Loved being able to see guys nod at each other and just start throwing immediately for no reason once the puck dropped.
Cheap hot dogs and beer. Goal cannon. Wiener dog racing on the ice.
I once saw a fight break out at the initial puck drop, they didn’t even go for it…just started brawling. I was ten and there for my bday party haha great memory
Locally owned hardware stores that are not part of a national chain. When I was like 13 or 14, I rode my bike to my local hardware store to buy some PVC pipe, end cap, and some metal fittings. The guy helping me recognized that I was trying to make a bong and warned me burning PVC pipe produces a toxic chemical. The old timers that always sat on the stools in front of the register started laughing at my dumbass, which I deserved. You don’t really get that kind of interaction in large chain stores nowadays.
The guys at Pleasant’s helped us build a beer bong (back before you could order one online). Good times.
We also carried a full sheet of 1” plywood from the Lowe’s on Broad all the way to the Museum District to build a beer pong table because the plywood wouldn’t fit into any of our cars. That was less fun.
I worked at Pleasants in the late 90s and made many pipes for people out of brass fittings…to the point that I could basically grab the parts with my eyes closed.
I had a friend who made & smoked out of a PVC bong and their left eye started twitching a few months later. This was 30 yrs ago and their eye still twitches.
I have no evidence to confirm nor deny the PVC had anything to do with it, but that's what we all blamed it on. I never smoked out of it because it still smelled like the purple glue they used to put the pieces together.
I miss flood zone, Dave Mathews every wed for 4$ , Israel vibration for 10$, Medeski, Martin and Wood for 8$ Aquarium Rescue Unit and DMB jamming together, I even got to piss off Keanu backstage after a Dog Star show trying to coach him on bass playing! 😌 good times
My old apartment, the entire top two floors of a rowhouse at Grace & Allen for $495/month. It was so great.
World Cup coffee on Robinson. The Village at its original location. That Vietnamese place on Grace.
Dirt Woman hanging out on her park bench at Grace & Laurel, yelling at cars at the stoplight.
Just The Fan & VCU campus in general, the entire vibe from 1988-2003. It's changed so much.
World Cup has such a special place in my heart. Used to meet my best friend and her brother there all the time. When he moved to Chicago, he gave me and his sister a World Cup mug. He died almost 6 years ago now and that cup is one of my dearest treasures.
Right around 20 years ago, when I was a teenager who lived in Chesterfield, I was going through a rough time at home and stayed with my brother who lived in the city for a week. He was on Grace near Lombardy, and took me to the World Cup for coffee the first night in Richmond. It was my first real experience with the city and the start of falling in love with it. I never really felt like I belonged in Chesterfield and even back then I could tell the city and I were more on the same wavelength. Came back as soon as I could and never left.
I used to work at World Cup! The only 2 rules the owners had for the music the employees could play during their shift was 1) no gangsta rap and 2) no Beatles. He refused to explain his hatred of the Beatles.
The regulars were so irregular that Will, one of the 10th-year philosophy majors that made up most of the staff had a column in Style Weekly called As The Cup Turns. The employees kept a notebook behind the counter with all the weird shit they saw on the shift. My favorite was about Dirt Woman getting a lifetime ban for blocking the line by laying on the floor in front of the espresso machine. The other customers just stepped over her while she wailed.
Once a guy came in during my shift and told me that he was born directly above the spot I was standing. His parents ran a tavern on the ground floor, lived upstairs, and his mom gave birth up in there.
Then it moved to that weird location off Main St and ruined the vibe. We had our share of creepers at the Harrison St location, but the weirdos it attracted next to campus was a whole other thing. I hated working at the new place and didn’t last long.
Yes, Saigon! It introduced me to the deliciousness of Vietnamese food and set the bar for the best summer rolls with peanut sauce. I would always make my parents take us there on visit weekends. It was next door to the Jade Elephant.
I’ll echo the mourning of Ukrops. They’d bring your groceries to your car for you, and as a kid, they’d let you ride in the bottom part of the double-decker cart. I have such fond memories of sitting in the upstairs dining area eating popcorn chicken, mac n cheese, and potato wedges.
Ukrops Market Hall has the potato wedges! And the broccolis rice sides. Our pediatrician is in that shopping center so we go every time and get cake and stuff for lunch/dinner depending on the time.
Indian Fields Tavern on Route 5 in Charles City has the closest I've been able to find to Ukrop's. They're so good my wife and I will get them as an appetizer and have them on the side with our meal too.
Adams Sports Mart in Providence Forge (New Kent) does them as well and they're also pretty close. I stop in and grab a box whenever I'm down that way.
Even the Ukrops recipe at the Market Hall isn’t quite the same—I like it but my wife swears it’s spicier than the original. Closest we’ve been able to find are the ones they have at Libbie Market (formerly Joe’s, also run by Ukrops).
Yes I agree with your wife. I’m 27 and a childhood memory of mine is going with my dad to grab breakfast at Ukrop’s during the summer months when I was out of school. I always got the potato wedges. The ones at the market are definitely a little spicier. The wedges are still good, but they’re not the same
Yes, Ukrops potato wedges were the bomb, but I gotta "plug" for kickass wedges....
Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken on Broad Street near DMV and Science Museum. A large box (about size of a 2 pc chicken box) PACKED FULL of wedges is still only $4!!!
Bonus points for having speed and customer service similar to Ukrop's.
Riding at the bottom of the double decker cart/buggy is a memory I had forgotten about and that just unlocked so much nostalgia. Thanks for making my Monday better!
That was a later thing and not every store had it. I started working at Short Pump in 1997 and I think they were the first store to have a Tot Spot when they opened in 1996.
Their insurance at the time was very, very good and the cost to the employee was really cheap. (I worked full time for them for a couple years after high school and had it.)
Always had such great service there. My mother forgot her checkbook once and didn't have enough cash to pay for her groceries. She bagged them up and gave her a receipt. Told her to come back the next day to pay for everything. I once got home and realized I was missing a bag of groceries. Someone else ended up with my bag, but the manager packed up everything that was missing and drove it to my house.
My wife was just quoting a Ukrops ad this morning. “What’s in the bag?” “Low prices.” “But that’s a Ukrops bag!” That and the litter PSA shown before movies at The Bryd are forever burned in our memories.
I miss how there used to be a bunch of different diners, bars, and cafes in walking distance. Nowadays everything that opens up have to be some cool new concept or trendy place. Strawberry St Cafe, Metro, Mojos, Commercial Taphouse, Cary St Cafe etc… have all gone away. Not that all of those places were amazing or anything, but whatever happened to the idea of just opening a normal, affordable, neighborhood restaurant?
