40th Anniversary Issue

E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

Reinhart Foundation Performing Arts Endowment

RICHMOND SHAKES

Classical Theatre for a Modern World

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

By William Shakespeare

Oct 27th - Nov 13th, 2022

UNCLE VANYA

By Anton Chekhov,

adapted

Jan 26th - Feb 19th, 2023

by Conor McPherson

BOOTLEG SHAKESPEARE: Cymbeline

By William Shakespeare

April 22, 2023 | ONE NIGHT ONLY!

THE SCHOOL FOR LIES

By David Ives Summer of 2023

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

By William Shakespeare Summer of 2023

Contents

You’re Very Richmond If... 34

The return of a popular Style Weekly feature from the early days where readers tell us how they really feel about the River City

compiled by Brent Baldwin

Why I Started Style 7

The founder of Style Weekly looks back at how it all began. by Lorna Wyckoff

The Fuzzy Navel Gaze 8

Advance excerpts from our 60th anniversary issue, Nov. 18, 2042. by Jason Roop

This Just In... 10

The rise of news and culture e-newsletters. by Rich Griset

Change Agents 11

Community leaders talk about the changes we’ve seen over the decades in their own words. compiled by Brent Baldwin, Rich Griset and David Timberline

Journey Through the Past 13

Former Style Weekly employees provide an oral history of the publication through the last four decades. compiled by Brent Baldwin and David Timberline

(Almost) Forty 19

Former Punch Drunk columnist looks back on his atrocities. by Jack Lauterback

The Camera Eye 26

A look at some of the most compelling photos from the last 20 years. by Scott Elmquist

Ongoing Developments 40

A survey of design projects or neighborhoods deserving recognition, and a few in need of attention. by Edwin Slipek

Neighborhood Hits 45

Restaurateurs Kendra Feather and John Murden look at our evolving restaurant culture. interviewed by Mary Scott Hardaway

A Delicious Listen 47

Richmonder Deb Freeman hosts a top-rated podcast about African American foodways. by Mary Scott Hardaway

Final Thoughts 50

The More Things Change by Phil Wilayto

Editor: Brent Baldwin

Photography editor: Scott Elmquist

Contributing writers: Rich Griset, Mary Scott Hardaway, Jack Lauterback, Jason Roop, Matt Schmidt, David Timberline, Phil Wilayto, Carol A.O. Wolf, Lorna Wyckoff

Contributing artists: Jeff Bland, Matt Schmidt

Ad sales: Ren Bell, Jane Braden and Jo Ann Cardwell

Calendar editor and VPM Community Engagement manager: Terry Menefee Gau

Digital engagement (VPM): Ashley Branch

News director (VPM): Elliott Robinson

Chief Content Officer (VPM): Steve Humble

Thank you for your support

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Starr Hill Beer Hall & Rooftop

Strangeways Brewing

Strangeways Brewing RVA-Scott’s Addition

Sugar Shack

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Chesterfield Country Public Library

Richmond Public Library

ILLUSTRATION BY MATT SCHIMDT

join a movement

how to how to get corporate monopolies out of politics

how to how to

how to join Clean Virginia

contact your legislator demand affordable and clean energy

BY LAUREN GUNDERSON AND MARGOT MELCON

NOVEMBER 25 - JANUARY 1

Don’t miss this charming sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The Bennet sisters are celebrating the holidays with family at the Darcy estate. Mary Bennet, the bookish middle sister, isn’t in a festive mood. Will an unexpected guest give Mary the ultimate gift of love?

CLEANVIRGINIA.ORG

DECEMBER 2 - JANUARY 1

Just in time for the holidays, our ensemble of musical theatre all-stars celebrates timeless Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa songs from Broadway, Hollywood, and Virginia Rep musicals. Warm your heart and set your toes to tapping with this rousing performance.

HANOVER TAVERN - ASHLAND

NOVEMBER THEATRE - DOWNTOWN

Why I started Style

The reasons why I started Style Weekly after moving to Richmond in 1981.

by Lorna Wyckoff

geist, how you refined your cultural preferences. It felt almost personal. “My” New Yorker. “My” Cosmopolitan. You had your favorite sections, your favorite writers, favorite places to read. Magazines ruled.

There were no local magazines in Richmond when I moved here from Washington, D.C. in 1981, a city that supported Washingtonian magazine and the addictive Style section of The Washington Post, a broadsheet-style magazine with attitude. The two daily newspapers here were gray and colorless, reporting mainly on crime, schools, a few city issues and high school sports. The wire services covered dull national news. Reading them made me feel like an outsider. I couldn’t connect.

Igrew up in a home full of magazines. A steady stream of them arrived weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, magazines of all sizes, weights, papers, colors and blocks of black words. Oversized, glossy, thick or thin, they were as regular a part of my ’60s childhood as Jell-O. They lived in stacks on coffee tables, kitchen tables and cozy nooks in bedrooms where we lost ourselves in stories of movie stars, adventurers, headliners, heroes and murderers. Magazines were where we learned

about Hyannis Port and Jack on the sailboat in the navy sweater, and Clark and Marilyn just before she died. We were mesmerized by the close-ups of Jackie and the children; of Audrey and Twiggy and Elvis in the Army. It’s where we would ponder the Beatles vs. the Stones, Martin and Bobby, and whether Gloria Vanderbilt’s fourth marriage would really work. It would be decades before Instagram and Google did this for us.

From Look, Life, Time, The New Yorker, National Geographic and Newsweek to Ebony, Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Ladies Home Journal and the Playboy in my father’s dresser, magazines proliferated. What a joy to come across Joan Didion, Pauline Kael or crazy, brilliant Norman Mailer on any given Thursday, writers whose stories or reviews were instant parts of the national conversation, or to wander aimlessly through recipes you knew you’d never make. No dentist’s office was complete without Reader’s Digest or Highlights for Children. There were even full-time jobs where men sold magazine subscriptions door-to-door.

T he most revered figure in America, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, gave us 30 minutes of news at night in little bites. But if you wanted to be in the world or of it, you needed periodicals. It was how you connected to the zeit-

Yet this would be my opening. What happened next was a fortunate confluence of good breaks, luck and timing that would propel us far beyond any intention or vision. The utter craziness of making a free magazine out of newsprint, referred to then as a “supermarket tabloid,” from my kitchen table gave us license to invent. We began by curating a comprehensive, must-read calendar with real reviews and previews, enhanced by riveting photography and real graphic design, in the hopes of creating a reader habit. But it was going to require more.

Next-level writers, really good writers, like the brilliant Garrett Epps; Newsweek reporter Hal Crowther; and feature writers like Ben Cleary, Lisa Antonelli Bacon and Carol O’Connor Wolf; architecture critic Ed Slipek, Bob Holsworth on local and state government, and so many others, instantly elevated the conversation.

Juicy profiles of local luminaries sent folks dashing to Ukrop’s on Tuesdays to see who was on the cover. Tough, truthful restaurant reviews ran next to pages and pages of personals, the newsprint precursor to Tinder. The back page [for opinion] was famously fearless. In short, we found our voice which, as it turned out, would resonate for years.

I felt like an imposter back then like I do now, 40 years later. I have no business taking bows for something that hundreds of talented people nurtured and produced to great acclaim long after I left. The excellence, energy and vibrancy of the e arly days somehow remained with

Style throughout the decades, with the next team of dedicated editors, writers, designers, photographers and freelancers bringing smart, fresh perspectives on critically important topics and notables of the day. Like so many beloved brands, Style has discarded print in favor of charting a new voice online, the inevitable result of diminishing options and reader expectations. An occasional issue will suffice.

I’m sad that print is dwindling. Mornings now I awaken to a barrage of email newsletters cheerfully preparing me for the day. They connect me to last night’s tragedies, warn me of bad weather, link me to tickets, teach me to communicate, and offer up lots of opinions. It’s kinda like reading a magazine, only it’s smaller. Shorter. Faster. I get my coffee and cozy up with my iPhone for a good morning’s scroll, eternally grateful that no one serves Jell-O anymore.

The Fuzzy Navel Gaze

Advance excerpts from our 60th anniversary issue, Nov. 18, 2042.

by Jason Roop

Journalists report on the now, not the later. It’s a bold move when they engage in future-gazing, like we did with a bit of healthy snark for our then20th anniversary issue of Style Weekly back in October 2002.

In those pages we put forth “Advance Excerpts from Our 40th Anniversary Issue, Oct. 19, 2022.”

We dared to think ahead?

Yes, we did. Despite Matthew Sawicki, a witch with the Aquarian Bookshop, once telling Style, “Richmond is known as a psychic black hole.” It was unsettling, he said: “There’s a strange harmonic when you come into the city.”

Forget Mayor Stoney’s new brand campaign, “Richmond Real.” Think of how many tourists we could intrigue with, “Get Down With Us and Our Strange Harmonic.” Or maybe, “A Psychic Black Hole — But a River Runs Through It.”

We could be the next Nashville!

Yes, we pictured ourselves 20 years into the future -- reporters, mind you, who’ve never met a deadline we didn’t want to stretch -- in a story that followed some of Style’s most regrettable errors and corrections.

And we were mostly right! (Assuming you don’t go back to the original piece for a deep dive. It was educated and outlandish guessing, after all.)

As predicted, a monuments on Monument Avenue controversy erupted — though it wasn’t arguing about the direction statues faced, but that they faced anywhere at all. The Confederate figures that stood there so long are gone, some of them on tour to museums, while we decide what’s next — including what happens to Lee Circle, now owned by the city.

Parking gripes in the Fan are still around, though a regional parking sticker never materialized, as we thought would be “demanded by the former Fan District Association, recently restructured as the Governing Board of Richmond.”

T he Times-Dispatch did indeed get a makeover. To be fair, we said it would break into 92 smaller publications. Today it would be lucky to claim 92 employees. But hey, it’s still standing!

Just like the downtown fine arts complex. Or Reva Trammell. In 2002 we pondered her future 20 years from then. She remains on City Council today. Reva will outlast her own bumper stickers.

“Connecticut,” Paul DiPasquale’s sculpture of a Native American, did indeed move from the baseball stadium to the Lucky Strike Building we predicted it would be used by Philip Morris for some billboard marketing. But in 2019 it was taken off.

Two decades seemed so far away as far away as they seem looking the other direction, in reverse. We try to imagine ourselves 20 years younger, imagining Richmond 20 years into the future.

And that 40th anniversary is now, here in your hands — newsprint, imagine! — or on your screen, brought back from a corporate-induced coma of sorts, trading hands from a mega media buyer in Chicago

back to a Virginia-owned portfolio.

We never could have predicted.

But now, we will again.

Here are a few items Style plans to cover in its 60th anniversary issue, dropping in 2042:

1 . Leadership change: After a weary electorate finally tires of political strife, civic division and social ennui, they choose meteorologist Andrew Freiden as mayor of Richmond. Voters may not agree on much, but Richmond can still come together around weather talk.

2. Westward expansion: Years after convincing the city to annex what they called the “good parts” of Henrico County, powerful developers are grappling with the anarchy that er upted in Short Pump after the mall received its open container license in 2023.

3. Reimagined concert series: Venture Richmond CEO Stephen Lecky announces that the floating stage and kayak docks for Brown’s Island will be complete in time for the 58th season of Friday Cheers. It’s a brilliant solution for the island, a victim of climate change after disappearing under the now Class VI rapids of the James River.

4. City Hall relocates: To Scott’s Addition, naturally, after the power center of downtown continues to move toward Dominion Stadium.

5. Grocery barons: Rob Ukrop comes out of retirement as chairman of the Richmond Kickers to revive his family’s chain of grocery stores. “Retro is back — and so are the rainbow cookies,” he says. Ukrop pledges to build in Richmond’s food deserts. The local workforce, which suffered during the “quiet quitting” of the early 2020s, rebounds. Groceries are carried to your car again.

ILLUSTRATION BY JEFF BLAND

In... This Just

It’s a story you already know: the business model of print media has been upended in the digital age. Some publications have folded or publish less frequently. Some have moved entirely online. Meanwhile, new, online-only ventures have sprung up to fill the coverage gaps. Which brings us to the e-newsletter.

According to a recent Reuters study, 22% of Americans said they came across news stories in the past week via email. Local news organizations have taken note; nearly every print- or web-based media outlet puts out a newsletter to help drive traffic to their sites. Recently, Richmond has seen an explosion of these newsletters.

Here’s a roundup of some that are keeping local readers informed [Editor’s note: Style Weekly is planning to bring back an e-newsletter in the future.]

Axios Richmond

Launched in May, Axios Richmond is part of national online media company Axios’ effort to expand into local markets. Helmed by longtime Richmond Times-Dispatch staffer Karri Peifer and Ned Oliver, formerly of the Virginia Mercury, the RTD and Style, Axios Richmond offers quick, bullet pointed takes on the news of the day, as well as local restaurant happenings.

Good Morning, RVA

Written by Ross Catrow, former publisher of RVANews, this conversational weekday roundup is a bit like having your wonky, in-the-know friend recap the morning’s news for you. After starting with the weather, the newsletter summarizes the main news stories of the morning in its “Water Cooler” section.

Catrow adds his take on the news of

the day, in a pleasant and upfront way: the man likes his public transit. He’s big on crediting reporters and will add information from press releases that news organizations decided not to cover. There’s also “This Morning’s Long Read,” usually from a news outlet outside of Virginia, then a “Picture of the Day.”

Richmond BizSense

As the business team at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has been gutted over the years, Richmond BizSense has stepped into the gap. Launched in 2008, the online news outlet publishes roughly half a dozen local business stories that it compiles each weekday in its daily newsfeed. In addition to local business reporting, the outlet also tracks business openings and closings, foreclosures, building permits, business licenses and legal disputes. The newsletter also includes other local and national business stories from

other outlets. Be warned: their paywall is no joke.

Richmond Magazine

For more than 40 years, Richmond Magazine has been the city’s premiere glossy. The publication has a few different newsletters, including “Food News,” “Editor’s First Look” – which promotes upcoming stories for its print edition –and its “River City Roundup.” The latter is released every Monday and offers subscribers staff picks for things to do around Richmond for the coming week.

