What We Love: City

The Chrysler Museum

A cultural cornerstone for Norfolk and the surrounding area—and a great wedding venue—The Chrysler Museum of Art, formerly the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, was founded in 1933. In 1971, automobile heir, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., gifted the city of Norfolk with his art collection. ~B.D.

Doumar’s Limeade

Slightly carbonated, poured over crushed ice and garnished with a big wedge of fresh lime, Doumar’s Limeade is what Sprite and 7-Up wish they could be. At only 79 cents for a small “Limeade to Ride” (“to go”), even the price of this refreshing beverage is nostalgic. ~B.D.

Naro Expanded Cinema

Ghent wasn’t always swish. A new medical school attracted folks willing to renovate the old boarding houses that made up Mowbray Arch back in the mid ’70s, and a guy named Elliot Juren and wife Gail turned a hotdog stand into an eponymous neighborhood hangout. Things were moving slowly in the right direction when Tench Phillips and Thom Vourlas debuted the Naro Expanded Cinema on September 8, 1977. They opened with a week-long run of back-to-back showings of The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II, which now seems prescient. Without intending it, they became godfathers themselves, spawning and centering a neighborhood resurgence. The Naro became the spirit of Ghent.It was a little funky and a little old, a throwback to a simpler time that just felt good—like Ghent. Just a one-screen neighborhood theater, built in 1936, the kind kids could walk to on Saturday morning and see movies without a parent in tow. Tench and Thom showed movies you couldn’t see anywhere else around here, movies that seemed the heart of innovation: classics, subtitled foreign films, double features, even an annual rite of passage, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. For 26 years, Naro movies are the ones people ask, “Have you seen É?” ~J.M.H.

Governor’s School for the Arts

Housed on the campus of Old Dominion University, students get a little taste of college life and a daily dose of afternoon arts classes, following morning academic classes at their home schools. The Virginia Department of Education and eight public school divisions in Hampton Roads sponsor this tuition-free institution. ~B.D.

Medical Wonders

Forget a miracle on 34th Street—the corner of Brambleton and Colley Avenues is a pretty miraculous place. That’s where you will find Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and all the wonderful components of its campus, including EVMS Jones Institute and EVMS Strelitz Diabetes Institute. Also adjacent: Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD) and Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. ~P.E.H.

Hampton University Museum

As the oldest African-American museum in the U.S., the Hampton University Museum boasts a collection of over 9,000 objects and publishes the International Review of African American Art, the only periodical publication devoted primarily to African-American art. Housed in the William R. and Norma B. Harvey Library, the exquisitely renovated building is on a par with the museum’s treasures. ~B.D.

Tidewater Community College Visual Arts Center

The outgrowth of a partnership between Tidewater Community College and the City of Portsmouth, which sought to increase visibility and traffic to its downtown area, TCC VAC will celebrate its tenth anniversary this spring. Located at the corner of High and Court streets, TCC VAC is quite literally in the center of the charming and vibrant commercial area that Historic Olde Towne has become. The modern three-story, 33,000+ square foot building, with its distinctive red columns, is surrounded by Colonial, neoclassical, antebellum, Victorian and Federal architecture. Inside, the facility sports instructional areas consisting of fourteen studios, including three Macintosh computer labs, and four classrooms. In Olde Towne Portsmouth, educational opportunity and economic development seem to be growing hand in hand. ~B.D.

Three Public Libraries

Across age and class, race and values, the modern, responsive and accessible library systems in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg do an exceptional job of providing books, computer access and research tools to their diverse communities. If reading opens doors to achievement, good public libraries hold the key to the future of our area. ~J.M.H.

Local Sages

Guy Friddell and George Tucker are so identified with Hampton Roads it seems as though they invented us. May they never stop writing. ~J.M.H.

Norfolk Forum

The oldest continuous public lecture series in the country, this is a regional icon. Get on the list now for the coming season—these are hot seats. ~J.M.H.

Educational Boosters

LearningBridge (Norfolk Public Schools and Norfolk Academy), An Achievable Dream Academy (a Newport News Public School), and Tidewater Scholarship Foundation’s ACCESS (Southside public schools) three success stories, founded with vision and heroic volunteer effort, that work with and within the public schools to help motivated children achieve through innovative programs, family support, and college scholarships. Bravo! ~J.M.H.

Norfolk Foundation

When severe funding cuts threatened eight key arts organizations last fall, the Foundation’s emergency grants program, ArtsMatch, gave a jumpstart to the fundraising needed for survival. Founded in 1950, it’s the oldest community foundation in Virginia and one of the largest in the country, grandly fulfilling its mission “to transform the quality of life and inspire philanthropyin southeastern Virginia” through grants and scholarships. ~J.M.H.

Quality Theaters

Hampton’s American Theater lures crowds to Phoebus for lectures on Buddhism, Siberian dance and West African drummers, along with Shakespeare and Poe. There’s no place quite like it. Norfolk’s Generic Theater runs on volunteer adrenaline, producing first runs, wacky comedies and edgy dramas that stick with you. The Virginia Stage Company, at 25 the first professional theater company in the area, entertains as soon as you walk in the door of the beautiful Wells Theater. ~J.M.H.

Virginia Arts Festival

Music, theater and dance across eight cities, 93 performances in 25 days, attended by 76,000 people last year. And we used to think a tattoo was only a permanent body thing...Spring will never be the same. ~J.M.H.

Moses Myers House

The Moses Myers House is a Norfolk treasure and a reminder that downtown living is not a new thing.Moses Myers was a very successful merchant, shipping magnate and patriarch of Norfolk’s first Jewish family. Three quarters of the furnishings are original to the house, including Gilbert Stuart portraits of Moses Myers and his wife Eliza. ~A.W.

Virginia Beach Rescue Squad

For 52 years, Virginia Beach’s volunteer rescue squads have provided free emergency medical care to residents and visitors, transporting the seriously injured and ill to area hospitals. Last year, 800 highly trained volunteers from the city’s ten squads answered more than 32,000 emergency calls and didn’t charge a nickel for their services. Bruce Edwards, Virginia Beach’s Emergency Medical Services director, says the rescue squads provided more than $7.8 million in free services. Virginia Beach has the largest volunteer rescue squad system in the nation, responding to emergencies for nearly three million tourists and 450,000 residents in a city that sprawls over 310 square miles. Its volunteers are a dynamic cross-section of the community. Nearly every profession is represented, including nurses, firefighters and police officers, who, on their days off, help people by riding rescue. Many squad members have taken advantage of highly specialized advanced training to man the six crash trucks used for challenging rescues, the Boardwalk Bike Rescue, or the Dive Team. The ten squads work together under the oversight of the city’s Emergency Medical Services, which directs their training. Squad members must meet the same state certification requirements as paid Emergency Medical Technicians. Each squad raises money for its own equipment and supplies; three even own their buildings. The city provides headquarters for the other seven squads in a truly beneficial public/private partnership. ~A.W.

Favorite Streets

Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg is a fascinating stroll back into history, from the interesting mix of modern shops at Merchants Square to the Capitol where firebrand Patrick Henry once spoke so passionately. High Street in downtown Portsmouth is no longer a sad string of empty storefronts. The Children’s Museum and TCC now occupy old department store buildings. GranbyStreet in downtown Norfolk is home to some of Hampton Roads hottest nightlife. Who would have ever thought anyone would want to be caught downtown after dark? As in so many other small towns, Main Street in Smithfield was sliding into a neglected state when Joe Luter, president of Smithfield Foods, challenged his community to revitalize its downtown by offering matching funds. As a result, local businesses launched a decade-long beautification project that was completed in 1999. ~A.W.