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Norfolk Pictures


willy

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Hello all,

I'm new to the forum. I grew up in Norfolk, but left after college. I visit a couple times a year and, whenever I'm in town I always try to take some pictures. Over the past several years, I've taken a few shots that you all might enjoy. Nothing really that you haven't seen many times before; just, perhaps, seen from a slightly different perspective. If you're interested, please follow this link to my Norfolk page (apologies for posting a link rather than the pictures themselves, but there are about 60

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Thanks nywahoo, those pictures were great. I'm curious where the rowhouses are that are pictured in the 15th picture (from the top) of your album? I'd love to see them in person.

Thanks again.

Thanks, URBbum. That's probably my favorite block in the city. They're in the next to the last block of Freemason. I believe the addresses are 344-399 West Freemason Street.

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Nice photos and welcome to the forum! I really loved the pictures taken from the Scope plaza and the ones taken of Scope at night with the skyline behind it. Once upon a time before Waterside opened this was the picture on most postcards and tourist promotional materials for Downtown Norfolk.

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Nice photos and welcome to the forum! I really loved the pictures taken from the Scope plaza and the ones taken of Scope at night with the skyline behind it. Once upon a time before Waterside opened this was the picture on most postcards and tourist promotional materials for Downtown Norfolk.

You're right! A lot of photographers must have climbed to the top of the Golden Triangle (now Radisson) to get that shot! Not only was it on postcards and promotional materials, but on the phone book too. But my favorite is the 1974 ABA All-Star program:

AllStar7.jpg

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You're right! A lot of photographers must have climbed to the top of the Golden Triangle (now Radisson) to get that shot! Not only was it on postcards and promotional materials, but on the phone book too. But my favorite is the 1974 ABA All-Star program:

AllStar7.jpg

Wow the ABA and the Virginia Squires I am old enough to remember them both! When you see that 1974 photo it really gives you an appreciation of how much the skyline has changed in 34 years. Imagine in a 10 years how much more change is coming.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c371/ERI...uliusIrving.jpg

For those of you too young to remember the Squires here is a picture of the great Julius Erving playing for the Squires at ODU before Scope opened.

Edited by skylinefan
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Wow the ABA and the Virginia Squires I am old enough to remember them both! When you see that 1974 photo it really gives you an appreciation of how much the skyline has changed in 34 years. Imagine in a 10 years how much more change is coming.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c371/ERI...uliusIrving.jpg

For those of you too young to remember the Squires here is a picture of the great Julius Erving playing for the Squires at ODU before Scope opened.

yeah, my dad and I were talking about that the other day on the phone. He said that Norfolk was like one of 3 teams who did not choose to convert to the NBA and Julius Erving was like a local star. Was the aba like the nba respectively back then?

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yeah, my dad and I were talking about that the other day on the phone. He said that Norfolk was like one of 3 teams who did not choose to convert to the NBA and Julius Erving was like a local star. Was the aba like the nba respectively back then?

The ABA tried very hard to compete with the deep pocketed NBA, but after 9 years I think between 1966-1975 the league folded due to financial strain. One of the distinct features of an ABA game was a red white and blue ball that every kid around Tidewater had. Will Farrell is in a movie called "Seni-Pro" set in the 1970's which is all about the ABA. A little bit of trivia four current NBA teams , Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs all originated from the ABA when they folded into the NBA around 1976. The NBA instituted the three point shot from the ABA.

Going to a Virginia Squires game back in the 1970's was alot of fun sort of like going to the circus. I remember the first time I went to Scope I think it was in 1971 or 72 was to go to a Squires game. Often times the cheerleaders wore very revealing mini-skirts with white go-go boots and they use to do a chorus line like the rockets to the early disco hit the "horse". Dr. J. had a huge afro that every kid wanted to have. Another memory I have of the Squires game, was leaving the parking garage at Scope and seeing all of the Prostitutes that use to ply their trade up and down Monticello Ave. It is really hard to describe Downtown Norfolk in those days, but I do distinctly remember that most people from the Beach or Chesapeake would speed out of Downtown at the end of game for fear of crime.

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The ABA tried very hard to compete with the deep pocketed NBA, but after 9 years I think between 1966-1975 the league folded due to financial strain. One of the distinct features of an ABA game was a red white and blue ball that every kid around Tidewater had. Will Farrell is in a movie called "Seni-Pro" set in the 1970's which is all about the ABA. A little bit of trivia four current NBA teams , Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets and San Antonio Spurs all originated from the ABA when they folded into the NBA around 1976. The NBA instituted the three point shot from the ABA.

Going to a Virginia Squires game back in the 1970's was alot of fun sort of like going to the circus. I remember the first time I went to Scope I think it was in 1971 or 72 was to go to a Squires game. Often times the cheerleaders wore very revealing mini-skirts with white go-go boots and they use to do a chorus line like the rockets to the early disco hit the "horse". Dr. J. had a huge afro that every kid wanted to have. Another memory I have of the Squires game, was leaving the parking garage at Scope and seeing all of the Prostitutes that use to ply their trade up and down Monticello Ave. It is really hard to describe Downtown Norfolk in those days, but I do distinctly remember that most people from the Beach or Chesapeake would speed out of Downtown at the end of game for fear of crime.