RVA 5x5

For Jon Baliles, RVA 5x5 is a return to form. In the mid-2000s, Baliles wrote the blog rivercityrapids.com, offering his analysis of local media and politics. The blog was popular enough that Baliles, the son of former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles,

was hired in 2008 to be Mayor Douglas Wilder’s press aide.

Four years later, Baliles won election to Richmond City Council, representing the 1st District. In 2016, he ran for mayor, before leaving the race and putting his support behind the race’s winner, current Mayor Levar Stoney. After briefly serving as a senior policy advisor for Stoney, he essentially left local politics in 2018.

In early June he launched RVA 5x5, a blog and newsletter that offers Baliles’ commentary on the happenings of Richmond and the surrounding region. A typical RVA 5x5 serves up five news stories that reference multiple sources, old and new, to give context and insight. Baliles’ tagline? “No algorithms. No content filters. Honest and insightful analysis.”

RVA Magazine

Launched in 2005, RVA Magazine was founded as a monthly magazine.

JEFF BLAND

As traditional print media continues to decline, locally focused news and culture e-newsletters are everywhere. by Rich Griset

It’s since gone digital and puts out a newsletter every Friday that teases stories about arts, music, food and culture. It also includes “RVA Shows You Must See This Week,” a useful roundup of upcoming musical acts, by Marilyn Drew Necci.

VaNews

The OG of Virginia newsletters, the VaNews had its beginnings in 1996 when Tom Whipple, a retired CIA analyst in Northern Virginia, began copying and pasting stories from newspaper websites about Virginia politics into Microsoft Word and creating printouts of the day’s news. As Whipple’s compilation grew in popularity, he began emailing his roundup to politicos who asked. The number of subscribers grew over the next 15 years.

Once referred to as “The Whipple Report,” VaNews is a collection of the day’s political stories. Since 2011, the report has been run by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit best known for keeping a database of the state’s campaign contributions.

Every weekday, VaNews provides an exhaustive rundown, pulling from newspapers, broadcast outlets, magazines and wire services. Best of all for political junkies, lobbyists, legislators, reporters and state employees who read it, VaNews does a good job of picking up news stories from smaller publications that don’t always get the attention they deserve.

Virginia Business*

This weekday roundup is created each morning by the staff of Virginia Business, a monthly business magazine. The newsletter plugs a few of its own stories before launching into its “Heard Around Virginia” section, compiling about a dozen of the day’s top business stories. It closes with a handful of top national and international news stories.

Virginia Mercury

Launched in 2018 by a group of former Richmond Times-Dispatch reporters, the Virginia Mercury is a nonprofit online news organization that primarily reports on state government and policy. Each weekday morning, the Mercury puts out a newsletter recapping the past day and offering a roundup of headlines from other news outlets about Virginia.

*Full disclosure: Griset used to be a deputy editor for Virginia Business.

Change Agents

Rev. Ben Campbell | Author and civil rights activist

The last 40 years have witnessed the change from a more traditional Richmond to a modern RVA. That’s two generations worth of change. Digital communications are the norm, the energy of generations. Race is still a major issue – and the economic purgatory of the city that a racially punitive General Assembly wrought when Black leadership took over continues to cripple our development. But we are a more racially mixed metro community. The economy has opened up to new firms and new leadership. And the counties, not the center city, are the economic center.

Style Weekly heralded, and chronicled, the arrival of the

new Richmond: less traditional, more inclusive, full of art and creativity, and accessible regardless of family heritage. There was a spirit there of inclusiveness and possibility, a sense that we were in fact a part of the modern world. The format itself had depth and strength – and warmth. Media describe to us the world we live and act in. Style gave a more modern, and more accurate picture of RVA. At best, it told the truths that were not otherwise being told. And partially as a result of Style’s civic portrait, two generations were able to bring modern RVA into being.

SCOTT ELMQUIST

We asked community leaders how Richmond has changed over the past 40 years.

Michael Paul Williams | Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Style Weekly : How has the city changed in the past 40 years?

MPW: Richmond city politics, going back to that time and into the ’70s was very, very cantankerous, to say the least, and divided by race. Richmond was only five years into its first majority Black city council and its first Black mayor.

1982 was actually the year that Roy West and four white council members voted out Henry Marsh [both West and Marsh were Black]. It was a time in which the racial divide, racial divisions very much defined Richmond city politics much more than seems the case today.

Dovetailing off that, we have a different form of city government than we had then. In 1982, we had a council-manager form of city government. The city manager had a lot of power. They mayor’s position was largely ceremonial, although Henry Marsh did imbue it with more power than typical mayors, just by dint of the historical nature of his election and the cohesiveness of the “team” of Black city councilmembers working as a block. Now, of course, we have a strong mayor form of government, which has changed the nature of city politics a lot.

Richmond in the ’80s and into ’90s was still a city reeling from the way race and white flight was shaping Richmond. Richmond, in 1970, annexed a piece of Chesterfield County [that now makes up the majority of south Richmond]. You know the history there: racially motivated annexation to try to retain white power in

Change Agents

city government. This resulted in a lawsuit and a suspension of city elections for seven years, and the aforementioned Mayor Marsh and the Black majority council.

But all of that, coupled with bussing to achieve the long-delayed integration of Richmond Public Schools, resulted in an exodus, a large white exodus of white residents into the suburbs. Really, that was part of a national trend. There were obviously the history factors that I mentioned, but urban areas nationwide were experiencing that sort of exodus to the suburbs.

Richmond … got a population bump after that annexation, but it began losing residents. Then, as we go into the late 1980s and into the 1990s, crack and violent crime become very pronounced in the city, along with issues with Richmond Public Schools that led people to believe, when they reached a certain age with their children, that they must leave the city. The city started losing a lot of population. …

One of the most significant changes that I witnessed over the 40 years is the repopulation of Richmond by young, energetic creative people and the resulting boost in civic morale. Now, mind you, Richmond has a lot of problems, and there are some folks in the suburbs that view Richmond in not the most positive light, but the civic morale has increased tremendously since the nadir I spoke of.

You can see the development all around. Now, there are some negatives to that in the form of gentrification

and the fact that Richmond’s becoming unaffordable to a lot of people, but that speaks to a certain demand that didn’t necessarily exist before.

Overall, Richmond is seen as a more livable and desirable place. A place that has transitioned over the 40 years perception-wise from a sleepy, hidebound, “Former Capital of the Confederacy,” stuck in its ways, resistant to change, really kind of boring, to a place with some sizzle, a place that’s viewed as a nurturer of the creatives, a place with a fascinating history – as troubling as much of it is – a place that’s easy on the eyes, a place with a lot of assets that have attracted the attention of people beyond Richmond.

What’s around the corner for Richmond?

A lot of that is up to us. Richmond, demographically, is following the trend of a lot cities in which it is becoming a place that the impoverished – and who are largely people of color – can no longer afford to live. It’s gone from a majority Black city, a city with a clear Black majority, to a city where Black people are no longer the plurality. I’d say, very soon, the white population will overtake the Black population, if it hasn’t already happened. The city’s gotten wealthier, but again, that leads to the question of displacement and what will happen to the people who get displaced.

There are economic runaway factors that we’ve got to get under control, lest we become another hip, but unaffordable, city in America.

Change Agents Journey Through the Past

We reached out to former Style Weekly employees to provide an oral history of the publication through the last four decades.

1980s

Lorna Wyckoff

FOUNDER, 1981-1994

Launched Style as a monthly in 1982; it went weekly 1984.

Style Weekly: How do you think Richmond has most changed over the past 40 years and where do you see it going?

Stoner Winslett: It’s a completely different town. When we moved to 407 East Canal in 2000, there was literally no one living downtown. At our first location on Lombardy and Broad, we could find apartments for visiting artists to rent or for our dancers to live but when we moved, there was literally nowhere for them.

Look at it now! There are all sorts of people living downtown and I like to think we had something to do with that. We took an abandoned research and development building and filled it with staff and students. Our educational programs brought 800-1,000 students downtown a week. And some parents or dancers started to look around and think maybe they could live down here. All of the restaurants that popped up along Grace Street, I think that’s largely a byproduct of the arts district. All honor should go to the board of trustees at places like the Richmond Ballet and the Carpenter Center for being forward looking.

I recruit internationally and I tell people, and mean it sincerely, that Richmond is so uniquely located. We’re less than two hours from the beach, less than two hours from the mountains, and less than two hours from Washington, DC. You can live in Richmond and easily get anywhere you

would want to go. How many cities can say that? If we can keep working together, particularly continuing to partner with our surrounding counties to better the entire Richmond region, the possibilities are limitless.

On the occasion of our 40th anniversary, any thoughts on Style Weekly and its place in Richmond culture?

You know, that’s so interesting to think about because I was here when Style started. I had started out as an assistant artistic director. Even back then, it was clear that Lorna was such a visionary to see that Richmond needed some kind of alternative to the daily paper. And she had a good strategy to highlight the people in the community. Back in the day, being on a Style Weekly cover was a big thing. I remember when my picture was on the cover.

From the beginning, Style’s support of the arts community and its coverage of performances and events has been invaluable. I’m very glad that you all are keeping it going. What you’re doing has been a gift to the arts community and we thank you.

There was nothing here in Richmond in 1981. Just a dearth. The most popular section in The [Richmond] News Leader was Charlotte Massey’s World of Women. I had come from Washington, DC where feminism was breaking glass ceilings. Women were finally getting a shot, it was an exciting time.

So I fiddled around for a few months with a little baby, then I realized, I know what we need! We need a newspaper. From the beginning, we felt the city needed another point of view. I was doing this entirely with my own money, and putting it together from my kitchen table for about three months. I walked up and down Grove Avenue with a baby in a backpack selling ads. There was no ambition to go up against the daily newspaper. I just wanted to do this small little West End thing.

Our first cover story was on the fast growing fitness craze, this must’ve been when the Jane Fonda thing was taking off.

Stoner Winslett | Artistic Director of Richmond Ballet

SCOTT ELMQUIST

We thought the calendar section was really important. One of the reasons I think Style worked is that [it was] monthly for two years while we figured things out. But the formula was: A major lead story, or cover story, which would evolve by ‘84 or ‘85 to more in-depth profiles, rather then just news stories.

The papers here were very gray, there wasn’t much art. We wanted to make the ads the art and the articles easy to read. I approached things more as a designer …

It became obvious that we were successful and I didn’t have the money to grow it. I was young and I didn’t know how to finance anything. Barton Morris, the publisher of The Roanoke Times, gave me a call and wanted to have lunch. We got along really well, and he says, “We’d like to buy you.” And I said, “I don’t know if I want to sell.” He was representing Landmark, and he said, “Well, you can sell to us or not, but we’re coming to town anyway.” They, Landmark, had a rivalry with Media General.

So they courted me. It gave me background and legitimacy. I wanted to know how newspapers worked, and I had never been in a newsroom like [theirs]. They told me all the great things they could get for me. So I sold [Style] two years after starting it, in order to go weekly. They knew that this was going to be the next thing, and they wanted to experiment with the culture and entertainment focus …

For the first five or six years, we never saw them, they just wrote checks and we managed everything. They were busy doing daily newspapers. Laura Cameron was our first full-time managing editor. I moved us to Harrison and Franklin in the heart of VCU with the

Change Agents

Pamela Reynolds | Community arts leader

Of course, there have been changes [over the past 40 years]. Some we should be proud of and some we should not be proud of, as a city. I will let others decide, but I think we can agree COVID has affected all our lives.

I am hopeful that I have, with the help of people more talented than I, helped to make Richmond and the commonwealth a better place. We need to look back and say thank you, as we look forward, to those who are no longer with us

that helped to make a difference. Of course, without Style Weekly and other [publications] nothing would be possible, for ideas only stay ideas without them.

I especially enjoyed Ed Slipek and his coverage of the arts and architectural and I think the Power List always created lots of attention and conversation.

Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

SCOTT ELMQUIST

Style Weekly: How has Richmond changed over the past 40 years?

Jim Ukrop: We’ve gone from a traditional Southern city to a city that’s much more inclusive now. I think this all has to do with how the separation from the African American community and the white community [used to be].

One of the biggest differences was – 40, 50 years ago – it was a community run by the white community, and now it’s obviously become a much more inclusive city, where people are valued more by their actions and their words than by the color of their skin.

Where would you like to see the city move forward?

Change Agents

Richmond came out with the “Richmond Real” [branding campaign], spent a lot of money on a name. We’re Greater Richmond. We’re not Richmond Real, or anything like that, and we need to be promoting ourselves more as Greater Richmond, not as three [localities].

I think we need to go back to a city manager form of government.

We’ve tried the mayoral form of government, but we need experts running our city, not politicians. I think that we need to have our city council members pick the school board members so that they don’t have so much political stuff going on with the school board. It’s about policy, not about politics.

purpose of finding those interns, art students who could come in. We were doing hot type, pasting it up, running proofs around town …

The first few years, Throttle and Commonwealth Times were merciless – and funny. One time, they wrote how “we walked softly and carried a big calendar,” which I thought was appropriate and funny. They took our free papers and made a trash pile out of it by a dumpster. We got the point. We didn’t care that much, because those papers weren’t read much outside of campus. [They probably didn’t like us] because we were doing mother/daughter issues and a lot of fashion stories, which was part of why we were successful … It wasn’t all that different from how Instagram is now.

Maybe the best decision I made was to hire Garrett Epps, one of the founders of the Virginia Mercury, to write my back pages every other week; the other week would be Hal Crowther, who was writing for Newsweek and married to [author] Lee Smith. This was the beginning of us trying to establish a voice and a point of view. Eventually we started inviting other people and the back page was a forum for ideas that weren’t being covered anywhere else. The voice was more liberal, but it was also hip and fearless. We were willing to talk about gay issues, AIDS, [we ran] gay personals, we accepted different sexualities in the world. We were interested in diversity in a way that nobody had been in Richmond.

