A new full-service luxury salon and wellness spa has opened on Route 1, in the Woodridge neighborhood of D.C., just south of Mount Rainier.

Located at 2308 Rhode Island Ave. NE, next to the Zeke’s Coffee roastery (which is opening its expanded cafe next month), Studio Chique offers hair care, including styling, coloring, and straightening; wellness services such as body sculpting and waxing; hydrotherapy and colonic irrigation; and more.

They also have a Japanese head spa, where massage and serums are used to promote circulation, relieve stress, and improve scalp and hair health. And their wellness spa even offers a monthly membership option.

Previously located on Georgia Avenue, the salon is in a soft-launch phase as of July 15, with plans to hold a grand opening soon.

Owner and founder Ngina Thomas, who envisioned and designed the new space on her own, aims to serve a diverse mix of clients from the neighborhood and the greater D.C. area.

Studio Chique is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 7 p.m. on Sundays.

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A historic Masonic lodge in Hyattsville may soon get a second life.

The owners of the Mount Hermon Lodge No. 179 have applied for the building to be designated a historic property by the county and are studying how it could be adapted for other uses.

Located at 4207 Gallatin St., across from St. Jerome Academy, the two-story Romanesque Revival lodge was built in 1893 after the Masons moved from Bladensburg.

The building’s owners recently received a $25,000 grant from Prince George’s County to draw up architectural and engineering plans and conduct a feasibility study for potential alternative uses.

They have also asked the Prince George’s County Historic Preservation Commission to consider designating the building a historic property, which will be discussed at a hearing on July 23.

The Mount Hermon Lodge is already considered a “contributing” property to the Hyattsville Historic District, so that will likely be approved.

The bigger question is what kinds of alternative uses the building could support. With nearly 9,000 square feet of space and high ceilings, it could be turned into an event space or be divided into smaller rooms, much like the Arcade building that’s now home to Pyramid Atlantic Art Center up the street.

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Manifest Bread in Riverdale Park is expanding its bakery and opening a new sit-down restaurant in a vacant space next door.

Located at 6208 Rhode Island Ave., the popular organic bakery has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help pay for the costs of the build-out and buying a new oven.

The new space will have room for around 30 seats and at 3,000 square feet, nearly triple its current size. In the new space, it will serve a slightly expanded menu of breads, pastries and sandwiches during the day, then at night it will turn into a bar and restaurant.

Owners Rick and Tyes Cook told the Hyattsville Wire that the restaurant will intentionally limit its menu to seasonal ingredients and things that can be made in an oven.

“The menu and its contents simple and seasonal, will be limited to what can be produced from the oven and a couple other cooking elements,” Tyes Cook said. “These restrictions are what spark creativity.”

The two have been thinking about opening a restaurant for a while, but their plans got delayed as they spent time learning how to bake bread and opening the bakery in 2022.

Manifest Bread is closing on Sunday, July 28, for construction for four months, with Cook saying they hope to reopen by Thanksgiving.

You can contribute to the Kickstarter here.

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A popular Mexican restaurant in the Berwyn neighborhood of College Park has expanded.

Tacos a la Madre, which opened a sit-down restaurant on Berwyn Road in 2021 and is a favorite in the Hyattsville Wire reader poll, has added a second location in Beltsville.

The new location is at 11623 Beltsville Dr., not far from Interstate 95 in the Calverton area. Chief Operating Officer Herson Romero told the Hyattsville Wire that they were impressed by the revitalization of the area and the potential for growth.

“We were super excited to be given the opportunity to be a part of it,” he said.

The interior of the taqueria was dramatically redesigned for a more modern look by local architect Christian Romero, a recent graduate of the University of Maryland.

The new restaurant is a big step for the family-owned restaurant, which got its start working from home in 2020 and then at a temporary location at a Holiday Inn before moving to Berwyn.

