After operating a new hair salon in Courthouse for two months, owner Carissa Lawlor says she is ready to do more than cut and color hair.
Lawlor, who opened hŌm Salon at 2020 Wilson Blvd on May 19, aims to use her 1,500-square-foot space to foster community and encourage wellness with courses and pop-up shops.
“The idea to open the salon was to elevate the salon experience, for our guests to connect with our community, encourage staff to grow, monthly specialty classes, yoga classes, life coaching,” said Lawlor. “Being your real self isn’t just beauty — it’s all encompassing…That’s why we’re here, really.”
hŌm’s first personal wellness course is scheduled for Friday, July 30 at 6:30 p.m. For $25, stylists will teach attendees tips and tricks for curling and blow-drying their hair as well as styling skills.
Starting Saturday, Aug. 7, the salon will host pop-up markets on the first Saturday of every month. Vendors will have booths inside and along the sidewalk. With hours from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the market is timed to line up with the neighborhood farmer’s market.
For Lawlor, promoting wellness also has an ecological component. Her salon recycles around 95% of its waste, including foil and hair color packaging, which is converted into asphalt filler, car and bicycle parts and clean energy products.
“We have maybe two pounds of trash a week, not even,” said Lawlor.
The salon, which offers more than 40 services, specializes in brow styling and blonde coloring. Prices start at $51 for a hair cut and $166 for highlights. From 3-5 p.m. on weekdays, the salon offers blowouts for $25.
hŌm is open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The Arlington County Police Department welcomed a new member to the team on July 1.
K-9 Bo, a two-and-a-half-year-old pure-bred Doberman Pinscher, is joining the force to help detect explosives. He will patrol the county alongside his handler, Corporal Williams.
Bo makes a timely addition to the department as the Arlington County police and fire departments work to improve their response to explosives threats.
Bo has spent the last two years training for the job at Penn Vet Working Dog Center, a national research and development center for detection dogs. At the facility, Bo learned odor recognition, search skills and worked on acclimating to an urban environment. He can now detect more than 26 specific odors including explosives and materials used in homemade explosive mixtures, according to ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.
She says various breeds are used for different law enforcement work. Dobermans’ temperament and drive make them especially good for detection.
“Doberman Pinschers are known to be loyal, athletic and intelligent, making them a great choice for use in law enforcement work,” said Savage.
Bo will be ACPD’s fifth K-9 trained in explosives detection. Cpl. Williams said he is eager to start working with Bo, following the untimely death of his last partner, K-9 George, in April. George, a Labrador Retriever mix, also trained in explosives detection, and served Arlington for six years. He was eight years old.
“I am excited to begin working with my new partner and to increase the explosives detection capability of the agency,” said Williams.
Bo’s full name is Sunny Boy. He was named after a search and rescue dog who responded to search efforts at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Savage said the name is fitting, as the county is always working to carry on the legacy of those who served in New York and Arlington on that day.
“Arlington is committed to honoring those that lost their lives in the terrorist attacks, and expressing gratitude to all those who responded that day,” said Savage.
Arlington County Fire Department in training (courtesy of Arlington County Fire Department)
Over 13 years ago, Arlington’s fire and police departments first teamed up to better address active shooter situations.
Since then, their partnership — called the Rescue Task Force — has become the standard for when police and fire personnel respond together to high-threat situations, according to The National Fire Protection Association. The departments’ model was even adopted for the 2012 London Olympics.
In recent years, the task force has taken on a new threat requiring teamwork between police and fire: explosives.
The expanding role of the task force reflects how the fire department’s responsibilities have evolved over the last decade, as well as an increased need for intra-agency cooperation to handle complex situations. As public safety threats have changed, so too have the duties of firefighters. Gone are the days when they just fought fires — now, they save lives in active shooter situations and defuse bombs.
“I would love to be able to go back in time and ride on the tailboard and just put out fires but that’s not the world we live in,” said Arlington County Fire Department Captain John Delaney, on an episode of the Fire Engineering Podcast. “This is a new world order and there’s new expectations placed on the fire service and we and our leaders have to rise up and meet those expectations.”
The idea for the Rescue Task Force originated in 2007, when ACFD was training for a school-shooter scenario at Marymount University, said Delaney.
