Arnson and his friends would try to get served there-unsuccessfully-at 15. “It was kind of like a biker bar and pool hall, and always seemed a little rough to because we were kids,” he says.

Behind him, yellow tape with the words “FIRE LINE DO NOT CROSS” winds around one of the porch’s four charred wooden pillars and stretches around the burned-out beige brick bungalow, the windows blown out from the fire’s force.Īrnson’s connection to Dietle’s dates to the late 1970s, when he attended Kensington Junior High School (now razed) 3 miles away. The Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service estimated the damage at $500,000.Īrnson wears a plaid flannel shirt, a navy blue quilted vest, sunglasses and a wistful look. Seventy-five firefighters arrived at the Rockville Pike bar in North Bethesda soon thereafter and brought the blaze under control within 15 minutes. On Ash Wednesday.Ī motorist notified 911 of the fire at around 2:45 a.m. In the early hours of that day, while closed and empty, smoldering smoking materials on the front porch ignited and gutted the place. It holds the first liquor license the county issued after Prohibition-Class D beer and wine, number 001. In a YouTube video posted on WTOP News on Valentine’s Day 2018, “Colonel” Josh Arnson strums a guitar while sitting in front of what’s left of Hank Dietle’s Tavern, a quintessential dive bar and Montgomery County’s oldest roadhouse, with roots dating to 1916. Roger Edsall (pictured) and the rest of The Bad Influence Band perform last fall at Hank Dietle’s Tavern.

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