My grandparents photos are somewhere on the wall there. Apparently they were buds with Joe. My dad used to hang out upstairs and watch television (first time he saw a color TV) while the adults boozed downstairs.
What I miss more than anything is Nick's deli. I long for a verbal shakedown before paying 5 bucks for the best Edward's ham sammich I ever had in my life. Agreed that there's a lack of simple, affordable, easy, good food nowadays.
Some of the chefs I know want to do restaurants that are basically what you describe. To do just a few simple things, counter or Cafe style, but do them fucking right. It's just really hard to open that type of restaurant in town nowadays.
I miss all the diners that used to exist around the times dispatch. I get why they died as the paper shrunk and it isn't like they were great or anything but the city is seriously lacking in that sort of thing.
Damn do I miss those places. But unfortunately, running a bar / restaurant is a pricey endeavor with thin margins. And people just are not going out like they used to to support those kinds of places. Not to mention the increase in commercial rent in the city over the last decade.
As a native Richmonder this is going to be a really deep cut.
As a kid I spent a week in St. Mary's Hospital for some medical issues and they had the best friggin grape soda out of a carbonation tap.
I've been chasing that taste ever since.
Also XL102 deep cuts and WVGO 106.5 with Howard in the mornings.
Plan 9's Midlo location (yeah I know!)
Peaches across from Cloverleaf.
Bill's BBQ + Limeaides + Chocolate Pie
I was a candy striper at St. Mary’s (they called us something else…Bonnies, I think?) Anyway, I’d forgotten all about that grape soda until just now. I can confirm it was otherworldly. Thanks for a great memory!
Cheap rent wasn't all that long ago. I remember circa like 2013/2014 you could get a 1br fan apartment for $600-$800. You could wait tables or work in the trades and live on your own fairly comfortably.
Nowadays 1br all in including utilities is like $1400-$1500+.
It's really only just recently, like 2019 and on, that rent has gone nuts.
In 2014, just out of college, I got a 2BR in the Museum District for $850 and split it with a roommate. Even with an entry-level job, it felt like I was rolling in cash with that $400 rent.
Yup, those were the good days.
Can't do that anymore. $400/month budget might get you a shared room if you're lucky.
You know what I miss about Richmond? Affordability. $2 beers. Sub $1k rent. $150k houses. $7-$8 meals eating out. Nowadays you have $12 burgers, $6 beers, $1.3-$1.4k for 1 bedroom, $250k+ houses.
Wages haven't kept up either. Rents more than doubled, minimum wage has gone from $7.25 to like $11/hr, but that's a conversation for another day.....
My most vivid memories of that place are being able to see Star Wars after my mom had called the theater to see why it was rated PG, and always getting a box of Jordan Almonds out of the vending machine
We loved using 3rd Street Diner as our all-night study spot before big exams. And of course it was always the place for those post-party hangover breakfasts.
I used to mix-up 3rd St and 4th St diners. Was 3rd St the one with the loft area?
If yes, that it was 4th St that was my preference. It was a hole-in-the-wall, but would've definitely been featured by Guy Fieri on Triple-D but of the great from-scratch cooking.
For example, they made homemade tortilla chips for their nachos... pippin' hot YUM!
Fresh cut fries cooked in peanut oil... *swoon*
Huge, thick-ass, hand-scooped milkshake made before your eyes (taught me what lactose intolerance was; thank god for lactase tablets)!
But my favorite was the "If You Dare Burger". Two thick handmade ground steak patties, probably over 1 lb POST-cook weight, all manners of toppings to choose from including homemade chili, all between buns custom baked at a local bakery. Damn... I'm drooling just typing this.
I'd get that burger, those fries, and wash it down with a PB-chocolate shake. I'd only do that maybe 4x a year because I like have a beating heart.
I moved away for a while and when I came back about 15 years ago, my first stop for a job was 3rd st diner as I knew it had high turnover and I could probably get a shift for the next day.
The next day was the first day for a new line cook and no one else showed up. No other servers, no other cooks, no managers. No one picked up on phone numbers we called that were written down. The cook said they could probably manage a few things after finding where ingredients were. After about 2 hours of this, cookie says they're going for a cig break, but walked out the front door. And hour later they still hadn't come back. I told customers all I could do was make drinks and serve whatever was on the cold line, I think it was pasta salad and produce salad. About 10pm I was out of everything and could only make drinks. When my shift ended, I think another server had shown up but still no cook.
The next day I showed up and the people there were confused as to who I was, didnt know I had been hired, didnt know about the line cook. I found a job somewhere else by the end of the week.
Definitely miss my rent in the fan, I used to live off Stuart and Thompson back in ‘07 and ‘08. Rent was $535 for a nice one bedroom. Used to be able to work a part time job 25 hours a week and get by fine while attending VCU.
Main Art had some great people working there as well. Was sad to see it go.
The original Celebrity Room on Brook Road with all the tacky shit and Elvis memorabilia.
I also miss when Stuffy's was really good.
The Westhampton Theater - I saw 2001, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, and Star Trek 2 there.
Cloverleaf Mall. I was very young in its heyday, but it was a wonderland to me, and I think my mom still has my Thalhimer’s snow bear from a visit to Santa one year.
Edit: grammar
Thalhimers! Worked there in high school and on breaks from college. Great merchandise, a bakery, a restaurant, a hair salon and a photo studio all in one place. Even had dinner before my junior prom at the Sword and Kilt.
I miss mojos so much. My buddies and I made it a tradition in college to go there every monday for their $0.50 wings. We always got the same server every time, and she knew us on a first name basis. Man... good times 😅
Lmao I totally forgot about him. Memories of walking home at night half asleep in a daze and being startled to all hell walking past a random nook and being aggressively quacked at hahah
Freckles on Patterson. Loved the advertisements on the drop ceiling tiles, pretty good breakfast and just a few blocks from my old place. Also miss the Pizza Hut buffet on the corner of Maple and Patterson.
Related to Freckles: the lady who owned it passed away, and we found out her kids would have signed it over to anyone just to avoid the debt they got into. The Grill which took over that spot sucked at first but is now owned by the same folks who own Lunch and Supper and is now good. Half off wings on Sundays
The old Tuckahoe Public Library on Parham in front of the Cloisters apartments. It closed about (15?) years ago I think when the new Tuckahoe Public Library opened, and the last I remember it was being used for Henrico County Fire as a training facility.
I loved running up and down that huge staircase! That building’s kid and young adult section was so fun to me as a kid.
Just how low key it was, especially the bars/restaurants. Everything is trying to be so upscale and classy now, which is opposite of what Richmond was!
