Silver Spring Heritage Trail Finally Gets Props in the Post

In April 2010 the Silver Spring Historical Society dedicated the first six signs of the Silver Spring Heritage Trail along historic "Main Street" Georgia Avenue.  In all there will be twenty signs located throughout downtown Silver Spring extolling the amazing hidden history that our community encompasses.

As the first designated heritage trail in Montgomery County, and one that the SSHS worked on for over a decade to create, our organization felt that the trail's dedication deserved coverage in The Washington Post which, of course, it did not receive.  Well, finally it has...sort of.

In today's "Local Living / Montgomery Edition" of the Post on p. 17 the article "Piratz Tavern bar gets a Spike TV makeover" appears with two photographs. One of the photos prominently shows our "Post Office 1936" sign in the foreground with the late Piratz Tavern in the background!

Of course to the uninformed reader no one would know what this sign is much less what is written on it.

Hopefully Montgomery County print readers of the Post who are curious about what the sign is will check it out in person and in the process will seek out the other five signs.  Stay tuned because two more heritage trails signs are in the works and will hopefully be dedicated later this year.

Playing Christmas Day 1955 at the Silver Theater

Anyone who wants to go out to see a movie in downtown Silver Spring on Christmas Day has an overwhelming selection of film offerings. From sixteen different motion pictures at the Regal Majestic & IMAX to four films at the AFI Silver Theatre.

Fifty-six years ago Silver Spring filmgoers had far less options.  Playing at the Silver Theater (note the spelling difference) on December 25, 1955 was the Janet Leigh & Jack Lemmon musical My Sister Eileen.  This singing and dancing remake of the earlier 1942 film of the same name was about two Ohio sisters (Leigh and Betty Garrett) seeking success in the big city...and where else in 1955 was that but in NYC's Greenwich Village.

Maryland News, December 23, 1955, p. 5.
Microfilm collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

My favorite dance sequence in the film is when the legendary choreographer and sometimes actor Bob Fosse spars with actor/dancer Tommy Rall.  Rall will be 82 years-old on December 27th but Fosse sadly dropped dead of a heart attack in 1987 in front of the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC.  He was only 60 years-old. 

Interspersed between showings of My Sister Eileen was the George Montgomery and Nancy Gates western Masterson of Kansas, directed by the equally legendary William Castle.  Four years would pass before Castle really begin establishing his reputation with low-budget, over-the-top gimmicky thrillers such as House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler, both released in 1959.


Both of these Silver Theater/Theatre Christmas Day offerings were second run films with My Sister Eileen (appealing to a mostly female audience) being initially released the previous September and Masterson of Kansas, aimed at the guys, already being a year old having been released the previous Christmas.


The Silver's only other local competition was the Roth's Theatre at 8242 Georgia Avenue, originally opened in 1927 as the SECO (Suburban Electrical COmpany).  The SECO was the first movie theater to open in downtown Silver Spring and held the monopoly for eleven years until the Silver opened in 1938.


After the kids opened their Christmas presents that day and settled down for lunch they could shoot over to Roth's to catch the 2:00 pm Walt Disney hit Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, starring Fess Parker.  Even though the movie had ben released the previous May and was nothing more that a compilation of three Davy Crockett television episodes that aired on the ABC television show Disneyland, it was billed as "NOW...ON THE MOTION PICTURE SCREEN!"  I'm sure there were plenty of eight year-old boys wearing their coonskin caps in the theatre.

Later that evening the adults could catch Robert Taylor and Kaye Kendall in The Adventures of Quentin Durward, the story of a Scottish night (Taylor) who finds himself in France to facilitate a marriage between a rich and beautiful countess (Kendall) and his aging uncle, King Louis XI, played by Robert Morley.  Intrigue ensues.  No problem convincing the kids to miss that one.

If you REALLY wanted to see the first release films all one had to do was to catch the streetcar at Alaska and Eastern Avenue and head down to F Street, NW where the Loew's Palace (at 13th Street) and the Capital (at 14th Street) were respectively showing Rains of Ranchipur, a drama about an Englishwoman (Lana Turner!) having an affair with a Hindu doctor (Richard Burton!), and the Vincente Minnelli (Liza'a father) directed musical Kismet, starring Howard Keel and Ann Blyth.

