Amazing what a snow storm can do to change the look and feel of the DTM. What you notice first is the silence, the stillness, the feeling that everything has stopped or slowed way down. Java Java barista Anita Byers popped into the shop, which was closed, to take in the bakery goods that Albemarle…
This building, at the northwest corner of First and Main Streets, started out as Jefferson National Bank in the 1910s. It was carved out of the east end of the Leterman Building which was a prominent downtown department store at the time. Much of the Leterman Building still exists with various shops occupying the original…
Read more Vintage DTM: history of Hamilton’s Restaurant building
This view of Main Street is from the base of Vinegar Hill, looking east on Main Street, in the 1930s. This is the west end of today’s Downtown Mall. If you go downtown and look closely at the second and third stories of many of the buildings on this part of the DTM you will…
A&N sat on the corner of 5th and E. Main for many decades, both before and after the construction of the downtown pedestrian mall. Once a two-story building, it fell victim to a 1968 fire at the M.C. Thomas Furniture store next door. The business would carry on for many more years and is seen…
In December of 1959, local photographer Ed Roseberry captured this nighttime view of Main Street, today’s Downtown Mall. Many changes have occurred in this section of town in the last 5 decades. The Paramount went dark for 30 years. The buildings to the west of the theater were destroyed by fire (1973) and have become…
This photograph from the mid 1970s shows the early construction of the Downtown Mall. The controversial idea to replace the drivable Main Street with a brick-paved pedestrian mall was not well-received by everyone, especially many of the business owners who benefited from the drive-up traffic and being convenient to their customers. This image shows the…
This aerial photograph from legendary Charlottesville photographer Ed Roseberry shows downtown Charlottesville as it looked in the early 1970s. The street on the left is Main Street, today’s downtown mall. The ramps came off the Belmont Bridge and 9th Street on to Main Street about where the nTelos Wireless Pavilion stands today. You can see…
Read more More Vintage DTM: as seen from above, and long ago
The DTM is pleased to welcome a new feature to the site called “Vintage DTM.” Photographer Steve Trumbull‘s website C’ville Images features vintage images of Charlottesville and tells the stories behind the pictures. We will be showing some of these photos here on a regular basis with a focus on Downtown and Main Street, today’s DTM. You…
The current film line-up on the Downtown Regal marquee offers an odd, and inadvertent, social commentary. Photo by Anita Byers.
