Grace between Harrison and Belvidere

Submitted by AHippieDude t3_y98uqt in rva

This 4 block stretch used to be the most exciting (and sometimes dangerous) walk in richmond. You could find nearly every sub culture the city had, from bikers to hippies, rastas and strippers, dirt woman to gwar

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DeviantAnthro t1_it47dqn wrote

Back in 2015 I walked down that stretch almost blackout at 1am and DIDN'T get mugged. It was wild.

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1minimalist t1_it481r5 wrote

LOL. It’s so different than it used to be…I mean there’s a noodles and co where hyperlink used to be lollllll

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AHippieDude OP t1_it48ypn wrote

Replying to DeviantAnthro (#157,351)

Back in 94 or so I left village Cafe after hearing dirt woman telling a story about a date putting his fist in places I never thought it should go, walked in to twisters got alien splooge on me, down to the red light inn where a biker fight broke out... I finally went to the bidders suite to gather my senses

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wtfareyounow t1_it49f85 wrote

True. It was Richmond at it’s best and worst at the same time. Live music almost every night, cheap drinks, cheap food- just a great time. I spent most nights from 1985-1992 working/hanging out in one place or another. So much fun

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manyamile t1_it4a0ev wrote

Mmm. The smell of urine in the doorways. The nostalgia hits hard.

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The_Real_Captain_Mac t1_it4bxz5 wrote

Aladdin’s used to deliver food to my dorms & pick up cigarettes on the way..

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bkemp1984Part2 t1_it4cy8g wrote

Replying to Diet_Coke (#157,539)

It could mean "his" , "her", "your" singular formal, "their", or "your" plural, both formal and informal . I always thought it was "in your mouth" , like talking to the customer(s) directly.

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JCKang t1_it4gp66 wrote

Ah, my old stomping grounds, from when I was a young teen hanging out at Station Break, to doing the walk in the Village as a teenager.

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gregginrva t1_it4hg8l wrote

I never went but the Grace Street Theater was the Lee Art Cinema when I moved to Richmond and the "art" was actually porn. Noodles and Company was the Biograph Twin Cinema which showed indie films and foreign stuff mostly.

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PercyDovetonsils t1_it4kkx2 wrote

Newgate Prison, and the cops gathering after the concerts for the inevitable fights.

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picklingspice t1_it4oth4 wrote

Now we have Manchester...how things change :)

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scrapaxe t1_it4q21w wrote

I worked nights in the area for years. Stools smashed through the front of Hyperlink, got held at gunpoint by RPD in front of the pizza hut when it was there, post 534 chaos with the troopers and every swinging dick in 4th precinct fogging the entire intersection on the weekends. Singing Pete and Dirtwoman, fights outside of the Raygun/Twisters/Strange Matter, Velocity Comics and Little Caesar's runs dodging drunks, jerks and maniacs. Absolute neon mayhem and the sound of smashed glass, all plowed under surface lots and banality. You could be anywhere but somehow it feels like youre nowhere. You can't live in the past but sometimes it's fun to vacation there.

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AHippieDude OP t1_it4rbb2 wrote

Some of you may remember Johnson hall being listed in high times magazine ( or so the legend was )

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Charlesinrichmond t1_it4t5xd wrote

Got dumplings is delicious tho... Gas to count in the improvement category

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Optimal_County9287 t1_it52sfi wrote

So many ppl out and about all night. It was great. Seems like it changed around 90 or so. Cops tried to enforce a curfew in the late 80s for 18yo and under, iirc. That didn’t work out very well. Had some wild times. Not always good. Still restructuring my brain and what all I normalized from back then.

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wera917 t1_it5aiyv wrote

Replying to wtfareyounow (#157,525)

So true, and don’t forget the action at Lums, Grecca, and hanging by the burning fire barrels In the parking lot next to Burger King. Just a different time. Yeah some moments were ultra violent but most were lucid and care free.

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Ew_fine t1_it5fjor wrote

Vito’s pizza

And that random sketchy “dollar store” that also sold what appeared to be used (stolen?) electronics..

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scrapaxe t1_it5n9xa wrote

Replying to braque_mustapha (#158,738)

Late spring on Hell Block. The kind of day that gets hot enough that you can smell the trash and piss and river but theres still a little chill in the air once the suns been down. If Grace Street was the main event , Hell Block was the box office.

I rounded the corner onto North Lombardy, sun in my eyes, and nearly trip over one of the regulars that stride the Grace Street gauntlet like lords of the urban savanna. Ronald Astrauskas, aka The Lithuanian, aka "yo Ronald you alive inside that bush?" His thousand yard stare doesn't even flinch. "Shit, sorry man" and I get kind of a half acknowledging grunt as he lifts his bottle arm gesturing in line with gaze. My eyes follow the bottle of rotgut Old Crow settling on today's discovery. I am face to face with a large painting of a large naked man, seated in a not so very large recliner. Late afternoon light bracketing the graphic detail of folds and dangles and textures of the human form aboard a barcalounger adrift in the black void background of canvas. Perched on top of a trashcan like it was hung at the Louvre.

"Reckon they stole it." His gaze never breaks. "Who are 'they' and what the hell makes you think 'they' stole it Ron?" Finally his eyes peel away and he looks at me, lifts the bottle to his mouth, whiskey dribbling down his gray stubbled chin, doesn't blink, and like a deranged tour guide he gestures me around to the back of our new found conversation piece. We stand side by side and in tiny block print it reads "Property of Library of Virginia Main Branch" across the top of the canvas.

We can speculate. We do. We can speculate why they had it. We can speculate whether it hung on a wall in the back stacks next to dusty classics and ancient municipal schematics. We can speculate that in fact it was never even there at all and we were both pulled into a shared hallucination, a little slice of the world peeled back like the corners of so many of the old fliers on the light posts. The backstage of perceived reality. We can speculate because for a minute we're just two men , untethered from that late afternoon sun, a million miles away, sitting naked in a recliner of our own reflections while the sun sets on Grace Street.

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1975hh3 t1_it5o4kv wrote

High school me driving to Bohannons to get a bong.

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bozatwork t1_it5oa9m wrote

I went to London for NYE 2000 with some friends and a black cab driver asked us if we hung out on Grace. This is the exact scene he remembered from the one time he'd visited America.

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Akickintheslats t1_it5wz3h wrote

Just here to add Rockitz and the Jade Elephant to the list. My first beer in Richmond was at the Jade Elephant, it was also the first time I saw Dirt Woman perform. My first job in Richmond was at Don’s Hot Nuts, I quit after one day.

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bongcrusher666 t1_it5yds7 wrote

Replying to scrapaxe (#161,152)

Hey, can we hang sometime? Id love to buy you your beverage of choice and pick your brain for a bit. I cant promise my stories will be anywhere near as interesting though...

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CptJaxxParrow t1_it6k57r wrote

Replying to Hedgecore138 (#157,829)

Man I loved Aladdins. Every time I'd go in there he'd have something to talk about with me and share some traditional cultural food he had just made that wasn't on the menu that he wanted me to try while I waited to pick up my order

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couch_lockRVA t1_it7d9w8 wrote

I didn't really have much need to leave that stretch of street for years

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couch_lockRVA t1_it7e3it wrote

Leaving the side door of the metro/rockitz onto Laurel you'd see graffitti on the side wall of Aladdin's that said something like "it's late you're drunk do something stupid" it was always so inspiring

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Hedgecore138 t1_it7lpx1 wrote

Every decision to darken the threshold of Sahara was invariably a poor one. A newer memory, but Burrito Chop was such a treasure while it lasted.

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