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rusthebuss

By rusthebuss
in Roanoke

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Willy18
Willy18

Where'd everyone go from this forum? I enjoy reading/seeing all the great things going on in the Roanoke metro. 

rancenc
rancenc

Major expansion for one of the city's major country western venues https://wset.com/news/local/sidewinders-in-roanoke-gearing-up-for-major-expansion-to-fit-450-more-people-inside  

mclawsdrive Hamlet

mclawsdrive

Posted
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I just got back to Richmond from a 9 day vacation, including 5 days in California and 4 in Roanoke. I didn't get to take many pictures because I had a friend with me and I didn't want to bore her. It looks like the 'Riverside' area is changing quickly, new offices and no more stadium. I was also surprised that all the rain hadn't caused significant flooding along the river. I wonder if the river channel project is already helping?

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weill Hamlet

weill

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Southern California = YUCK!, sorry, SoCal isnt well liked where I used to live, outside San Francisco...

and in case you havent heard, NokeTown has closed, not because of lack of support, but the owners were Christians and didnt like that they owned a property that served achocal (spelling) and such...

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mclawsdrive Hamlet

mclawsdrive

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Yeah, I loved the weather in So Cal, but it was so fake it was funny. The whole region is a giant Disneyland, but you have to drive everywhere.

Maybe the owners of the building occupied by the business formerly known as Noketown can sell to more open minded people. Perhaps I'll buy it and call it the Jesus bar. We'll only serve red wine, all you can drink. Of course, this will highly offend the 'Christian' values of the former owners. Sure Jesus drank wine every day, and his first miracle was turning water into wine, but that doesn't mean its not a sin. <_<

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bmedguy Whistle-Stop

bmedguy

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I agree that Noketown (also thought the name was pretty lame) is in a good site and could be successful in the right hands. In the article about the closing, the current owners seemed a bit short sighted. They said they didn't know it would take too much energy away from being able to spend time with their two year old and they didn't like contributing to the night life scene that involved drinking. While I can understand both sentiments if that is really reflective of their values, that is OK with me, but come on, they had to know what they were getting in to when they started this! They also have filed chapter 13 bankruptcy but claim that had nothing to do with the business. Hmmm.... Sounds like the rumor is probably true Steven. I hope someone that knows what to do with it buys it.

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electricmonk Whistle-Stop

electricmonk

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Reminds me of the vegetarian restaraunt downtown, might have been called Eden's Way but I'm not positive. Anyway the owners there were devout Christians too. I forget what branch they followed but because of their beliefs they closed at 6pm on Friday and were closed all day on Saturday. They got into a finacial bind and got all sorts of press because they were on the verge of bankruptcy. They ended up getting a bunch of donations and were able to pay the back rent and other bills. I thought it was silly to try to run a restaraunt and be closed on the two busiests dining out nights of the week and then whine about not being able to make enough money to stay afloat.

Not knocking their beliefs but maybe they should have thought their business plan through a bit more. Same with the Noketown owners. I think the first chapter in any guide to starting and owning any business but especially a restaraunt is going to mention how much time it takes.

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burt Megalopolis

burt

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I'm unable to enable Flash on my computer because something is wrong with my ability to run Javascript (I think). Can you give me a brief summary of the video, since I can't watch it?

I enjoyed the video, Weill, but sometimes wished the camera lingered longer on some views. :)

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weill Hamlet

weill

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I'm unable to enable Flash on my computer because something is wrong with my ability to run Javascript (I think). Can you give me a brief summary of the video, since I can't watch it?
I'm sorry, but I dont know how to help you, Ill give you in order of what was happening,