Whatever motion picture you watch this Christmas Day, new release or old, in a movie theater, on television, via dvd or streaming, may it be an enjoyable ending to 2011!

A Silver Spring Christmas: 1955 Style

Maryland News, December 23, 1955.
Microfilm collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

Like this year, Christmas day fell on a Sunday in 1955.  Shoppers who had yet to complete their holiday purchases might have felt relieved when this advertisement for G. C. Murphy & Co. appeared in the Friday, December 23rd Maryland News.

This "five and dime" variety store was the namesake of George Clinton Murphy, who founded the business in 1906 in McKeesport, PA.  A national chain store that offered low-priced merchandise, Murphy's had been located at 8237 Georgia Avenue since 1937.

Murphy's occupied the ground floor of the MUCH altered building that still sits on the southeast corner of Georgia and Thayer avenues (originally contructed c. 1927 and named the Heizer Building after its owner, Roy M. Heizer).  It is  difficult to imagine all of the merchandise touted in this advertisement fitting into such a small building.

Adjusted for inflation, the advertised prices do not seem too dissimilar from what one would pay for the same items today.  That 67c nylon hosiery for your wife or girlfriend is equal to $5.66 and the high-end $5.98 all-metal wagon for little Dickie (or Sue) would be set you back $50.48.  Keep in mind that the national average wage in 1955 was $3,301.44 or $68.78 each week...before taxes.

Murphy's remained in the Heizer Building thru at least 1968.  Amazingly, no photographs of either the exterior or interior of this business that served our community for over three decades have surfaced.  If you have photos...or even reminiscences of shopping or working at this Murphy location...please share them here.

New TD Bank Location Features Historic Silver Spring Mural

Customers entering the recently opened TD Bank "store" at 8661 Colesville Road (inside City Place) will be greeted by a large colorful mural depicting Georgia Avenue as it looked in 1927. The original source black and white photograph was supplied by the Silver Spring Historical Society.

These murals are a unique feature of the interior decor of TD Banks and allow local historical societies to educate customers about the visual history of the community where the bank is located. This is the second time that SSHS has worked with TD Bank, having provided another archival image for its 3132 Briggs Chaney Road location that opened in 2008.

Small 11" x 17" poster versions of each mural are available for free at each respective bank. Stop in and take home a piece of Silver Spring's history with you!



Jerry A. McCoy poses with Delana H. Coyle, Assistant VP and store manager of the downtown Silver Spring TD Bank. The mural depicts Georgia Avenue at the intersection of Wayne Avenue in 1927. The brick building is St. Michael's Church, which sat in the middle of today's Wayne Avenue



This 2008 mural depicts the way Georgia Avenue at Silver Spring Avenue looked in 1917.  TD Bank lobby, 3132 Briggs Chaney Road, Silver Spring, MD.  Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

Celebrating Silver Spring's Treasures

May is the National Trust for Historic Preservation's National Preservation Month and this year's theme is "Celebrating America's Treasures."  The purpose of this advocacy is to showcase our country's diverse and unique heritage and downtown Silver Spring is certainly home to a wide variety of treasures worth celebrating.

One such treasure is the building located at 8412 Georgia Avenue, constructed in 1937 as the Silver Spring Post Office.  This federal buildings (the first to be erected in Montgomery County) was one of 1,100 post offices constructed in the United States between 1934 and 1944 that featured murals or sculptures commissioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture.  Fourteen of these post offices were located in Maryland with three in Montgomery County (the other two were Rockville and Bethesda).

Located in the lobby of Silver Spring's new post office was a 16-foot-long oil on canvas mural titled The Old Tavern by Nicolai Cikovsky.  The mural depicted the crossroads of Sligo, Maryland (today’s intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road) at the end of the Civil War.  Civil War Union soldiers are reading mail picked up at a tavern located where Discovery Communications stands today.  When the post office closed in 1981 and relocated to Second Avenue, the mural was carefully removed from the wall, placed in storage and promptly forgotten.  

