THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504120178
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Portsmouth folks who don't think this city can change its image need to remind themselves of Norfolk 30 years ago.
Coming here in 1964 to work as a reporter on The Virginian-Pilot , I naturally lived near the office - first at Pelham Place and then at Pembroke Towers, then the most visible and tallest building on the Norfolk skyline.
That section of Norfolk 30 years ago was pretty close to being a slum. Olney Road was shabby. Run-down buildings housed a Chinese laundry that left holes in your clothes; a neighborhood pub frequented by working class folks and sometimes the cops; an old grocery store and, no doubt, a lot of rats and roaches.
There were a few bright spots: a market that delivered, a drug store with a real lunch counter and Christ and St. Luke's Church, site of a few good concerts.
On Granby Street, old-line department stores and others were making a valiant effort to hang on and the tea rooms still were the best places to eat lunch. Another place was the cafe across from the old federal building (now courts) run by the family of Hope Mihalap, who at that time wrote for the Ledger-Star.
Two typical seafood eateries were located in the downtown area and a couple of good restaurants were trying to survive in the Freemason area.
The Golden Triangle (now Howard Johnson) at Brambleton and Monticello was considered the ``crown jewel'' of downtown Norfolk and the MacArthur Memorial represented the city's effort to reclaim downtown.
Center Theater fare had diminished from what it was when I was growing up in Elizabeth City. The Norfolk museum (now the Chrysler) was pathetic and the Norfolk Symphony (now the Virginia Symphony) was puny.
Scope was still a dream. In fact, by the time I left in 1966, they were still trying to get total agreement on the name of the building.
Norfolk had reached the bottom and was just then starting back up. Thirty years later, it still hasn't finished. But look at what's happened with determination and a lot of effort by citizens.
The Virginia Opera and refurbished Center Theater (now the Harrison Opera House), the Virginia Stage Company and its marvelous home that was a porn theater years ago and the Virginia Symphony all are miracles of sorts when you remembers 30 years ago.
Waterside, Nauticus and the entire downtown waterfront are amazing. Look at Ghent and 21st Street.
It hasn't been an easy transformation. The Granby Street Mall was a failure and the city still is dealing with the street that once was a fabulous shopping center.
But, despite some failures, Norfolk is getting better - bit by bit.
Norfolk was so dull and dirty 30 years ago that I stayed about two years. I was, of course, younger and somehow the promise of the future there never quite grabbed me. Since I was determined to stay in this part of the country, the prospects for the Research Triangle drew me back to Raleigh.
Interestingly enough, the Research Triangle notion was struggling too. Conceived in the early 1950s, it was barely more than a dream for 15 years and really didn't take off for 20 years. Now look at what's happened over the past 20 years.
But people in both Norfolk and the Research Triangle seem to have faith in the future. In each place, there have been failures that required adjustments to plans and even to dreams. But there also have been many fine successes.
Portsmouth also had begun to change in the mid-1960s. Number One Crawford was highly visible from my Norfolk apartment. The city was beginning to tear down some old buildings - some I wish they'd saved.
But Portsmouth change has been more sporadic, less organized. It seems to have come in fits and starts and has veered from one direction to another. Portsmouth citizens sometimes seem more interested in complaining than in acting.
We have our successes. Look at the Children's Museum or the Seawall Art Show. But we have had trouble sustaining a positive momentum in the past.
Vision 2005, the new economic development plan, may help overcome the uneven efforts of the past.
As for citizens, if they think they can't change this place, they're mistaken. All they have to do is get interested in the total community. by CNB