The Reston Then and Now series is going back to where we started for our penultimate episode: Lake Anne Plaza.
Anyone flicking through the photos overhead — taken from Fairfax County’s Historic Imagery Viewer — might have noticed that very little has changed at the plaza itself over the years.
But as the Lakeside Pharmacy icons show, there’s been plenty of changes in tenants and aesthetics over the years. While he’s somewhat dismissive of them as historic relics, Wayne Schiffelbein, a local artist and architect who once repainted and fixed up the icons at the owner’s request, said the icons and the damages to them tell the story of earlier unease between Reston and Herndon.
“We had people that lived in and around Herndon who did not take kindly to Reston being there, especially ‘northern folk’, like Jews and Blacks being there,” said Schiffelbein. “The people [in Reston] had college degrees. Not only were the houses more expensive, but they were driving better cars, and people knew that.”
Back in the 1960s, as Reston was first getting started, Schiffelbein said there was a lot of tension between Restonians and Herndon residents who would come into areas like Lake Anne Plaza and cause trouble.
Schiffelbein remembered summers where kids from Herndon would come over to his house by Lake Anne, climb onto the roof and jump out into the lake. Not exactly a campaign of terror, but Schiffelbein said the Reston residents were annoyed by the constant footfalls on the roof.
It was during these early years of class-tension that Schiffelbein said the drug store icons obtained the damages some of them still show.
“They discovered they could carry a sheath knife around,” Schiffelbein said. “The drug store had… soft wood. So the knifes would stick. There were tables in front of the drug store where you could have sat and had coffee while playing chess. They would throw their knives at the walls. It took a couple years, but it took chunks out of pieces of wood from the backing and pieces that were there. Toothbrush took a bunch of hits. Comb didn’t do much better. They dinged the bandaid.”
But it was Vietnam that partially put an end to the local turmoil, with many of the young men from Herndon swept up by the draft.
“Tensions with Reston and Herndon went down over time,” Schiffelbein. “Some of the Herndonites were drafted and some of them just grew up, and we’ll leave it at that. It’s something you do as a 15- and 16-year-old is not as appealing when you’re 22.”
In the 1990s, Schiffelbein said he was contracted to repaint and fix the icons after years of neglect.
“If I squint, it’s a flashback to the drugstore,” Schiffelbein said. “It was a real drugstore. It had a counter, some seats at the counter. It was old fashioned drug store. It was very nice. It was small, everybody knew everybody. But as the community grew that ebbed away.”
In the early days of the pharmacy, Schiffelbein said it catered mainly to the older residents at the Lake Anne Fellowship House.
“The older people used a lot of prescription drugs and that was before insurance companies required you to go to their pharmacy,” Schiffelbein said. “In the early years, they would amble across the road and fill 50 or 60 scripts a day. There was a stream of people going into the drug store. A lot of New Yorkers and New Jerseyites moved to Reston in the early years. There was an old man there who played the races. The owner got racing forms every year. I remember that as clear as a bell, I can still see the man’s face.”
The Reston Historic Trust and Museum currently has a GoFundMe set up to preserve the icons, but it’s not going particularly well.
For more Reston Then and Now, check out these earlier stories and come back next week for final Then and Now:
Despite some noble intentions, fundraising to save the Lakeside Pharmacy icons is not going well.
The Reston Historic Trust and Museum’s GoFundMe — which started in August — has only raised $1,663 of its $15,000 goal.
The goal of the fundraiser is to clean and reinstall the icons, currently being held in storage, in a new exhibit about the 1960’s pop art aesthetic that was a core part of early Reston history.
Alexandra Campbell, a media contact for the Reston Museum, said despite public interest — Campbell said stories related to the icons are some of their most popular social media posts — the donations to the fundraiser have been slow to trickle in.
While Campbell said there have been a few donations to the fundraiser outside of the GoFundMe, Carolyn Flitcroft, elected chair of the board for the organization, said in an earlier interview that it can be difficult to rally support for a fundraiser that’s for something that seems less dire than homelessness or hunger.
Campbell said the Reston Historic Trust is hoping for a boost with a fundraiser next week. A triathlon hosted by New Trail Cycling Studio and Lake Anne Brew House on March 27 will give a portion of the proceeds to the Reston Historic Trust.
Despite the fundraising setbacks, the organization is moving forward with the permitting process to get the icons on display. According to Campbell, the deadline to get the permits scheduled for review in April is next week, so it’s all hands on deck as the group works to get the application finalized.
