36 hours in Richmond
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the New York Times article where writer Justin Bergman takes a 36-hour tour of Richmond. He offers an interesting, outsider’s look at our city: As the heart of the old Confederacy, Richmond, Va., watched with envy as other cities like Atlanta and Charlotte became the economic and cultural […]
In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the New York Times article where writer Justin Bergman takes a 36-hour tour of Richmond. He offers an interesting, outsider’s look at our city:
As the heart of the old Confederacy, Richmond, Va., watched with envy as other cities like Atlanta and Charlotte became the economic and cultural pillars of the New South. But Richmond may finally be having its big moment: a building boom in the last few years has seen century-old tobacco warehouses transformed into lofts and art studios. Chefs are setting up kitchens in formerly gritty neighborhoods, and the city’s buttoned-up downtown suddenly has life after dusk, thanks to new bars, a just-opened hotel and a performing arts complex, Richmond CenterStage. Richmond is strutting with confidence, moving beyond its Civil War legacy and emerging as a new player on the Southern art and culinary scene.
Bergman spotlights Richmond gems like Gallery5 (owner Amanda Robinson looks stunning as usual in the story’s main image), Mezzanine, Kuba Kuba, the Jefferson, Black Sheep, Tredegar, Legend, along with many others we know and love.
Head over and read the whole story, and be sure to check out the slideshow, too.
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Valerie Catrow
Valerie Catrow is editor of RVAFamily, mother to a mop-topped first grader, and always really excited to go to bed.
Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
Too bad he left out The National, Centerstage, the VFMA construction, Mama Zu’s, etc. and no pics of the rivuh.
Very half-assed if you ask me.
Yeah I agree with that sentiment. I guess Ethiopian, Thai, Japanese, French, and Italian no longer qualify as ethnic food and no real mention of the new Southern cuisine here unless you count her snarky fried okra comment. Also any article about Richmond that doesn’t mention the James and all the recreation options in and along it has missed the mark. Either way I guess it’s nice to get some exposure.
well, I thought it was pretty neat. nice to see Black Sheep get a much-deserved mention. I do agree with Jeff about that silly caption in the slide show. Quote: “Don’t expect to find amazing ethnic food in Richmond — this is fried okra country, not an immigrant town. The one exception is Kuba Kuba. . . ”
I say lazy food journalism / glaring ignorance of southern demographics!
The piece was 36 hours in Richmond, not do something every six minutes. The NYTimes’ 36 Hours pieces aren’t designed to be the know-all, see-all guides to cities — they’re snapshots. I thought the writer gave the rest of the world a pretty good snapshot of Richmond — better one that we normally see on a national level.
I love the NYT but they do usually equate spending time somewhere with spending money. Mentioning the river parks would have been a nice change from the usual story involving 3-4 full meals a day.
Good job, guys. Complain some MORE. NEWS FLASH: New York loves a good way to get entertainment done for FREE, telling EVERYONE about it, and making you think that you’re the only one who knows the secret. Kinda like Carytown parking decks. But that’s not what this article was about. The writeup was done in order to talk about the change that’s coming to this town, and to get new DOLLARS spent in the city.
Food-wise, bear in mind, there’s an explosion of ethnic cuisine on every corner in NYC. It’s what they do. It’s what their readers do. New York *IS* an immigrant town. Not to take anything away from the fabulous restaurants in Richmond (i think they would be an entirely different article if you ask me), but in a 4 block radius you can have pretty much whatever your palette desires in New York – and probably from a choice of restaurants (or carts!)…and mostly from First or Second generation families. Compared to the ethnic food found in NYC, we don’t compare. FACT.
About two years ago, they DID cover Richmond – “magnolia and veranda swing appeal” and all- and they did mention Belle Isle….and Comfort too. Link available right at the bottom of the article.
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/travel/escapes/01American.html?fta=y
And, really. 36 hours. A Day and a Half. How much Richmond can *YOU* do in a Day and a Half?
I like that there are so many ways to look at Richmond that they keep coming back.
@Robinitaface – I think that’s a pretty good take on things. I just felt that stating only one restaurant in town had good ethnic food was a pretty bold statement to make considering they were only here 36 hours and I’m sure weren’t able to sample many other ethnic joints. Seems more like a stereotype than fact but whatever. I wonder how frequently they have covered other cities? Richmond definitely has a lot of different faces to it, especially considering how small a place it is. Maybe that’s why I like living here so much.