Skylinefan,

If you (like me) are of a certain age and saw the Squires play at Scope, I guess there's an outside chance you also saw the Neptunes play at Foreman Field. Here's a program cover from a 1969 game against Wheeling that also features the skyline angle. Note the tagline: Norfolk's Changing Skyline. Interesting about this picture is the waterfront, pre-Waterside.

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/rods-pix/neptunesprogram.jpg

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Skylinefan,

If you (like me) are of a certain age and saw the Squires play at Scope, I guess there's an outside chance you also saw the Neptunes play at Foreman Field. Here's a program cover from a 1969 game against Wheeling that also features the skyline angle. Note the tagline: Norfolk's Changing Skyline. Interesting about this picture is the waterfront, pre-Waterside.

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk72/rods-pix/neptunesprogram.jpg

I most definately remember the Neptunes and went to one of their games at Foreman Field I think when I was about 7 or 8 years old. They use to really pack them in especially if they played a regional rival like Richmond or any host of North Carolina cities. I also remember what the skyline looked like around the time the photo was taken. There use to be I believe a warehouse or a cold storage building on the site where waterside stands and I think it was torn down sometime in the early 1960s and made into a gravel parking lot. I was at the first OPSAIL 76 which became Harborfest at that waterfront site. It was a gravel parking lot and at OPSAIL 76 the city was expecting at the most 10,000 people almost 10 times that amount (100,000) showed up for the bicentinial(sp?) event. Out of this came the concept to build a festival marketplace which eventually became Waterside and Town Point Park.

Edited by skylinefan
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  • 3 weeks later...

2664907384_f1da7fa55f.jpg

Tel- Can you, or anyone else for that matter, give me a little history on this bldg.? What was it in it's "hayday?" How long has it stood vacant? I saw a development co. sign, but that doesn't mean anything... I look at it and think I personally would love to bring back its original charm, but the rotted boards on the upper floors make it look like a redevelopment nightmare to the naked eye. I've walked past it a dozen times and I'm amazed at it more and more with time.

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Tel- Can you, or anyone else for that matter, give me a little history on this bldg.? What was it in it's "hayday?" How long has it stood vacant? I saw a development co. sign, but that doesn't mean anything... I look at it and think I personally would love to bring back its original charm, but the rotted boards on the upper floors make it look like a redevelopment nightmare to the naked eye. I've walked past it a dozen times and I'm amazed at it more and more with time.

Leaning Tower of Norfolk, there's a thread for that building somewhere in here, i don't know the history of the building beside it leans? I'm pretty sure that's the building

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Wright Company bought it, and from what I understand it was occupied. Then one day some inspector came in and was like, "Uh, like, GTFO @ NOW." Basically they all had to get out immediately. Since then it's been cleared out and for sale. Sometimes you can see inside, and you can see the floor has been torn up, as if there was inspections done to check the foundation. I have no idea if it's possible to fix the building.

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Wright Company bought it, and from what I understand it was occupied. Then one day some inspector came in and was like, "Uh, like, GTFO @ NOW." Basically they all had to get out immediately. Since then it's been cleared out and for sale. Sometimes you can see inside, and you can see the floor has been torn up, as if there was inspections done to check the foundation. I have no idea if it's possible to fix the building.

it is possible to fix the building, the better question is, is it worth it? To do that, the foundation of the building would have to be modified and lifted on one side. Basically they would have to dig out, straighten the building, then recreate a new stronger foundation for it. If the building was a historical courthouse or something with importance, I would say go that way, but this building was nothing more than a simple office space per se, so I would be just as happy to see it come down as long as something with good architectural merits was put in its place and wasnt trying to recreate what was torn down...unless it used recycled materials from the original building, then I would be cool with it.

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I would be just as happy to see it come down as long as something with good architectural merits was put in its place and wasnt trying to recreate what was torn down...unless it used recycled materials from the original building, then I would be cool with it.

I agree 100% with this, it is a huge eyesore after I examined the bldg. one last time. It would be neat if they could salvage the bottom three floors and create a new urban bldg past those floors, but I think the foundation issue (more than likely having to dig 60ft. below) is such that the whole thing should just come down.

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it is possible to fix the building, the better question is, is it worth it? To do that, the foundation of the building would have to be modified and lifted on one side. Basically they would have to dig out, straighten the building, then recreate a new stronger foundation for it. If the building was a historical courthouse or something with importance, I would say go that way, but this building was nothing more than a simple office space per se, so I would be just as happy to see it come down as long as something with good architectural merits was put in its place and wasnt trying to recreate what was torn down...unless it used recycled materials from the original building, then I would be cool with it.

Yea, I don't know why they can't fake out the old style fronts with modern materials.

I've got some pictures of the inside I'll post tonight (if I'm lucky).

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The Leaning Tower of Norfolk, exposed!!

2672063127_e7873a2c83.jpg

2672062351_6a7bf633af.jpg

2672879480_f2858ec716.jpg

Those are shot through the glass.

I swear, I thought I remember the floor being torn up, perhaps before it was offered for sale. Like someone had dug down in to look at the foundation under the normal floor.

Would make kind of a cool nightclub if it were mine.

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2672875576_775f4b2b03.jpg

Downtown during rain.

2672878656_f22d5f809d.jpg

Construction site

2672877120_7548040f88.jpg

Man I'd love to own (free and clear) that Heritage Bank building (200 East Plume Street, Norfolk)... that would be a cool clubhouse for working on project. Well, other than the lack of good access for moving large computers in... and inside it's probably not that great. Still would be neat. I wonder if it has a huge vault.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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