Photo via Reston Historic Trust
The Reston Historic Trust and Museum has new leadership and is pushing into 2019 with an ambitious effort to save local art.
Carolyn Flitcroft, elected chair of the board for the organization in late January, said the Trust and Museum is hitting the ground running with a campaign to preserve the quirky pop-art iconography from the Lakeside Pharmacy.
“The main thing is we’re working on a fundraising effort for the [Lakeside Pharmacy Icons Exhibit],” said Flitcroft.
Flitcroft said that discussion of that preservation will start at a meeting on Thursday, after which Flitcroft said the group plans to begin discussions with the Fairfax County Board of Architectural Review.
With only $1,185 funded of the $15,000 goal on project’s GoFundMe, there’s still a long way to go to fund the icons’ cleaning, repairs and reinstallation.
After that, Flitcroft said the organization plans to work on an exhibit looking at the effects of Title 9 on women playing sports in Reston.
The museum, at 1639 Washington Plaza, is open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and admission is free. A current exhibit shows the history of Reston in the Civil Rights era.
But Flitcroft said the Reston Historic Trust and Museum also faces challenges with visibility.
“It’s a small organization,” Flitcroft said. “It’s hard to compete with a lot of non-profits that deal with very physical things, like hunger and homelessness. So it can be a challenge to compete for donations. There’s people in Reston that don’t know about Lake Anne, much less the museum.”
Over the last few years, Flitcroft said the museum’s director Alexandra Campbell has been pushing to give the museum more of a social media presence. Part of that effort has been making the public more aware of programs focusing on more recent issues, like the arrival of the Metro.
“A lot of our programs are about what’s happening now,” said Flitcroft. “Not all historical. We try to keep the community involved with what’s going on. It’s not only about things of the past.”
Flitcroft has been on the board for five years and has experience working in other local non-profits, like Giving Circle of Hope.
“I’m excited,” said Flitcroft “There’s a lot of energy and we’re gaining more visibility in the community. I’m very excited.”
Photo via Charlotte Geary, headshot courtesy Carolyn Flitcroft
The Reston Historic Trust & Museum has raised $965 in three weeks with its fundraising campaign to reinstall the iconic, quirky pharmacy icons from the Lakeside Pharmacy.
The GoFundMe campaign launched on Nov. 8, Alexandra Campbell, the executive director of the Reston Historic Trust & Museum, told Reston Now.
The fundraising target of $15,000 will pay for repairs, cleaning and reinstallation of the icons in a new permanent exhibit in the plaza. The new exhibit will be unveiled during the organization’s annual Founder’s day event on April 6.
“We’ve still got a long way to go,” Campbell said. “We have some time to get to the $15,000.”
Most of the 22 donations have been small, individual donations — seven people have given $25, while others have donated amounts between $10 to $100.
The icons served as advertisements for the Lakeside Pharmacy, a legacy Lake Anne Plaza store. Designed by Chermayeff and Geismar, a New York-based graphic design firm, the icons were inspired by 1960s pop art and Reston’s founder Bob Simon’s wish for whimsical art at Lake Anne Plaza.
The Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association donated the icons to the Reston Historic Trust & Museum after they were removed in July to make way for new businesses in the pharmacy’s former location.
“We’re really glad to help preserve and keep them here,” Campbell said about the icons.
Starting today on Giving Tuesday, the Reston Historic Trust & Museum is taking on a challenge to get 25 new donors in 25 days via an app.
Alexandra Campbell, the executive director of the Reston Historic Trust & Museum, told Reston Now the museum partnered in October with RoundUp App, which lets users select nonprofits to give tax-deductible donations to.
RoundUp will give the museum a $1,000 bonus if 25 new donors sign up in the app between Nov. 27 and Dec. 21.
Three people have signed up so far and donated, she said.
The app can be used on computers or iOS and Android mobile devices.
“Donations are critical for us,” Campbell said. “Having individual donations supports our mission and helps us share Reston history with the community.”
The free museum relies on contributions from the community, which help fund the free educational and public programming.
While the museum has annual and lifetime membership programs, the app is a way to encourage smaller donations from individuals. “We’re trying to engage with the community in a different way with smaller donations,” Campbell said.
Social media and the email listserv are the focus for getting the word out about the app, she said, along with publicizing it at the museum’s big events. Campbell said she hopes the app grows as a funding source.
The museum is currently running a separate online campaign to raise money for a permanent exhibit featuring the Lakeside Pharmacy icons on Lake Anne’s Washington Plaza.
The GoFundMe donations will go toward cleaning, repairing and installing the icons, which were donated to the Reston Historic Trust & Museum.
