THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110510
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 56 lines
They said they couldn't replay opening night, but merchants on Granby Row are staging an encore.
The second annual celebration of the renovated 100 block of Granby Street - between Main and Plume streets - is set for Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m. It's a block party, New Orleans style.
Organizers expect that last year's crowd of some 2,000 will be equaled, if not exceeded.
There will be dancing in the street to the jazz sounds of Against All Odds, food and drink for sale in the open air, and artists showing their stuff. The street will be closed to traffic, and the event will be free and open to the public.
Once an earthy - some say seedy - strip of sailor bars, this stretch of street in downtown Norfolk has been brought back to its turn-of-the-century look with Beaux Arts-style architecture and facades of detailed brick and masonry.
The block's reputation as a place for sea-weary sailors to cut loose persisted through the 1950s and '60s, and it wasn't until the late 1980s that the last of the bars - The Neptune - shut down.
Now, the block sports chic eateries and art galleries, and it is a popular stop-off point for young professionals and college students, merchants say.
Jim Manning is an owner of a new tavern, Mo and O'Malley's Pub, which opened this year on St. Paddy's Day.
He contrasted the Granby Row of the mid-1990s with that of the past.
``In those days, the shore patrol walked the street with billy clubs,'' Manning said. ``It was wide open and very earthy. Now it's a $6 cigar and a $7 glass of brandy, but then it was 50-cent drafts.''
Some of the buildings were purchased by the city with redevelopment money, then sold to individuals who had a vision for the block. Some structures were rehabilitated from the ground up with private funds.
A few nearby blocks of Granby Street are being renovated to be part of Tidewater Community College's downtown Norfolk campus.
Thursday's party is ``a catalyst'' to draw people who don't often visit downtown Granby Street, Manning said. ``More and more people are investing in trying to develop retail space. Last year, people said, `Boy, I haven't been down here in a while, and this has changed.' '' ILLUSTRATION: File photo
Granby Row then: The block's reputation as a place for sea-weary
sailors to cut loose persisted through the 1950s and '60s. The last
bar, The Neptune, shut down in the late 1980s.
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT file/Richard L. Dunston
Granby Row then: The block's reputation as a place for sea-weary
sailors... by CNB