New Chicago Dance Studio

December 22

The New Chicago Dance Studio was started by Samantha Fitschen in 2010. Fitschen is a native of Chicago and came to Greenbelt six years ago with her husband as he pursued his Ph.D. degree at the University of Maryland, College Park. An experienced dancer with a BFA in Music Theater, Fitschen soon started teaching dance for the Greenbelt Recreation Department at the Community Center. She saw the need for a dance studio in Greenbelt and hoping to bring Chicago-style dance to the area, she opened her own studio two years ago. On a recent Saturday morning, I visited New Chicago Dance Studio.

The dance studio is at 7505 Greenway Center Drive, behind Greenway Shopping Center. The main floor of this building is occupied by Columbia Bank.

Club 125 at Roosevelt Center

December 24

Two Greenbelters George Boyce and Eva Fallon are turning the abandoned dry-cleaning store in Roosevelt Center into a community clubhouse—Club 125. On Christmas Eve, I visited the club and took photos of them cleaning up the place.

The former dry-cleaning store is attached to the Greenbelt Theater and adjacent to the Greenbelt Co-op. Its address is 125 Centerway, thus the name of the new club. The original owners of Greenbelt Cleaners and Tailors sold the business after more than 40 years. The new owners could not make a profit and decided to walk away. The store has been empty since April 2012, and George Boyce and his wife Eva Fallon took over the lease on December 1, 2012.

Greenbelt Co-op Bulletin Board

October 20

The Greenbelt Co-op has one of the busiest bulletin boards in Greenbelt. A while ago, I took some photos there.

There is a plastic bag recycling bin on the left and two donations for animals bins on the right.

GHI Fall Realtors Open House

November 3

Twice a year, the GHI houses that are for sale open their doors for a community wide open house. The event is organized by a group of local realtors and is the best opportunity to see the inside of GHI homes. At the June open house, I visited two homes and this past Saturday, during the fall open house, I went to three more.

Jeannie Smith, a realtor with Home Sales Advantage, has set up a table by Roosevelt Center. She is an organizer of today’s community wide open house and she is handing out a list of the houses that are open today. 12 houses are open from 12 to 4 p.m.

Pepco Tree Trimming

October 26

Pepco, Greenbelt’s electric power provider, started its long talked about system reliability improvement project in Historic Greenbelt on October 22. The first step is tree trimming and removal, and that will be followed by infrastructure and line work. Last week, before Hurricane Sandy came through, I watched a crew of contractors trimming trees along Westway near Ridge Road.

The tree trimming and removal work is done by contractor Asplundh. These trucks are parked on Westway just north of Ridge Road.

Greenbelt Federal Credit Union

August 16

When the first families moved into Greenbelt, there was no banking facilities; so a few pioneers got together and decided to organize a credit union. Greenbelt Federal Credit Union received its charter on December 13, 1937, opened for business on January 3, 1938, and held its first annual meeting on January 19, 1938. It became the first community credit union in the area, the first financial institution in Greenbelt and the first cooperative in Greenbelt. This year, GFCU is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Cynthia Comproni, General Manager of Greenbelt Federal Credit Union, stands in front of the credit union in Roosevelt Center. Since its founding, GFCU has occupied several locations in Roosevelt Center, from an office at Greenbelt Consumer Services (predecessor of today’s Co-op), to adjacent city office, to Nationwide Insurance office above the present day Beijing Restaurant, to an office behind where Domino’s Pizza is, and to the Co-op where the pharmacy is. In 1982, after the Greenbelt Post Office moved to a new location below the Co-op Supermarket, GFCU and Twin Pines Savings and Loan moved into its former space. GFCU has remained in this location since then; however, Twin Pines later went out of business and its space now houses the New Deal Café. The Post Office has also moved out of Roosevelt Center and now is in Greenbelt East.