Ruins of the old McDonald's on General Booth Boulevard (intersection wtih Birdneck).

Like the sign says, thankful for 33 years.. I remember this location (mostly) from the '9os. I liked their stone work, which I think was somewhat unique for a McD's exterior.. Nice '80s flavor.

(Dining patio, with the tables long gone.)

Footprint of the (once) Golden Arches.

Their 2018 farewell banner would date their original opening as 1985.. which makes sense, that's probably when Jungle Falls (turned Ocean Breeze) started taking off. There were probably a lot of patrons looking for nearby gruel. 

Rest in peace.

contact: nat.rain@gmail.com

Extinct, obscure one (I say obscure, because I couldn't find any images, or vintage postcards of it online, but who knows).. This ad's from a 1970 accommodation directory I have.

Building is no longer standing, but moving laterally from it's original location, there are a couple similar buildings. An almost identical set of apartments on 23rd, then the MacThrift on 22nd.. which has a two-story strip of rooms similar to The Virginian.

Back in the day, as a carefree low-life, I stayed in the MacThrift for a couple weeks, so I have a mental image of what The Virginian's interior likely looked like.. 

I notice as I go thru this 50 year old directory, the independently owned, bygone motels often used names & marketing invested in regional and local identity.. now most of the oceanfront hotels are essentially indistinguishable, cookie cut members of uniform chains.

If anyone has pics, or postcards of The Virginian to share, I'd like seeing them:  nat.rain@gmail.com

Couple years back Regatta Bay strip mall near Rosemont & Virginia Beach Blvd received a makeover and rebranding. 

Mid-metamorphosis from it's 80s red brick, to it's 21st century look.. 

The transformed utilitarian look & name Regatta Center. A no-nonsense name that conjures images of Soviet Bloc-style retail.

Bon Voyage Regatta Bay.

Early Regatta Bay lineup, from the 1988 Va Beach City Directory.. Guess the publishers weren't feeling Regatta Bay's oasis imagery.. it received generic billing as Office Building. 

contact: nat.rain@gmail.com

The old Golden Dragon on Pacific back in the day.. If I remember right, it was close to Pacific & Laskin. Hard to remember when it closed.. I was thinking about it as a vacated building, and did a shallow dive in to it's history. I learned that there was another (or completely unrelated) Golden Dragon near 17th & Pacific.

Based on the postcard style, this Golden Dragon depiction is probably from the 30s or 40s.. the structure was familiar to me, so I juxtaposed this card with it's current appearance..

You can see the windows on the side have been boarded over, but they line up with the old building, also the side top of the building still has the descending step look. Neighboring building is the back of 17th Street Surf Shop.

contact: nat.rain@gmail.com

Atlantic Ave apocrypha

Cool photo I saw recently of 1960s Atlantic Avenue. There were no recognizable landmarks to me, so I worked off the Roses department store sign (left 1/3rd of the pic)..

Apparently Roses was near the intersection of 19th & Atlantic. Some online research turned up this brief report from the 1963 Federal Register:

Rose's Stores Inc No 107 1904 Atlantic Avenue Virginia Beach Va effective 10-2 to 9-2 1964.. store 13 employees..

Another long gone spot on Atlantic, the old Seaside Amusement Park, formerly near Laskin & Atlantic. I think it survived in to the early/mid 8os (somebody email me if they remember exactly when it folded up). I remember the empty/vacated lot there for a while. And around 1992 it was being used as a temporary (indoor) ice skating rink if I remember right..

contact- nat.rain@gmail.com

This is an old directory of Virginia Beach motels I bought about 10 years ago. Was cool going thru old spots, trying to verify which ones are still standing, remodeled, or completely gone..
They were alphabetically organized in this brochure, I'm gonna (alphabetically) cherry pick a couple of them to highlight over time, I guess until I lose interest..

Brochure's first listing is the defunct Aelous. Building is still located on 40th street, under the name of the Oceans II. Even tho the name changed, the structure seems really similar to it's look 50 years ago. I stayed there in the late 9os, when it had already converted to 'Oceans II', I remember wondering (unaware) where was Oceans I.. but they were basically right across the street.

If you check out their specs, they offered wall-to-wall carpet.. Can't beat that.
Something new to me, in 1970, Virginia Beach was in the 703 area code. I know by the 80s & 90s, it had been carved off in to the 804, then 757, but.. 703 was left in Northern VA.

Contemporary photo of the Oceans II.

contact: nat.rain@gmail.com

A look at some of Virginia Beach (& Hampton Roads) defunct sports teams..

The UFL's short-lived Virginia Destroyers, played home games in Virginia Beach.

Probably Hampton Roads' most famous, long-gone pro sports team, the Squires. Young Dr. J is number 32..

Years ago, co-worker mentioned the Virginia Red Wings, who I had never been aware of.. Like the Squires, Wings played @ Norfolk Scope.

Another Hampton Roads hockey team, from the mid 7os Southern League, Tidewater Sharks:

I remember a semi-pro football team, the Tidewater Sharks, but they were active years later in the 9os.

Book I read @ some point, has lots of photos, & brief histories on the different incarnations of baseball in Norfolk.

contact: nat.rain@gmail.com