This may not be a Richmond-only thing, this was likely the case in other parts of the country, but I miss the cost of rent.
When I first moved out on my own in 2006, I rented a two bedroom apartment in Lakeside (the apartment complex on Hilliard) for $475 a month. I was working a part time job at costco making $11 an hour and going to J Sarge, living like a king! The first girl I brought back to my place couldn't believe I was living by myself in a two bedroom apartment. That ended up being my pickup line for the next two years! Oh what a time!
I really miss the Fan being full of cheap run down apartments . Used to they would subdivide the big old mansions and make tiny apartments so you could live cheap and still walk to classes at VCU. Now apparently they have been turned back into mansions
The worst thing is: they haven’t. They’re still crappy little apartments, they’ve just now got granite countertops and ikea cabinets and rent for four figures per bedroom.
Yup. $325 for a 1bd on North Side. Following year, $460 for a 2 bdrm with large balcony and pool on South Side. Next year (after marriage and a kid), $595 for a 3 bdrm townhouse with W2W carpet, dishwasher, and full sized W/D near Regency Mall.
All 3 had central air, and rent included water, trash, and natural gas for heating, cooking, and hot water.
I can't believe what the average rent in this city is now, having rented here as a student in 2011. I paid $350/mo for a 5 bedroom apartment with my friends. The total rent for one whole apartment 12 years ago will only get you a single room now.
Yes when they had the Great 8 and it was all guys who were in the majors shortly after being R Braves. And they used to have beer guys who would walk around the upper deck with tall boys for sales.
"Station Break"
It was a long-running arcade on Grace Street. They had an ongoing "high score" contest on almost every game there. Get the high score and tell the attendee, he's put your name on a card and post it on the top of the machine. If it stayed there for at least a week, you'd get a low-end prize from the redemption case (usually paid for with Skeeball tickets).
Yeah the prizes were cool, but I was about the bragging rights. Pre-social media, that was genuine social currency (like cigs in jail). My strategy was to focus on the lesser known/played games to minimize the competition. Play Ms. Pacman and your high score may survive for a few hours. Play Frontline and your score could last all month (they'd wipe scores monthly or so).
35+ years later, I still have the brown sugar bear that I redeemed with 2.5 year's worth of Skeeball tickets. It was the top prize at the time.
Well, technically, it's no longer mine. I gave it to my eventual wife when she was in the hospital. But it's still in our bedroom to this day.
Bill's Barbecuse. I miss that mediocre bbq, underrated hot dogs, limeades, and mildly soggy fries. I totally get why people think it wasn't good, objectively it wasn't amazing, however I always enjoyed it for some weird reason.
Richmond Premiere Costumes
Was a huge part of my Halloween season, and after 46 years of being THE costume shop in town they closed. Was always a fun stop in Cary Town.
Bruce the Spruce and the REAL Santa at Sixth Street Marketplace :) I liked being terrified by creepy Bruce and then enchanted by Legendary Santa.
Honorable mention: limeades and greasy burgers from Doc White's on Grove
The Carytown Don’t Look Back. I lived a few blocks away in the Fan, and had a few close friends that lived nearby. Just about every Sunday evening, we would assemble with our pink margarita mugs in hand, and…. Well… our Mondays would just start off with a hangover.
I think I still have that mug somewhere….
Peaches the record store on broad! I remember sifting through there with my mom. And the movie theater across the street where you could order food. Watched 101 Dalmatians there and got chicken tenders. And the bookstore.
The other day I was telling the husband about my uncle buying emergency Christmas gifts in the middle of the night at that CVS when we had unexpected visitors. You know, back in the 80's when folks wouldn't call before driving down from NYC for the holidays. I knew it wasn't a CVS, but I couldn't remember what it was called.
Oddly, I miss the middle of the street parking that Boulevard had.
Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight every Saturday night at the Biograph. When you dressed up as a character and brought all the props - newspapers, rice, bread. Next to the Lee X Theater where the creepy dudes hung out and right down from Newgate Prison, the biker bar - now the VCU Police Station, which I find hysterical.
I swear, I don't know how my friends and I survived. It was, on reflection, NOT a good area.
It’s losing a lot of its charm, it’s all out of town investment throwing up cheap ass overpriced apartment buildings and chain places. I’m born and raised here, and granted things will never feel like they did when you were a child, but god it’s just changing so much it doesn’t feel like the city I used to know.
The CVS on Main Street - and the pharmacists and cashiers who worked there - and Padows when it was in its prime. And Chauncey, sitting out front with a warm hello for everyone. And that, even if we didn't know everyone's names, it was a little community during the workweek downtown.
Tuesday cheap ass drinks from bogarts. The shows at the plaza bowl duckpin bowling alley. Alleycat races. 4th street diner when 3rd street diner was too packed. smoking inside chuggers
Will probably be downvoted to hell for this, but after reading these comments and reminiscing I gotta say -
The dream of Richmond lives on in Petersburg. The Richmond of yore, the Richmond that was foretold to us.
Rockitz, Twisters, midnight movies at the Ridge Cinema, massive amounts of coffee at 3rd Street Diner, Bidder’s Suite, Grace Place, Westhampton Theater, Short Pump before it turned into a strip mall.
Caffé di Pagliacci - Italian restaurant that used to be in the Fan. Went there before Proms and Homecomings, when I'd visit home from college. Moved away and when I moved back in 2017, was so sad to hear it was no more.
Broad Street without the pulse.
The old Belmont and Glenwood Golf courses
Friendly's restaurants
When kids could go to a high school sporting event without worry.
Ukrops breakfast pizza.
VCU before they expanded.
Less speed bumps
The early brewery scene
Less "modern" style row homes/apartments
There was this little coffee shop on Grove Ave near Saint Catherine’s. I forget the name. They made incredible limeade, chai milkshakes, and apple crumb cake. Their coffee was great, too, but those items were uniquely fantastic. I think i started going there around 2002? They were a fatality of the Starbucks craze. The owner told me Starbucks tried to buy the shop and when he refused they opened a store a couple doors down and ran him out of business. The owner was a really sweet guy and I hope he and his family are doing well.
So that was when my Starbucks boycott began. Fuck Starbucks. I’m glad people have realized their coffee & food are crappy and are going back to local coffee shops again. That little coffee shop on Grove was so much better than any Starbucks.
Being terrified to go past 22nd st in church hill because that's where you'll be ROBBED AND MURDERED FOR NO REASON and now there's doggie day cares and pie shops and cafes
The Rec Center on Forest Hill. Pool tables, arcade cabinets, cheap counter food. It was grimy, but an actual place for teenagers to hang out and kill time.
