Flashback Friday: Steppin' Into The Weekend, Southgate Style

Set the controls of the Earth-Toned Wayback Machine to the mid-1970s, where this photo from our BFFs at Reston, Remember When shows a nuclear family unit heading out of their swanky Southgate digs for an outing in Reston, which at the time meant either a trip to Memco or some fine dining, or maybe to play on some skull-crackin' concrete abutment or listen to some rockin' live music or see a blockbuster at the Reston Twin (it's daylight, so not that kind of blockbuster) or to get a really rad portrait made. All's we know is that 1) the only thing more gaudy than mom's mustard yellow slacks, which were likely visible all the way from Lake Anne, is dad's ginormous belt buckle, which is so wide that it appears to make a semicircle around his waist and 2) the kids look just about as excited to be hanging out with the parents as they would be today. The girl's even looking down at something in her hands, as if checking her "snaps," or whatever the kids call them, on a smart cellular telephone that wouldn't be invented for another three decades, the end.

A Different Kind of Reston Row, Illustrated

 

Ah, just a beautiful fall day in Reston, with our favorite parallelogram isosceles trapezoid balefully standing watch over a bunch of new home signs and the giant gaping void that will soon be home to a four-star hotel. Been there, done that. But wait, what's that we see in the reflection of the Sleestak mud pit?

Computer, enhance:

That's right. Where level G93 of the future woonerf-free parking garage will someday be is a giant gathering of porta-potties, huddled together for shelter. Definitely more gritty and urbane than videos of sharks, and it brings a whole new meaning to "Reston Row," the end.