Under the protocol at the time, the fire department had to wait until police located the shooter to enter the building and tend to victims. The department’s medical director, Dr. Reed Smith, and a few colleagues raised concerns that — if this had been a real school shooting — the people shot would have died by the time the fire department arrived.
In response, the fire department reimagined its approach to high threat situations, the captain said. Now, police identify “warm zones,” or areas the shooter has visited and since left — firefighters are dispatched to these zones to tend to victims while police continue searching for the shooter.
After some convincing, firefighters got on board, and the Rescue Task Force was born, said Delaney. The first responders’ gear now includes bulletproof vests and tourniquets, reflecting this new role in active-shooter situations.
“We’d always had a conservative, reserved approach and that has changed since we accepted this higher level of risk,” Delaney said. “We know we’ll save lives.”
Over the past three to four years, the task force’s attention has shifted to explosive threats, too. Originally, the response was somewhat fragmented: either a bomb technician from the fire department or an officer from the police department would assess the threat, said ACFD spokesman Lt. Nate Hiner.
Now, the departments work together: an ACPD explosives K-9, a trained handler, and an ACFD bomb technician examine the threat together, and if the trio determines it’s unsafe, the fire department’s bomb squad deals with the object, Hiner said.
Delaney said the next focus area for the task force could be refining its response to fires not as just fires, but as weapons. Intentionally-set fires are becoming a more common threat, he said.
According to Hiner, the benefits of the police-fire partnership extend beyond high threat situations.
“In preparing for these events, it’s boosted our ability to respond to everyday events in integrated ways,” he said.
Delaney said the task force has become an essential part of the work both departments do. He encouraged other fire and police departments to prepare for high threat situations together.
“Any chief in any fire department that doesn’t think that [a high threat situation] is a possibility within their jurisdiction is effing kidding themselves,” Delaney said on the podcast.
Peter Golkin at work, on Hootsuite, in his office (courtesy of Peter Golkin)
Peter Golkin with Jerry Maren, who portrayed a munchkin in “The Wizard of Oz” (courtesy of Peter Golkin)
A younger Peter Golkin with Rusty Burrell from “The People’s Court” (courtesy of Peter Golkin)
Peter Golkin at the grave of philosopher Baruch Spinoza (courtesy of Peter Golkin)
Arlingtonians may not know Peter Golkin by name, but many have likely seen his tweets.
Golkin is a spokesman for the Arlington Department of Environmental Services, or, as he considers himself, “a 21st century town crier, but without the bell.”
Among other duties, Golkin has run the department’s social media accounts for the last four years. Under his watch, DES’s Twitter account has amassed more than 7,000 followers, which is a lot of followers for a department that focuses mostly on public works and transportation — topics Golkin admits can seem dry.
The social media savant has found that a little humor goes a long way toward people internalizing his announcements, and his wit has even caught the attention of some celebrities, on whom he sometimes relies to spread his messages.
“A lot of government stuff can be real technical or just downright boring,” Golkin said. “If we can make it even slightly entertaining, or if we can just make people pause for two-tenths of a second before scrolling down and absorb some county information, then that’s a good thing.”
Whether it is a timely joke or a goofy graphic, Golkin manages to add humor to even the simplest announcements about COVID-19 guidelines or recycling rules:
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) June 22, 2021
Please don't abandon faith or anything else at County recycling drop-off sites. If there's no bin for it, don't leave it behind. A higher power is watching. https://t.co/KlCf2JaMtypic.twitter.com/EJm4zQ2XC6
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) June 17, 2021
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) June 16, 2021
Normally upbeat in his social interactions, Golkin does have a nemesis: FOG.
He regularly warns about putting fats, oils and grease down the drain, a big no-no in the world of wastewater management. Such common kitchen waste can turn into a gelatinous solid and clog the pipes, endangering the plumbing of a resident’s home or even their whole neighborhood.
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) July 4, 2021
“I think that photo should be the next county logo,” said Golkin of the famous fat-filled pipe image he frequently tweets. “I think all of Arlington could be united by it if we make it official, [putting] it on stationery [and] all the county vehicles: ‘No fats, oils and grease in Arlington.'”