One of our very first cover stories was on Mike Morchower, the infamous bad boy defense attorney who hung out with Harry Thalhimer. They were making moves and Carol [A.O. Wolf] did a wonderful, real cover story feature. It took off and changed everything – the next cover we did was Pam Reynolds. We were the first publication in town to begin doing the Best Of issues; we started Richmonder of the Year – and we invented You’re Very Richmond If – which started out as a joke while we were having a drink somewhere or something [laughs] …

Landmark would end up buying the Weather Channel, then all of the sudden they didn’t care much about us at all. They left Style alone until the last two years, when I had

Jim Ukrop | Co-founder and managing director of NRV. Former CEO and chairman of Ukrop’s Supermarkets and former chairman of First Market Bank

SCOTT ELMQUIST

five bosses … [Pretty soon] I didn’t want to participate any longer. I had daughters and a family and a big life and wanted to pay attention to that … When I left, we were at almost $3 million dollars gross revenue and around 25-30 regular employees. We had six or seven ad reps, a bunch of designers. It was the most exciting, thrilling enterprise because for some reason, everyone who came to work there seemed to get it.

Sue Robinson Sain

FREELANCE REPORTER, ARTS EDITOR, MANAGING EDITOR: 1987-1991

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: 1992-1995

Lorna met with me and I came on staff part-time. We were in the red building at the corner of Harrison and Franklin, 100 West Franklin St. It was a crazy building, a ridiculous layout. The newsroom was in one basement that you went down a tiny spiral staircase to get to, and the composing room was in the total opposite end of the building in the basement. It was like a garage band in a way … We had IBM Selectric typewriters and freelancers brought in hard copies. We had a typesetter who typed it all in. So it was a proofing nightmare. It was really like the wild wild west ….

I edited the arts and at that time the paper was growing like topsy. We had issues that were typically over 80 pages and we had a lot of special sections. It was a heyday period for alternative weeklies nationally. Just about every town had one in the late ‘80s. It was a very successful time for these kinds of weeklies, so that was exciting …

One thing that Style used to do very well back then was profiles. These were sometimes nauseatingly long profiles, 2,500-5,000 words. But they gave you a picture of the person behind the headlines. We didn’t cover city council like the Times-Dispatch did, but you could read a profile of someone like Chuck Richardson and have a sense of who these lawmakers were, what kind of a difference they wanted to have in the community.

I think Style was also a bit of a gadfly. The main newspaper was very traditional, very conservative editorially, there wasn’t a lot of creativity in writing or packaging

Change Agents

Phil Whiteway | Managing director and co-founder of Virginia Repertory Theatre

Forty years ago, I was 30 and the company Bruce Miller and I started was in its infancy. We were finding our way and building relationships. I didn’t grow up in Richmond but when I came here, I feel like Richmond saw itself as a quaint Southern city.

Over time that shifted and now I think it thinks of itself as a mid-Atlantic city. It is so much richer culturally; that includes the arts, the restaurant industry, the breweries. And even with the growth, I think it’s a very livable place. Just like it was for me, I see Richmond as a magnet drawing people to migrate south.

Where our theater is, on the cusp of Jackson Ward, it has come so far. People live down here, the neighborhood is walkable and there are so many restaurants. Many cities have not been successful in drawing people downtown, but we have.

I think that’s going to continue, investment is still occurring. There is cool development all around us and when these new places get built, they fill up.

What thoughts or perspectives do you have on Style Weekly and its place in Richmond history or culture?

That’s a tricky question. I miss the fact that you can pick it up when you’re at the grocery store or getting coffee. It was easy. But in general, arts coverage, and for us, theater critics, they play a vital role. It’s where people get their information. Some people will say they’re great. Others will say, ‘I can’t believe they said that. I can’t believe they printed that.’ But that’s the nature of reporting and media. I believe all coverage is good. It gets people talking and thinking. Style clearly has had its role and its place. I wish there were more of them, more critics and publications.

SCOTT ELMQUIST

Jean Boone | Publisher of the Richmond Free Press

Style Weekly: How has Richmond changed in the past 40 years?

Jean Boone: My husband [Ray Boone], who was the editor and the lead player in this saga called “Let’s start the Richmond Free Press,” he would often observe that Richmond had the train on the tracks, but it just couldn’t get it moving. That was his metaphor, and I think that finally Richmond is moving the train on the track. Not without a lot of stops and bumps along the way, but there is obviously a generation of activists, Black and white, who are seeing the opportunities and seizing the opportunities that are here, and that’s a good thing.

When we moved [back to Richmond from Baltimore] in the end of ’91, Broad Street was a disaster. It was not very attractive, the landscaping was not there, on and on. Scott’s Addition was … here, but it was not as vibrant as it is now.

There’s energy in Richmond now, and that’s a good thing. Some of the more advanced ideas have been dissected and some rejected, some accepted, but there’s more thoughtful civic participation now than there was in the past.

Where will the city go in the future?

There has to be racial equity, there has to be inclusion, and

Change Agents

there has to be a recognition that all of Richmond needs to rise. It cannot be a section or a segment of the population that rises and the other doesn’t, because it will surely pull the city back to where it doesn’t want to be.

Racial injustice is alive and well in Richmond, and one evidence of that is the Richmond Free Press. It is a mirror of who supports the Free Press, who supports the readership of the Free Press, because if you don’t see advertising in the Free Press, it means that these businesses for the most part don’t want Black dollars to be spent with them. I know that’s a harsh thing to say, but it’s true. I remember having a white salesperson who was calling on car dealerships, and the car dealership manager said, “Why should I advertise with the Free Press? Black people are going to come anyway,” and I think that’s a point of view that still persists.

Any thoughts on Style on the occasion of its 40th?

The Free Press and Style forged a friendly competitive relationship, and I knew and know Lorna Wyckoff, who started Style, and I’ve known the editors through the years, the publishers. Ray has been on the cover of Style, I was as well, so I think that speaks to the friendly relationship.

or design. Style was more colorful and took more risks. And it also covered the arts as thoroughly as a little paper could. The calendar was very vital back then, and the restaurant guide. The ladies who lunch decided where to go based on Style’s restaurant guide. People made their weekend plans based on Style’s calendar. People really did rely on Style. It wasn’t all that long ago, even though it seems like it.

We tried to do pieces the Times-Dispatch wouldn’t touch. The first reporting in Richmond on AIDS that actually had sources on the record was Style. We tried to do things that meant a lot to the community, that were important stories, that the TD was too busy covering the mundane to think about. That was the focus in that late ‘80s, early ‘90s period … In the trajectory of Style’s development, I think I saw it through its terrible twos or maybe its difficult tween years. I like to think I improved the standards of reporting and storytelling, that maybe we were a more responsible news organization than when I got there. I would like to think that was what I contributed.

I was delighted that public broadcasting found a home for it. I think it will be a strong voice again, at least I hope it will. We need more voices in the market.

Toni McCracken

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE: 1984-2020

I turned 25 three days before I started there. Style got older with me. The median age kept getting older and older. I think people saw it as this young publication but that’s not what it was. It matured.

When I started there, Landmark had a publication called PortFolio for Hampton Roads that shut down after a year or two. The reason Style was successful was because of the arts coverage. That’s why the jewelry

SCOTT ELMQUIST

stores wanted to run ads with us; Schwarzschild was a very important client. They wanted to be where the arts were. The Modlin Center, the Symphony, the Opera, the Ballet: they were all big clients. We got more newsy, but the arts was always what kept us going.

The first couple of years, you’d say, “I’m from Style.” And they’d say “You’re from who?” The cold calling during that period of time was pretty brutal. I think there was just a few years of that, but maybe that’s things looking better when you look back.

1990s

Greg Weatherford

MANAGING EDITOR: 1994-1999

EXECTUVIE EDITOR: 2000-2001

I feel like they hired me as part of a transitional period in Style’s history. They hired me as their first assistant editor but it was really the first fulltime reporter. It was shifting from a small-scale operation into a whole different gear, where it was more of a mid-sized publication. When I got there the newsroom was about four to five people all told, when I left in 2001, we were up to about 15.

It was all driven by the amount of advertising they were pulling in. The books were getting bigger and bigger and they had to find ways to fill it. The strategy was basically to fill the spaces between the ads with something that would keep people coming back.

We went from a small underdog publication to probably the most influential print magazine in the region, in terms of the attention we would get and the people we would get attention from. People would return our calls right away by the time I left; that was definitely not the case when I started. I’d call up and say, “I’m from Style Weekly,” and

Change Agents

Tim Kaine | United States Senator from Virginia since 2013

Style Weekly and The Richmond Free Press have both been the chroniclers of the major shift in who and what Richmond is.

Richmond was a city in decline 40 years ago with a population in free fall like other, older cities. Today it is growing and thriving with a youthful energy, dynamic arts and

the first thing I’d say was, “I know, I know, we aren’t proud of it either. Not the name we want to be known by but we’re stuck with it.” By the time I left, the governor’s folks would be calling back no problem.

The whole team was responsible for that but it was driven by the very competitive John Maloney, initially. His importance cannot be understated. He took a magazine that was more known for being silly, not always, but it had the tendency to lean toward the silly or offbeat, and he pushed it really hard to aggressive news coverage. He wanted it to be the place where people had to turn to get the real story. He really pushed that and we went for it. In a lot of ways, it worked.

culture scene and a long overdue embrace of the outdoor assets, especially the James River, that make us special. Richmond needed to open leadership opportunities to a much broader group of people than those allowed in decision-making rooms in the past. It has done so with success, though much work still remains.

Eventually, there was something like five or six additional publications in addition to the main weekly book. They would come out monthly or quarterly. I remember counting them all up and, I can’t remember exactly, but there was 52 from Style and then something like 25 from the other publications. And that’s all coming out of the same room. So we were just constantly cranking out material.

There was an entire business staff that was 10 or 12 people. And there was a staff just selling classified ads and that was another half dozen plus people. It was a thriving enterprise. The magazine, while I was there, $4 million plus sales years were normal and up to $1 million was profit. I was told at the time that, pound for

pound, we were the most profitable arm of the whole Virginian-Pilot, Landmark Communications empire, and that included The Weather Channel. We were proud of that, obviously. But Style didn’t keep any of that money. Any profit went to Virginian-Pilot. So when things got rough, there was no money in the kitty to bail them out. A few other publications like Style managed to weather financial storms and come out the other side. But because Style didn’t have independence, or an independent source of funds, they couldn’t.

From the news standpoint, it was very aggressive. The culture was “be unrelenting. Be as nice as you have to be but most importantly, don’t

SCOTT ELMQUIST

A Pirate Looks at

(Almost) 40

Former Punch Drunk columnist looks back on his atrocities.

by Jack Lauterback

Istarted writing a column for Style Weekly in 2009. I was 26 years old. For anyone who cares to remember, I wrote about all the things that a red-blooded, American 26-year-old male was supposed to be into.

Mainly I talked about drinking. A lot. I talked about bars, about cocktails, about being in bars with cocktails. The name of the column was Punch Drunk if that tells you anything. And quite honestly, at the time I didn’t know my ass from my elbows, but I wrote with some sort of style and a sharp sense of humor. At least enough for then Style Weekly Editor Jason Roop to keep me around and writing a column for nine years.

During that time, I branched out and profiled a number of local luminaries for Style. Mayors, city council people, local businessmen, famous drag queens, bar owners, bartenders. So many bartenders. At the time I was a bartender all over the city, so it made sense. I was out most nights doing unspeakable things and committing atrocities that only a late-twentysomething/early-thirtysomething could. I wrote for a bar magazine in Berlin, who were kind enough to fly me out now and then. Even for a self-professed late night king, Berlin was a bit much.

A s time wore on, I got a job doing morning radio with Melissa Chase on 103.7. Life got more serious as I kept writing, kept committing atrocities – but the tide was definitely ebbing. The atrocities were more like blunders now.

Eventually I fooled a woman into marrying me. Then we got a dog.

Fast forward to now and I’m almost 40. I work in sales for a major corporation. I have good health insurance and a 401(k). I have to get my thyroid checked regularly because glandular issues run in my family. I get a slight headache after too much red wine. Hair has started growing on my shoulders. I don’t like it. There wasn’t any hair on my shoulders before!

What the hell happened?

I remember – vaguely, in a sort of drunken haze – a few people telling me that I would grow up and grow out of my hellraiser stage and, at the time, that was unthinkable. I’m not becoming some desk jockey who goes to his kid’s soccer games and hangs with the other dad’s in the neighborhood.

I’m a rebel!

And while I’m not a soccer dad, I do have a desk now. Turns out those people were right.

Style Weekly is a great publication that I was fortunate to write for. It’s a real alternative news source in a city that needs it badly at times. It’s always been the little engine that could, standing up to the powerbrokers and bullies and bullshit artists and the people who needed to be stood up to. I miss being a part of that and I miss what Style Weekly stands for.

I will not miss vomiting in Fan alleys and waking up with a six-Advil headache.

Although I do it every now and then for old time’s sake.

quit.” This is the news side, not necessarily the rest of the publication. Call endlessly, don’t take no for an answer, show up on their doorstep, be a shoe leather reporter and do whatever it takes to make sure the story is nailed down. It was a lot of very long hours. On production days, which were Fridays, we’d show up at 9:30-10 a.m. and you wouldn’t leave until 4 in the morning …

The most memorable story would be 9/11 when I was the editor. Sept. 11 happened on a Tuesday, which is the day we came out, and so we had an issue on the stands that nobody cared about immediately, obviously. We had a week to figure out what to do. I was pushed by our publisher who said “you gotta do something.” I remember sitting down with the

news staff saying, “we need to do something but we have to do it our way. What do we do best?” And we all agreed that what we did best was portray people through pictures and let them speak.

So we did an entire issue that was just portraying people in pictures and letting them speak. And we did it in about 48 hours. I still have copies of it. It’s probably the most astonishing piece of cultural history journalism I’ve ever seen and certainly ever been a part of. The photos were beautiful, we talked to mothers and veterans and people who drove up to ground zero and tried to help out. It was incredibly moving. It meant a lot to be part of that. And that could literally never happen again. There’s no way that something like that could come together.

