News and notes from Reston (tm).

Monday, January 27, 2014

Flashback Monday: The 'Serpent Table' That Helped Seal the Deal for Early Reston Homebuyers

Serpent Table
Set the controls of the Earth-Toned Wayback Machine to 1964, when this "serpent-shaped concrete table" was dropped into a "promotional playground not so far from the sales office at Reston, Virginia," presumably from a vortex in the space-time continuum that ejected it from an ancient Mayan day-care center ("Lil' Ixkuns"). Being jaded youth who were raised by the teevee and rarely ventured outside, we're not entirely sure what the purpose of this table was, or what sorts of games could be played on it, but the Potemkin children, presumably dropped off promptly at 8:59am by the staff of the "sales office" in hopes of injecting a little verisimilitude into their walking sales pitches, were presumably paid in candy for their part in convincing skeptical homebuyers that their own children would enjoy playing on skull-crackin' concrete abutments. Or maybe they were paid in cigarettes. Or candy cigarettes, the end.

2 comments:

  1. Better than a rusty, lockjaw-inducing ,merry go round.

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  2. So we thought ... until we read this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/11/29/rethinking-ultra-safe-playgrounds-why-its-time-to-bring-back-thrill-provoking-equipment-for-kids/?tid=sm_fb

    ReplyDelete

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