DATE: Monday, April 21, 1997                TAG: 9704190839

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   25 lines

THAT WAS THEN

SUMMERTIME DOWNTOWN IDYLL

Vintage automobiles and fashions of the times make this 1941 shot

of Granby and Tazewell streets in downtown Norfolk a pre-Pearl

Harbor period piece. Hall's optical sign on the left is no longer

there but will bring back memories to many Norfolk-area people who

were fitted for their first pair of glasses there. Practically

hidden, but still visible, is Peoples' Drug Store at Granby and

College Place, the favorite downtown teen hangout of that era.

Farther up the street is the no longer existing Flatiron Building. A

careful observer will also note that most of the women in the

picture are wearing jaunty summer hats. Also, the straw boaters

worn by many of the men will recall a former popular masculine hot

weather headgear. One also wonders where the two puzzled youngsters

at front right are now.

- George Tucker

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu