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Monday, December 17, 2012

Broad Street - Winter 1969

Broad Street in downtown Richmond, looking West, in January of 1969.


Photo courtesy of VCU Libraries

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful shot from 6th and Broad - exactly how I remember it as a kid! Amazing how active the whole area was in those days - all the eateries, shoe stores, etc. In this pic, I particularly LOVE the fact that it includes the CNB building with the old silver (probably aluminum backing?) letters - as I recall, those letters would light up a different color at night depending on the weather - green for cold, red for hot, white for mild - and blinking for precipitation. Do you have any other 60s-70s era pics of the CNB building with those letters (not the ugly blue on white letters that replaced them in, i think, the early 80s)

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  2. Wow, what a different scene than today. Everything to the foreground of Haverty's is gone now, as those two blocks are occupied by the Marriott and the Convention Center. Plus so much less pedestrian traffic...

    And I must say, while I'm no fan of 50's-60's metal facade coverings on older buildings, the one on Kelly's is an eye-catcher. Combined with the huge sign, it can't be missed--what sort of business was that?

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    Replies
    1. Kelly's was a pre-McDonald's burger joint. Used to be one at the corner of Horsepen and Broad (diagonally across from where TanA is now). It was the first fast food restaurant I ever went to, perhaps the first in Richmond.

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