 200,000?

RL: No, it had to be 160,000 maybe, something like that.

Rosslyn Station construction sign with crane in background.

On development in Arlington:

MC: Do you think you understood at the time. I understand the preservation motive, you wanted to save Arlington from being carved up.

RL: But we’re redeveloping at the same time.

MC: Did you think it would help redevelopment, that Metro would help redevelopment?

RL: We were pretty sure it would. Metro is going to run through Arlington. There are going to be some stations. It’s not just going to run through Arlington. It took much longer than was anticipated to get it going. I remember when there was some kind of ceremony, dedication ceremony or something in Clarendon when the Orange Line. It was a big celebration. I was standing there in the crowd and I saying it’s seven years behind schedule right now when it gets there.

Roye Lowry conducted this interview as part of Arlington County’s “Smart Growth” documentation project, and the full interview can be accessed at the Center for Local History – VA 975.5295 A7243oh series 8, no. 10. Fifteen additional interviews in this series are also available at the Center for Local History, and the full “Arlington County Smart Growth Journey” documentary is available online.

Front page of the Northern Virginia Sun, from July 2, 1977.

Page 2 of the Northern Virginia Sun, from July 2, 1977.

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

Oral History: Renting in Clarendon in the 1950s

Interview with Ann Brock

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Oral histories are used to understand historical events, actors, and movements from the point of view of real people’s personal experiences.

Arlington in the 1940s and 1950s was very different than it is today, but it has always remained an interesting and unique place to live. In this oral history segment, longtime Clarendon resident Ann Brock shares her memories of renting apartments in the neighborhood when she and her husband were newlyweds in the early 1950s.

Photo of Clarendon Circle Intersection, circa 1950s. On the right is Washington Boulevard, top center is Clarendon Boulevard. and left is Wilson Boulevard.

Narrator: Ann Brock
Interviewer: Emily Curley
Date: February 27, 2019

EC: So where was the first place that you lived in Clarendon?

AB: Are you ready for this?

EC: I’m ready.

AB: Where the IHOP is now, there was a Chinese laundry and my husband and I had an apartment over top the Chinese laundry. That was our first residence.

EC: (laughs) Okay, and what was that like?

AB: It was unusual—(laughing)—but it was fun.

EC: Okay. So where did you move after that?

AB: Well, I’ve got to think because we moved quite a few places. Let me say at one point we lived on North Nelson Street in a duplex apartment there. And then we lived at what was called then, the Lehigh apartments which bordered Arlington Boulevard and the name Lehigh came from the old Arlington Boulevard being Lee Boulevard, which divided north and south. And then we moved, briefly, out to McLean and we were only there about a year and then we came back. We rented our house on Washington Boulevard for fourteen years before we purchased it.

EC: Okay. Can you describe what renting was like back then? Was it as difficult as it is now?

AB: Oh, it was nothing—when we lived in the Lehigh apartment we had a one-bedroom apartment for $37.50 a month. And then after we had our son we moved to a two-bedroom apartment in Lehigh, same place, and that was $97.50 a month. Unbelievable isn’t it?

The goal of the Arlington Voices project is to showcase the Center for Local History’s oral history collection in a publicly accessible and shareable way.

The Arlington Public Library began collecting oral histories of long-time residents in the 1970s, and since then the scope of the collection has expanded to capture the diverse voices of Arlington’s community. In 2016, staff members and volunteers recorded many additional hours of interviews, building the collection to 575 catalogued oral histories.

To browse our list of narrators indexed by interview subject, check out our community archive. To read a full transcript of an interview, visit the Center for Local History located at Central Library.

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