We launched a new app that lets people support us by donating their change. We’re trying to sign up 25 new change donors in 25 days, which will earn us a $1,000 bonus – Please consider signing up to donate spare change! https://t.co/ELyQfSSQFN pic.twitter.com/nKBqZHT2yy
— Reston Museum (@RestonMuseum) November 27, 2018
Photo via iTunes store
The Reston Historic Trust & Museum has launched an online campaign to raise money to reinstall the lakeside pharmacy icon. Designed by Chermayeff and Geismar, a New York-based graphic design firm, the icons were inspired by 1960s pop art and Reston’s founder Bob Simon’s wish for whimsical art at Lake Anne Plaza.
The icons, which served as advertisements for the Lakeside Pharmacy, were removed in July to make way for new businesses to open up in the pharmacy’s former location.
The fundraising target is $15,000 to repair, clean and reinstall icons in a new permanent exhibit in the plaza. The new exhibit will be unveiled during the organization’s annual Founder’s day event on April 6.
The museum put out the following information about the historical significance of the icons:
The New York graphic design firm of Chermayeff and Geismar (now Chermayeff, Geismar & Haviv), was hired by Whittlesey & Conklin, the architects of the plaza, and together they created the storefronts on the plaza. While the main purpose of the Lakeside Pharmacy icons was advertising, the icons are characteristic of the 1960s Pop Art aesthetic and reflected Reston’s Founder Bob Simon’s wish for whimsical artwork on the plaza.
The building was a pharmacy for 44 years, closing in 2014. Since the building will soon be occupied by new businesses, the icons were donated to the Reston Historic Trust & Museum in order to preserve them. Currently, the icons are in storage until they can be cleaned and reinstalled. The installation is being designed by Jeanne Krohn of Krohn Design.
Photos by Charlotte Geary and Krohn Design
Lake Anne Plaza is turning a new leaf as iconic, quirky pharmacy icons that once served as advertisements for the Lakeside Pharmacy, a legacy Lake Anne Plaza store, were removed this week.
The building, which was vacated in 2014 after Larry Cohn, pharmacist and owner for 44 years, retired. Now, two new businesses — a hair salon and a cycling studio — will open up in the former pharmacy location, which remained vacant since September 2014.
The Lake Anne of Reston Condominium Association donated the icons to the Reston Historic Trust & Museum this month. They will be placed in storage until they can be reinstalled at a new location in the plaza.
“New businesses are moving into the old pharmacy and because the icons do not reflect the new businesses coming in, it was determined that they would be removed with the idea that they would be preserved,” said Alexandra Campbell.
Liz Kamp, a Reston resident, hopes to open her indoor cycling studio, New Trail Cycling Studio, sometime in September in the former pharmacy pace.
Inspired by the original icons, Kamp said she’s in the process of seeking design approval for a new cycling-related icon similar to the old icons.Â
“I, too, loved the icons and would love to honor the history of the space,” Kamp said. She has lived in Reston for about a decade.
The icons were designed by Chermayeff and Geismar, a New York Graphic design firm known for creating logos for NBC and PBS. Locally, the firm designed many of the plaza’s original storefronts.
A new hair salon will also take up the other half of the old pharmacy location near the lakeside. The owner was not immediately available for comment.
Plans for the relocation of the icons are not final. The Reston Historic Trust & Museum plans to raise funds to help preserve the icons.
Photos by Charlotte Geary
New Trail Cycling Studio is opening at Lake Anne Plaza in the late summer at 1614 Washington Plaza.
Liz Kamp — a Reston resident of nearly 10 years, an avid indoor cyclist and a mother of three — is behind the venture, which will offer indoor cycling classes for all levels.
Kamp hopes to use the studio to create a welcoming, tight-knit community.
“I’ve always wanted to create a fitness business where community is important. Cycling offers that,” she said.
The studio takes up half of the former location of Lakeside Pharmacy, which closed in 2014 after 44 years of business. Another tenant is expected to take up the other half of the site.
Classes, which blend authentic cycling drills paired to the beat of music, will be offered for adults, teens and individuals age 55 and and up. Riders of all levels are welcome to take classes.
Kamp, who has 15 years of experience in the fitness industry, said the idea for her business has been “a long time coming.”
“I’ve been planning on launching a brick and mortar store for the last six years. There’s a real need for building and capitalizing on this great community,” she said.
Photo courtesy of Liz Kamp
Lakeside Pharmacy, which has been operating at Lake Anne Plaza for 44 years, will shut its doors on Sept. 22.
