American City Diner, as captured by a Google Street View camera in 2009.
by Marlene Berlin
In 1988, Jeffrey Gildenhorn opened a 1940s-style diner at Connecticut Avenue and Morrison Street. For 30 years, the retro American City Diner served up regular diner fare: fried egg sandwiches, meatloaf, pancakes, milkshakes. Younger kids enjoyed the a model train inside and the coin-operated rides outside. The cheap food made it a popular hangout for my teens.
Gildenhorn died in 2017, and his family closed the diner the following year. Entrepreneur Steve Salis then purchased the property. According to the Washingtonian in October 2019, it was to “become a branch of Sidekick bakery, an offshoot of Salis’s Ted’s Bulletin chain.”
The diner in October 2019 (Google Street View image)
Six months after that, Covid-19 arrived, and we heard nothing more about a bakery or any other Salis brand.
The next major development was the removal in 2022 of the murals of silver screen legends, which had been painted on plywood panels and hung in the diner’s parking lot.
The murals in 2018. (Google Street View image)
Then, on March 7th of this year Urban Turf reported that a “raze application was filed for the property at 5532 Connecticut Avenue NW (map) that day.”
And on April 4th, Eater DC reported that Tim Walsh, a Chevy Chase resident and restaurateur who owns the Avenue and Capital Crab, had just secured the lease and will open an “open-air destination for tacos, desserts, whiskey, and horseplay.”
As Walsh describes “Derby Chevy Chase” or “Paddock Chevy Chase” (he’s still working on the name), it will be a family-friendly venue and a place to make memories… much as American City Diner was to three generations of Gloria Garcia’s family.
Garcia, the executive director of Van Ness Main Street, shared some of her memories with Forest Hills Connection:
The diner opened after I moved back to DC after graduating from Georgetown University and working in New York.
Right from the beginning, it was a real hangout with my friends for late night or a “brunch” we could afford back then. My friends and I no longer had to get to the Tastee Diner so far away in Bethesda!
I have a great memory of us in the early morning hours, playing the jukebox endlessly and dancing in the aisles. One night, we even did a very bad Grease re-enactment on the counter stools. Then in the 1990s, when my nephews became the focal point of our family, we were there almost every weekend and especially after soccer games. What kids didn’t love the train, the jukebox, and the games? Plus the food was so kid friendly.
As my nephews grew up, this diner became a hotspot for me and my parents. It was very close to our homes, and opened at 7 a.m. so I could have breakfast with them before work quite often. My parents loved going there because the majority of the staff were Spanish speakers and they could speak in their native language. After my father passed in 2013, my mother and I would frequent it as many times as my schedule allowed. The staff treated her like a queen after his death.
Gloria Garcia (center) with nephew Vegas Kastberg and her mother, Amalia “Lala” Garcia
Her favorite meal was a staple on the menu: pancakes and milkshakes! We went there for her favorites but especially for the memories this place evoked and the warm welcome whenever we arrived. One of the reasons my mother loved the diner is that she always insisted on treating and it was reasonably priced for a very old retiree!
I also went to the diner with other friends throughout the years (although we gave up dancing in the aisles in the early 90s) for quick meals, business meetings, and for movie night! I remember the last movie I saw there with two dear friends was Casablanca.
The diner was as campy as campy could be and very off brand for DC while it celebrated the DC native owner, Jeffrey Gildenhorn – his life, successes, and celebrity sightings. In my mind and heart, it will always be a treasure that my family shared until it closed in 2018. It has been hard driving by the site as it has sat empty and will be harder once it is razed. A true piece of DC history and my family’s story.
What are your memories of the American City Diner?
paul pearlstein says
Great article! Many thanks Marlene.
Green Eyeshades says
I still don’t understand this new concept. The Eater link says this about five paragraphs from the end:
“The partially tented outdoor venue will sync up to each season. Look for a pumpkin patch come fall, fire pits to toast s’mores, a Christmas tree lot linked to a charity, and a (synthetic) ice skating rink with a curling club taking up a quarter of the space.
“The prized patch of real estate will be paved and lined with artificial turf, and its food and beverage setup—modular trailers outfitted with kitchens—means the rebuild process is pretty seamless.”
And the Connection’s earlier mention of this new venue quoted this part of the same Eater link: “Horse trailers will serve 12 beers on tap, plus wine and liquor. Walsh also plans to operate a whiskey bar in a converted 1976 Airstream ….”
What happens to that space overnight? Will it be a vacant lot covered in astroturf with some tents? What kind of tents? Will it be fenced off? I can’t picture it.
FHC says
Have you heard of The Sandlot in Tysons, Georgetown and Southeast? It’s a similar concept, with food trucks, entertainment and container bars that lock up at closing time. The trailers at the Derby site would serve the same purpose. The Sandlot serves to activate unused lots until the property owner is ready to build on the site, and given the similarities to the Derby concept, I wonder if Walsh or the property owner is using this as a placeholder for a permanent structure and use.
Mary Rowse says
In this age of climate change and environmental crisis, there is no a reason to raze anything. Deconstruct this diner reproduction, don’t demolish it. Sell it to someone for re-use. Repurpose and recycle it, don’t dump it into a landfill. Be environmentally responsible, Tim Walsh.
RS says
My understanding was that was what Matchbox was trying to do but the structure is in such poor repair that it wasn’t worth the cost to try to save it.
Mitch says
I loved going as a kid, when my go was a monterey jack grilled cheese and a milkshake, and I have many hazy memories from late night/early morning trips in high school. But I will forever have the lines from the Gypsy fortune telling machine (pre-Zoltar) stuck in my head…. “Fortune for a quarter? I love quarters. Give me a quarter and I’ll tell you your fortune!”
Green Eyeshades says
What can we do to help speed up the opening of Mom’s Organic Market?
Amazon has obviously decided to slash the budget for its Tenleytown Whole Foods, so we need Mom’s to open up ASAP!