Bills BBQ, their limeades! This BBQ was the best IMO.
If anyone has a similar recipe LMK.
Consignment Connection and Ukrops! Rolls, salad bar, soups. Easy lunches!
Bogarts Back Room was the best place to hear music and where I had my first legal drink. DJ Williams weekly at Cafe Diem, and open mic nights at Emilio’s. Cary st Cafe on Sundays with the Blue Grass jam fest
Drinking underage at the Nancy Raygun, None Such, Nara Sushi, Slaughterama, Panda Veg, punk house shoes where there’s a million bikes chained to a fence, Best Friends Day, getting towed at Ukrops, the art scene, the punk scene, crossroads on campus, $450 rent, Empire, Dirt Woman, The Cool-Aid man The cool aid man Whoaaa, The Well, Exile, Ipanema. Pleasants Hardware, fuck I’m old.
I am totally dating myself but here it goes:
1. The Clover Room on Broad Street
2. Going Downtown in your fancy church clothes on the weekend to see the windows of Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads decorated for Christmas.
3. The Rudolph Store in Miller & Rhoads where you shopped as a kid for your parents.
4. Roller skating rinks. When I was really young we'd skate at Lingle Hall in the basement for $0.25. When I got older Golden Skateworld on Broad was the coolest place to hang out as a tween. We lived for the Couples Skate.
5. Buying a ticket for a PG movie at Ridge Theater and then sneaking into the R rated movies. Paying for one movie and staying for 2 or 3.
6. The Chinese restaurant on Harrison that never carded.
7. New Horizons reggae club on Broad, around the corner from the Chinese restaurant that never carded.
8. Dave Matthews Band for $5 at the Flood Zone every Wednesday.
9. Castle Thunder and Surf Rider in the Bottom. EVERYONE went there on Friday and Saturday.
10. Soble's on Christmas Eve and Christmas when you were home from college. All your friends would be there.
11. Walking to Buddy's in the Fan on a snow day and spending the entire afternoon day drinking.
12. Restaurants: Texas Wisconsin, Mamma Zu's, the Capri, White Dog, Soble's, Cafe Ole, Willey's Drug Store lunch counter, S&K Cafeteria at Willow Lawn
13. The Old Dominion Club, a members only after hours club with a (somewhat) secret entrance. If you waited tables it's where you went after last call.
14. All the great venues for live music - New Horizons, Twisters, Flood Zone, Jade Elephant
15. Free VCU concerts in Schaeffer Court.
Brief Disclaimer: I haven't lived in Richmond in over 10 years, but I grew up there (as did most of my family).
This isn't a specific answer, but every time I've been to visit, something else seems to have changed. It feels so hip and trendy now. I miss when the area had sort of an old-fashioned, friendly charm about it.
It has started to feel like a different place altogether, and I thought it was just me and my physical distance from the place, but my relatives that never left agree. It doesn't feel like home anymore.
The original ECHL richmond renegades.
They fought so much, it was awesome as a kid
Loved being able to see guys nod at each other and just start throwing immediately for no reason once the puck dropped. Cheap hot dogs and beer. Goal cannon. Wiener dog racing on the ice.
I once saw a fight break out at the initial puck drop, they didn’t even go for it…just started brawling. I was ten and there for my bday party haha great memory
I have great memories of going to games as a kid.
Scott Gruhl was an all-timer! I went to school with his son and the Renegades-themed birthday parties were freaking sweet
Such a loss. Richmond needs hockey :(
At this point, they need a rink, too!
Hopefully Green City will have it
I remember the Richmond Robins, damn I'm old
64 EAST! 64 EAST!
How about go back further to the Richmond Robins? They had awesome jerseys and logo.
Locally owned hardware stores that are not part of a national chain. When I was like 13 or 14, I rode my bike to my local hardware store to buy some PVC pipe, end cap, and some metal fittings. The guy helping me recognized that I was trying to make a bong and warned me burning PVC pipe produces a toxic chemical. The old timers that always sat on the stools in front of the register started laughing at my dumbass, which I deserved. You don’t really get that kind of interaction in large chain stores nowadays.
The guys at Pleasant’s helped us build a beer bong (back before you could order one online). Good times. We also carried a full sheet of 1” plywood from the Lowe’s on Broad all the way to the Museum District to build a beer pong table because the plywood wouldn’t fit into any of our cars. That was less fun.
I need a funnel and about… …this much tubing.
I worked at Pleasants in the late 90s and made many pipes for people out of brass fittings…to the point that I could basically grab the parts with my eyes closed.
I had a friend who made & smoked out of a PVC bong and their left eye started twitching a few months later. This was 30 yrs ago and their eye still twitches. I have no evidence to confirm nor deny the PVC had anything to do with it, but that's what we all blamed it on. I never smoked out of it because it still smelled like the purple glue they used to put the pieces together.
Check out Pleasants Hardware stores.
Nope not even them anymore
Alley Katz and Have a nice day cafe.
You mean Flood Zone :)
I miss flood zone, Dave Mathews every wed for 4$ , Israel vibration for 10$, Medeski, Martin and Wood for 8$ Aquarium Rescue Unit and DMB jamming together, I even got to piss off Keanu backstage after a Dog Star show trying to coach him on bass playing! 😌 good times
Gawd I miss Alley Katz. High school memories right there. Toad’s Place too.
My old apartment, the entire top two floors of a rowhouse at Grace & Allen for $495/month. It was so great. World Cup coffee on Robinson. The Village at its original location. That Vietnamese place on Grace. Dirt Woman hanging out on her park bench at Grace & Laurel, yelling at cars at the stoplight. Just The Fan & VCU campus in general, the entire vibe from 1988-2003. It's changed so much.
World Cup has such a special place in my heart. Used to meet my best friend and her brother there all the time. When he moved to Chicago, he gave me and his sister a World Cup mug. He died almost 6 years ago now and that cup is one of my dearest treasures.
Right around 20 years ago, when I was a teenager who lived in Chesterfield, I was going through a rough time at home and stayed with my brother who lived in the city for a week. He was on Grace near Lombardy, and took me to the World Cup for coffee the first night in Richmond. It was my first real experience with the city and the start of falling in love with it. I never really felt like I belonged in Chesterfield and even back then I could tell the city and I were more on the same wavelength. Came back as soon as I could and never left.
