East Main in Norfolk

[David Kataja]

Tom Maddox wrote:
> 
> Regarding the line from _V._ about the east, "where there are no more
> bars."  Undoubtedly the line carries whatever symbolic freight can be
> loaded onto it; however--
> 
> As I recall, East Main Street in Norfolk is the last street before the
> water (Elizabeth River?), and east of it *there are no more bars*.

Pretty good memory, Tom, but since the early 60s Norfolk has had one of 
those urban renewal revitalizations (or sterilizations) and East Main is 
as sedate and empty as they come, with Waterside Drive and a Rouse 
Company tourist trap lining the Elizabeth River. I think the serious Navy 
drinkers imbibe and brawl on East Ocean View Ave these days.

I just moved from Norfolk to Concord, NC and I sure don't miss it.

> 
> This is remembered geography, hence subject to the usual lapses caused by
> time, infirmity, brain damage.
> 
> I lived in Norfolk during the early '60s, pretty much the final days of
> East Main's glory.  I remember buses filled with sailors riding from the
> naval base up Hampton Boulevard to downtown and the bars.