From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] New Carrollton Chameleon
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:15:46 -0400 (EDT)
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

I happened to be in New Carrollton recently, so I dropped by the old
Disclave hotel.  Disclave was in that hotel from 1984 through 1991
and again in 1997 (the year of the flood).  (I attended all of those
Disclaves.)  This hotel was called the New Carrollton Sheraton in
1984, The Sheraton Inn in 1985, The Sheraton Washington Northeast in
1986 and 1987, the Howard Johnson New Carrollton in 1988 and 1989, the
Sheraton Greenbelt in 1990 and 1991, and the Ramada Inn Conference and
Exhibition Center in 1997.  In 2006, the last time I dropped by, its
name was New Carrollton Hotel.  Now it's a Four Points by Sheraton.

The first Disclave in that hotel was more than a quarter century ago.
The last Disclave, which was in that hotel, will have been an eighth
of a century ago as of next month.  As Kermit says, time's fun when
you're having flies.

There's a new strip mall that curves around and touches the hotel at
both ends.  A fence completely surrounds the hotel and strip mall,
open only for a single driveway.  Inside, the hotel is much fancier
than I had ever seen it before.  Everything is brass, teak, and
rosewood.

When I went out the back, toward the bunker, I was confronted with a
wall.  It's a very short wall, trivial to walk around, and its purpose
is obviously not to block anyone, but to direct one's attention left
or right rather than directly across toward the bunker.

The bunker, a converted parking garage, site of Disclave's art show
and "Discave" con suite, is much the worse for wear.  The canopy is
gone.  All carpeting is gone.  The glass doors are much too dirty to
see through.  One of them is half-open, rusted in place.  There's
trash at the bottom of the stairwell.  Other than trash and graffiti,
there's nothing whatsoever in the bunker, whose back is open to the
outdoors.  It looks as if squatters had been living in it for a while,
but had long since abandoned it for someplace more upscale.  It would
clearly need major work even to be restored to use as a parking
garage.  I doubt it will ever be used again for anything.  I'm
surprised it hasn't been torn down yet.

I miss Disclave.