Bruce Springsteen at The Back Door - 1972

The flyer below is for three of the nine shows Bruce Springsteen played at The Back Door with his band in February of 1972, 39 years ago this weekend. The Back Door was located at 929 West Grace St, and has had many names over the years, including Twisters, 929, Chronos Cafe and Nanci Raygun. It's the current location of Strange Matter.

Flyer courtesy of Brucebase

Richmond Jobbing House - January 1970

Of all the pictures I've found through doing this blog, this has to be one of the most random, and one of my favorites. I present to you The Richmond Jobbing House, from January of 1970. If you're like me you're wondering: What exactly is a jobbing house? According to Wikipedia: "A jobbing house is a type of wholesale merchant business that buys goods and bulk products from importers, other wholesalers, or manufacturers, and then sells to retailers."

One question I have about this building is: Why is it for sale from four different realtors? I think this building's location was 1324 East Cary Street (across the street from Siné Irish Pub in Shockoe Slip), now occupied by a parking lot, like many other former Richmond buildings.

Photo courtesy of VCU Libraries

Sweet at The Mosque - February 15th, 1976

Sweet is a band that I didn't really appreciate until about 10 years ago. Sure, I knew the obvious radio songs like Ballroom Blitz, Love is Like Oxygen and Fox on the Run, but I didn't realize how great the rest of their songs were. This ad for their show on February 15th, 1976 at The Mosque (now The Landmark Theater) with Eric Carmen and Artful Dodger--35 years ago today-- was a little past their prime of the early 70s, but I still would have loved to have been there.

Photo courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Bob Dylan at The Mosque - February 11th 1966

Only 7 months after his controversial first electric performance at the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan rolled into town with his band to play The Mosque (now The Landmark Theater) on February 11th, 1966: 45 years ago today. He played this show in between New York City and Nashville sessions for his Blonde on Blonde album, which would be released a few months later. Tickets for this show were a whopping $2 to $3.75.

Photo courtesy of the University of Richmond's Boatwright Library/Digital Initiatives

Sears - 1700 West Broad Street - 1960s

For years I wondered what this building at Broad Street and Allen Ave had been. It appeared to be some sort of shopping cart factory in the early 90s, but always seemed like it had been a department store at some point. It wasn't until years later that I discovered it had in fact been a Sears. The picture below was taken sometime in the late 1960s. In the background you can see the Sauer's sign is on a different building than it is today, and the Wards TV (Circuit City).

Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike construction - August 1957

Here's an amazing shot of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike (Interstate 95) being built in 1957, taken from what looks to be the edge of the former Navy Hill neighborhood, which unfortunately was mostly demolished to make way for the turnpike in the late 50s, and I-64 in the mid 60s. In the distance you can see Main Street Station, the construction of the I-95 James River Bridge, as well as the concrete walls that will eventually form the highway as it curves around downtown Richmond.

Photo courtesy of VCU Libraries

Willow Lawn Shopping Center - 1960s

A great shot of the Willow Lawn Shopping Center parking lot from what looks like the early 60s. Love the cars in this picture, and of you look closely on the left, you can see the 5100 Monument Ave apartment building through what was then (and will be again soon) the open air "mall" in the middle of Willow Lawn. I was in the mall this past weekend, and it appears Old Navy is the only store left inside. They will soon be moving to the old Tower Records location outside, in preparation for the demolition of the mall, returning the shopping center to roughly the way it looked when it first opened in 1956.