Silver Spring in the '80s

I taped this using 3/4" public access television gear, as I was gathering material for my first documentary called TWENTY-FIVE CENTS BEFORE NOON which was a scrapbook of movie theater memories in Washington, DC and suburbs. I wish I knew exactly when this footage was shot, but I didn't label the tape. My best guess is fall 1984, after the original marquee was demolished. My documentary was finished in 1987 and aired several times on WETA between 1990-1992, usually as a companion to a classic movie presentation. But here it is online as well
• Twenty Five Cents Befo...

[@tyrusbowie4489]

Born and raised in DC , lived on 7th and t. I've been up and down Georgia Ave since the 70s. Silver Spring and DC has changed a lot.

[@PaulGreen11]

That old guy had no idea of the Internet or Cyberspace but, here he is immortalized forever.

[@zyxwut321]

I was a baby around this era when we moved to Silver Spring for a couple of years. The neighborhood we were in was older and in disrepair and my parents didn't feel entirely safe there so we subsequently moved to Northern Virginia where I was raised. As an adult I've come back to Silver Spring a number of different times in recent years to see a vibrant, regenerated and thriving inner suburb (especially downtown) and I could only imagine what my parents saw when we were there. This video gives a small window into that time and place.

[@WontonSlim]

What neighborhood?

[@pavelow235]

Compared to Washington DC in the 1980s....no neighborhood near or far from downtown Silver Spring was unsafe. You lived a very sheltered upbringing, be thankful for that.

[@gardensofthegods]

Can anybody tell me what it was like in Silver Springs in the 70s and 80s because Dave Chappelle says that they were poor black people in a white neighborhood . I'm trying to find out how poor his family was ... does anybody know where and how he grew up ?

[@urbanflavorz]

@@gardensofthegods Silver Spring had section 8 housing all throughout the city. Tommy DAvidson for example was adopted by a white lady and they lived over by Summitt Hills which was section 8 housing.

[@AntoniusCesare]

The county is back in despair due to a county exec and his sycophant council people that are giving handouts with housing vouchers, disbanded the police and driving business out, it's a hot mess

[@Onlylettuce92]

AMAZING!!! Silver Spring has changed so much, even in the past 4 years it has rapidly changed! Real nice to see this!

[@detonater1348]

Oh wow silver spring 45 years ago how beautiful it was and still is

[@urbanflavorz]

Do you have any other footage. This is classic

[@davidjohnson-rv9fu]

The Lee building is still a construction site in this video so it must be early 1980s. I miss the old Hecht company - which later became the city place mall.

[@lord777terror]

this video brings back memories i was born in 89 but i can remember as far back as 92 and it looked pretty much like this except the johns hopkins building had already been knocked down and their was no bakers but the cars still looked the same and i remember those smokey metro buses

[@journeybeyondthesea]

So beautiful

[@lord777terror]

thanks so much kru tube i needed this brings back so much good times in dc

[@MissTish76]

I miss the old Silver Spring. This is where I grew up. After the early 90's I no longer cared for it. They were removing all the historic places, building and landscapes.

[@badfuturez]

Ok boomer

[@silverandteal]

@@badfuturez your worthless generation can never be happy for anyone. you don't deserve to have anything to look back on and miss when it's gone.

[@treeguyable]

I think the tide pod kids are jealous!

[@ghosthost100]

This was made three years before my birth. Proud Silver Spring native.

[@sshistory]

What a wonderful and important historical document! Your footage answered one question I have long harbored...when was the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory on Georgia Avenue directly north of what would be the Lee Building torn down. It is still standing in the shots across Colesville Road so it must have come down 1984-85.

[@Gnarmac2k]

Two things I noticed: 1. The traffic sure looks light. To see traffic levels that low now you'd need to be standing in front of the AFI at 4am. 2. Colonial Parking appeared to already have their parking monopoly established.

[@Axelerated]

How come everything in the 80s looked so dirty and run down? I've watched plenty of these 80s footage videos from different cities and they all look like this.

[@gerrypeet4861]

It looked dirty and run down because it was dirty and run down.

[@johnfoltz8183]

In 1995-1996 they wanted to redevelop a large chunk of downtown Silver Spring into a huge mall called America Dream Mall, bit the project died out. It would have wiped out a lot of old buildings including the Silver Theater, and would have created a lot of traffic. Afterwards plans were formed to turn Silver Spring into the place that it is today.

[@pavelow235]

3:45 Redd Foxx lived in Maryland?

[@JohnGillespie-om5cm]

We would be interested in featuring this footage in an Oxygen documentary. Please let me know if you have any availability to discuss. Many thanks, John

[@lord777terror]

ha ha i know know this video was shot in 86 because if u pause at 3:11 look at the left of the twin towers building u can see they are working on the silver spring metro plaza building that was built in 86 and if u look behind it its nothing but empty sky so that means that the lenox park building wasnt built yet but i always new that it always looked more modern than all the other buildings

[@BOBSMOKETV]

Very cool footage.

[@lord777terror]

i grew up right down the street from the circle on the dc side north portal drive the most up scale neighborhood in dc and its primarily black owned even till this day fuck yea

[@lord777terror]

down the street from were this video i being shot there is a house right on the border with a sign in front of it that literally says dc / md the owner does his taxes in dc though my grandfather knew him

[@Joseph-vm3sp]

I saw Empire Strikes Back in that Theater ☝️

[@Matt-gh4kj]

Is this right around GA Ave and City-Place mall? Going towards the DC line?

[@funghazi]

Yeah, real close. This theater is now the AFI Silver.

[@SG114handle]

I believe its Colesville road right by where the round house theatre and the filmore is today

[@davidjohnson-rv9fu]

There is another KZbin video of the 1969 Springbrook Highschool parade shot from the same location but that was before my time.

[@tutsebhatu6495]

vintage

[@shawnblog]

Could be a lot worse than this downtown in a few years.

[@deliagarcia1068]

1966 twenty five cent 1 sell phil

[@treeguyable]

Wow, lived there in 69-70, Ross Rd . Glad I left and moved down south, bought 3 houses, work when I want , can go shoot all my ak, ar, whatever, have fun, take my boat in the ocean all day, that place is nuts, Montgomery County, like Commifornia.

[@zyxwut321]

Well, it sounds like you found a place more appropriate for you and your world view. Nowadays Silver Spring is a beautiful, diverse and happening urban destination filled with shops, restaurants, clubs, arts, etc. I don't live there but I know many happy people who do and I go there often myself. Cities and larger towns in the Sun Belt are also growing, liberalizing, diversifying and changing as well, especially ones with major universities. You may find yourself feeling locked out of where you live eventually as well.

[@AntoniusCesare]

Well there are daily shootings nowadays around here and the police is discouraged from policing by council people that pander to activists so it might not be bad to come back if that is the lifestyle you like

[@treeguyable]

​@@zyxwut321I'll be dead before this place gets like that. No one cares now, no one will care then.

[@treeguyable]

@@AntoniusCesare Sounds like you need that kind of stuff. I just like to go out in the ocean in my boat, and float around. You can keep your lifestyle.

[@AntoniusCesare]

@@treeguyable no, but it is bad. It's turning into San Francisco real quick

[@breonala]

It is truely Krul......... they shut it down like that!....... maybe the BUTCH-Movie will premiere there.......... concrete & bird feathers!

[@kevenreynolds333]

this sucks