In 1994 after a year long search I located the mural rolled up in a cardboard carpet tube that was stored in the basement of the demolished (2003) Blair Station Post Office, located at 8045 Newell Street.  A three-year effort was commenced by the Friends of the Silver Spring Library to raise $25,000 to conserve the mural, which was badly deteriorated.  In 1997 the restored mural was ceremoniously unveiled at the Silver Spring Library where it is now on permanent view.  I'm told that the mural will become the centerpiece of the new Silver Spring Library, planned for the corner of Fenton and Bonifant streets.

After the mural was removed from the post office in 1981, the rest of the interior was completely gutted.  Disposed were the postal clerk windows, post office boxes, writing tables, highly stylized ceiling light fixtures (they looked like miniatures of the planet Saturn), and a plaque honoring the individuals responsible for the post office’s construction.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s name was prominently placed near the top of this plaque. 

Although no extant photographs had surfaced showing the plaque in situ, documentation of its existence was established through a full-scale architectural rendering housed in the archives of the Silver Spring Historical Society.  Long had I wondered what became of the plaque, along with everything else that had graced the lobby. 

In 2006 I received a note in the mail from the manager of the Silver Spring Library.  A man in Western Maryland had mailed to the library a small black and white photograph.  The image showed a group of well-dressed men lined up in front of the Silver Spring Post Office.  Written on the back was, “Silver Spring Post Office / Recruiting Office in 1942." 

This was new information to me as I had not known that the draft board during WW II was located in the post office, theorizing instead that draftees went to 1927 Maryland National Guard Armory, located east of Georgia Avenue on Wayne Avenue.  The Armory, a Montgomery County-designated Master Plan for Historic Preservation structure, was demolished in 1998 for construction of a parking garage that was built five years later. 

The library manager thought that the Silver Spring Historical Society would be an appropriate home for the photograph.  Little did the manager, or I, know what other “treasures” the donor of this photograph possessed.


Enclosed with the photograph was contact information for the sender who lived in Little Orleans, Maryland.  I immediately called the gentleman, identified myself as founder and president of the Silver Spring Historical Society, and explained how the Silver Spring Library had sent me the photograph.  When the man said, “I also have a plaque if you want it,” I couldn’t believe what I had heard.  Without asking I knew exactly what plaque he was referring to.  

It turned out that the caller had worked at the Silver Spring Post Office from 1958 to 1975. Later, he had advanced to the position of postmaster of Mt. Rainier, Maryland and the plaque was given to him by a fellow post office employee who had obtained it when the Silver Spring Post Office's Georgia Avenue facility closed in 1981.  The plaque was in his shed where it had been sitting for over two decades. 

"I’ll be out this weekend,” was my response!  I knew the exact location of Little Orleans, 108 miles west of Silver Spring, as I had stopped there during a four-day C & O Canal bicycle “ride through” from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown in 2003.  My companions and I had replenished our water bottles at the landmark Bill’s Place in Little Orleans where I, of course, had no idea that the object of my desire was just up the hill and around the bend.

The plaque, fabricated of cast aluminum, weighs 17 lbs. and measures 21” x 32”.  Also donated to the SSHS a hinged 3 1/2” x 5” front door to PO Box 413 that was in the post office’s lobby.  The cast aluminum front features a proud, bas-relief eagle surrounded by radiating lines with the locking mechanism centered in a shield placed over the eagle’s breast.  I wondered whose hands had held the many keys that opened and closed this door for forty-four years and what missives did the door guard?

The Silver Spring Historical Society desires to permanently exhibit these items alongside the mural at the new Silver Spring Library.  An offer was made a couple of years ago to officials with the Montgomery County Public Library system to display the items at the new library but no acceptance was ever given.  So attention MCPL!  Display of these and many other historical artifacts located in our archives are still available and would serve as a wonderful library amenity to educate the public about Silver Spring’s fascinating heritage!

If you or someone you know worked for the Silver Spring Post Office on Georgia Avenue, please share your reminiscences (and perhaps photos) with the Silver Spring Historical Society.  Please email me at sshistory@yahoo.com.

Not Even the Dead Get Respect

On April 14th the Silver Spring Historical Society commemorated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Norman Lane, the "Mayor" of Silver Spring.  A brief ceremony was held on Georgia Avenue at the statue depicting Norman that was created by artist Fred Folsom in 1991.  The event included the placing of a beautiful floral wreath generously donated by Bell Flowers.