Jason Roop

STAFF REPORTER, INSIDE BUSINESS: 1997-2000

STYLE WEEKLY REPORTER: 2000-2001

MANAGING EDITOR: 2001-2005

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: 2005-2017

spend more time, but it would be through our lens. We had the freedom to ask more questions and follow-ups. To be fair, we didn’t have to be at every city council meeting or School Board meeting. So we had the freedom to spend our resources in different places.

Toni McCracken

To me, the most fun years were from 1992 to the late ‘90s when Jim Wark and John Fleming were there. They were both these super-smart, super-funny, fun-loving guys. That was probably the most fun group: Mary Ellen Garrigue, Betsy Heath, Judy Price, Alicia Odell, Jim and John.

kids. When you weren’t working you wanted to be home.

Jason Roop

With the Richmonder of the Year issue, a lot of people looked at that as an award or an honor to be chosen. The editorial staff looked at it as: What was the most significant turning point for Richmond in the past year’s time? And who flipped the switch during that turning point? To make it more meaningful, we thought about the story of Richmond throughout the entire year.

an opportunity there. Why not? That was a way we could step into the conversation without taking sides. We always wanted to help our readers be able to make better decisions.

Style wasn’t a traditional alt. weekly. I learned about that contrast when I would go to AAN [Association of Alternative Newsmedia] conventions, and you would see more opinionated, more aggressive alt. weeklies, where the editor would be threading an editorial viewpoint throughout the stories. We never took a stance that our editorial team would be writing an opinion piece. We would rather get it from different points of view in the community …

My first cover story was a profile of Frances Wessells, a VCU professor and dance icon who is still living today at 103 years old. She was a dance critic for the Times-Dispatch, too. The thing that is such a contrast to me, when I look at reporting in general now, is the luxury we had at Style to spend time with the subject. I attended one of her dance classes at VCU, visited her at her home, conducted multiple sit-down interviews, saw performances, etc. The RTD would never have a story that long.

Of course, we had to churn out weekly stories, but we would always have bigger projects in the background going on. As a reporter, my story would be read and edited by a good three or four people back then, then the editor. [Today] nobody has a large staff anymore. Our stories back then, when they got into print, would be really thought through and examined – which led to more powerful stories. I think our team did a good job of finding new ways to look at stuff that was right under your nose.

I think what Style brought to the table, in terms of a competitive advantage compared to TV news or the RTD, is not only that we could

We were all very, very close and there was always some prank being played on someone. Landmark would come up with these wonderful ideas of how to increase production of the sales team. So they’d give us these beepers. So you would have to write down what you were doing when the beeper went off. Why anyone thought you’d report it if you weren’t doing what you were supposed to be doing is pretty crazy. But Mary Ellen Garreague is a real rule follower. So John and Jim get ahold of her pager and set it so it goes off every five minutes. Mary Ellen is over at her desk, going “this is insane!”

In 1998, our offices were on Main Street, near VCU, and there was a hailstorm on a Sunday, like in July I think. And the roof caved in. So they had to move us. We were working out of three different buildings for a while. Production and editorial and sales were all in separate locations. Not long after that, we moved to Summit Ave [Scott’s Addition] and we were there for like seven years. We move over to Summit Avenue and Paper Moon opens right next to us … Then they boot us out of Summit because they’re building condos. That’s when we moved down to t he Exchange Building [in Shockoe Bottom]. I got married during that time, and a lot of people had their kids during that time. It’s funny, you go through different groups of people. Honestly, there wasn’t quite as much camaraderie during that time but I think it’s because everyone was getting older. Everyone was having

For example, in January 2004 – we ran the “Young Black Male” as Richmonder of the Year for the previous year of 2003. I remember when this issue came out, I had to lay a lot of groundwork with other media, because we wanted to make sure it came across as it was intended. We had chosen young Black males

T here were so many people running, including former Gov. Wilder, which was the headline grabber. We set up three debates, three forums --- we had sponsors. We reached out to every other news outlet in town. We opened it up as a collaboration; we had a table set up for bloggers, it was recorded and broadcast live, etc. I feel like Style had an impact there in a wider way with this sweeping project. We made it happen.

People wanted to have more of a say in who is leading the city and they wanted stronger leadership, but that led us to this setup where we have three groups: school board, city council and mayor’s office with different interests. They’re supposed to work together. So it was big turning point for city politics and government.

Greg Weatherford

because of the challenges they faced: There was the homicide rate, we had already begun publishing the names and ages of those who died and could see that so many were Black males younger than 30. There were the public school problems. I remember the important thing for us was hearing the voices of young Black men, and hearing from them, not just us talking about the issues.

One of the biggest changes was when Richmond decided to move to an elected mayor form of government. At the time it was such a huge deal, that we’d have mayors we could elect. And there was no system set up to host the debates and so we saw

There is one thing I deeply regret about my time there. The culture of the place, and I bought into it entirely, was way too gullible and way too accepting of the police narrative of anything. We thought of ourselves as skeptics, we thought of ourselves as doubters. But for some reason, we never applied that same level of skepticism when the police said this happened, or that person is definitely guilty of this thing. Sure, we asked them questions and we pushed them about certain things but we just assumed they were right. I think we really missed some opportunities to do some good things. I was proud of things then that I’m not proud of now. Now I see, oh, that’s the story they wanted us to tell.

Counting the years I freelanced, I worked for Style, maybe 10 years. It formed me as a journalist, not always in good ways, but it certainly formed me. It was the most rewarding and difficult and infuriating experience. You can’t ask for a better job than to work with a small team of really smart, opinionated, talented people who have a common goal. You really can’t, and that’s what we had.

2000s

Scott Bass

NEWS EDITOR: 2003-2013

I recall having a lot of freedom to pursue important stories. When I was there, we weren’t big on investigative stories in the traditional sense, but we challenged the leadership in the city, particularly the business community, which had taken on a sort of paternalistic role politically, and that was significant.

We had a nice mix of pop culture, food and arts, music and solid journalism. We also played an important role in covering the city’s charter change a few years after I got there, to a mayor elected at large. When Wilder became mayor, it was a such a big moment for the city.

When I think of Style’s influence, I think of the Power List, which we started a few years after I got there. At first it was tough going, I think some people were taken aback by it, and not a lot of people wanted to participate initially. But within a few years, it had become kind of integral to Style’s brand. I recall how it was hard to get people to come into the studio for photos in the early going, but a year later that began to change. I recall someone calling on behalf of Jim Gilmore, the former governor, who was on the fence about coming in for a photo for the 2005 Power List. I think it might have been his wife, Roxanne, but not 100% sure. Anyhow, the individual said the governor was willing to come in for a photo, but they wanted to find out where he was on the list.

I explained that we couldn’t reveal that. She said something to the effect

of Gilmore being worried he was dead last on the list, No. 75, in kind of a joking matter. I told her I couldn’t say. (He was No. 74.)

Jason Roop

Another way that Style stood out is that it would have the nerve to take authority over a topic, or to point to things and define them. To me, one of the best illustrations of this was the Power Issue. That was a big thing for us: We decided that we would declare it in a ranking, who was the most powerful person in Richmond? Our thinking was: For people to hold those in power accountable, you have to know who they are.

When we first set it up, we did a list of 75 [people], and we had a lot of conversations about what is power … The concept of who controls resources and who has influence over resources? There was an X factor, certain names – the Ukrops, Pam Reynolds, Eugene Trani – to evaluate that, you have to look at how much power VCU has, etc. We had to have a baseline, so we made a list of over 100 people and we scored them in different areas, using our best reporting. Then we calculated it up and that gave us a first ranking. Then we laid it out, I cut the names out. You’d have to look at 1-2, 2-3, 3-4. There was a lot of work behind that, a reported ranking, where that first ranking meant something.

So then we had to write about each person on the list. A lot of these people wanted nothing to do with the list, they didn’t want to be known as having power overtly. Some people objected to the use of the term, they thought it had a negative connotation. But we went ahead and did it. After awhile, we would start to hear stories from some of these powerful people who would call each other, or their buddy, and say, “hey, I beat you, etc.” We also had a big event, or Power Forum – so it gradually became more accepted locally.

Melissa Scott Sinclair

ASSOCIATE EDITOR (REPORTER): 2001-03

ASSOCIATE EDITOR (REPORTER): 2005-06

SENIOR REPORTER: 2010-2012

I grew up in Baltimore and then attended college in Delaware, so I had never lived in the South. To me,

Dominion Energy Center

time there — because they had this great gift for spotting interesting people and finding unheard stories that needed to be told.

I also wrote (too) many stories that were quirky, goofy or just ridiculous. These are seven of my favorite headlines:

7. Cut to the Heart: Women Lead Men in City Stabbings

February 10

February 12

March17

March 19

Richmond was the South, and I was just so curious about it. I thought Sally Bell’s box lunches were the best thing ever. I was fascinated by the city’s history and by the variety of people’s experiences. I was also young and naïve, and so it took me a long time to learn all the ways Richmond’s charms concealed its crimes.

I feel like the 2000s were a time of transition for Richmond. The city had long had this reputation as a sleepy, backwater town where nothing happened, and now things were happening. Richmond had visionary artists, and exciting restaurants, and ambitious development plans. And it was beginning to reckon with its past.

During my first stint at Style, its offices were in a crummy building on Summit Avenue, back when Scotts Addition was still industrial. I’m amazed now at the size of the staff: there were probably 25 people or more. Greg Weatherford and Jason Roop were the editors, and Brandon Walters was the other full-time reporter. They all were great mentors: Brandon, especially, knew everything about Richmond. Also, she zipped all over town on a scooter, which was very daring and cool. I drove a moldy ’94 Saturn, which was not.

I fell in love with our copy editor, Rozanne Epps, who was this brilliant and hilarious octogenarian in red glasses. I’ll never forget the time she found the word “polyamory” in a cover story I wrote. It wasn’t in the AP Stylebook, so she called the Richmond Public Library reference desk to find out if it should be hyphenated.

For a young reporter, the best thing about Style is that there were no beats. You could write about anything, and so I did: I covered arts, education, nonprofits, the environment, crime, courts, City Council and the General Assembly. I would talk to anyone. I loved going out with Style’s photographers — Stephen Salpukas and Scott Elmquist, for most of my

6. Dirty Dollar-Sign Vandal Haunts Museum District Home

5. Hark! The Marty Jewell Sings

4. The Quest for the 100-Pound Catfish

3. Love Among the Thickburgers

2. Henricocalypse

1. Attack of the Cat-Faced Liquor Thieves

Chris Dovi

REPORTER: 2006- 2010

When I joined the Style Weekly staff sometime in the summer/fall of 2006, I certainly wasn’t hired to be an education reporter. It wasn’t even encouraged that I report on schools when I took the job. But I’d begun my career at the Hanover Herald-Progress in 1998 as an education reporter, and I’d continued that during my tenure at the Times-Dispatch, where I ... well, technically where I wasn’t an education reporter, either.

But it’d always been my view that if you’re really looking for where government meets people where it can really hurt, it’s on the education beat. Where things usually look rosy – cute stories about kids doing cute things, cutely - but where few people realize most of their local tax dollars go. Nearly half of them, in the case of many localities. So it’s a damn important beat to keep an eye on.

At Style, I wasn’t shocked to find tepid interest from my editors in the schools beat. Richmond’s coverage of education had eroded over the years, and not only tracking with

Stream H.R.McMASTER’S November program, The State of Play, now through January 12!

the slow, lurching death of the RT-D, which had already folded most of its education reporting under the local government reporter’s beats, even before they began their seemingly monthly binge-purge of their newsroom staff. As such, it was a particularly fertile field - an area of government and spending that’d gone largely ignored and unmonitored for a good few years.

But it still took a hot minute to convince my editors. I recall at one point, even as I was breaking what turned out to be big stories - expulsion scandals, ADA compliance issues, abuse of special education regulations that allowed RPS administration to disproportionately “diagnose” hundreds of Black boys as “mentally retarded” in spite of no medical diagnosis - my editors quietly informed me that I would be allowed only one schools-related story per issue.

T hen came Sept. 22, the night that then-Mayor Doug Wilder launched his precision assault on Richmond Public Schools, attempted with a force of more than 100 police officers, dozens of rented moving trucks, and the city’s Emergency Operations Command truck, to evict the city’s school board.

I was the first reporter on scene – I’d gotten a tip that something was up and that I might want to swing by on my way home. Sure enough, the phalanx of moving vehicles and police riot vehicles began encircling City Hall just as I arrived. I immediately called my editor, Scott Bass, who’d taken the day off with his kid to go to Paramount’s Kings Dominion. Breathlessly, I told him it was on. He didn’t initially believe me.

But it turned into a nearly endless night during which he and I teamed to provide hour-by-hour coverage - me phoning in dispatches. In between, I nearly provoked the unlawful arrest of most of the reporters on scene after I cajoled Paige Mudd, now managing editor of the RT-D, Jeremy Lazarus from the Richmond Free Press, and a citizen activist that it wasn’t legal for police to prevent us from entering City Hall to attend the emergency School Board meeting being held on the 18th floor.

By the end of the night, I was not only running news updates back and forth to Style’s [then] Scotts Addition headquarters on my Vespa, but I was also tasked by the other reporters

(stuck because of their dependency on cars) with procuring beer. Which we drank on the steps of John Marshall’s house across from City Hall while awaiting the arrival of an armed force of sheriff’s deputies deployed by Richmond District Judge Spencer to force the police officers under the authority of Wilder to stand down. It was a surreal and anticlimactic moment well after midnight (and after at least four or five PBRs) when police stepped aside and allowed the judge’s order to be executed.

But it was only the beginning of some of the most exciting schools reporting I’d ever done. FOIA requests initiated by me revealed all sorts of byzantine double-crosses between Wilder and his staff and Superintendent Deborah Jewell-Sherman and members of her staff.

Even after it all, I remember a phone call from Paul Goldman, Wilder’s former political hustler/chief of staff and longtime Virginia political wheeler-dealer, where he insisted in his thick New York whine, “Nobody caaares about schools. Nobody. It’s a political non-starter and nobody will ever run a campaign for mayor on schools.”

L o and behold, as Wilder’s tenure came to a lurching and fraught end, the campaign to replace him - pitting eventual winner Dwight Jones against City Council President-cum Wilder’s arch-enemy Bill Pantele, an army of other wannabes and - not at all ironically, Paul Goldman, schools and the business of Richmond Public Schools was front and center.

