On Friday, May 15, a number of Virginia businesses got the green light to reopen (with restrictions), as part of Phase One of Governor Ralph Northam’s plan. But locally, response has been mixed, with some establishments instituting new safety measures to bring in badly needed customers, while others stay shut for now. Though the number […]
In recent weeks, multiple local retailers, from Oyster House Antiques to Angelo Jewelers, have been forced to shut their doors due to Virginia’s stay-at-home order. But others are adopting contactless business models, and customers are still streaming in. Shenanigans Toys & Games, on West Main Street, has made the transition to online shopping. Customers can […]
In the past few days, outbreaks of COVID-19 have led to mass cancellations and postponements of events around the country, from the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament to Coachella. Though Charlottesville’s first presumptive positive case was just announced on March 16, efforts to contain the virus spread as much as possible led organizers to call off one […]
Last year, the Seattle Department of Transportation installed 18 new bike racks on a stretch of pavement underneath Highway 99. However, the racks were not meant to provide more resources for cyclists—but to prevent the homeless people who had been camping there from coming back. Seattle is [...]
By Spencer Philps Spend enough time on the Downtown Mall late at night and you’re bound to see it happen: someone hunched over against a wall “relieving” himself. Downtown business operators are acutely aware of this issue: One says he’s seen people urinating late at night, by the bus station [...]
Under normal circumstances, having your jaw broken and reset in order to correct an underbite—and then being laid-up in recovery for two months—would be a bummer. But Wilson Craig was happy for the time on the couch. It gave him an opportunity to think. He took his meals through a straw, and [...]
The woman collecting signatures to close the Fourth Street Downtown Mall crossing has withdrawn her petition and deleted her Twitter account. “There was so much outcry, so much hatred,” says petitioner Aileen Bartels. Safety was her primary concern, and she wanted people to be able to visit the [...]
Former Charlottesville mayor Maurice Cox, now Detroit’s director of planning and development, talks about managing growth, recovering from a crisis, and the power of telling the right story. There was a time when Maurice Cox couldn’t escape being recognized in Charlottesville. In August 2012, [...]
The door, kitchen, and taps are open at Wild Wolf Brewing Company’s downtown location, hard by the railroad tracks on Second Street. The brewery and restaurant’s soft opening in the former Augustiner Hall and Garden space precedes an “official” debut on June 2. But there’s a hitch: Due to [...]
There’s an air of mystery about the renovated third-floor apartment on the Downtown Mall. A wall of rough-sawn reclaimed white oak treated with bleaching oil runs nearly the entire length of the main room, interrupted only by the rectangular opening that accommodates the black-glass stovetop, [...]
The Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, now under construction on the west end of the Downtown Mall, will provide office space for more than 600 workers. But it will include only 74 parking spaces. That drew the ire of a couple members of the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, [...]
We’re No. 49 Virginia ranks as one of the worst states in the country when it comes to ease of voting, according to a recent study from Northern Illinois University. Our state has slipped in the “cost of voting index” since 1996, when we ranked No. 42, to the “second most difficult” place to [...]
As the Hallmark greeting card and gift store morphs into a Bank of America, and the lights have gone dark over Read It Again, Sam’s shelves of used books, some are asking what types of businesses now prosper on the Downtown Mall—and who can afford to try. Gwen Berthy, who’s been selling records [...]
Soon, you might not need a green thumb to farm continually fresh greens at home. For that matter, you might not need a garden, at least not in the traditional sense. For that, you can thank Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith, two recent UVA graduates who have developed a series of hydroponic [...]
Prime 109, the much-anticipated local-farm-centered steakhouse located in the former Bank of America building on the Downtown Mall, opens this month after nearly two years of planning and design. The restaurant is the brainchild of the Lampo Neapolitan Pizzeria team of Ian Redshaw, Loren [...]
A year after white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched with torches through UVA and violent clashes in the streets left one woman dead and dozens injured, it was with some trepidation that locals commemorated August 11 and 12. The weekend ended without serious injury and with a handful of [...]
John Miska frequently shops on the Downtown Mall, especially when CVS has two-for-one sales on cases of Arizona iced tea. Today, he ran afoul of the city’s list of prohibited items after he made his purchases, and was arrested for possessing the single edge blades he bought for his ice scraper. [...]
At the August 6 City Council meeting, public safety officials outlined precautions for the upcoming August 12 anniversary, including street closures and the shutdown of public pools. It wasn’t until two days later that the city announced pedestrian access to the eight-block or so Downtown Mall [...]
Serge Torres and Brian Helleberg are joining forces to bring a taste of Provence to the Downtown Mall. The Fleurie pastry chef (Torres) and owner (Helleberg) have opened Patisserie Torres on Third Street NE, directly across from Fleurie Restaurant, in the space once occupied by Cappellino’s [...]
By now you might know his name. You’ve seen it before in these very pages. Maybe you’ve started to put a face to the name. You see him on the Downtown Mall, holding a camera, watching. He is freelance photographer Eze Amos, whose first photography exhibition, “Cville People Everyday,” opens [...]
If you’ve been on the Downtown Mall this summer, you’ve likely seen four young musicians set up in front of Kilwin’s, beside a white board that reads “Help Us Pay For College” propped in a guitar case with a shallow sea of coins and crumpled bills pooling at its base. The Rainey Day Quartet [...]
Disco Risqué’s mission? “To take over the world one sweaty, borderline-psychotic-music lover at a time.” Their method? Creating and performing some of the most high-energy, hard-to-categorize music in Charlottesville. Imagine George Clinton on his angriest day, combined with Santana-esque riffs [...]
While strolling the Downtown Mall this summer, you may encounter an enormous bass drum with “FREE CONCERT TONIGHT” emblazoned across the head. This refers to the Charlottesville Municipal Band, a group whose performances are as impressive and larger-than-life as its advertisement. Now in its [...]