During my remarks to the five people who took the time to remember Norman, I mentioned that I expected the wreath to be stolen before the day was over.  Well, I was a bit too pessimistic.  It lasted four days before it was ripped off.  Whoever stole it, sometime between Sunday afternoon and this morning, couldn't be bothered with the metal stand that the wreath was attached to and left it behind.

This event sadly reminds me of a recent exchange I had with an individual who thought "someone" should find a copy of the Grecian nymph statue that originally graced (nearly a century ago) the stone grotto of the Silver Spring and install it.  I told this person that such a statue wouldn't stand a chance of surviving because vandals would either destroy it or steal it outright.  This person was incredulous that anyone would do such a thing.

Ah, the joy of ignorance.

The little benevolent piece left inside of me should say, "If this person needed the flowers so badly, then they should have and enjoy them."  But it just can't.  For too long disrespect has been shown to Silver Spring's heritage and this theft is simply the latest example.

Happy 100th Birthday Norman!

Half a dozen folks gathered this morning at Georgia Avenue's Mayor's Promenade to honor the 100th birthday of Norman Lane.  Placed before artist Fred Folsom's 1991 portrait bronze statue of Norman was a beautiful floral wreath donated by Bell Flowers (thanks Chad Mangum!).

(Left to right) Chad Mangum, Jerry A. McCoy, Charles Atwell,
Richard Jaeggi, Chris Matthews, unidentified.  Top & bottom photos by George French.

The quick 15 minute event began and ended on a note that Norman would have especially appreciated.  A homeless man approach one of the free newspaper boxes positioned directly opposite the statue.  He opened the box and started rooting through the newspapers and, one by one, pulled out four cans of malt liquor.

After the formal portion of the ceremony was over a few of us were talking when a different homeless man came around the corner singing out loud and barged right into the middle of our group.  He asked for money for "coffee."  In return he was asked, "Do you know where you are going to go to buy it?"  He responded, "No."  It was suggested to him that Kefa Cafe would be a good place to go!  I don't know if money was proffered for at that point I needed to leave to go to work.

This fall will be the 20th anniversary of the statue's dedication.  Perhaps another event can be held to commemorate one of the best examples of public art in Montgomery County.



Photo by Jerry A. McCoy



"Don't Worry About It!"

Thus was the catch phrase spoken by Norman Collins Lane, affectionately known as the "Mayor of Silver Spring," who was born a century ago on April 14, 1911.  Norman was a homeless man who spent the better part of twenty-five years walking the streets and alleys of downtown Silver Spring.

This dignified portrait of Norman was taken in 1971. 
Copyright Dave Stovall.

He collected handouts of money and food and did odd jobs around the community.  One of these jobs was as a groundskeeper picking up trash at the Bethesda Naval Hospital.  One day in October of 1965 he encountered the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson.  President Johnson was at Bethesda to have his gall bladder removed and supposedly said to Norman upon meeting him, "Christ, you look in worse shape than I do!"



Photograph taken in 1965 of Norman meeting President Johnson. 
The photo is inscribed, "To Norman Lane
With best wishes Lyndon B. Johnson."  Collection of Iris Hyson.


Norman's beverage of choice was Pabst Blue Ribbon beer...morning, noon and night...and he usually wore a construction hard hat. Robert Phillips, owner of the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. (demolished) provided Norman with a cot and a hot plate in his business, the closest that Norman would accept to the comforts of a home.  Norman liked to rummage through the dumpsters behind Bell Florist and Pumphrey's Funeral Home (demolished) where he would retrieve discarded roses and then proceed to give one to each woman he passed on Georgia Avenue.

For years this sign was attached to the Silver Spring Auto Body Co. until it disappeared
 in 2003 after the business shut down. Photo taken by Jerry A. McCoy in 1996.

Silver Spring Auto Body Co. sign donated by Charles Atwell. 
Collection of SSHS Archives.

When the ABC television show "Real People" featured a 7 1/2 minute segment on Norman in 1979, it asked people in downtown Silver Spring if they'd vote for him if he ran for office.  Everybody said sure with one black guy responding, "Why not? The last two white men I voted for were bums too."