One of the account’s most dedicated fans is none other than Star Trek’s William Shatner. Shatner’s fandom began when Golkin got wind that the Captain Kirk actor was interested in electric bikes. He invited him to come to Arlington to ride the streets.
Billy’s Deli/Cafe is now open in Cherrydale (courtesy of Bill Hamrock)
Those who missed Billy’s Cheesesteaks in Cherrydale for the last year and a half can now get a taste of those sandwiches again.
Two weeks ago, Bill Hamrock — the old sandwich stop’s namesake and former co-owner — opened Billy’s Deli/Cafe at 3907 Lee Highway, the same spot where he opened Billy’s Cheesesteaks in 2011.
And Hamrock, who stepped away from Billy’s Cheesesteaks about five years ago, is back at the helm. While the name and menu may be familiar, he tells ARLnow that Billy’s Deli/Cafe is an entirely new business.
“Everything about it is better: new floors, new walls, new roof, new air conditioning. I think the food is better,” he said.
The new cafe is serving Billy’s famous cheesesteaks as well as other trusty dishes Hamrock says he has perfected, such as hot pita sandwiches, during his more than two decades in the food service industry. Hamrock also owns an eatery named for him in Fairfax City, Hamrock’s Restaurant.
In addition to chicken souvlaki, gyros, mozzarella chicken hot pita sandwiches and other fare, the deli and cafe will serve homemade ice cream and fresh-baked cookies, he said.
Back in January 2020 — just before the pandemic — ARLnow reported that Billy’s Cheesesteaks was closing temporarily along with the restaurant next door, Bistro 29. The then-owner, Kostas Kapasouris, told ARLnow the decision was so that he could “make the restaurants better.”
Eventually, both restaurants permanently closed. According to some new signage, a Uighur restaurant called Bostan is set to replace Bistro 29.
“Hopefully, they will be open in the next one, two, three months,” Hamrock said.
Next door, the new Billy’s space is 800 square feet and will cater to carryout, operating on several apps, including ChowNow, Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash.
“We’ll probably add to that as we go,” said Hamrock.
Those who do wish to sit at one of the eight seats inside the Lee Highway location will be greeted by a montage of historical photos of Arlington. Billy’s owner is a self-described history buff, who has written a book on Arlington history, called “We are Arlington.”
“I’m just excited about being back in Cherrydale and back in Arlington,” Hamrock said. “It’s a great neighborhood, great location. I like the neighbors and the community.”
Gateway Park in Rosslyn (photo courtesy of Sam Kittner)
Gateway Park in Rosslyn (photo courtesy of Sam Kittner)
(updated at 1:10 p.m.) Gateway Park in Rosslyn will be transformed into a concert venue for three musical performances this month.
Rosslyn LIVE!, a new neighborhood event hosted by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District, will feature Broadway, pop and drag performances. The D.C.-based American Pops Orchestra will play all concerts alongside different featured performers every Thursday night this month outdoors at the 1300 Lee Highway park.
For the first concert, Broadway performers Mary Michael Patterson and Vishal Vaidya will sing show tunes, accompanied by the orchestra. The show will be next Thursday. Tickets are available now online.
The following Thursday, July 22, the orchestra will accompany singers Rayshun LaMarr, Hilary Morrow and Kevin Rose, who will be performing ’90s music. Tickets went on sale yesterday (Tuesday).
The last concert will be a drag performance on Thursday, July 29 with tickets available next Tuesday (July 13). The BID has yet to decide who the featured performers will be for this show.
Gateway Park will open each Thursday for concert-goers at 6:30 p.m. and performances will begin at 8 p.m.
Wine, beer and sangria will be available for purchase at $6 a glass. Kona Ice trucks will also be at the event to pick up frozen treats from, said a spokeswoman for the Rosslyn BID.
General admission standing room tickets cost $5. For $20, concert-goers can purchase a bundle that includes a spot on the lawn and a picnic blanket for two people. $20 can also buy a balcony seat.
A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the high school choir programs at Arlington Public Schools, according to the event page. Some of the proceeds will also go towards improvements at Gateway Park.
Fourth of July fireworks, as seen from Long Bridge Park (photo via Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation)
Arlington County is closing some roads and services in observance of Independence Day.
