[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 169 (Friday, December 7, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2239-E2240]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN MEMORY OF MRS. LOLA REVIS

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 6, 2001

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I stand today in memory of a woman known 
by many of us here today, Mrs. Lola Revis. Mrs. Revis was co-owner of 
Sherrill's Bakery and Restaurant on Capitol Hill for over fifty years.
  Lola and Samuel Revis purchased the diner from William Sherrill in 
1941 and ran the business together. After Samuel suffered a stroke in 
1969, Lola continued to operate the diner, and in the 1970s her two 
daughters, Kathyleen and Dorothy, joined her in the business. Lola ran 
the diner with her two daughters until she was 94 years old.
  Lola Revis was the heart and soul of Sherrill's. In 1989, she and her 
restaurant were featured in an Academy Award-nominated documentary, 
``Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open 6 to 9.'' The documentary made the 
antique decor, the simple cuisine, and the remarkable owner the subject 
of national attention.
  It was front-page news in Washington when Sherrill's Bakery and 
Restaurant closed its doors in July 2000. I still miss my daily 
breakfast of two slices of plain wheat toast, a bowl of oatmeal and a 
cup of hot water with a slice of lemon on the side, which cost less 
than three dollars. I no longer have trouble getting a seat, as four of 
the booths from Sherrill's currently reside in my office.

[[Page E2240]]

  Lola was a wonderful, hard-working woman with a truly individual 
spirit. My fellow colleagues, please join me in honoring Mrs. Lola 
Revis. She will be greatly missed.

                [From the Washington Post, Dec. 6, 2001]

              Sherrill's Restaurant Owner Lola Revis Dies

                          (By Adam Bernstein)

       Lola M. Revis, 97, who co-owned Sherrill's Bakery and 
     Restaurant on Capitol Hill and was a key personality in an 
     Academy Award-nominated documentary about the legendary 
     eatery that brought it national attention, died Dec. 5 at the 
     Sunrise assisted living facility in Fairfax County. She had 
     dementia and a lung ailment.
       Sherrill's, which opened in 1922 and closed in July 2000, 
     was a relished neighborhood institution that brought together 
     an enormously diverse clientele. Diners at 233 Pennsylvania 
     Ave. SE might be politicians, congressional staffers, 
     employees of the nearby Library of Congress, construction 
     workers or mothers with their children.
       Sunday was a notoriously hard day to get a seat, when the 
     place was brimming with young professionals taking their time 
     devouring the newspaper as well as their bacon and eggs.
       Prices were low, and two could eat a huge and hearty 
     breakfast for less than $10.
       Known for such comfort foods as creamed beef, eggs, 
     meatloaf chock full of onions, fried fish sticks and T-bone 
     steaks, Sherrill's never garnered rave reviews for its nuts-
     and-bolts cooking.
       The exceptions were mainly on the dessert side. Its eclairs 
     were ``excellent,'' according to one Washington Post food 
     writer. Others considered the gingerbread cookies sublime.
       Part of Sherrill's allure was the legendarily abrupt 
     waitstaff. At least one waitress was known to tell a patron 
     to ``sit down and shut up'' or to eat his dinner before it 
     got cold.
       Over the years, some visitors interpreted such brusqueness 
     favorably. There were those who even welcomed it as a sign of 
     humanity compared with the robotic, humorless approach in 
     more fleet or fancy chains.
       Sherrill's was far from fancy. Its furniture was emblematic 
     of another era, with its high-back wooden booths and 
     banquettes upholstered with gold-glitter plastic. The 
     linoleum floor dated back more than 50 years.
       At the center of it all was a petite woman with black-cat 
     eyeglasses and a beehive hair-do--Mrs. Revis. ``When things 
     break down, we don't call a repairman, we call an antique 
     dealer,'' she told the Maturity News Service in 1990.
       Many customers described her as the heart and soul of the 
     place, a woman who believed everyone deserved a home-cooked 
     meal, even on most holidays. She kept the place running 364 
     days a year, taking a break on Christmas Day.
       For much of its existence, hours were 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., 
     with Mrs. Revis taking four buses from her Silver Spring home 
     to arrive at dawn to open the store.
       David Petersen, a local lad, walked in one day and 
     discovered a whole new world--more accurately, quite an old 
     world--that resulted in his 1989 documentary about the 
     venerable restaurant. The 28-minute film, ``Fine Food, Fine 
     Pastries, Open 6 to 9,'' was mostly funded by the D.C. 
     Community Humanities Council.
       ``It's a place that contains time,'' Petersen once told The 
     Post, ``There was a different perspective on the way in which 
     people gathered and ate together that was a complete 
     anachronism.''
       He added: ``I recognized a whole change in the rhythm of 
     the speech people had among themselves. The conversation. The 
     movement. The way the light comes in--the architecture of the 
     light. All the advertisements, the clocks, the appliances, 
     the rib-trimming around the pastry cases, the booths.''
       Lola Mamakos, a Pittsburgh native, grew up in Washington 
     and was a graduate of the old Central High School. Her 
     parents were Greek immigrants, and her father owned a candy 
     store that over time became Louie's Bar and Grill, about a 
     block away from Sherrill's.
       In 1927, she married restaurateur Samuel A. Revis, who 
     became manager of Louie's. They purchased William Sherrill's 
     diner in 1941 and kept the name.
       The Revises ran the business together until Samuel Revis 
     suffered a stroke in 1969; he died in 1975. By the 1970s, 
     their two daughters also were involved, and all three ran it 
     until Mrs. Revis retired at age 94 after falling and injuring 
     her back.
       The daughters, Kathyleen Belfield Milton of Fairfax and 
     Dorothy Polito of Wheaton, sold the business in July 2000. 
     They wished to retire, and Sherrill's had become too 
     expensive to run in an increasingly gentrified neighborhood.
       The end of Sherrill's became the subject of much mourning 
     in the era of the low-fat latte, including a front-page Post 
     article and television coverage.
       The family sold Sherrill's to a developer, and a Ritz 
     Camera now occupies the space. A Starbucks is on the same 
     block.
       Mrs. Revis once said of the business; ``If I stay at home, 
     I have to think too much, I'd rather get out and meet the 
     public. It keeps me young.''
       She moved from Silver Spring to Sunrise in 1998.
       She was a member of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in 
     Washington.
       Besides her daughters, survivors include five 
     grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-
     grandchildren.

     

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