1. Traffic on 419 backed up

2. Roanoke from Mill Mountain

3. A Norfolk and Southern Train from a car

4. The Roanoke River

5. A train

6. Advanced Auto Parts

7. People near the Metro

8. Street Scene, looking out at the Farmers Market/Market St.

9. Inside the Market Building

10. A building on the corner of Market Square

11. A Street Performer

12. Center in the Square

13. Market Building

14. People on Market

15. Elmwood Park

16. Friendship Fountain

17. The Star

18. That church on Elm/Jefferson

19. Poff Federal Building

20. Elmwood Park Library

21. Patrick Henry Hotel

22. Pano from MLK Bridge

23. Looking down Jefferson

24. Again looking down Jefferson

25. Old Commercial Signage, "Uneeda Biscuit"

26. Wachovia Building

27. Lewis-Gale Medical Center Field

28. Hometown Bank Building

29. Valley Metro enterance

30. Close up of Valley Metro Building

31. City & State Building

32. Mayors Monument

33. The Roanoke Times Building

34. Clock on Hometown Bank Building/Wachovia Tower

35. Warehouse Row

36. First/GRAND sign

37. 2nd Street

38. Salem Fair

39. Pano from Gainsboro Garage (4th Floor)

40. 2nd Street again

41. Crystal Tower

42. The Courthouse

43. The Missle at VTM

44. GRAND sign/Wachovia Tower

45. Looking down 1st Street

46. MLK Bridge

47. Farmers Market

48. St. Andrews Church

49. Hotel Roanoke

50. Looking around at Different Buildings near Wachovia Parking Garage

51. Higher Ed/Hotel Roanoke

52. O. Winston Link Museum

53. Beau Torbert of the Salem Avalanche

54. Art Museum, Billy's Ritz, Market Area

55. Fire Station #1

56. Building at corner of Salem/Jefferson

57. Horse Carrriage Riders

58. Looking up Jefferson

59. Center in the Square

60. Dr. Pepper Sign

61. H&C Coffee Sign

62. Enterance of Salem Fair

63. Plane in the sky

Instrumental of the Clipse's, "Virginia"

I enjoyed the video, Weill, but sometimes wished the camera lingered longer on some views. :)

Thanks, maybe I could have gotten it a little more stable too, haa

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BGW Whistle-Stop

BGW

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Even though I lived in Roanoke for 18 years (then off-and-on for 4 more), I'd never stayed in a hotel room there until this past weekend. And let me just say that the Ramada Inn River's Edge on Franklin is the biggest craphole in which I've ever set foot. I'd normally stay with family, but other family members were in and had dibs on the existing beds. We decided on the Ramada due to A) it's central location and B) the fact that they take pets, since we had our dogs with us. I figured being right on Wiley Drive would be a nice dog-walking path too.

Well, needless to say that the room we received was clearly one that had been underwater at some point. There were chunks missing out of the ceiling and what appeared to be mold was in some of the corners, the sheets weren't clean and the furniture was falling apart. The "employee" who checked us in told us we'd have to discuss it with the manager, who wouldn't be in for a couple hours. When we talked to "the manager" (who we've since found out was likely the owner), he got very upset and told us that his housekeeping had gone for the day and he wouldn't be able to sell our room to anyone else. Considering the 50%+ vacancy, I doubt that would have been an issue. When we asked if the room had flooded, he got very perturbed and insisted "only in the street! Only in the street!" At this point, it was after 5PM, and we just gave up. There are surprisingly few hotels in Roanoke that accept large dogs and none of them seemed to have anything (apparently there was some softball tournament in town), so we decided to grin and bear it. We borrowed about 4 layers of sheets from my mother and used them on the bed because there was NO WAY my skin was touching their sheets (and this coming from someone who's slept on floors in strange basements after rock shows!). When we were walking the dogs the next morning, we noticed the aforementioned "employee" getting out of a truck in the back parking lot, wearing her hoochie-mamma clothing from the night before, which she proceeded to not change out of before going to work at the desk. The 2 parties in front of us complained loudly about the horribleness of their stay; hoochie-mamma told them that she's heard that from a lot of people, so it wasn't just us being over-sensitive.

Long story short (too late!), avoid this hotel! It's such a shame, because it used to be nice, and the location is great, with Wiley Drive and River's Edge right there. Too bad it's owned by a slumlord.

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weill Hamlet

weill

Posted
Posted (edited)

Was the manager chinese? If you asked what hotel to NOT stay in here in Roanoke, that would be the one. That Ramada gets flooded on average, at least 1 time a year. There is a handfull of 4 or 5 story hotels near the airport that are very nice (price?) and they fill up quickly, not to metion, that is where the opponents of Roanoke Valley sports teams stay at. Hope next trip is more pleasant!

Edited by weill
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BGW Whistle-Stop

BGW

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Posted

I knew about the flooding, which is one reason why we asked for a change of rooms after we saw the condition of the original room. That place has flooded as long as I can remember, but back when it was a ?Holiday Inn? they always cleaned up quite nicely after they flooded. I wasn't expecting the Crowne Plaza or anything, but when you're scared to uncrate your dogs because you don't want them to pick up anything from the linens...

On that note, if anyone knows any local hotels/motels that take large dogs and don't cost $100+/night (or charge $40 pet fees), I'd love to hear about it. As best I can tell they don't exist.

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