The Lost Haunts of Route 1

ON SEPT. 4, 1984, JEANNE YETMAN BERGER ’85 stepped onto a national stage to demonstrate a skill she’d learned while at the University of Maryland. It was on “Late Night with David Letterman,” and the segment was “Stupid Human Tricks.” Berger, in spiky feathered hair and a mauve jumpsuit, rolled a quarter down her nose onto a table where, on her fourth attempt, it bounced into a plastic cup of water.

“How did you learn how to do this?” Letterman asked. “At the Vous,” said Berger. “It’s a bar at Maryland.”

UMD’s vibe today is more smarty than party, and the students who long ago put on their “Vous shoes” for a night at the sticky-floored dive on Route 1 in College Park might need to squint to recognize the street today.

The state last fall completed a $56.9 million makeover of Route 1 in College Park to improve traffic and safety by adding bike lanes, new street lighting, grassy medians, new crosswalks and other features.

The streetscape gleams brighter and the apartment buildings have gotten taller, but the city’s main commercial artery is still the scene of many Terps’ most cherished off-the-clock college memories. Maybe it’s puckering your lips at a fresh lemonade from Albrecht’s Pharmacy, scouring the discount bins at Viscount Records or tucking into a late-night burger at Plato’s Diner.

The first hangout on Route 1 in College Park was likely the Rossborough Inn, now UMD’s oldest building. More than two centuries ago, it began attracting travelers on the dirt path that linked Baltimore and Washington, D.C. In the 1920s, the road was paved and officially designated State Route No. 1.

Now the College Park segment, known as Route 1, Baltimore Avenue or simply “the strip,” is part of a nearly 2,400-mile route from Maine to Florida, the longest north-south road in the United States.

To mark its rebirth, Terp is taking a figurative ride down Route 1, asking alums about their favorite haunts—the spots where they breakfasted on bagels, danced on tables, celebrated snow days and met their future spouses.

A staple on the corner of College Avenue since the 1930s, the soda fountain-drugstore was a destination for cold lemonade or a bargain breakfast. (A 1969 ad in The Diamondback touted a meal of two eggs, toast, home fries and coffee for 55 cents.) Don McEvoy ’76, whose grandfather, Edward McEvoy, co-owned Albrecht’s, worked there starting as a kid and met his now-wife when she applied for a job. He remembers that the anti-Vietnam War protesters who stormed Route 1 in May 1970 left Albrecht’s untouched out of love for the establishment. “It was great for business, because it was hot out,” he says. “I’d be running up to 7-Eleven to get bags of ice for the lemonade.”

For Terps spanning 40 years, one bar epitomized the image of an “Animal House” college experience: the Rendezvous Inn, better known as the Vous. “The floors were sticky with beer, and it smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned in some time,” says Sonia Amir-Bowie ’96, “but that didn’t stop the Greek system from making that one of its permanent hangouts where dancing on the tables to Pearl Jam was allowed, as pitchers of beer would make their rounds.”

Terps started wearing junky shoes that they didn’t mind ruining there. “‘This place has always been known for the ‘’VOUS GOO,’” one anonymous patron told The Diamondback in 1986. “‘Kids would get a running start and see how far they could slide on the floor. I used to umpire it and see if they were safe or out.’”

On snow days, the bar would open early—as in, 8 a.m.—and welcome students ready to fully enjoy their day off. “Snowball fights across the bar, over the heads of the bartenders, and beer slides into the fireplace were legendary,” says Randy Goldman ’93.

Founder Sam Srour’s son attributed its eventual demise in part to UMD’s rising admissions standards. “The students became more serious,” Mark Srour told The Washington Post. “The party was secondary.”

For Casey Zacher ’03 and her friends, the highlight of a Saturday night out was the midnight buffet at Santa Fe (now the home of Terrapin’s Turf). It wasn’t anything fancy—nachos, mozzarella sticks, wings—but to a bunch of partying college kids, it became something they still talk about fondly. “We were, like, this is the best thing ever,” she says.

Next to a liquor store of the same name, Town Hall drew more locals and fewer undergraduates than other bars. It was treasured for its lack of pretension and cheap drinks.

Emanuel Francis Kubak Zalesak III, or “Zal,” opened the Varsity Grill on Sept. 21, 1932, seven years after he graduated from UMD. Zal made a name for his establishment by securing College Park’s first liquor license after Prohibition.

Doreen Bass ’82, M.A. ’85 met her future husband of 38 years at the Varsity Grill the night before graduating. Bass and her friends preferred the Vous, “but there was a line that night,” she says. “When the bar closed at 2 a.m., we went out and got breakfast at the College Park Diner.”

Some of today’s Route 1 hangouts and hideaways are hardy survivors, while a few newcomers are en route to becoming institutions.

• MARATHON DELI moved in 2019 to a storefront around the corner from its original location, but’s still slicing gyros and pouring its secret sauce.
• COLLEGE PARK DINER has been a reliable spot for eggs, waffles and other familiar fare since 1997.
• CORNERSTONE GRILL AND LOFT replaced the Vous in 1997 and became a good-time magnet for generations of Terps.
• LEDO PIZZA has changed owners, but the iconic restaurant’s pizzas are still square and flaky-crusted.
• LOONEY’S, part of a small chain of Maryland pubs, opened in College Park in 2011 and is a favorite for sports fans and trivia lovers.
• RJ BENTLEY’S has a block-long line of Terps waiting to get into the nearly 50-year-old bar and restaurant most Friday afternoons, rain or shine.

John Brown ’73 opened RJ Bentley’s (7323 Baltimore Ave.) with two partners in 1978, and never left. He was a second dad to generations of students, collector of license plates and Terp jerseys, and a welcoming host to newcomers and regulars alike.

Brown died on Nov. 9, and to honor his impact, daughter Katie Brown and friend Harvey Sanders ’72 established two scholarship funds at UMD, one for first-generation college students and one for student-athletes. See more at go.umd.edu/brownscholarships.