Such a colorful personality seemed to beg to be immortalized and that was what artist Fred Folsom did, starting in 1974 by creating dozens of studies, paintings and lithographs depicting Norman.  On October 11, 1991, four years after Norman passed away in the back seat of an National DC cab abandoned off of Sligo Avenue, Folsom dedicated a life-sized bronze portrait of him.


Oil on masonite, 12" x 12", by Fred Folson, copyright 1987.
Collection of Jerry A. McCoy.

The bust is located in the walkway, named "Mayor's Promenade," located next to 8219 Georgia Avenue.  This walkway led back to the front door of the Silver Spring Auto Body Co.  The alley that this business faced, running parallel to Georgia between Thayer and Sligo avenues, was also named "Mayor Lane."

Photo by Jerry A. McCoy.

Please join the Silver Spring Historical Society on Thursday, April 14th, at 9:00 a.m to honor Norman on his 100th birthday.  If anyone knew him, we would love to hear some stories.  And if anyone knows how the tune goes, we could sing this song written in 1979 by Harry Merrick, then the lead singer of the five-member Chase Holiday Band...

"He's walking down the sidewalk, moving kind of slow.  He looks kind of funny, but he's never feeling low.  And if you ask him he'll tell you everything is OK.  He never worries, you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.' 

He's the mayor of Silver Spring, Norman is his name.  Things will come and go, but he'll always stay the same.  People have to relax and take it day by day because he never worries and you can always hear him say, 'It's all right, don't worry about it.' "

Happy 150th Birthday Willard R. Ross

Today is the 150th birthday of Washington, DC photographer Willard R. Ross.  Born in Ohio on December 24, 1860, Ross moved to the District of Columbia around 1910 and commenced business for himself as a postcard photographer specializing in "hometown" views.

Ross documented Silver Spring twice with his large format camera that utilized glass plate negatives, once in 1917 and then again in 1928.  This view of Brookeville Pike, today's Georgia Avenue, was taken on June 21, 1917 and tweaked to reflect the spirit of the holiday season.

If the buildings in the left foreground look familiar to you that is because all of them have miraculously survived to see the 21st century.  The porch on the left is today's display windows of Plaza Artist Materials (the unseen American four-square house attached to the porch is encased in the present structure).  Next is a two-story wood frame structure that today houses Bell Flowers.  Other than having been covered in stucco, this circa 1910-15 structure looks almost like it did a century ago.  Just across Silver Spring Avenue is the original 1914 Maryland National Guard Armory, which begat the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Dept. #1 that in turn begat today's Fire Station 1 Restaurant & Brewing Co.

To view all of the other known images that Ross took of Silver Spring, see chapter one "Through the Lens of Willard R. Ross: Silver Spring in 1917 and 1928" in Historic Silver Spring.

Wishing you all Happy Holidays and a Healthy and Happy 2011!

Peeling Back the Layers of Silver Spring's History

Over the next few weeks I will be posting images that superimpose archival views of Silver Spring over the locations where the photographs were originally taken.

In most cases nothing of the earlier image survives, as is the case with this 1940s photograph of Wright's Jeweler-Optician at 8229 Georgia Avenue.  This was watchmaker William M. Wright's second location on the avenue, his first being at 8421 that opened in 1936.

Wright had the one-story brick building, constructed in 1933, refaced with black Vitrolite glass panels that served as background to a prominent neon sign that spelled out his name in cursive letters.  It is not known what color the neon was.

Vitrolite was a popular opaque glass available in various colors that was associated with the Art Deco movement.  It was used in both new construction as well as renovations.  Nothing of this striking facade survives.  Today, passersby are treated to a bland glass and corrugated metal facade.

This never-before-published photo is from the archives of the Silver Spring Historical Society and will appear in the forthcoming book Downtown Silver Spring, authored by myself and featuring a fascinating foreword by George Pelecanos.  A book signing (sorry, George will not be there!) will take place on Saturday, November 6th, from 10-3 at the historic Baltimore & Ohio Railroad station, 8100 Georgia Avenue. Cost of the book is $21.99.

Copies of the 2005 book, Historic Silver Spring ($19.99) will also be available.  Only cash or check will be accepted.

