On a busy corner of Route 1, where Laurel, Md.’s quaint Main Street meets the beginning of a strip mall slide all the way down to College Park, we found one of the last Little Tavern restaurants still standing in the region.

Harry F. Duncan founded the Little Tavern chain in 1927 in Louisville, Ky., but when he and his wife Doris moved to Washington in 1928, they established the first Little Tavern Shop at 814 E Street NW. Ten years later, there were 50 Little Taverns in the Baltimore-Washington area, all distinguished by the odd peaked roof that was supposed to evoke a Tudor cottage. Silver Spring tore down the once-mighty mini-burger chain’s flagship restaurant in 2003 — just before mini-burgers went fancy.

The lonely Laurel branch has real street cred, with original (read: decaying) barstools and floor tiles. Their motto remains the same: “Buy ‘Em by the Bag.” Oh, and this Little Tavern is for sale.