Chick Hall's Surf Club: Bladensburg - 1955 to 2007

[dmickey]

I don't know how long it was since you left Bladensburg, but I'm sure that I would get lost if I tried to go to the old neighborhood now! Things sure do change after 35 years (Yikes!!)

[PGBoy]

I know it's not really that important, but for the record ........ The Surf Club did not move from Colmar Manor to Bladensburg, it moved from Colmar Manor to Edmonston. 4711 Kenilworth Avenue is in the Town of Edmonston. It is certainly close enough to Bladensburg to be mistaken for it, but in actuality its official home is Edmonston, Maryland.

And as another poster correctly stated, it is in fact STILL OPEN. It's true that it is no longer owned by the Hall family, and today it caters to an all hispanic crowd vs. the original white rock-a-billy crowd of the past , but it is most certainly alive and well. Of course now a days, the "Surf Club" name is just that - a name only. It is no where the same club that adorned Bladensburg Road or Kenilworth Avenue back when the Hall family owned it.

[wvdreamchaser]

I was back in the area last year and everything I remembered was gone, was bout only reason to visit as u or someone else stated am havin trouble locatin people I once knew, I went to Chick Halls, David's Super Club, CrossRoads and many others back in the 80's the visit was such a disappointment, I have tried connecting with some from the area through facebook, but not same as runnin into others that only knew by sight.

[Fundman]

Three Captains is still there. LOL

[handyguy]

Spent a lot of nights at Surf Club.
My band, the "JB Chance Band" used to play there on the weekends when Chick, or later his sons Chick Jr, and Chris wanted to have a weekend off. So many memories of Chick, his sons Chris and Chick Jr, and Roy (the blind but incredibly talented rhythm guitar player).....RIP Chick, Sr and the Surf Club!....and who can forget the Baxter Brothers playing at the Crossroads. We were honored to play at the Crossroads in 1988?? for a fund raising benefit for the family of the legendary Roy Buchanan, who allegedly hung himself in the Fairfax Co jail after getting busted for a DWI.

[polarbair2]

My mother worked as a waitress in the 60's for Ernie's crabhouse. I have many fond memories of when Bladensburg was the most happening place on earth. These memories will only live on in my mind as we will never see it again....Rolling Pin bakery, the old A&P, Jupiter, Red Barn, Burger Chef, Cheverly movie. We lived what seemed forever on 57th Ave........watching the ladies for prom all thru the 60's at BHS. The BHS band practicing, walking to 7-11 for a slurpee. And yes, hearing the older generation talk about Chicks, Georges, the Surf Club really makes a person miss the hell out of those days gone by!

[BlackZappa301]

they held out for as long as they could though, but most of their core crowd vacated the area. Every older guitarist I came across locally spoke highly of Chick Hall's guitar work... shame I never got to hear it.

[Matt2789]

There is a mural painted of the Surf Club on a building (I am assuming it was the original location) on Bladensburg Rd. near the Kennilworth underpass. I'm much younger than the Surf Clubs "core crowd" but feel lucky to have visited their Kennilworth location a few times for shows before they shut down and turned it into a laundromat Was in the area and strolled through that laundromat just to reminisce (very surreal).