2010s

Toni McCracken

A lot of credit needs to go to Ed Slipek. He’s so positive and such a joy to work with. Everyone knows and respects him. People want Ed’s ear. He was responsible for so many solid relationships we had in the community. He and Scott Elmquist and Brent [Baldwin] worked really hard to build relationships. There have been a lot of people who have given their hearts and souls to that place. Ed is someone who deeply, deeply cared about the publication. Scott would roll out in the middle of the night to make sure we had good pictures. Brent kept it together at

the end by the skin of his teeth. He deserves a lot of credit for it being picked up and not dying.

We were rolling along pretty well until COVID hit. There were fewer and fewer people there, until it got down to just me and one other person. Obviously, two people aren’t going to sell as much. Earlier we had up to seven sales people.

Style is like the “Saturday Night Live” of local media. It’s the place people started. People like Jonah Holland, Jessica Haddad, Jay Paul, Richard Foster, Greg Weatherford, so many people. Now at Virginia Business, out of a staff of 13, five of us started out at Style. It’s interesting the impact that little magazine has had on the media world of Richmond. It is strong …

Brent Baldwin

MUSIC EDITOR: 2006-2010

ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR: 2010-2017

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/EDITOR(VPM):

2017 TO CURRENT

By the time I had taken over the editor’s chair, the writing was on the wall in terms of journalism undergoing a major shift to some new paradigm, for

many reasons. Traditional print media has been under siege for years now, partly due to technological changes with how people consume media, but primarily because of online monopolies gobbling up the lion’s share of ad revenue with more targeted advertising -- thanks to all the personal info we continually provide them so they can market us, the product.

This is when the hedge fund vultures begin to circle above, treating journalism like just another industry to be squeezed of any remaining dollars, rather than as a critical resource and tool for a functioning democracy. Things got bumpy: Style was included in the 2018 purchase of The Virginian-Pilot by Tribune Media, then still going by the regrettable name, Tronc (which someone once described as the sound of an elephant’s orgasm). This is when our day-to-day operations really began changing.

L ori Waran, our publisher, had been responsible for innovative ad campaigns and Style’s big annual events in Richmond, which got our name out there in the public. But Tribune did away with most of our events and outreach, while Lori had

to start overseeing other Virginia publications in addition to Style. We had only a couple salespeople left and they did a great job, but with no editorial staff, we couldn’t cover nearly a s much as we wanted to. Sadly, our plans to update our woefully old website were also scrapped by Tribune, who froze spending.

The mantra I’ve probably experienced the most over the past 26 years working in journalism has been: “Do more with less.” Not having any fulltime news reporters really changes the trajectory. By this point, you could say Style was beginning to focus on arts and culture and food, as well as the back opinion page, which really was an outlet for different community voices. Ever since then, we’ve relied heavily on a revolving stable of local freelance writers: Folks like Eddie Slipek, Rich Griset, Don Harrison, Karen Newton, Peter McElhinney, Mary Scott Hardaway, Leah Small, Carol Wolf, David Timberline – newcomers Davy Jones, Wyatt Gordon and Chuck Bowen – the list is always expanding and contracting, as people come and go.

Then, just when we were getting

used to Tribune’s new bureaucracy, it was sold in May 2021 for $600 billion to Alden Global Capital, a New York hedge fund roundly feared in journalism circles for cutting costs and eliminating editorial jobs, all in the name of “saving journalism.” They lived up to the hype from day one, immediately offering buyouts to editorial staff across the company, including Style The four of us who were left said no to the buyouts, deciding to roll the dice. That’s when I started searching on my own, outside of work, to find a local buyer who might be able to step in and save Style Weekly. We made it through one more hot, wild Richmond summer before being unceremoniously shuttered by Alden in September 2021. At that point, conversations with nonprofit VPM began to ramp up. They had an online news team, and infrastructure that was already in place to fold us into their existing framework. The main difference now is that Style is online only, and we’ve been tasked with focusing on arts, culture and food. The fulltime staff today is just myself and our award-winning photographer, Scott Elmquist, and the cast of local

freelancers, though we get some assistance from fulltime VPM employees. We’ve been getting to know the VPM team and figuring out where we can collaborate and how Style can continue to have an impact, as we finish up this 40th year of publishing.

Recently, VPM conducted some in-person focus groups where readers told us how much they missed our print issues and the ease of picking up the paper to learn what was happening. They also want Style to maintain its own independent voice and continue offering alternative viewpoints, or a counterweight to the established daily media. Scott and I were proud to hear that our readers still believed in our original mission.

I just hope that, moving forward, the public will support Richmond media outlets while demanding they do the kind of important, fully developed, investigative journalism that is desperately needed. I hope we don’t forget what that looks like.

Jason Roop

I can’t imagine the stories that are going untold right now in Richmond. A lot of things are happening behind

closed doors that we will never know about. The reporters out there working for TV stations and other outlets are doing the best they can. But Style would step in where the prevailing thought might have been -- this is something where everybody is supposed to cheerlead. Like the Performing Arts Center. Just come along with us, because we’re making Richmond better and we know what’s best. And we would ask, “Is this best? If so, why? We would ask them to explain it, we would want to know more details about the financing, what taxpayers would be [on the hook for]. We did this with all kinds of things: the stadium in Shockoe Bottom, Navy Hill, those types of projects.

If you compare [the responses] to Navy Hill and the earlier Performing Arts Center, my sense is that today, there is more pushback for public debate and critical thinking. And I think Style played an important role [over the years] in helping to push for questioning on these kinds of projects involving public money.

Melissa Scott Sinclair

I always was, in my heart, a

features writer and not a hard news reporter. So the stories I love best, the ones that have really stuck with me, are the ones about Richmond people and places that are gone. Like Tommie Reavis, a Vietnam vet who owned a barbershop on Brookland Park Boulevard. The window was crowded with cacti, and on the walls were deer heads and a poster from his old band: Tommie Reavis and the Muffins. A chess game was always going, and cigarette smoke was always swirling in the air. Tommie liked to hold forth on Richmond politics, and I liked to listen. He died a few years ago – I saw the cacti turning yellow, and I knew.

In 2012, I wrote “Last Chance High,” about the Performance Learning Centers run by Richmond Communities in Schools. This was a program that intervened when high schoolers were on the verge of dropping out, and got more than 95% of them to graduate.

One student I met was 20-year-old Michelle Kelly. Michelle was pregnant; she had nowhere to live and no one looking out for her. The program staff helped her get on the waiting list for public housing. Michelle was

shy, soft-spoken, and an eloquent writer. I remember her radiant smile and quiet determination. “I have a lot of different things I want to do,” she told me.

I was pregnant too, and so I felt this kinship with Michelle. I bought her some onesies with lions on them. I always thought I would follow up with her one day, see how she was doing. Then, in 2014, Michelle was visiting her grandmother on East Roanoke Street when the father of her son showed up. He shot Michelle, her 2-year-old son Keytrell, and her friend Andreena Gary before taking his own life. I don’t know why he did it.

Michelle’s story shouldn’t have ended like that. She should have become a registered nurse, like she planned. Her son should have turned 10 this year, just like my daughter.

When I remember my time at Style, I’m grateful so many Richmonders let me hear and share their stories. But mostly I think of all the stories I never got to tell.

Editor’s note: This oral history was edited and condensed for the special print edition. To read the longer version, visit styleweekly.com.

THE CAMERA eye

The images

of award-winning photographer, Scott Elmquist , have been at the heart of Style Weekly for over 20 years.

Here are some that stood out.

When I selected images for the 40th anniversary issue, I tried to pick photographs that resonated the most through the years with Style Weekly readers.

The photos illustrate the breadth of our coverage: A young boxer full of promise practicing in an abandoned elementary school; synchronized swimmers watching a performance by ballerinas; a girl posing proudly with her horse at the State Fair of Virginia; a girl being baptized in the James River; and more recently, a young Black teenager with the words “I am my ancestors’ wildest dream” on his T-shirt, playing basketball in the shadow of the Robert E. Lee monument.

T he beauty of being a photojournalist in Richmond for the past 23 years is that I feel like I’ve seen it all. All the major politicians have campaigned here, Hurricane Isabel roared through, Gaston flooded

Shockoe Bottom, some 20,000 Second Amendment supporters descended on the Virginia State Capitol, the Confederate statues came down, and more recently, a global pandemic shuttered the city. In addition to being there for the big moments, Style also specialized in covering hyper local stories such as the Latino community living in trailer parks on Highway 1, a homeless couple sleeping in a tent during winter along the James River, or people caring for an overgrown and mostly forgotten Black cemetery. When I started in 1999, we were still shooting film and developing prints in the darkroom. Today photos are made with digital cameras and the images can be sent immediately via Wi-Fi through iPhones. Often we used medium format film cameras to produce the weekly covers. Despite technological advances, the photographer’s mission remains the same: Make images with maximum impact that truthfully depict the situation. Hopefully, the images you see here accomplished that mission.

Amour Dau, 12, attended the Families Belong

Together protest at the Virginia State Capitol on June 30, 2018. The rally was in response to the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the border. Amour’s mother fled war-torn Sudan 17 years ago.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S

NOTE: In the sea of protest signs, I’m always looking for that one face that tells the story of an event. Amour stuck out among the hundreds of faces protesting that day. I purposely used a shallow depth of field to soften the background so the whole emphasis was her face and eyes. After I made this portrait her mother told me the reason they were at the event. She said without America’s immigration policies she wouldn’t be here and neither would her children, so they came out in support of the families affected by the administration policies at the border.

Kendall Lands, 9, from Gloucester, competes in equine events at the Virginia State Fair with her horse Snowman in September, 2016.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: As I wandered the fairgrounds looking for interesting characters to photograph and interview, I happened upon Kendall Lands, with her pink outfit covered with embroidery. It was high noon and the light was harsh, so I asked her to bring her horse under the awning of a nearby building. While she grabbed the lead and looked at me, Snowman looked away and everything came together. Kendall fits perfectly into the space at the horses’ shoulders, while Snowman’s perked-up ears, the geometric bars in the background, her hands on the lead and her expression, make for a portrait of a happy young equestrian.

Leah Mei Ward, 8, is baptized in the James River by Rev. Jim Somerville on July 17, 2011. Somerville revived the tradition of James River baptisms three years earlier when he became the senior pastor of First Baptist Church at Monument Avenue and the Boulevard. Founded in 1780, First Baptist was among the first churches in Richmond. River baptisms have long been part of the church’s 231-year history.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Of all the people baptized that day, Leah’s expression was the most serene. Just before she went under the water, a swell formed for an instant. I was lucky to get that moment where her expression is calm as her small hand grips Somerville’s wrist.

Gulmira Elham, 20, a Virginia Commonwealth University student listens to remarks during the Muslim ban and border wall protest at VCU on Jan. 29, 2017. The ban was proposed by the Trump administration. Gulmira Elham, 20, Student, Virginia Commonwealth University “ What made me resist that day was that, as a first-generation immigrant, I was scared and felt abandoned. After the event, I found hope and had belief in people for all of us. Also I learned that Muslims are not alone and we are all in this together.”

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE:

Elham was on the cover of the 2017 Richmond of the Year issue representing the resistance, everyday Richmonders who decided to stand up and fight back.

Melachi Cobbs flies high for the dunk at the Robert E. Lee Monument on Juneteenth, June 19, 2020.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: I had just come off a week of furlough and was eager to begin documenting the protests again. That evening, there was a Juneteenth celebration happening at the Robert E. Lee Monument in Richmond, Virginia. The grounds of Lee Circle were busy. Most people were gathered on the South side of the monument listening to speakers. I left the crowd, circled the monument and saw the young boys playing pickup. Just then the sun peeked through the clouds and provided great evening light. The

hoop was aligned perfectly with the heavily graffitied monument. I knew when I made this image I was witnessing a sea change in Richmond’s history, as a young boy wearing an “I Am My Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams” shirt soared high on one of the most hallowed grounds of Confederate legacy. Only 10 years earlier, I had photographed hundreds of people in the exact same spot with Confederate flags, at a Sons of Confederate Veterans Heritage Rally, so I never thought I would see this moment.

Nolan Delano protests the Michael Brown decision at the John Marshall on Nov. 25, 2014. Nearly 500 people gathered in downtown Richmond to protest a Ferguson, Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict a police officer who shot dead unarmed Black teen Michael Brown in August. The protest gathered at the John Marshall Courts Building, where demonstrators held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and unfurled a banner that stated “Police are the Enemy.” Dozens of Richmond police officers watched from across the street, eventually blocking off a lane of traffic to allow the protesters more room.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S

NOTE: The steps of the courthouse were completely filled with protesters and they spilled into the street. The light was fading fast when I spotted Nolan. I used an 80-200 mm lens at its maximum with a 2.8 aperture to get this image.

Vietnam veteran Jeff Talley on Broad Street in March 2009. He told Style: “One day after a night of drinking, I woke up and didn’t recognize where I was. That’s when I heard the low audible voice. That’s God. He said go to the sound. I ended up near St. Joseph’s Villa. I found a pay phone and called 911. The operator said help is coming. The cop put me in the front seat of the car. I hadn’t had a bath in a month. He took me to Richmond Outreach Center in Midlothian. I had been drinking every day for two and a half years and he saved my life. Now I am a straight-up, God-fearing man. I know God is coming. The Bible says like a thief in the night. I just hope he gets here soon.”

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Talley was not only a great subject visually but was full of beautiful quotes about his life. We spent about three hours together on a chilly March morning before I asked him to stand for a portrait. The sun was out so I asked him to stand in a narrow alley on Broad Street to avoid the harsh light. I have always loved the vulnerable look in his eyes, the American flag patch and his goatee that sweeps to the left. This image won first place in the Virginia Press Association’s portrait category.

