Good morning, DMV! It’s Thursday, Oct. 15.
Last month while driving home from an outing, my husband and daughter spotted this penguin pedestrian crossing sign at a stoplight on Georgia Avenue at Spring Street in Silver Spring.
(Photos by yours truly)
In my latest community crowdsolve problem, I asked if you knew what it was about. Many of you said it was likely linked to the “Penguin Rush Hour” mural next to Silver Spring Metro station. You’re right!
When I asked the Maryland Department of Transportation about the penguin sign, they sent me links about the 100-foot-long mural by Sally Callmer Thompson. It was originally painted on wood and created for a 1989 design competition. It was taken down in 2004 because it had been damaged by the elements, replicated on aluminum panels and returned to its original location in 2017.
A detailed view of the mural.
I like the “Coola” ad in the top right corner of this pic. One penguin is doing the crossword, while others read a newspaper and a book.
But how did penguins make the leap from the mural to traffic signage?
“It seems like penguins are all over different signs in Silver Spring,” said Danny Allman, spokesman of the MDOT state highway administration, adding that the penguin is the “mascot of the city of Silver Spring.”
I asked Montgomery County officials in case they had more detail.
Emily DeTitta, the strategic communications manager for the Montgomery County Department of Transportation, told me that while no one is still around from 1990, her boss joined the MCDOT in about 1992 and “can confirm that it was in fact related to the penguin rush hour mural as part of a regional marketing effort.”
The sign I spotted on Georgia Avenue and Spring Street, she said, “may be the last remnant.”
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📰 News around the DMV
Capital Weather says it’s back to fall today: Cloudy and showery, with a big cooldown from yesterday's warmth. Highs struggle to get out of the 60s. Read the full forecast here.
🎨 Things to do
14 things to do around D.C. this weekend (The 51st)
📷 Your joy
(Lizzie Stricklin)
D.C. resident Lizzie Stricklin, 27, sent me a pic she took in March 2025 of another penguin in the DMV.
“As the photo shows, this penguin sits at Potomac Ave and K St SE in Capitol Hill. If I remember correctly there’s a small label or QR code underneath that says it’s an art installation,” she wrote to me in an email.
“I used to live in the neighborhood, and seeing the penguin always added some whimsy to my walks!”
Also, Audrey Hoppenjans, 49, of Germantown, Maryland, shared this old photo after reading my Sept. 24 newsletter about the penguin traffic sign.
(Audrey Hoppenjans)
“I came across this sign over a decade ago while walking my dog near Grosvenor Lane in Rockville. It made me laugh … I think it remained up for at least a couple of months,” she wrote in her submission.
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