The store was the last original store at Lake Anne. After being on and off the market for five years, the space was sold to an investor last spring. The deal closed in late May, with the hope that the store would remain in continuous operation. However, talks with a new, independent pharmacy failed to reach a deal.
Prescriptions on file at Lakeside Pharmacy will be transferred to the CVS at Plaza America, pharmacist and former owner Larry Cohn said.
Cafe Lakeside, the breakfast and lunch counter located in the pharmacy, closed in February. Owners Alfredo and Rocio Melendez, who had operated the space since 2011, said they wanted to retire since the future of the space was unknown.
The lunch counter space is being marketed for sale or lease separately, so a prospective tenant would not necessarily have to run the business inside another business.
The waterfront space that houses Lakeside Pharmacy is not slated for redevelopment as part of Lake Anne Development Partners’ (Republic Development) plan for the area.
Because the pharmacy is in the historic part of Lake Anne, it cannot undergo big changes. Nearby areas such as the current parking lot at Lake Anne Plaza, a grove of trees owned by Reston Association and Crescent Apartments are included in the plan, which includes 60,000 square feet of new retail space, up to 82,500 square feet of office space, and 1,037 residential units.
Meanwhile, other Lake Anne businesses are changing hands or have recently closed. Jasmine Cafe, a locally owned restaurant on the plaza, closed in April. The Lake Anne Coffee House is for sale. The Cupcake Ladi and New Family Naturals also recently closed.
Alfredo and Rocio Melendez will flip the last burger and scoop the last ice cream cone at Cafe Lakeside on Wednesday.
The couple is closing up their lunch counter located inside Lakeside Pharmacy. The pharmacy, the longest continuously operating store at Reston’s historic Lake Anne Plaza, is under contract and will likely close this spring.
Alfredo Melendez said with the last day of the pharmacy unknown, he didn’t want to operate without a plan.
“We’re going to unwind and relax and generate new energy,” he said.
The Melenedezes were relaxing before they opened Cafe Lakeside in 2011. The lunch counter has been owned and operated by various people under various names throughout the years.
The couple has owned and operated the lunch counter at the pharmacy three times since 1990, Alfredo says. They also formerly owned the Lake Anne Coffee House across the plaza. The Melendezes were retired three years ago when the pharmacy food space became available again.
Ready to make a go of it again, they moved back into the space serving breakfast and lunch. Cafe Lakeside is particularly popular with residents on the plaza and visitors to the Saturday farmers market and craft market, many of whom take their orders to the outside tables on the plaza.
Alfredo says he has not ruled out opening another diner in Reston. He also said he hopes the buyers of the pharmacy keep the vintage counter and stools as part of a bar or restaurant.
Real estate sources say the prospective owner is an investor who plans to lease out the space, so future plans are still unknown.
Lakeside Pharmacy pharmacist and owner Larry Cohn has had the property on and off the market several times in the last few years as he eyed retirement.
Cafe Lakeside will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Lakeside Pharmacy, the last original business at historic Lake Anne Plaza, is under contract to sell. If the deal closes, the business will likely close this spring, a real estate source said.
The old-fashioned pharmacy that features a lunch counter and a post office has been on and off the market for more than five years. The buyers are investors who plan to lease the space to a retail tenant. It is unlikely it would return as an independent pharmacy because there are very few of those still in business.
Lakeside Pharmacy has been owned by Larry Cohn for more than 40 years. It is a place to get a prescription filled, but also a place to pick up various sundries — some of which shoppers cannot find at a chain store such as Target or CVS.
“I’ve always wanted it to stay like this,” Cohn said in a 2010 interview. “It’s not going to happen today.”
The pharmacy has housed a number of food service operations over the last several years. It is currently Cafe Lakeside, which serves lunch counter favorites such as ice cream and burgers.
The asking price started at close to $1 million five years ago, then was dropped to $695,000 and eventually was taken off the market. It was not currently for sale when the current offer was made, the real estate source said. The sales price will not be known until the deal closes.
The waterfront space that houses Lakeside Pharmacy is not slated for redevelopment as part of Lake Anne Development Partners’ (Republic Development) plan for the area.
Because the pharmacy is in the historic part of Lake Anne, it cannot undergo big changes. Nearby areas such as the current parking lot at Lake Anne Plaza, a grove of trees owned by Reston Association and Crescent Apartments are included in the plan, which includes 60,000 square feet of new retail space, up to 82,500 square feet of office space, and 1,037 residential units.