Allan Melton, 9, cries during a vigil for his father and uncle who were murdered in a double homicide on May 28, 2006 in Church Hill. Several children were in the house when the men were shot; 78 people were murdered in Richmond in 2006.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: The image was named the best news photo in the state of Virginia in 2006 by the Virginia News Photographer’s Association. I had always hoped an image this powerful would bring about change. But 16 years later, nothing much has changed in Richmond in regard to gun violence. Scenes like this are still commonplace at murder vigils in Richmond.

The River City Magnolias performed at the Festival of the River on Brown’s Island on June 9, 2018.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: I intentionally left my regular camera gear at home so I could attend the event with my wife and daughter. However, when I saw the Magnolias lined up watching other performers, I couldn’t resist using my iPhone to make this image, which fell neatly together with matching swimsuits, sunglasses and yellow swim caps set against the red tents as they watched ballerinas dance on steps above me.

North Side in 2012.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: Jermoine was one of the friendliest kids I’d met in a while. He always seemed to be smiling, so I knew he would be a good subject for a portrait. I lit him with a portable light kit to make the image dramatic. But Jermoine would start giggling between shots. Afterward, he shook my hand and asked, “How’d we do, Mr. Scott?” Royster, now 21, boxes as a pro, after a 90-14 amateur record.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTE: In 2012, Style named the women’s rights activists as Richmonders of the Year. Style’s News editor Scott Bass wrote in the Jan. 1, 2013 issue: “ The images are difficult to shake. In an otherwise quiet and apathetic city, on a mild and overcast Saturday afternoon, state troopers wearing riot gear — helmets, body armor, shields and assault rifles — drag more than two dozen women and men from the steps of the State Capitol. That women’s rights demonstration on March 3, a protest

Jermoine Royster, 11, stands in a boxing ring in an abandoned elementary school on the city’s

Virginia Capitol police arrest Camille Rudney and her sister Sarah Rudney on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol during a women’s rights protest on March 3, 2012. Thirty-one people in total were arrested.

of General Assembly overreach, led to 30 arrests and troubling déjà vu, conjuring Vietnam marches and civil rights rallies of bygone eras. The photos seem eerily out of context. Could this really be Richmond, circa 2012”?

COMPILED BY Brent Baldwin

You’re Very Richmond If…

If you’re a longtime reader of Style, you know this tune.

One of our most popular, recurring issues since the early days has been the “You’re Very Richmond If …” feature, which began in 1985 by asking readers to submit their thoughts on how to complete that sentence.

The contest tapped into those special, deep-down feelings Richmonders have for their beloved city – some good, some bad, some fun loving, some utterly flabbergasted. And it did so, usually, in a lighthearted way. Though times have indeed changed.

It’s been around seven years since we last ran this feature. And readers still regularly ask us: “When’s it coming back?” Well, here you go.

A special shout-out goes to longtime reader Victor Gottlieb, a self-professed huge fan of “You’re Very Richmond If …” He sent us way more submissions than any other person (using many emails, we might add). But he had some good ones, so we decided to give him his own special little section of this feature: the first annual Victor Gottlieb category, or “Crown Vic” as I like to call to it. Thanks, Victor.

To everyone else, we hope you get a laugh or two.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY Matt Schmidt READER

SUBMISSIONS

Movers and shakers

You moved away from Richmond and still constantly talk about Richmond. – WES MCQUILLEN

You tried to move away but came back. – TIFFANY JANA

If someone asks you, “How far away is that from here?” Your answer is always “about 20 minutes.” – LAUREN DUNN

You still don’t know where the new location of the State Fair of Virginia is, even though it’s been held out there for over 10 years. – JULIETTE HIGHLAND

You moved here from NOVA. – LAUREN DUNN

A popular Style Weekly feature from the early days where readers tell us how they really feel about the River City.

Food, glorious food

You can’t help but judge anyone with Hellmans in their fridge. – LAUREN DUNN

The mere mention of snow causes grocery stores to sell out of milk and bread–within two hours. – GLYNIS BOYD HUGHES

You mark the first day of summer not on Memorial Day, not on the summer solstice, but on the day you have your first Hanover tomato.

– GARY L. FLAKE

You try to order a sailor sandwich in a real New York deli. – ANDREW HUNT

Your favorite Thanksgiving tradition is to tell out-of-town relatives that in fact, the first Thanksgiving took place in Virginia, not at Plymouth.

– NATALIE VOSS NEVILLS

You know rainbow cookies are always appropriate for any occasion. Kids parties, church luncheons, PTA meetings, weddings, funerals, divorce proceedings, car inspections, jury duty… Seriously. Any. Occasion. – LAUREN DUNN

Your ham biscuits have no biscuits, they have White House rolls. – LEE ANN NEWMAN

Your early 20s resume reads like a Fan food and wine tour. – SPENCER TURNER

Your idea of getting engaged in local issues is commenting in an RVA Craft Brew Facebook group. – SPENCER TURNER

You need to go to Third Street Diner for a fried doughnut as part of a late night out.

– AUDREY KANE

You complain about “big boxing” rva while sitting on the downtown Whole Foods bal-

cony eating brisket from the buffet.

– SPENCER TURNER

You worked at a bar with someone who you now see at PTA meetings (most likely Buddy’s or Sidewalk) – ADRIENNE

KIRKPATRICK

Ahhh, memories

You remember when Southside was just Southside ... not Manchester, Bellemeade, etc. Same with Church Hill. – GLYNIS BOYD HUGHES

You remember when Short Pump Town Center was nothing more than a field used for weekend nighttime keg parties. – TONY FARRELL

You still call Dominion Vepco, you remember June Jubilee, you paid a nickel on the Nickel Bridge, and you’ve been to Station Break.

– APPLE BROWN BETTY

You think that a slice of salty country ham on a Ukrop’s White House roll is some sort of delicacy.

– DAVE BISHOP

You liked the old Huguenot Bridge more than the new Huguenot Bridge. –

TONY FARRELL

You slept on the floor at the Science Museum under the T-Rex as a Girl/Boy Scout.

–

JENNIFER GUILD

You saw Dave Mathews at the Flood Zone.

– MICHELLE MAYERS

You’re idea of the “good ole days” involves collectively drinking from a bottle of warm malt liquor (preferably Olde E) in a brown paper bag down at the James River while walking barefoot through rebar, raw sewage overflow, non-descript potential “Unsolved Murders” evidence and the shards of broken bottles of Olde E, decked out in nothing but a pair of cut-off jean shorts, a lingering neck tan and some Rastafari beads you bought at Bohannon’s or Unicus that still smell of sandalwood, patchouli and cloves, with a light note of the Camel cigarette butts you’ve had in your pocket since June.

– SPENCER TURNER

You refer to the Altria Theater as the Mosque, have more than two black/gray tattoos, and lose your mind when Avail starts talking about a reunion show.

– NINA MARINO

You can remember when Richmond had many peculiarities and actual things that made its denizens different instead of a NoVA lookalike, brewery-addled, ugly million dollar box condo,

overpriced, gentrified mess none of [us] can afford to stay in or, ironically, leave because the surrounding counties are the same (but with slightly lower property taxes). – LAUREN

DELANEY

You know it’s called Richmond and not RVA. – TAYLOR

SULLIVAN

Driving and crying …

You think that having to use your car’s turn signals is a sign of government overreach. – PAULA

MARGOLIS

You get mad when someone parks in front of your house on a public street. – EMMY

SMITH READY

You can make a (legal) left-hand turn on Broad after Boulevard. – BETH DETREVILLE

You are a tiny woman living off Grove Avenue and you get a 10,000 ton vehicle to carry your one child. – CEDRIC

GIESE

You keep forgetting that the Nickel Bridge doesn’t cost a nickel anymore. – TONY

FARRELL

You miss listening to Alden Aaroe and Millard the Mallard on WRVA. – EMMY SMITH READY

You went on a school field trip to Phillip Morris.

– ALICIA AMOS

Your street’s antiquated sewage pipe has created a sinkhole down your street.

– KRISTA CAMETAS JONES

Assorted hits

You never, ever complain about the humidity.

– TONY FARRELL

You think there can never be too many azaleas in someone’s yard. –

TONY FARRELL

Your style is inspired by the chef from “The Bear.” – TAYLOR SULLIVAN

You never question why so many landmarks are named after Jefferson, who was not born here, did not die here, and whose main residence is a couple of hours away. – NATALIE

VOSS NEVILLS

You have strong opinions about the demarcation of the Near West End. – JULIETTE

HIGHLAND

Your Richmond accent sounds like somebody who just woke up from a nap. After coming home from the dentist. With a mouth full of novocaine. –

TONY FARRELL

You know someone who worked for Style Weekly. – MARTHA ANDERSON

You submit an item to this contest. – BILLY RICE

RVA all day

You’re aware of the fecal content of the James River, but it doesn’t stop you from swimming.

You once bought a rose from Dirt Woman and he leaned in and whispered that he’s having your baby.

You actually Google searched whether Richmond has flying squirrels.

You believe duct tape and WD-40 can pretty much fix anything.

You think we were better off before rotary phones.

You remember where you were when Gov. Ralph Northam attempted his moonwalk.

You have a relative with an accent that pronounces the words “enormous porpoises” as “ah-NAH-mus POH-poses.”

You’ve been to the vampire’s tomb in Hollywood at midnight.

You don’t remember any of the times you went to ODC after last call.

The First Annual Victor Gottlieb Section

When you were a child, your folks read you “You’re Very Richmond If” entries instead of bedtime stories.

You participated in this contest over the past 40 years and you suddenly realized it’s trying to outlive you.

You have written and saved a stack of “Very Richmond If” entries for 10 years, for this moment, but none of them are relevant.

You’re a “Very Richmond If” super fan and when you die, you want your tombstone to read: “Very Richmond Stiff.”

You just learned about personal pronouns and yours is going to be: “Bubba.”

You named your fraternal twins “Nutzy” and “Nutasha.”

You think crop circles are evidence of alien monument removal.

You want to see VPM sponsor a “Very Richmond If” TV special.

You think Big Bird bought Style Weekly.

When you order pizza from Mary Angela’s, you can’t help but think about Maya Angelou.

EDITORIAL SUBMISSIONS

You love Southern biscuits and corn muffins, but sometimes, you just want a piece of bread.

Your mayonnaise has a mascot named Tubby, but you don’t think it’s fattening.

For added pain protection, you eat a big serving of “numbing peppers” at Peter Chang’s before you go to the dentist.

You think bacon is a condiment.

You are excited about new job opportunities associated with a Richmond casino and you are learning how to impersonate Elvis

You want your entries to convince Style Weekly that this contest has not become cliché and should be reinstated annually but all you can think of are Ukrop’s jokes.

You know this contest only comes around once every ten years and you’re checking the life expectancy tables to see if you’ll be here for the next one.

You’re dead, but your heirs are obligated to submit your leftover “Very Richmond If” entries from the last contest.

It’s nice to laugh, but for some, you know their “Very Richmond If” entry is also their epitaph.

You remember when RTD reporter Mark Holmberg looked like he was the second guitarist in Twisted Sister.

You get that warm feeling the first evening you see lightnin’ bugs glowing in the backyard, lookin’ for love.

You called your early cable box with the long tether to the TV “the clicker.” And you stuck toothpicks it to get free movie channels.

You spent all morning arguing on Facebook over long gone Confederate statues and whether removing them is “erasing history.”

Your addiction to Twitter has made it so you can’t read one page of a book without falling asleep.

A few times a day, you think these fragile, whiny kids today have it way too easy. Then you remember the planet is starting to combust and their future is a burning hellscape.

You moved to Colorado.

Fashion queens

You’re rebelling by not getting a tattoo.

You miss the simple days when your bowtie was a clear sign of your hatred for hippies.

When Need Supply closed, you panicked for a second, not knowing where you’d be able to find a basic, plain T-shirt for $120.

On Easter, your whole block in the Fan looks like a rejected ad for a J. Crew outlet.

You have an embarrassing early photo from Olan Mills where your head is like a looming planet above your tiny, discarded body.

You still don’t understand why kids these days think it looks cool to flash the middle finger in every photo. You blame Eminem.

You wear your pants so low and baggy that your girlfriend said it looks like you have a full diaper.

Your friend in San Francisco says it’s common knowledge that males from Richmond all look the same. They’re born wearing khaki pants – and they die in them.

You remember buying Duckheads at Bartleby’s when you were 12. But you would prefer not to.

Grub Love

You’re still in your feelings about Mamma Zu’s closing. Too soon to talk about it.

You think there should be more Corn Dog trucks that also sell cheap wine.

You once actually tried the line, “Life is like a Sally Bell box of upside-down cupcakes,” and the stranger ran away before you could finish.

You wonder what ever happened to those cute piglets on the old sign from Bill’s barbecue.

You think that white sauce is a traditional TexMex condiment.

You get aroused by a heavy box of Ukrop’s fried chicken.

In high school, you got your fake ID at Checks Cashed In and, while you never used a fake name as stupid as McLovin – it was still plenty stupid.

You had a childhood birthday at Farrell’s Ice Cream shop over at Regency Mall and had the crap scared out of you by the sudden drum-beating, air-raid sirens and loud, demonic chanting of “It’s all for you, Damien.”

Your first underage experience with alcohol involved either: 1. Boone’s Farm, 2. Mickey’s (big mouth) fine malt liquor, or 3). Thunderbird fortified wine.

You worked at a Stuffy’s Sub shop during your worst acne period.

When you were a kid you sucked the juice out of honeysuckle flowers. Now you’re too worried about Roundup.

You got a doctor’s prescription for marijuana gummies because of a bad back, then got so high that you passed out awkwardly on your sofa, actually injuring your back.

You can still taste the slightly burnt underbelly of that Orange Julius pizza from Cloverleaf Mall.

You went to High’s Ice Cream after Cotillion.

You miss the days when the Bamboo played the Faces music really loud.

Flicks and giggles

You live in fear of VCU buying the old Strange Matter/Nanci Raygun/Twisters spot.

You show up 30 minutes early to any event at the University of Richmond so you can find it. All the buildings look the same, they’re named for the same four families, and no app or map can help you.

You never listened to GWAR but made a pilgrimage to Oderus Urungus’ grave.

Skillet once lit you on fire during a show at Hole in the Wall.

