
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 29, 1995                   TAG: 9501310083
SECTION: STREET BY STREET                    PAGE: 6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MARY BISHOP STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

THE LOSS STILL STINGS

A man who grew up in Gainsboro didn't want to offend old friends, but he thought he could offer a more balanced picture of Gainsboro than what he's read in recent years. He refused to be quoted by name.

The man loved Gainsboro. His father was in business there. But, he says, Henry Street "has been glamorized and romanticized. Henry Street was a street of hustlers. A lot of those places were fronts for gambling, bootlegging." He said there were murders, prostitution and all kinds of violence on Henry Street.

"Some called it Little New York," he said.

He acknowledges there were legitimate businesses - a doughnut shop, a theater, drugstores, doctors' offices, an ice cream parlor, restaurants.

"Just realize one thing" about Gainsboro, he said. "Life was nice, but life was hard."

by CNB