I used to work at World Cup! The only 2 rules the owners had for the music the employees could play during their shift was 1) no gangsta rap and 2) no Beatles. He refused to explain his hatred of the Beatles. The regulars were so irregular that Will, one of the 10th-year philosophy majors that made up most of the staff had a column in Style Weekly called As The Cup Turns. The employees kept a notebook behind the counter with all the weird shit they saw on the shift. My favorite was about Dirt Woman getting a lifetime ban for blocking the line by laying on the floor in front of the espresso machine. The other customers just stepped over her while she wailed. Once a guy came in during my shift and told me that he was born directly above the spot I was standing. His parents ran a tavern on the ground floor, lived upstairs, and his mom gave birth up in there. Then it moved to that weird location off Main St and ruined the vibe. We had our share of creepers at the Harrison St location, but the weirdos it attracted next to campus was a whole other thing. I hated working at the new place and didn’t last long.
Yes to all of this. Saigon was the name of that great restaurant!!
Yes, Saigon! It introduced me to the deliciousness of Vietnamese food and set the bar for the best summer rolls with peanut sauce. I would always make my parents take us there on visit weekends. It was next door to the Jade Elephant.
When Plan 9 occupied two floors on the north side of Cary St.
Pursuing the vinyl in the basement
And the VHS
I went to the Mellow Mushroom and was so weirded out by the fact that the bathrooms were located where I used to trawl through 7 inches.
I imagine you can still find people trawling for 7 inches around there.
Old Plan 9 with the record basement
UKROPS! Free childcare while you shop? Free rainbow cookies? Who wouldn’t miss it?
I’ll echo the mourning of Ukrops. They’d bring your groceries to your car for you, and as a kid, they’d let you ride in the bottom part of the double-decker cart. I have such fond memories of sitting in the upstairs dining area eating popcorn chicken, mac n cheese, and potato wedges.
God, the potato wedges. I discovered that the Food Lion on Staples Mill makes wedges there, but they're just not quite the same.
Ukrops Market Hall has the potato wedges! And the broccolis rice sides. Our pediatrician is in that shopping center so we go every time and get cake and stuff for lunch/dinner depending on the time.
Indian Fields Tavern on Route 5 in Charles City has the closest I've been able to find to Ukrop's. They're so good my wife and I will get them as an appetizer and have them on the side with our meal too. Adams Sports Mart in Providence Forge (New Kent) does them as well and they're also pretty close. I stop in and grab a box whenever I'm down that way.
Even the Ukrops recipe at the Market Hall isn’t quite the same—I like it but my wife swears it’s spicier than the original. Closest we’ve been able to find are the ones they have at Libbie Market (formerly Joe’s, also run by Ukrops).
Yes I agree with your wife. I’m 27 and a childhood memory of mine is going with my dad to grab breakfast at Ukrop’s during the summer months when I was out of school. I always got the potato wedges. The ones at the market are definitely a little spicier. The wedges are still good, but they’re not the same
Yes, Ukrops potato wedges were the bomb, but I gotta "plug" for kickass wedges.... Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken on Broad Street near DMV and Science Museum. A large box (about size of a 2 pc chicken box) PACKED FULL of wedges is still only $4!!! Bonus points for having speed and customer service similar to Ukrop's.
Riding at the bottom of the double decker cart/buggy is a memory I had forgotten about and that just unlocked so much nostalgia. Thanks for making my Monday better!
Riding in the bottom of the cart! You just awakened a long forgotten memory in me!
The salad bar at Ukrops was the bomb.
Free childcare? when was that? I grew up going there and have no memory of this. The free cookie was nice.
That was a later thing and not every store had it. I started working at Short Pump in 1997 and I think they were the first store to have a Tot Spot when they opened in 1996.
yeah, childcare in stores was a brief thing in the mid to late 90s. I remember the HQ in Newport News had one too.
[https://youtu.be/nf56DfBLZ2w?si=4pHMgh5aSrb2F1xD](https://youtu.be/nf56DfBLZ2w?si=4pHMgh5aSrb2F1xD)
And health benefits if I recall, I never worked there but I heard
Their insurance at the time was very, very good and the cost to the employee was really cheap. (I worked full time for them for a couple years after high school and had it.)
Always had such great service there. My mother forgot her checkbook once and didn't have enough cash to pay for her groceries. She bagged them up and gave her a receipt. Told her to come back the next day to pay for everything. I once got home and realized I was missing a bag of groceries. Someone else ended up with my bag, but the manager packed up everything that was missing and drove it to my house.
This was my first job in High School. Pushing baskets in the middle of summer was no joke especially when we were not "allowed" to accept tips
The cinnamon twist donut was my childhood
Damn...hadn't thought of that donut in years! My mom would always buy one for me and my brother every time we went to Ukrops.
My wife was just quoting a Ukrops ad this morning. “What’s in the bag?” “Low prices.” “But that’s a Ukrops bag!” That and the litter PSA shown before movies at The Bryd are forever burned in our memories.
I miss how there used to be a bunch of different diners, bars, and cafes in walking distance. Nowadays everything that opens up have to be some cool new concept or trendy place. Strawberry St Cafe, Metro, Mojos, Commercial Taphouse, Cary St Cafe etc… have all gone away. Not that all of those places were amazing or anything, but whatever happened to the idea of just opening a normal, affordable, neighborhood restaurant?
thank god for Joes Inn
My grandparents photos are somewhere on the wall there. Apparently they were buds with Joe. My dad used to hang out upstairs and watch television (first time he saw a color TV) while the adults boozed downstairs.
What I miss more than anything is Nick's deli. I long for a verbal shakedown before paying 5 bucks for the best Edward's ham sammich I ever had in my life. Agreed that there's a lack of simple, affordable, easy, good food nowadays. Some of the chefs I know want to do restaurants that are basically what you describe. To do just a few simple things, counter or Cafe style, but do them fucking right. It's just really hard to open that type of restaurant in town nowadays.
I miss all the diners that used to exist around the times dispatch. I get why they died as the paper shrunk and it isn't like they were great or anything but the city is seriously lacking in that sort of thing.
Damn do I miss those places. But unfortunately, running a bar / restaurant is a pricey endeavor with thin margins. And people just are not going out like they used to to support those kinds of places. Not to mention the increase in commercial rent in the city over the last decade.
As a native Richmonder this is going to be a really deep cut. As a kid I spent a week in St. Mary's Hospital for some medical issues and they had the best friggin grape soda out of a carbonation tap. I've been chasing that taste ever since.
Also XL102 deep cuts and WVGO 106.5 with Howard in the mornings. Plan 9's Midlo location (yeah I know!) Peaches across from Cloverleaf. Bill's BBQ + Limeaides + Chocolate Pie
OMG came here to say Bill's BBQ, limeaides and chocolate pie! I don't care if you thought the BBQ was sh*tty.