Since the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday this year, county facilities and services will close or operate on holiday schedules on Monday. Libraries and indoor parks and recreation centers will be closed Sunday and Monday, and the county will not enforce parking meter limits either day.
Courts and state DMV offices will also be closed on Monday.
Arlington Transit will run buses along a few of its routes on Sunday schedules on both Sunday and Monday, but otherwise, bus service will not be available. Trash, recycling and yard waste collection, by contrast, will operate as usual on Monday.
The road closures, meanwhile, “are designed to facilitate the safe passage of large crowds for the Independence Day events and fireworks,” according to a county press release.
There will be a display at the National Mall this year, but, like last year Arlington will have no formal viewing events. Crowds will likely gather at the usual spots: the Iwo Jima memorial, the Air Force Memorial, Long Bridge Park, Rosslyn Gateway Park and Key Bridge, for example.
“Motorists should expect significant delays, particularly leading up to and after the fireworks display,” said the press release. “The Arlington County Police Department is reminding drivers that stopping or standing in a lane of traffic to observe the fireworks is illegal and violators may be issued a citation.”
Street parking near the Iwo Jima memorial, Long Bridge Park and the Air Force Memorial will be restricted, according to the release, which advises attendees to use Metro.
The following roadways will be closed to accommodate the festivities, per ACPD:
Route 50 – Near Rosslyn – 3:30 to 11:00 PM Closure
Exit Ramp from Westbound Route 50 to N. Lynn Street (Rosslyn exit)
Exit Ramp from Eastbound Route 50 to N. Meade Street (Rosslyn exit)
US Marine Corps War Memorial – 3:30 PM to 11:00 PM Closure
N. Meade Street at Marshall Drive
Exit Ramp from N. Meade Street to Route 50 Eastbound
Route 110 South onto Marshall Drive
N. Meade Street near the Route 50 Ramps
Radnor/Fort Myer Heights – Near the US Marine Corps War Memorial – 3:30 PM to 11:00 PM Closure
Ramp from Arlington Boulevard East to N. Rhodes/Rolfe/Queen Street (Emergency Vehicles Only)
N. Rhodes Street and Arlington Boulevard Access Road (Emergency Vehicles Only)
N. Rhodes Street and N. 14th Street (Local Traffic Only)
N. Nash Street and Arlington Boulevard Access Road
Arlington Boulevard Access and N. Meade Street
N. Nash Street and N. 14th Street
N. Meade Street and N. 14th Street
Foxcroft Heights – Near the Air Force Memorial – 4:30 PM to 11:00 PM Closure
Columbia Pike in both directions at S. Oak Street
The exit from Westbound Washington Boulevard to Eastbound Columbia Pike/S. Orme Street
Columbia Pike and S. Joyce Street
Southgate Road and S. Oak Street
Columbia Pike and Southgate Road
Columbia Pike and S. Ode Street
From 6 a.m. to midnight, Memorial Bridge and Memorial Circle to and including Lincoln Memorial Circle will be closed, according to the National Park Service.
The following roadways may be subject to closures, according to ACPD’s release:
Route 50 East – Near Courthouse
Route 50 East exit for 10th Street (All Eastbound traffic)
Playful Pack, a dog daycare center, is coming to Rosslyn in the former site of LavaBarre (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Playful Pack, a dog daycare center, is coming to Rosslyn in the former site of LavaBarre (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Dogs pose for the camera at Playful Pack (courtesy of Playful Pack)
By the end of the year, dog owners will have a new place to drop off their dogs for the day or for vacation.
Playful Pack, a Northern Virginia-based dog daycare and board center, aims to open a new location in Rosslyn this winter. The business will replace the boutique gym LavaBarre at 1528 Clarendon Blvd, which closed last year.
Brothers Scott and Tyler Parker and Tyler’s wife Alyssa opened their first location in Fairfax Station in 2019. The forthcoming Rosslyn location is part of a plan to add four locations by the end of 2021, Tyler said.
The Parkers opened their second location in May in the Chesterbrook Shopping Center along Old Dominion Drive in McLean, and the other two sites in Leesburg and Alexandria are in the works.
Scott — who’s known locally for his nightlife, restaurant, grooming and fitness ventures — said they chose Rosslyn because there were not enough similar services in the neighborhood.
