THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9503310023
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
In shops and eateries, charm is an elusive quality that cannot be faked. Attempts to create charm fail, because it flows not from hanging plants or forced smiles or garden implements on the wall but from authenticity and character and often eccentricity.
To say the least, charm cannot be franchised or created by a zoning ordinance. Through years of honest service, a dress shop or an auto-repair shop may acquire charm, but no shop ever had charm on opening day.
If you asked someone in Richmond to recommend a charming area to shop, odds are the person would point to Carytown, a nine-block stretch of Cary Street on the edge of the residential Fan District.
Early in the century, Cary Street was a stretch of ma-and-pa stores and homes. Today, in the words of Richmond Times-Dispatch staff writer Gregory J. Gilligan, ``Carytown has a little of the Bohemian style of Greenwich Village, a little of the artsy feel of SoHo and a little of the up-scale charm of Georgetown.''
For shoppers and strollers, it is a happening place, with nearly 260 merchants, most peddling eclectic items unavailable in malls. In a word, the place feels hip.
When Norfolk native Bill Prince moved to Richmond in 1985, Carytown seemed to be just taking off as the place to go to see and be seen. Its relaxed Bohemian atmosphere of coffee shops and used bookstores and good small eateries drew pedestrians, and they in turn drew more shops to the area, which gradually has gone upscale - while retaining its charm.
When Prince, 31, returned to Norfolk a year ago to manage the coffee shop in Prince Books downtown, he was struck by the parallels between Colley Avenue now and Carytown a decade ago.
Both were anchored by a grand old theater. Both had interesting small shops and eateries. Both were comfortable areas for walking. Both had charm.
As staff writer Alex Marshall noted in a report this week, ``Colley Avenue and 21st Street have grown into a vibrant area where people shop, stroll and dine,'' and the merchants have done it mainly on their own.
If Colley Avenue, and also 21st Street, could somehow be nursed into another Carytown, it would be a boon to Norfolk, giving local shoppers variety and drawing tourists to the unusual shops and restaurants.
Last Tuesday the City Council took the smart step of adopting a new set of zoning rules designed to encourage potentially charming, pedestrian-friendly development and to keep out suburban-style shops with parking lots in front.
The story is told that 21st Street merchants had the trees on their street removed around 1950 so motorists might better see into their store windows. That, to say the least, was a mistake.
Now the emphasis is on nurturing trees and charm.
The new zoning regulations were worked out by the Ghent Task Force, made up of planners, businesspeople and residents. Although the regulations can only nurture charm - not create it - they might protect the charm that's there, while everyone hopes more small shops open and the area prospers.
Carytown, wrote the Times-Dispatch's Gilligan, has a close-knit business community, and the street has the feel of a small town. Most of the stores are small, and they are run by their owners, not chains. That area evolved with no special planning, while downtown Richmond declined as a retail district.
In Norfolk, only about 1,000 people live in the downtown area, compared with 15,000 in greater Ghent, most with money to spend.
Charm can't be forced, but it can be hoped for and nudged forward and especially protected. Colley Avenue and 21st Street merchants, along with the city, are moving in the right direction. by CNB