Little Tavern Lives On (Somewhat)

Good to Go Carryout: Laurel Tavern Donuts



Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Washington Post
p. E3


When Will Kwon opened Laurel Tavern Donuts in 2008, he stepped, quite unaware, into one long shadow. "It's a doughnut shop," he insisted, referring to the business plan he had crafted. "But people kept asking for burgers!" 

Message received. Within a week of opening the doors to the cozy, green-and-white, faux-Tudor space, Will and his wife, Jin, rolled out mini-burgers, pairing them with house-made doughnuts. That did the trick.


The burgers (three for $2.99) are still small, square and topped with the same blend of chopped onions and Montreal steak seasoning as those sold by the previous tenant: Little Tavern, part of a now-defunct chain. The Kwons got the recipe from a woman who was a longtime manager there, "but now we buy a better grade of beef," Will said.


They also make sure the burgers are uniformly cooked, unlike those I remember from the Georgetown outlet I frequented during my bar-hopping days. The flavorful meat is nestled in a soft bun.


"Club LT," which started up in 1927 in Louisville, popularized the slogan "Buy 'em by the bag," selling single burgers for a dime and coffee for a nickel. The company relocated to the Washington area in 1928. Opened in 1939, the Laurel shop was among the last few in the chain to shut down.


In its new incarnation under the Kwons, who owned a doughnut franchise in Memphis, the doughnuts are the headliners. And for good reason. The glazed doughnut (79 cents) is as light and fluffy as a Krispy Kreme, and it melts in your mouth. Ditto the angel creme, strawberry jelly and apple cinnamon.


Will, 49, begins making them from scratch starting at 3 a.m. "The first batch is ready at 5," he says. "We open at 5:30." During the next three hours or so, he will have turned out two giant batches (he won't divulge numbers) of assorted doughnuts displayed for public inspection in bright yellow trays.


The menu recently evolved to include a short list of traditional breakfast items. Eggs and cheese and ham and eggs ($2.49) come off Jin's tiny grill in perfect condition: no watery interior, no singed edges. And like everything on the menu, they're served from sunup to sundown. The eggs taste rich, but Jin, 46, insists she doesn't slather the grill with oil or butter when making them. "People don't like greasy," she says.


Other winners include the breakfast platter: two eggs with a generous helping of bacon, sausage or turkey, home fries and toast ($3.99); grilled cheese ($2.49); and grilled ham and cheese ($2.99).


The shop is all about takeout. Missing are the eight or 10 stools at the busy counter where the person who cooked your food was the same one who rang the register.


Laurel Tavern attracts a motley crew. Feds from Fort Meade and NSA grab and go. Washington-bound MARC train riders show up for their fix. And employees of the Laurel Park racecourse have a standing order of five dozen doughnuts each week, Jin reports.


It should be against the laws of nature to serve fine eggs and doughnuts without also pouring good coffee. Not to worry. The Kwons brew a Colombian blend that's bold and beautiful.


- Tony Glaros


Laurel Tavern Donuts 115 Washington Blvd. S., Laurel. 301-362-7551. Hours: Mondays through Fridays, 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m; Saturdays, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sundays, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.


Comments:

Its good to know that a remnant of the great Little Tavern chain survives. Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Kwon.


Jerry A. McCoy, President
Silver Spring Historical Society
Silver Spring, Maryland
(Former home of Little Tavern #1, built 1935, destroyed 2003.)

Circa 1940 advertisement for Silver Spring's Little Tavern
#1, formerly located at 8230 Georgia Avenue (corner of
Ripley Street).  Collection of the Silver Spring Historical Society.

R.I.P. Winsor the Plaza Art Cat (1992-2010)

I was saddened to see the pictured flier hanging in the front door of Plaza Artist Materials (8209 Georgia Avenue) when I walked by this morning. Even if you've never patronized this businesses (Shame!) but only walked past the store front, you have undoubtedly seen either Winsor or his sister Newton lounging in the display windows.

Named after the manufacturer of art materials founded in London in 1832, Winsor was the one who had a patch of white on his chest while Newton's coloration is all orange. Suspecting that no other Silver Spring business has a resident cat so visible to the public, I always enjoyed seeing either one lounging on the counter while a purchase was being made.

When I asked an employee if Newton, who was sleeping in the front window, was acting differently the response was that she seemed "happy!" Perhaps sibling rivalry extends to the animal kingdom as well.