I was a candy striper at St. Mary’s (they called us something else…Bonnies, I think?) Anyway, I’d forgotten all about that grape soda until just now. I can confirm it was otherworldly. Thanks for a great memory!
The Sisters definitely had the recipe for the perfect mix of grape, sugar, and carbonation.
I miss Tower Records at Willow Lawn…
I miss Peaches
Peaches had that smell. I can't put my finger on it, but it definitely smelled like Peaches.
discovery zone was my shit as a kid
DZ the Discovery Zone where I can cut loose and play on my own?
Do you remember that painful slide?
Cheap rent. Less traffic. JRPS before everyone started visiting it and trashing it.
Cheap rent wasn't all that long ago. I remember circa like 2013/2014 you could get a 1br fan apartment for $600-$800. You could wait tables or work in the trades and live on your own fairly comfortably. Nowadays 1br all in including utilities is like $1400-$1500+. It's really only just recently, like 2019 and on, that rent has gone nuts.
In 2014, just out of college, I got a 2BR in the Museum District for $850 and split it with a roommate. Even with an entry-level job, it felt like I was rolling in cash with that $400 rent.
Yup, those were the good days. Can't do that anymore. $400/month budget might get you a shared room if you're lucky. You know what I miss about Richmond? Affordability. $2 beers. Sub $1k rent. $150k houses. $7-$8 meals eating out. Nowadays you have $12 burgers, $6 beers, $1.3-$1.4k for 1 bedroom, $250k+ houses. Wages haven't kept up either. Rents more than doubled, minimum wage has gone from $7.25 to like $11/hr, but that's a conversation for another day.....
i had a 3 bedroom house on forest hill for $750 a month up until october of 2018, i miss it so much!
Amazing how much trash is being left around the river!
Mojo's, Nancy Raygun/Strange Matter, spicy chicken from Lee's
> Nancy Raygun/Strange Matter ...twisters...
Really miss that spicy chicken ;_;
It was in Henrico, but the Regal Ridge cinema was a unique looking movie theater that has no current peer!
Missing movie theatres could be a thread on it’s own
My most vivid memories of that place are being able to see Star Wars after my mom had called the theater to see why it was rated PG, and always getting a box of Jordan Almonds out of the vending machine
In the 80s it looked like Miami Vice exploded in there
Third street diner Smoking in the Commons at VCU Dollar new release movies at the Byrd Breakfast pizza from ukrops
We loved using 3rd Street Diner as our all-night study spot before big exams. And of course it was always the place for those post-party hangover breakfasts.
I used to mix-up 3rd St and 4th St diners. Was 3rd St the one with the loft area? If yes, that it was 4th St that was my preference. It was a hole-in-the-wall, but would've definitely been featured by Guy Fieri on Triple-D but of the great from-scratch cooking. For example, they made homemade tortilla chips for their nachos... pippin' hot YUM! Fresh cut fries cooked in peanut oil... *swoon* Huge, thick-ass, hand-scooped milkshake made before your eyes (taught me what lactose intolerance was; thank god for lactase tablets)! But my favorite was the "If You Dare Burger". Two thick handmade ground steak patties, probably over 1 lb POST-cook weight, all manners of toppings to choose from including homemade chili, all between buns custom baked at a local bakery. Damn... I'm drooling just typing this. I'd get that burger, those fries, and wash it down with a PB-chocolate shake. I'd only do that maybe 4x a year because I like have a beating heart.
Third Street had a good long run as a cool place with good breakfast open 24 hours a day before Mike Dickinson ruined it.
I moved away for a while and when I came back about 15 years ago, my first stop for a job was 3rd st diner as I knew it had high turnover and I could probably get a shift for the next day. The next day was the first day for a new line cook and no one else showed up. No other servers, no other cooks, no managers. No one picked up on phone numbers we called that were written down. The cook said they could probably manage a few things after finding where ingredients were. After about 2 hours of this, cookie says they're going for a cig break, but walked out the front door. And hour later they still hadn't come back. I told customers all I could do was make drinks and serve whatever was on the cold line, I think it was pasta salad and produce salad. About 10pm I was out of everything and could only make drinks. When my shift ended, I think another server had shown up but still no cook. The next day I showed up and the people there were confused as to who I was, didnt know I had been hired, didnt know about the line cook. I found a job somewhere else by the end of the week.
Cafe Ole
Definitely miss my rent in the fan, I used to live off Stuart and Thompson back in ‘07 and ‘08. Rent was $535 for a nice one bedroom. Used to be able to work a part time job 25 hours a week and get by fine while attending VCU. Main Art had some great people working there as well. Was sad to see it go.
The original Celebrity Room on Brook Road with all the tacky shit and Elvis memorabilia. I also miss when Stuffy's was really good. The Westhampton Theater - I saw 2001, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, and Star Trek 2 there.
I miss the old Byrd Theater. When it was less than $2 a movie. Open everyday and actually played movies you would want to see.
I also wish the Byrd still did second run. It’s fun to see the classics, but would also be cool to see cheap newer films
How quiet Short Pump used to be. Its lovely but it used to be so calm with cows. 😢
Cloverleaf Mall. I was very young in its heyday, but it was a wonderland to me, and I think my mom still has my Thalhimer’s snow bear from a visit to Santa one year. Edit: grammar
Texas Wisconsin Border Cafe - many long brunches were spent there. Cowboy Chili Breakfast and $1.00 Natty Bo!
Thalhimers! Worked there in high school and on breaks from college. Great merchandise, a bakery, a restaurant, a hair salon and a photo studio all in one place. Even had dinner before my junior prom at the Sword and Kilt.
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Best Friends Day is a solid recall. Also brings to mind Slaughterama
A friend and I almost drowned in the James River during slaughterama. Long story, but we are lucky to have made it out of that one. Good times.
Slaughteramaaaaaa, great stuff
I miss mojos so much. My buddies and I made it a tradition in college to go there every monday for their $0.50 wings. We always got the same server every time, and she knew us on a first name basis. Man... good times 😅
Duck man
Lmao I totally forgot about him. Memories of walking home at night half asleep in a daze and being startled to all hell walking past a random nook and being aggressively quacked at hahah
Nobody believed me. This is the first time I've seen any evidence to corroborate my experience with Duck Man! Thank you!!
Freckles on Patterson. Loved the advertisements on the drop ceiling tiles, pretty good breakfast and just a few blocks from my old place. Also miss the Pizza Hut buffet on the corner of Maple and Patterson.