“We really wanted to put a boarding service on the [Metro’s] Orange Line,” said Scott. “There are many in Arlington that are over capacity, so we thought this area was underserved.”
The new 3,600-square-foot, cage-free daycare will have different activities daily to keep the dogs mentally and physically stimulated, said Scott.
“There’s bubble day, photo day — that kind of stuff,” he said. “Fun ideas we’ve tried over time [that] the dogs have enjoyed.”
Staff will evaluate the dogs’ temperaments and group them by size and energy levels. Dog owners can observe how their furry friends are faring via webcams streaming onto the Playful Pack website.
“We just try to be the safest and best place for dogs to have fun while their owners are away,” said Scott.
Scott said prices will be similar to those at existing locations, where daycare for one pooch starts at $30 a day and overnight boarding at $65 a night.
Playful Pack will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., seven days a week.
Removery, a new tattoo removal service, is coming to Ballston
Examples of tattoo removals done by Removery (courtesy of Removery)
Examples of tattoo removals done by Removery (courtesy of Removery)
Removery, a tattoo removal company based out of Austin, Texas, is planning to open a location at Ballston Quarter in early August.
The studio at 4238 Wilson Blvd, in the open-air portion of the shopping center, will offer services related to removing or changing tattoos. It will remove tattoos of all sizes and colors and change or cover up old ink jobs with the help of local tattoo artists, according to the company’s website.
“Relationship status changes, changes in their lifestyle, because someone thought it was cool in college and now they have a family,” Removery’s Director of Marketing Trent Lootens said. “People are transitioning in their lives and we play a large role in that.”
The expansion into Arlington this summer is part of the company’s plan to open over 200 new locations across North America and Australia in large, metropolitan areas over the next five years, said Caitlin Wolf, Removery’s Public Relations Director.
The company was formed in 2019 through the merger of the nation’s four biggest tattoo removal companies. Removery’s founders, originally from Australia, saw an opportunity to establish sites in the U.S. that exclusively offer tattoo removal services, Lootens said.
“A lot of plastic surgeons and dermatologists do this but no one specializes in this and makes it the focal point like we do,” he said.
A small tattoo costs about $990 to remove while a larger tattoo costs around $3,990. Price depends on the quantity of ink the customer wants removed. A medium-sized tattoo takes about ten treatments to fully remove spaced out over sessions six to eight weeks apart. Each session takes about 15 minutes.
The company last year made national headlines because of its INK-nitiative, a program that offers free tattoo removals to formerly or currently incarcerated people, gang members, survivors of human trafficking or people who have hateful tattoos. For every paying customer the company will provide a removal for someone in any of those categories.
The new Arlington shop will make the program accessible to D.C. area residents who meet the qualifications and wish to have such tattoos removed. So far, around 90 people have had tattoos removed through INK-nitative, said Lootens.
The group’s annual movie series, now in its 11th year, was held under the stars until the pandemic struck. Last summer, it decided to offer a drive-in movie theater experience instead, a format that the CPRO will be repeating this year.
Admission requires a donation to the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization and registration in advance. Both can be done through forthcoming links in the neighborhood’s newsletter, which is sent out every Thursday. The event is being funded in part by Amazon and the Washington Forrest Foundation.
Showtime begins at sunset, between 8 and 8:30 p.m. depending on the evening. The movies are rated between G and PG-13 and the lineup ranges from dramas to animated films, and musicals to action flicks:
July 3, 8:30 p.m.: La Misma Luna
July 10, 8:30 p.m.: The Addams Family
July 17, 8:30 p.m.: The Farewell
July 24, 8:30 p.m.: Just Mercy
July 31, 8:30 p.m.: Hairspray
Aug. 7, 8:15 p.m.: Gojira
Aug. 17, 8 p.m.: A League of Their Own
Aug. 28, 8 p.m.: Raya and the Last Dragon
Each movie will be shown in English with Spanish subtitles.
The Arlington Career Center Parking lot can be accessed by entering on S. Walter Reed Drive, according to the event page. There will be no public bathrooms available at the facility while the film is shown.
Moviegoers can arrive up to one hour early to secure a spot for their vehicles, the event page said. A Kona Ice truck will be making shaved ice treats before the movie.