You got a little teary when Olivia Newton-John died, because you use to groove to her song “Magic” at Golden Skateworld in the early ‘80s. Until “Disco Duck” would inevitably ruin the vibe.

A tiny piece of the Byrd Theatre ceiling has dropped into your popcorn.

You could name all the famous musicians who have worked at Plan 9 Records if you wanted to –you just don’t right now.

You’ve taken a leak beside Bruce Horsnby at the Flood Zone while trying to casually whistle, “That’s Just the Way It Is.”

You still call the Altria Theatre “the Mosque” not by accident, but with conviction.

You were there during the legendary “I want to lick your taint” catcall during a Hanson show at The National.

You have a friend who got busted the last time the Grateful Dead played the Richmond Coliseum.

You’ve bathed in the mystical healing waters beneath the Byrd Theatre.

Media mavens

You ended your subscription to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, noting to the person over the phone that less journalism and higher prices aren’t strong selling points.

Your email is full of local newsletters you never read.

After reading about another horrific murder from a distant state on your local TV’s social media page – you exhibit your moral superiority by posting all the twisted ways you would torture and kill the suspect.

You constantly complain that local media is at an all-time low, but you’ve never once considered buying a subscription to anything. The internet is free, duh.

You spend most your time complaining and bashing local media online while simultaneously posting stories by a media outlets owned by out-oftown bigwigs.

RVA Weather

You panic easily.

You make fun of people who panic easily because of the weather.

You’ve been publicly shamed and proven incompetent by weather forecaster Dave Tolleris of WxRisk.com.

You’ve screamed obscenities at a pre-recorded phone message from Dominion Energy.

You belong to a prayer circle run by a local television anchor and you say “bless you” to people who upset you.

You charge up all your electrical devices before every storm and eat all the expensive stuff in your fridge – and the power stays on.

You’ve been watching that one tree that seems to be leaning a lot.

You abandoned your car and walked to Phil’s Continental Lounge during Gaston flooding and asked for a shot of tequila. Blanco. C hilled.

More driving and crying

You think you drive really well while texting with one hand.

You see anything west of Parham as the outskirts of Northern Virginia.

You use your turning signal, usually a few seconds after you’ve completed the turn.

Your ride has already communicated to the world that you’re vain, before anyone can even glance down to read your vanity plate.

Your vanity plate is a pornographic inside joke.

You slap the inside roof of your car and yell “Bless ya, Paw Paw!” every time your truck drives over roadkill.

When trying to turn into busy traffic, you slowly inch your monstrosity of an SUV out,

blocking all oncoming traffic and forcing people to let you enter traffic. Then you look in your rear view mirror at your reflection and make a noise like “Rrrawwwhgh.” Because you’re a monster.

You loudly curse at bikers for taking up too much road space and not obeying traffic laws.

You loudly curse at automobile drivers for taking up too much road space and not obeying traffic laws.

Last time you were driving at night in Richmond, your girlfriend kept asking, “what are you goddamning about?” and you suddenly realized that would be a pretty good inscription for your tombstone.

On blind turns, you keep your car straddling the double white line so that oncoming traffic can experience their lives flashing before their eyes.

W hen you dream, the Huguenot Bridge is still a lime green, rusted Porta Potty color.

The people in the vehicle behind you can clip their dog’s nails, check the weather in several cities, and stream an entire episode of “The Golden Girls,” during the time it takes you to parallel park your car in Carytown.

Ongoing Developments

by Edwin Slipek

How can the passage of forty years be read through the lens of spaces and places that have both changed and invigorated Richmond’s streetscapes and skyline?

T he adaptive reuse of old structures has created homes for a new generation of urban dwellers. Virginia Commonwealth University continues to spread its campus across downtown and the lower Fan district. And thinking and policy has evolved on how public housing can be provided.

The past four decades have delivered excellent examples of urban design and architecture. But other needs and projects are still being ignored, even after several decades. Here are five opportunities from the public and private sectors that still await resolution, and ten projects that warrant kudos, if not celebration.

▼ Downtown arts district

It’s a loose collection of galleries and theaters, but the arts district stretch along Broad Street, between Fourth and Belvidere streets, has become a popular destination for restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. There’s even a Quirk hotel. What made this transformation possible was the collection of surviving mid-sized commercial buildings and the use of historic preservation credits.

Kitchens at Reynolds

2500 Nine Mile Rd.

Our city can boast few modern structures that are visual knockouts, but the 1968 Markel Building near Willow Lawn is a mid-century classic. More recently, Richmonders Kathie and Steve Markel (his father was behind the flying-saucer-like structure) have underwritten the architecturally heading-turning Kitchens at Reynolds in North Church Hill. The building, designed by O’Neill McVoy Architects, houses the culinary programs of J. S. Reynolds Community College. A new neighborhood grocery store nearby is an essential part of the development package.

▲ The Locks at Haxall Point

Byrd Street at 12th Street

Richmond does little to acknowledge its intriguing and rich industrial past; consider the rise and fall during the 1990s of the sprawling Valentine Riverside complex at Tredegar or tepid attempts to restore the James River and Kanawha Canal. But at the Locks development, the restoration of an Italianate-style tobacco building, a former 20th century Reynolds Metals aluminum plant, and the construction of residential buildings gel together to deliver a prime example of combining past and contemporary.

Capitol Square

The 18th century public square looks like the third ring of hell these days, as a tunnel connecting the Capitol with the new General Assembly Building remains under construction. But the Capitol itself received a brilliant restoration and underground expansion in 2007. Meanwhile, new monuments to the civil rights movement, indigenous peoples, and Virginia women of note – along with the removal of Senator Harry F. Byrd – have refreshed the once Confederate-centric story line.

A survey of design projects or neighborhoods deserving recognition, and a few in need of attention.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT ELMQUIST

Altria Theater Corner of North Laurel and West Main streets

This glamorous and architecturally exotic auditorium has undergone a number of renovations since its construction in 1929. But the intelligent makeovers in recent decades of the luxurious-looking interior have returned the theater to its original glory. However, what happened to the mighty Wurlizer organ?

▼ Brown’s Island

The formation of this central public park commenced when the city swapped acreage of its Gambles Hill Park with Ethyl Corp. for Brown’s Island. The now-restored Tredegar Ironworks buildings house the American Civil War Museum and a U.S. National Parks Service visitor center. The island’s greensward and immensely popular T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial pedestrian and cycling bridge make this a jewel in the region’s recreational and cultural crown.

▲ Capital Trail and Low Line

Despite a Richmond visit by their majesties, the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, the 400th anniversary in 2007 of Virginia’s settlement by the English was an underwhelming occasion. But a lasting monument inspired by the observance was the linking by a pedestrian and cycling roadway of Virginia’s three state capitals, Jamestown, Williamsburg and Richmond. The 52-mile Capital Trail, which mostly runs parallel to Route 5, is a world-class project. The overlaying 5.5 -mile Low Line is the handsomely landscaped urban connector of the trail with Capitol Square.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT ELMQUIST

Monroe Park

The lower Fan district

Much of Monroe Park’s character has always been provided by the architectural quality of surrounding buildings. These include the Altria Theater, Grace & Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Sacred Heart Cathedral, the Prestwould condominiums, and various newer VCU buildings. The park itself, however, was a wretched situation for most of the past few decades until recently. For a few years now, it has been an elegant centerpiece of the campus. Thoughtful landscaping, light curation, activity areas, and well-lit pathways combine to create an almost Parisian charm.

The Valentine

1015 East Clay St.

The Valentine, a museum and center for local history located in the heart of downtown’s VCUHealth complex, perhaps better than any organization, exemplifies positive resilience during the past 40 years. Blessed with invaluable collections (including the print and photo archives of this paper) and a long history of service, the privately owned and funded organization attempted a highly ambitious physical expansion in the 1990s when it developed a second campus near the riverfront at the former Tredegar Ironworks. When this failed magnificently, Valentine’s leadership faced questions about economic survival. But the place not only survived, it flourished.

Many of the region’s museums and cultural organizations are doing superb and important work during the fraught, current period of re-evaluating the cultural and historical landscape, but the Valentine regularly punches above its weight.

Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School for Government and International Studies

1000 N. Lombardy St.

Richmond’s once all-Black Maggie L. Walker High School was a beloved institution from the 1930s until closing in the 1970s. Then, for more than 20 years, the building sat empty and contributed psychologically to the decline of the Carver and Newtown neighborhoods. In 2001, the dramatically restored landmark was reopened as a regional public high school for gifted students. Its presence is not only an important center of learning for the city, but it has sparked rejuvenation of the surrounding area.

IN NEED OF ATTENTION

▲ Blues Armory

600 E. Marshall St

It’s a disgrace. The fortress-like, architecturally-distinctive, 122year old Richmond Light Infantry Blues Armory, which once served as a fire station, and the food court and offices for the former Sixth Street Marketplace, is shuttered and choked by chain link fencing. This rusting sight greets thousands of visitors to downtown hotels and the Greater Richmond Convention Center. It shows a lack of civic pride and common sense that the exemplary landmark hasn’t been at least cleaned up.

Richmond public housing communities

Including Creighton, Fairfield, Gilpin and Mosby courts

The executive suite at the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority has been a rapidly revolving door during the past four decades. Meanwhile, as local rents and home prices rise, social, economic and racial justice issues surrounding public housing heighten [and national media has taken notice of disparate health outcomes in overheated areas of Richmond that lack trees, shade and air conditioning].

As RRHA seeks to shrink and redistribute the populations of these communities, it should incorporate stronger environmental design standards into the new residences. For 40 years, there’s been a dearth of landscaping or meaningful outdoor living space

Manchester

Defined by Semmes Avenue, the James River, Maury Street and Cowardin Avenue

No local neighborhood has been all-but decimated, and then rebuilt so dramatically during the past 40 years. The floodwall is visually brutal and new housing structures exude the charm of stacked shipping containers. Too little

thought and monetary out-lay has gone to traffic and pedestrian infrastructure, green spaces, recreation outlets, and historic interpretation of what was once an independent city.

Richmond Coliseum and Arthur Ashe, Jr. Athletic Center

The Diamond is apparently going to be rebuilt. The Richmond Kickers have brightened up weathered City Stadium with coats of paint and savvy soccer promotions. But why was the Richmond Coliseum, a grand facility with a dramatic interior and terrific sight lines, shut down suddenly some years ago? Wasn’t it essential as a convention lure? And didn’t we once enjoy Elvis, the P. T. Barnum and Bailey Circus, Tina Turner and Elton John here? Across town, folks aren’t sure who has authority with the Arthur Ashe Jr. Athletic Center. Am I missing something? Who decided that major in-town public sports facilities are dinosaurs?

▼ Greater Richmond Transit Company Transfer Plaza

North Ninth Street between Marshall and Leigh Streets

Much is made of the GRTC Pulse route that runs from Rockett’s Landing to Willow Lawn. Still, while riders may transfer to other buses along the route, precious few locals ride the bus by choice. This has much to do with the lack of such rider amenities as signage, shelter and benches. The downtown central transfer point, preposterously called a “plaza,” is currently being relocated to a North Ninth Street surface parking lot. Expect little.

Editor’s note: Edwin Slipek was a former Style weekly senior contributing editor and wrote architectural criticism for 32 years.

For a more comprehensive list, go to styleweekly.com/architecture.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT ELMQUIST

CADENCE THEATRE

By Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin

Neighborhood Hits g

From Instagram mania to sustainable workplace culture, restaurateurs Kendra Feather and John Murden look at our evolving restaurant culture.

INTERVIEWED BY Mary Scott Hardaway

Pennsylvania native Kendra Feather came to Virginia for college in the ‘90s and never looked back. Today, she owns three charming and successful neighborhood restaurants, Garnett’s Café in the Fan, The Roosevelt in Church Hill and Laura Lee’s in the South Side. Feather sold her first place, the popular vegetarian joint, Ipanema Café, in 2020—and was also a founding partner of WPA Bakery.

We caught up with Feather and her husband/business partner, John Murden, to discuss how things have changed for the couple -- and the Richmond food scene -- over the last four decades since Style began publishing food reviews, news, and in-depth profiles.

As you might expect, it’s yet another story of an industry deeply changed by technology, fast-moving cultural trends and different generational tendencies and habits.

Kendra Feather: This is ridiculous to say now, but I wanted to be a writer for Rolling Stone. I was a journalism major at VCU and I had an internship for three years at Sony Music. I worked for Epic and Columbia records, as well as some smaller record companies. When it came time for graduation, I didn’t end up getting hired by the company I was working for. But through all of that I waited tables.

When I opened Ipanema Café [1998] there was no social media— we just opened our doors and waited for someone to walk by. It was word of mouth and food reviews, which I think had a lot more leverage back then. Getting a food review in the local paper? That would cause you to be slammed for a couple of weeks.

Restaurant reviews were more crucial with no social media. It was the main three—the Times Dispatch, Style and Richmond Magazine. And there were the core popular restaurants like Mamma Zu’s, Millie’s, Helen’s. People would wait for two, twoand-a-half hours for a table at these places. There just weren’t as many places to go, it was a different environment than it is now. Back then, we could get away with a lot of stuff. When I opened Ipanema, we had a plywood bar! And no one held it against us. Now you’re expected to open fully polished.

John Murden: It was a rougher, dirtier, crustier place. The context of Grace Street [location of Ipanema

SCOTT ELMQUIST

Café] was different. There was a strip club, a theater. It was just different.

KF: Grace Street was not a desirable place at the time. But it was so much fun going to rock shows—it wasn’t high-end by any stretch of the imagination. Downtown VCU looks a lot different than it did then. The thing with restaurants now is: Is it Instagrammable? People will go to a restaurant because they saw a piece of neon or nice wallpaper.

JM: We will put up a picture of dessert on Garnett’s Instagram and we’ll have people there within the hour that say, ‘I saw that cake’.

KF: It’s a great tool, and luckily John has always been ahead of the times with tech stuff. He helped me modernize down to my Gmail account. He’s always been an early adopter of everything. Early on, between the two of us, we could figure out social media and how it works … now that we’re older we have staff who are digital natives; they grew up with this.

