Anderson’s Seafood They were some of the nicest people in the world. The Anderson family, and they brought fresh seafood to Charlottesville. I remember way back, when Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and occasionally a few of their children would set up a tent on a Friday afternoon beside what was Hardy’s at the intersection of Rt. 29 and Rio Road. I often stopped by to poke around in one of his … [Read more...]

The Tavern It was a dump, but it was our dump. It was widely known as the place where students, tourists and towns people would meet. It was fondly known as The Tavern. The Tavern, sometimes called Sarge’s though no one knows why, opened in1954. It was a place for cheap beer and hearty breakfasts known to cure even the most severe hangover. It was home to some of the fastest cockroaches in … [Read more...]

When I first moved to Charlottesville, I quickly discovered that if there was anything you needed in the way of tools and hardware, Downtown Hardware was the place to go. What a neat store - with hardwood floors and chests and most any tool or doodad imaginable No matter what you needed, they had it and the experienced clerks had all been there since Teddy Roosevelt was president. I loved … [Read more...]

Tiffany’s Seafood Once upon a time in a land not-so-far away, there was a fabulous seafood restaurant. The land not-so-far was Charlottesville, and the restaurant was Tiffany’s Seafood. Today, there really are no seafood restaurants in town. Some, like Rhett’s, have seafood specials from time to time, and some, like Bonefish off the usual salmon, shrimp, and frozen fish entrees. But there … [Read more...]

Sloan’s Restaurant If the Gaslight Restaurant was Charlottesville’s Best, then Sloan’s Restaurant was the Friendliest. Everybody loved to go to Sloan’s. Sloan’s was the brainchild of Mac Sloan, a beloved Policeman in Charlottesville. When Mac turned in his badge, he decided to go in the restaurant business with his sons, Dale and David. Dale and Mac opened Tiny Macs while David and Mac … [Read more...]

The Gaslight When I moved to Charlottesville in 1967, one restaurant had established itself as the best in town: The Gaslight, at 615 W. Main Street stood alone. The Gaslight was the brainchild of John Tuck, known to one and all as “Tuck”. He wore a beret and visited every table to make sure the guests were completely satisfied. I have always said that the best restaurants have hands on owners … [Read more...]

Miller & Rhoads Miller & Rhoads was as Virginia as a field of Wakefield peanuts. A prestigious department store based out of Richmond; Miller & Rhoads had two locations in Charlottesville when I came to town in 1968. The Downtown Store and one at Barracks Road Shopping Center. There are two things that stand out in my memories of Miller & Rhoads - the Gift Wrap Lady and … [Read more...]

George Rennick was the PT Barnum of the Charlottesville car world, and he sold a lot of cars. A Kansas native, Rennick worked for a Buick dealership in Wichita and excelled. He loved the automobile business and worked his way up the ranks at General Motors, eventually settling in as District Manager in DC. In the early 1980’s, George decided he wanted his own franchise and bought the local … [Read more...]

Barnaby’s Pizza  We eat pizza from time to time. Who doesn’t? For us, it’s usually Voccelli’s, which is just a stone’s throw from our house. But we have the fondest memories of Barnaby’s, a pizzeria once located on Greenbrier Drive at the current site of Guadalajara. Pizza was a relatively new concept in the south in the 1960s. New York and Chicago were well known for pizza pies, an … [Read more...]