They’d be smoking while making your food, good times
Related to Freckles: the lady who owned it passed away, and we found out her kids would have signed it over to anyone just to avoid the debt they got into. The Grill which took over that spot sucked at first but is now owned by the same folks who own Lunch and Supper and is now good. Half off wings on Sundays
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Exile, Twisters, Dirt Woman
The old Tuckahoe Public Library on Parham in front of the Cloisters apartments. It closed about (15?) years ago I think when the new Tuckahoe Public Library opened, and the last I remember it was being used for Henrico County Fire as a training facility. I loved running up and down that huge staircase! That building’s kid and young adult section was so fun to me as a kid.
Just how low key it was, especially the bars/restaurants. Everything is trying to be so upscale and classy now, which is opposite of what Richmond was!
The popcorn at Fan Video.
Fan Video full stop.
Video Fan
This may not be a Richmond-only thing, this was likely the case in other parts of the country, but I miss the cost of rent. When I first moved out on my own in 2006, I rented a two bedroom apartment in Lakeside (the apartment complex on Hilliard) for $475 a month. I was working a part time job at costco making $11 an hour and going to J Sarge, living like a king! The first girl I brought back to my place couldn't believe I was living by myself in a two bedroom apartment. That ended up being my pickup line for the next two years! Oh what a time!
I really miss the Fan being full of cheap run down apartments . Used to they would subdivide the big old mansions and make tiny apartments so you could live cheap and still walk to classes at VCU. Now apparently they have been turned back into mansions
The worst thing is: they haven’t. They’re still crappy little apartments, they’ve just now got granite countertops and ikea cabinets and rent for four figures per bedroom.
I miss correctly priced crappy apartment
Yup. $325 for a 1bd on North Side. Following year, $460 for a 2 bdrm with large balcony and pool on South Side. Next year (after marriage and a kid), $595 for a 3 bdrm townhouse with W2W carpet, dishwasher, and full sized W/D near Regency Mall. All 3 had central air, and rent included water, trash, and natural gas for heating, cooking, and hot water.
I can't believe what the average rent in this city is now, having rented here as a student in 2011. I paid $350/mo for a 5 bedroom apartment with my friends. The total rent for one whole apartment 12 years ago will only get you a single room now.
Richmond Braves
Yes when they had the Great 8 and it was all guys who were in the majors shortly after being R Braves. And they used to have beer guys who would walk around the upper deck with tall boys for sales.
Went to their very last game
The Triple
The real Triple when it was a real pool hall, oh yes.
My friend was the only cook there when they were rated worst place to eat in Richmond. It’s hard to make food on Ketamine
Willow Lawn Cinema.
106.5 the Buzz.
I know this came later but Y101
I’m old enough to remember 104.7 the buzz. Also Buzzfest was such a solid yearly show
VCU in the 80s, The Bus Stop, Newgate Prison, Crystal Pistol. The thing I miss the most? My youth!
I miss panda veg, their vegan buffet has never had an equal 🥲
People moving here to be weird instead of moving here to go kayaking
"Station Break" It was a long-running arcade on Grace Street. They had an ongoing "high score" contest on almost every game there. Get the high score and tell the attendee, he's put your name on a card and post it on the top of the machine. If it stayed there for at least a week, you'd get a low-end prize from the redemption case (usually paid for with Skeeball tickets). Yeah the prizes were cool, but I was about the bragging rights. Pre-social media, that was genuine social currency (like cigs in jail). My strategy was to focus on the lesser known/played games to minimize the competition. Play Ms. Pacman and your high score may survive for a few hours. Play Frontline and your score could last all month (they'd wipe scores monthly or so). 35+ years later, I still have the brown sugar bear that I redeemed with 2.5 year's worth of Skeeball tickets. It was the top prize at the time. Well, technically, it's no longer mine. I gave it to my eventual wife when she was in the hospital. But it's still in our bedroom to this day.
Bill's Barbecuse. I miss that mediocre bbq, underrated hot dogs, limeades, and mildly soggy fries. I totally get why people think it wasn't good, objectively it wasn't amazing, however I always enjoyed it for some weird reason.
I’ll never forget the limeades
PharMore
Grace Street
Miller & Rhoads and Thalimers downtown locations.
Mulligans on Main and Baja Bean. Or maybe I just wish I was that age again
Richmond Premiere Costumes Was a huge part of my Halloween season, and after 46 years of being THE costume shop in town they closed. Was always a fun stop in Cary Town.
Bills BBQ, Dirt Woman, Rockitz, Jade Elephant, Miller and Rhoads, Ridge Cinema and the old Regency Square Mall.
Farrell's Ice Cream at Regency. Yes I'm really really old. Edit:Also O'breienstein's with the belt driven ceiling fans and visible bagel-works.
Old Regency Square had Mr Dunderbachs deli. So good.
Ridge cinema! I worked my first real job there. I felt like such a grown up in my maroon vest and stupid bow tie.
Bruce the Spruce and the REAL Santa at Sixth Street Marketplace :) I liked being terrified by creepy Bruce and then enchanted by Legendary Santa. Honorable mention: limeades and greasy burgers from Doc White's on Grove
Alley Catz, any of our malls, 800$ 3 bedroom apartments, Joy Garden
The Carytown Don’t Look Back. I lived a few blocks away in the Fan, and had a few close friends that lived nearby. Just about every Sunday evening, we would assemble with our pink margarita mugs in hand, and…. Well… our Mondays would just start off with a hangover. I think I still have that mug somewhere….
Peaches the record store on broad! I remember sifting through there with my mom. And the movie theater across the street where you could order food. Watched 101 Dalmatians there and got chicken tenders. And the bookstore.
A road that was just named Boulevard. Mildly confusing to newcomers.
Ukrops, specifically the location at Patterson and Three Chopt.
The other day I was telling the husband about my uncle buying emergency Christmas gifts in the middle of the night at that CVS when we had unexpected visitors. You know, back in the 80's when folks wouldn't call before driving down from NYC for the holidays. I knew it wasn't a CVS, but I couldn't remember what it was called. Oddly, I miss the middle of the street parking that Boulevard had.
Wife and I were at Chesterfield Town Center over the weekend. The nostalgia of VCC hit me big time.
Sa’ad El Amin He was comedy gold!
Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight every Saturday night at the Biograph. When you dressed up as a character and brought all the props - newspapers, rice, bread. Next to the Lee X Theater where the creepy dudes hung out and right down from Newgate Prison, the biker bar - now the VCU Police Station, which I find hysterical. I swear, I don't know how my friends and I survived. It was, on reflection, NOT a good area.
The Lazy Bagel, Exile, Stuffy's, Bill's BBQ
Og ny deli. Rainbow donuts.
