Chevy Chase’s American City Diner: A brief history, what’s next, and one family’s fond memories

by Marlene Berlin

In 1988, Jeffrey Gildenhorn opened a 1940s-style diner at Connecticut Avenue and Morrison Street. For 30 years, the retro American City Diner served up regular diner fare: fried egg sandwiches, meatloaf, pancakes, milkshakes. Younger kids enjoyed the a model train inside and the coin-operated rides outside. The cheap food made it a popular hangout for my teens.

Gildenhorn died in 2017, and his family closed the diner the following year. Entrepreneur Steve Salis then purchased the property. According to the Washingtonian in October 2019, it was to “become a branch of Sidekick bakery, an offshoot of Salis’s Ted’s Bulletin chain.”

Six months after that, Covid-19 arrived, and we heard nothing more about a bakery or any other Salis brand.

The next major development was the removal in 2022 of the murals of silver screen legends, which had been painted on plywood panels and hung in the diner’s parking lot.

Then, on March 7th of this year Urban Turf reported that a “raze application was filed for the property at 5532 Connecticut Avenue NW (map) that day.”

And on April 4th, Eater DC reported that Tim Walsh, a Chevy Chase resident and restaurateur who owns the Avenue and Capital Crab, had just secured the lease and will open an “open-air destination for tacos, desserts, whiskey, and horseplay.”

As Walsh describes “Derby Chevy Chase” or “Paddock Chevy Chase” (he’s still working on the name), it will be a family-friendly venue and a place to make memories… much as American City Diner was to three generations of Gloria Garcia’s family.

Garcia, the executive director of Van Ness Main Street, shared some of her memories with Forest Hills Connection:

The diner opened after I moved back to DC after graduating from Georgetown University and working in New York.

Right from the beginning, it was a real hangout with my friends for late night or a “brunch” we could afford back then. My friends and I no longer had to get to the Tastee Diner so far away in Bethesda!

I have a great memory of us in the early morning hours, playing the jukebox endlessly and dancing in the aisles. One night, we even did a very bad Grease re-enactment on the counter stools. Then in the 1990s, when my nephews became the focal point of our family, we were there almost every weekend and especially after soccer games. What kids didn’t love the train, the jukebox, and the games? Plus the food was so kid friendly.

As my nephews grew up, this diner became a hotspot for me and my parents. It was very close to our homes, and opened at 7 a.m. so I could have breakfast with them before work quite often. My parents loved going there because the majority of the staff were Spanish speakers and they could speak in their native language. After my father passed in 2013, my mother and I would frequent it as many times as my schedule allowed. The staff treated her like a queen after his death.

Her favorite meal was a staple on the menu: pancakes and milkshakes! We went there for her favorites but especially for the memories this place evoked and the warm welcome whenever we arrived. One of the reasons my mother loved the diner is that she always insisted on treating and it was reasonably priced for a very old retiree!

I also went to the diner with other friends throughout the years (although we gave up dancing in the aisles in the early 90s) for quick meals, business meetings, and for movie night! I remember the last movie I saw there with two dear friends was Casablanca.

The diner was as campy as campy could be and very off brand for DC while it celebrated the DC native owner, Jeffrey Gildenhorn – his life, successes, and celebrity sightings. In my mind and heart, it will always be a treasure that my family shared until it closed in 2018. It has been hard driving by the site as it has sat empty and will be harder once it is razed. A true piece of DC history and my family’s story.

What are your memories of the American City Diner?