ALL SEATING REMOVED AT WHITE FLINT MALL, PLUS: P.F. CHANG'S TURNS PINK

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 32

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful,

wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.

In the game of musical chairs at White Flint Mall, the music has stopped, and everyone has lost. The mall has removed all benches and chairs, leaving nowhere for mall patrons to sit. One elderly person seeking relief was propped up on a marble shelf.

Wikipedia has a couple of relevant notes on Musical Chairs that might apply to White Flint Mall and the area's future. "The player who is left without a chair is eliminated from the game." It is the paying customer who has been eliminated at the mall, first by the closure of virtually all stores and restaurants, and now through the final indignity of having no place to rest. That also reflects the risk the mall's owners are taking, in driving away a huge customer base who will have gone elsewhere (downtown Bethesda, Westfield Montgomery Mall, Pike & Rose and Rio/Washingtonian Center, to name a few) long before any new "town center" opens on the current mall's property. "Playing musical chairs...can also refer to a condition where people have to expend time searching for a resource, such as having to travel from gasoline station to gasoline station when there is a shortage." Sounds like White Flint and downtown Bethesda after all of the gas stations have been redeveloped into luxury condos.

NOTE: Please do not steal these pictures and post them elsewhere without getting my permission first. All photos ©2014 Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row

In other White Flint Mall news, no, the horses outside of P.F. Chang's were not vandalized. Rather, they have been turned pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. They are using the hashtag #PaintPFChangsPink.

DAVE AND BUSTER'S CLOSES AT WHITE FLINT MALL (PHOTOS)

The Dark Side of White Flint, Part 30

Welcome to The Dark Side of White Flint, an ongoing series about the not-so-wonnerful, wonnerful, wonnerful side of urbanizing the suburbs of Montgomery County.

Welcome to 

The Dark Side of White Flint: 

Millenial Edition.

"Hot, young millennials" are ostensibly the target audience for the new, urbanized "more muscular" White Flint. Last night, the only business currently drawing millennials to White Flint was packing up and moving out of town. Ordered out first by the owners of White Flint Mall, and then by a court ruling, Dave and Buster's has complied, closing its doors for good after 18 years.

The rotating D&B sign was stilled, then removed. Arcade machines like Gone Fishing, and Whac-a-Mole were being boxed up for shipping. Teddy bears lay on a brick wall inside the restaurant. In the corridors last night, the only sound was the hum of the escalator leading up to Dave and Buster's. A security guard informed a young, millennial couple approaching the arcade-restaurant that the business had closed. With a dramatic flourish, he flipped a switch, and the escalator stopped moving. Silence. Dave and Buster's was no more.

For those with scorecards in hand, here's the latest update on the urbanization of suburban White Flint: Zero chef-driven restaurants coming on board. Zero Fortune 500 corporate headquarters signed on. And zero 30-story, Class A office towers with Intelsat or the CEB headquarters, as Fairfax and Arlington counties recently celebrated.

The only thing remotely like Dave and Buster's on the boards right now for White Flint is Pinstripes, a bowling alley, bocce court and bistro all-in-one. A sign posted at the shuttered Dave and Buster's just about says it all. "Want to have fun, kids? Hit the interstate for Arundel Mills Mall!" A highly-successful indoor mall, to boot! Drive, drive, drive!

Gone fishing, indeed.

No more fun and games!

Click to enlarge to spot
the teddy bears on the wall

A final look inside
Dave and Buster's

Hasta la vista, millenials!

The sign no longer turns,
the escalator no longer hums

Close-up of the dismantled,
formerly-rotating sign at
Dave and Buster's

Don't worry, there'll be plenty
of barista and jeans-folding
jobs available for millenials
in the new White Flint!

Time to cut bait

The moles won! Whac-A-Mole
is shipping out in search of
hipper vibes

Game over

Turbo Theater now just a
walk-in closet

Hey, millenials, we don't have Dave
and Buster's anymore, but we do
have a repainted Metrobus.
We call it, "Rapid Transit." How
'bout it, kids? Hello? Hello?!
They hung up on us!

And then there were two

Go back to where it all started! The first episode of The Dark Side of White Flint.