Garnett’s [2009] opened in the age of blogs and bloggers. My brother lived here at the time and we had just opened and were standing there and he looks at me and goes, “Oh wait. We forgot to tell anyone we were opening.” We didn’t have laptops, so we had to run down and get on a physical computer and post the news on Facebook. The RVA News blog came and had lunch and boom! All the

bloggers came through. A lot of those blogs don’t really exist anymore.

The Roosevelt [2011] caught the wave of Southern food and, for whatever reason at the time, Richmond as a food destination just hit. Church Hill was booming as a neighborhood and we just happened to be the restaurant that had opened there. We were also doing a strictly Virginia wine list at the time, so that is what got us into

magazines, that list made us a little bit different. When we opened The Roosevelt, we were at the right place at the right time. Suddenly Richmond was interesting to people in a way that didn’t involve the Confederacy.

With Laura Lee’s [2016] it just kind of moved into the neighborhood and opened, it didn’t really catch any wave.

JM: The commonality was that for each place we were aiming to open a neighborhood spot. They all hit in their own way. And today, the culture of each spot is great—we don’t have the screaming chef thing. I was a line cook back in the day, so, I’ve seen screaming chefs. That was one of the conversations we had as we really got into this, “How do we have a good, sustainable culture?” I think that’s one of the overall changes we’ve seen [in the scene].

KF: I posted something on Instagram recently asking people for podcast and book suggestions about best management practices. I got some interesting responses. Some people were like “Why?” and others said, “Here’s a list,” and still others said, “You don’t need that shit.”

I think it’s interesting. My belief is that I am as flawed as anyone, and I’m self-taught, so I try to find infor-

mation out there and read up on stuff. I recently read an article about, “How are you as a GenX boss meeting the needs of millennial employees?” I must remember that millennials were raised with access to social media from a very young age—that affects you and your background and what the world looked like around you growing up. It’s hard sometimes to take all of that into consideration. You have to stop yourself and say, “Oh, maybe they didn’t grow up believing this thing to be true.”

JM: I have employees who are 20-years-old. The last six years of their lives have been Trump and Covid. That’s rough man.

KF: I’ve found that millennials like to be collaborative, so it’s important to figure out a way for everyone to have a little say, but also never take my hand off the rudder. I try to have some patience and let people make little mistakes, but not detrimental mistakes. It’s tricky.

JM: As for more restaurants? We have a 9-year old and three places to run so we’re busy. But Kendra’s brain is always making ideas, “Oh maybe this restaurant would work here.” She’s inventing them whether we end up opening them or not.

PHOTOS BY SCOTT ELMQUIST

The interior of The Roosevelt in Church Hill.

Kendra Feather holds some of Roosevelt’s popular ham biscuits.

AListen

Richmonder Deb Freeman hosts a top-rated podcast about African American foodways.

by Mary Scott Hardaway

Of all the creative mediums churning steadily in the spindrift of modern media, it is the humble podcast which continues to reign supreme.

Sure, there’s a place in consumer lives for thoroughly engrossing New Yorker profiles and scintillating docuseries featuring the most satanic of cults. But podcasting – when well done – can mold longform, heavily researched work into something spectacular.

A good podcast is both intimate and casual – the listener doesn’t feel like they’re invading someone’s story, they’re simply along for a fascinating ride.

A good podcast feels like a lecture from a tenured professor who

is still deeply passionate about the subject matter.

A good podcast keeps you coming back for seconds, thirds, fourths.

That’s what cultural anthropologist, food writer and podcast host Deb Freeman has achieved with the debut season of her Whetstone Radio Collective podcast, “Setting the Table.”

T he Hampton Roads native didn’t pen her first food story until 2017, but in just five years she’s (quite successfully) devoted her free time to unearthing modern and historical narratives centered around African American foodways, writing for publications like Food52, Garden & Gun and Conde Nast Traveler

Freeman’s articles have covered everything from African Americans’ relationship with veganism to – on the other end of the culinary spectrum –the birthplace of American barbecue.

Spoiler: It’s here! In Virginia. And enslaved men and women were the primary cooks of this tender meat.

Freeman dives deeper into the history of barbecue in episode seven of “Setting the Table”; one of her episode guests, Adrian Miller – aka the Soul

Food Scholar – talks about its origins:

“If you go back, historically, that is how everybody at the time thought about it. A lot of the references to barbecue as a social event would say ‘Virginia barbecue.’ It was really only later that you got the term Southern barbecue or other states applied. The earliest writings we have of barbecue come from Virginians.”

Freeman isn’t afraid to rile up ‘cue fanatics who have their own claims about the nascence of this wholly American tradition. She’s done her research. A lot of it. And not just for this episode.

“You have to decide how you want to frame each episode, what you want the focal point to be,” says Freeman. “For example, in the brewing episode [episode four], between writing the script and doing the research and voiceover, that just took hours,” she laughs. “Well, actually, the Black farmers [episodes two and three] one may have taken the longest.”

Part of the beauty and the bane of podcasting is that there is such a low barrier to entry – everyone has a shot at a Spotify stream. But that can also

mean the turnaround time, at least for Freeman, is quite short.

“It’s such an intense process. I’m going through every script rewriting and taking things out and thinking we need to add things, and then the guest will start talking and you think of different questions that go in other directions,” says Freeman, who would have “less than a week” to put each of her 10 episodes together, from recording to publishing.

Even given this vigorous production timeline, Freeman says she was prepared for the organized chaos. She’s been thinking about African American foodways, and the stories that so often go untold, for years now.

It seemed only natural to Freeman to DM her “Twitter colleague,” Stephen Satterfield – the brains behind W hetstone Magazine and critically acclaimed Netflix series, “High on the Hog,” when she saw he was starting a podcast collective.

“I had the entire thing imagined,” says Freeman. “When I first met with Stephen and Celine [Glasier, Whetstone head of podcasts], I had a list of people I knew I wanted to talk to.

Ninety percent of the guests on the first season were on that list.”

Freeman’s lineup of guests is impressive. She culls experts in cooking, barbecuing, farming, food-influencing, researching – even master whiskey blending. “I had to consider who would be knowledgeable but also who would be interesting to listen to,” says Freeman.

Each “Setting the Table” episode is roughly 30 minutes long, give or take. That’s an extremely narrow window of time to convey everything there is to know about the history of Black farming, to an audience with, perhaps, zero context.

But Freeman was up to the challenge. “I thought about season one as a primer,” says Freeman. “I asked myself, ‘If I didn’t know about anything about Black food history, where would I start?’”

Episodes one to three lay the foundation, delving into the Great Migration, the history of Black farming and the movement of young, innovative farmers carrying the torch today. Freeman’s guests are experts, yes, but they’re also charismatic – you

can hear and feel the warm rapport between interviewer and interviewee. The dialogue is far more polished than a simple conversation between friends, but it never feels pedantic or preachy.

Freeman’s subject matter – African American foodways, broadly – lends itself to ample history lessons. The past informs the present, and culinary context is everything in a day and age where we know better to know better.

Freeman reminds us in episode four, “Let’s Talk About Black Brewing & Distilling,” that it was not Thomas Jefferson who produced beer at Monticello. It was Peter Hemings, the enslaved brother of Sally Hemings, who was head of brewing and malting.

In episode nine, “Black Women in Activism and Food,” we hear from scholar and writer Suzanne Cope talking about Civil Rights movement heroes Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers, two Black women who created programs to feed people as a means of revolution.

“I thought about season one as a primer. I asked myself, ‘If I didn’t know about anything about Black food history, where would I start?’”

JOSHUA FITZWATER

“Setting the Table” isn’t just about pulling up and reexamining long-buried roots, though. It’s also about what’s happening today. Freeman asks: Who are the Black chefs, farmers, makers, and innovators the world needs to know, needs to visit, right now?

In addition to big-name guests like Miller and Carla Hall, Freeman also makes a point to introduce her audience to well-deserving, under-the-radar folks.

“I wanted to talk to some chefs who I thought were really great but not necessarily your stereotypical chefs,” says Freeman. “For instance, Chris Scott, I wish him all the goodness in the world, I’m surprised he isn’t bigger.

Chef Scott is featured in episode five, “The Complicated Stories of Soul Food,” along with chef Mashama Bai-

ley and chef and culinary historian Therese Nelson.

S cott’s resume is impressive – he’s cooked for e steemed establishments around the country, was a finalist on “Top Chef” season 15, runs Butterfunk Biscuit Co., is a culinary educator, cookbook author and TV personality – but it is his reverence for and unique interpretation of soul food that makes him such a strong interview subject.

A Hampton Roads native, Debra Freeman is a Richmond-based food writer and host of the popular Whetstone Radio Collective podcast, “Setting the Table.”

“To me soul food is more of our story, it is our way of life, and we communicate that through our food,” Scott tells Freeman. “Having that opportunity to tell that story about my youth and this food – that’s everything.”

In his recently released cookbook, “Homage: Recipes and

Stories from an Amish Soul Food Kitchen,” Scott explores the amalgamation of cuisine – his family has Tidewater roots, and he was raised in Pennsylvania – he grew up eating. Everything Scott makes is a reference, in some way, to the past that shaped him, as well as a nod to the future of Black cuisine.

“Soul food purists–that’s brilliant,” Scott tells Freeman. “But there are a great number of us rooted in that who are changing things a little bit at a time. Sometimes I like to have one foot in and one foot out.”

Scott’s execution of soul food may be best represented by a recipe he tells Freeman he just whipped up in the kitchen “the other day.” It’s a corn-

bread recipe, but instead of making the entire dish in one sitting, Scott creates a cornmeal “sponge” with sourdough starter, lets it sit for 48 hours, then comes back after the fermentation process to add goat milk, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, “all that.” Scott describes this take on cornbread as moist and tangy – he tops it with honey butter and sea salt.

“I’m telling you, every time I do cornbread now, this is the new way I’m going to do it,” says Scott. It’s still rooted in ingredient-focused stuff and culture; I just tweaked a few things here and there.”

You can follow Freeman on Instagram @audiophilegirl and check out more of her work online. Listen to “Setting the Table” wherever you get your podcasts, as they say.

“I had the entire thing imagined. ... I had a list of people I knew I wanted to talk to. ...I had to consider who would be knowledgeable but also who would be interesting to listen to.”

SCOTT ELMQUIST

The More Things Change …

by Phil Wilayto

Richmond has seen a lot of changes in the four decades since Style Weekly’s first issue. The Confederate statues on Monument Avenue that once seemed immortal are now gone. The quaintly named Boulevard now honors a Black athlete and civil rights hero. There’s a public school named after the country’s first Black president. Big changes.

But the changes have mostly been symbolic. What has stayed the same are the poverty and racism that have long characterized Virginia’s capital city.

One in five Richmonders still lives in poverty, twice the statewide average.

According to a November 2020 VCU study, the metro Richmond area is the only area of the state with “severe” school segregation along racial lines.

Police-community relations are still marked by widespread distrust, and for continuing good reasons.

Why, despite a historic rise in consciousness about racism, hasn’t life gotten better for poor and working-class Richmonders, the majority of whom are African-American and Latino?

Is there a solution?

Yes,

The problem is systemic. The mayor and city council oversee a city with an aging infrastructure and great financial needs, but a limited tax base. Valuable land that could be generating revenue is occupied by tax-exempt state and federal institutions and hundreds of houses of worship and nonprofits. State law forbids the annexation of surrounding county land without permission from the counties, which aren’t going to agree to that until the city’s poverty is spread around regionally.

Richmond might have been able to invest in new revenue-producing projects, but former Mayor Dwight Jones maxed out the city’s credit, leaving it chasing after schemes that have to provide super-profits for corporate partners. And t hose politically charged schemes aren’t always successful.

The Navy Hill debacle was too pro-Dominion to get past a voter-sensitive city council. The next plan, to extract tax money from the poor in the form of casino losses, was voted down in a referendum. The Diamond proposal has less popular opposition, so maybe that one will pass, especially since it fits in with the real strategy for transforming poverty-stricken Richmond into a prosperous city.

At this point, it should be more than clear that the long-term goal is to drive out low-income residents and replace them with upper-middle-class

professionals and empty nesters who can afford to buy or rent the condos sprouting up like mushrooms in areas like Manchester, Scott’s Addition and Shockoe Bottom.

On the one hand, the new condo dwellers are paying more real estate taxes, either directly as owners or indirectly as renters. This brings in new revenue. And on the other, poor and working-class Richmonders are forced to move out of town because of the destruction of public housing, speculator flipping in gentrifying neighborhoods and the reluctance of “developers” to build more affordable - and less profitable - housing. And as the poorer folks leave, with their kids, the city will be able to shrink the public school system.

Both trends will result in fuller city coffers and the possibility of lowering the city’s outrageously high real estate tax rate, which will lead to even more professionals and empty nesters buying housing in the city, resulting in a financially prosperous - and much whiter - Richmond. Already, the Black population, once the majority, is down to 46.1 percent of the city. (U.S. Census, July 2021)

And of course, this all means less and less political power for the Black and Latino communities, which also will be minorities in the counties for years to come.

Is there a solution? A way forward to a more just

and equitable Richmond? Yes, but it would mean deep, structural changes.

The state law forbidding city annexation must be changed so Richmond can follow the more prosperous path of other, more regional cities, like Charlotte. The formula for distributing state funds to public schools must be changed from one that favors more affluent school districts. The minimum wage must be raised to a living wage. “Developers” must be convinced to invest in really affordable housing. There needs to be tax relief for long-time elderly homeowners.

But for any of that to happen, there would have to be a strong, energetic and committed community movement demanding justice on a wide range of issues. Unfortunately, that movement doesn’t exist in Richmond today. Maybe it can still emerge, under the pressure of the simple desire to survive, but the near total silence over the ongoing destruction of public housing isn’t a hopeful sign.

So let’s feel good that some of Richmond’s more odious symbols of racism have been torn down, but at the same time admit that we still have a long way to go to see real changes in this city.

Phil Wilayto is an activist and editor of The Virginia Defender quarterly newspaper. He can be reached at: virginiadefendernews@gmail.com.

A way forward to a more just and equitable Richmond?

but it would mean deep, structural changes.