The menu includes a number of traditional tacos made with ingredients such as beef tongue, chorizo and carne asada as well as new twists such as a mushrooms, fried zucchini and crab cakes. A customer favorite are its shrimp tacos, which were named among the 25 best in the U.S. by a national website.

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A Hyattsville resident has started a business offering job coaching.

After 15 years in human resources departments, German Rochez decided to give job seekers the benefits of his experiences.

Through Capitol Career Partner, Rochez offers clients’ help fixing up their resumes, writing cover letters and mastering the art of the job interview. If you get the job, he’ll also help you with negotiations over offer letters.

Rochez said that he has learned a lot about what to do while working on the other side of a job application, literally reading thousands of resumes and cover letters.

“I’ve noticed that many people don’t make their resumes actionable,” he said. “Instead of vague phrases like ‘responsible for,’ ‘as needed’ or ‘other duties as assigned,’ you should list concrete, quantifiable accomplishments. Include strong action verbs and highlight results, not just responsibilities.”

Along with standard corporate job coaching, Rochez also offers coaching specifically for people seeking government and non-profit jobs.

You can learn more at Capitol Career Partner’s website.

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A reminder of Route 1’s segregated past has been replaced by a powerful and inspirational symbol of racial reconciliation.

Over the weekend, the towns of Brentwood, which was historically white, and North Brentwood, founded by Black Civil War veterans and the county’s first incorporated African American town, unveiled a new sculpture to replace the Windom Road segregation barrier that long separated the two towns.

The memorial sculpture stands in what is now the Windom Road Historic Barrier Park, which is closed to traffic.

Made of epoxy foam and steel, the sculpture shows two hands coming together to lift the original metal highway barrier, which is incorporated into the work of art.

Route 1 artist Nehemiah Dixon III, senior director of programs and community engagement at the Phillips Collection, a modern art museum in D.C., originally proposed the design after an open submission process.

He then brought on Wesley Clark, a Lewisdale artist and sculptor who has a studio in College Park and has worked on a number of public art projects to help with sculpting the structure.

The Neighborhood Design Center worked with community leaders from both Brentwood and North Brentwood on the project as well.

Two other pieces of the barrier will be housed at the Brentwood Volunteer Fire Department and in North Brentwood.

The plan for the park and a sculpture to replace the barrier took seven years and more design phases of the park remain.

But the metal barrier — which was first installed after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 and remained up until recently as a forgotten piece of history — is no more.

Learn more about the park and sculpture here.

To read more about the history of the Windom Road racial barrier, click here.

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A new shop in Mount Rainier selling Oriental rugs is run by a former political science professor from Afghanistan.

When he lived in Kabul, Jawid Jawid worked at a private university teaching Afghan political science, but he had to leave that job behind a few years ago when he fled with his family to the United States after the government collapsed.

Once he settled in Virginia, he started working with an Oriental rug company, where he realized that his knowledge of handmade Afghan rugs could be put to use.

After running his own shop in Alexandria, where he said the market became flooded with similar rug shops, he moved it to Mount Rainier because the rent in D.C. was too high. America Oriental Rugs is located at 3201 Rhode Island Ave., in the block of buildings that includes Pan Lourdes Bakery.

Jawid sells and repairs rugs from Afghanistan, India, Turkey, and Iran, which are made by hand, not machine, using traditional methods. He even sells antique Persian rugs dating back to as late as the 1960s. The average room-sized rug might take six months to complete, while even a two-by-three-foot rug could take a month.

His Persian rugs are hard to get because of the economic sanctions on Iran. Some are from inventory brought to the U.S. before the latest embargo, while others are used rugs from Iranian families that have been refurbished. He also has 100% silk rugs made with a Persian design in Kashmir, India.

Jawid still uses his background in political science, talking with reporters about the situation in Afghanistan from time to time, but he says that he cannot return to the country now because of his work as a political scientist.

America Oriental Rugs is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday. It’s closed on Sundays.

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