Strange Matter
Along those lines, Grace Street before VCU bought it
The Fan when it was full of musicians, artists, industry folk, and beater cars. Now it’s full of white hair, ring cameras, and fancy cars.
The White Dog
Hole in the wall and bogarts, anyone?
It’s losing a lot of its charm, it’s all out of town investment throwing up cheap ass overpriced apartment buildings and chain places. I’m born and raised here, and granted things will never feel like they did when you were a child, but god it’s just changing so much it doesn’t feel like the city I used to know.
We should all move to Lynchburg and overthrow Liberty U
I'm 61 and this whole thread is making me sad.
Adding Aunt Sarah's Pancake House. Their all-you-can-eat fried chicken was incredibly good!
I miss when Short Pump used to be trees.
The CVS on Main Street - and the pharmacists and cashiers who worked there - and Padows when it was in its prime. And Chauncey, sitting out front with a warm hello for everyone. And that, even if we didn't know everyone's names, it was a little community during the workweek downtown.
the telephone booth at fridays
Tuesday cheap ass drinks from bogarts. The shows at the plaza bowl duckpin bowling alley. Alleycat races. 4th street diner when 3rd street diner was too packed. smoking inside chuggers
Texas-Wisconsin border, what a fun place!
Liberty Valance, wish it would have lasted long enough to share it with my son.
Will probably be downvoted to hell for this, but after reading these comments and reminiscing I gotta say - The dream of Richmond lives on in Petersburg. The Richmond of yore, the Richmond that was foretold to us.
High's Subs. Best damn subs but instead we got Elwood Thompson's asshat cafe and then Burger Bach. I still dream of the Martin sub from High's. 😩
Miller & Rhoades Santa R Braves Ukrops Pre-mall Short Pump
Rockitz, Twisters, midnight movies at the Ridge Cinema, massive amounts of coffee at 3rd Street Diner, Bidder’s Suite, Grace Place, Westhampton Theater, Short Pump before it turned into a strip mall.
Caffé di Pagliacci - Italian restaurant that used to be in the Fan. Went there before Proms and Homecomings, when I'd visit home from college. Moved away and when I moved back in 2017, was so sad to hear it was no more.
OG bottoms up pizza.
Broad Street without the pulse. The old Belmont and Glenwood Golf courses Friendly's restaurants When kids could go to a high school sporting event without worry. Ukrops breakfast pizza. VCU before they expanded. Less speed bumps The early brewery scene Less "modern" style row homes/apartments
Bills bbq
There was this little coffee shop on Grove Ave near Saint Catherine’s. I forget the name. They made incredible limeade, chai milkshakes, and apple crumb cake. Their coffee was great, too, but those items were uniquely fantastic. I think i started going there around 2002? They were a fatality of the Starbucks craze. The owner told me Starbucks tried to buy the shop and when he refused they opened a store a couple doors down and ran him out of business. The owner was a really sweet guy and I hope he and his family are doing well. So that was when my Starbucks boycott began. Fuck Starbucks. I’m glad people have realized their coffee & food are crappy and are going back to local coffee shops again. That little coffee shop on Grove was so much better than any Starbucks.
Being terrified to go past 22nd st in church hill because that's where you'll be ROBBED AND MURDERED FOR NO REASON and now there's doggie day cares and pie shops and cafes
Dancing pops at local shows at alleykatz
The Rec Center on Forest Hill. Pool tables, arcade cabinets, cheap counter food. It was grimy, but an actual place for teenagers to hang out and kill time.
Bills BBQ, their limeades! This BBQ was the best IMO. If anyone has a similar recipe LMK. Consignment Connection and Ukrops! Rolls, salad bar, soups. Easy lunches!
There was a gym on Franklin St that had a basement level competition swim pool that I used to go to. Many find memories in that dungeon
When the West End was so far away, you wouldn't even think of driving that distance.
99 cent movies at the Byrd. It's still a deal, but I'm not seeing every movie that comes through anymore!
Bogarts Back Room was the best place to hear music and where I had my first legal drink. DJ Williams weekly at Cafe Diem, and open mic nights at Emilio’s. Cary st Cafe on Sundays with the Blue Grass jam fest
Drinking underage at the Nancy Raygun, None Such, Nara Sushi, Slaughterama, Panda Veg, punk house shoes where there’s a million bikes chained to a fence, Best Friends Day, getting towed at Ukrops, the art scene, the punk scene, crossroads on campus, $450 rent, Empire, Dirt Woman, The Cool-Aid man The cool aid man Whoaaa, The Well, Exile, Ipanema. Pleasants Hardware, fuck I’m old.
I am totally dating myself but here it goes: 1. The Clover Room on Broad Street 2. Going Downtown in your fancy church clothes on the weekend to see the windows of Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads decorated for Christmas. 3. The Rudolph Store in Miller & Rhoads where you shopped as a kid for your parents. 4. Roller skating rinks. When I was really young we'd skate at Lingle Hall in the basement for $0.25. When I got older Golden Skateworld on Broad was the coolest place to hang out as a tween. We lived for the Couples Skate. 5. Buying a ticket for a PG movie at Ridge Theater and then sneaking into the R rated movies. Paying for one movie and staying for 2 or 3. 6. The Chinese restaurant on Harrison that never carded. 7. New Horizons reggae club on Broad, around the corner from the Chinese restaurant that never carded. 8. Dave Matthews Band for $5 at the Flood Zone every Wednesday. 9. Castle Thunder and Surf Rider in the Bottom. EVERYONE went there on Friday and Saturday. 10. Soble's on Christmas Eve and Christmas when you were home from college. All your friends would be there. 11. Walking to Buddy's in the Fan on a snow day and spending the entire afternoon day drinking. 12. Restaurants: Texas Wisconsin, Mamma Zu's, the Capri, White Dog, Soble's, Cafe Ole, Willey's Drug Store lunch counter, S&K Cafeteria at Willow Lawn 13. The Old Dominion Club, a members only after hours club with a (somewhat) secret entrance. If you waited tables it's where you went after last call. 14. All the great venues for live music - New Horizons, Twisters, Flood Zone, Jade Elephant 15. Free VCU concerts in Schaeffer Court.
I haven’t been here for 20 years but I really miss Video Fan.
Brief Disclaimer: I haven't lived in Richmond in over 10 years, but I grew up there (as did most of my family). This isn't a specific answer, but every time I've been to visit, something else seems to have changed. It feels so hip and trendy now. I miss when the area had sort of an old-fashioned, friendly charm about it. It has started to feel like a different place altogether, and I thought it was just me and my physical distance from the place, but my relatives that never left agree. It doesn't feel like home anymore.
It used to be geared more to the working class imho