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Remember when "going downtown" meant so much more than just a shopping trip? “Downtown Richmond Memories” does.

“Downtown Richmond Memories” hearkens to a time when you put on your best clothes to take a journey to a place and time that will always live in your memory. Before there were shopping malls, people came from all over to go to the only place where they could buy everything they needed…or they could just look. Some took the streetcar or a bus from the West End or the South Side, while others came on the train from Charlottesville. Some folks came from as far away as North Carolina to purchase a wedding gown or to go Christmas shopping.

Thalhimers, Miller and Rhoads, Montaldo’s and other stores on Broad Street or Grace Street offered wonderful window displays. Shoppers might have lunch at Miller and Rhoads Tea Room (but if they were in a hurry, they went to the Hot Shoppe or Woolworth’s lunch counter). If they wanted to see a movie, they’d go to Loew’s. If they were in the market for a new hat, it had to come from Sara Sue. At Christmastime, there were visits to Miller and Rhoads’ Santa and Thalhimers’ Snow Bear. Before leaving for home, there was probably a stop at Thalhimers’ bakery for a delicious six-layer cake.

Richmonders who grew up in one of the communities of the city’s South Side, “Downtown” meant Hull Street, with the Venus Theatre where a youngster could take in a Western and buy popcorn and a Coke–all for 25 cents. Nineteenth and Hull streets formed the social hub for the African-American community, and Randolph’s Confectionary was the favorite hang-out.

“Richmond was very segregated,” remembers one resident, “but everybody was downtown–it was multicultural.”

The “Richmond Memories” series–which also includes “More Richmond Memories” and “More Richmond Memories School Days”–combines interviews, photos, memorabilia collected and shared by local residents, archival footage and evocative narrative for a nostalgic look at life here between the 1920s and the 1960s.

Local broadcasting legend Harvey Hudson hosts “Downtown Richmond Memories.” The Community Idea Stations’ Paul Roberts produced the new program. Judith Warrington, who wrote the first three episodes in the series, wrote the script for this one as well. The new special features the music composed by Jay Ungar and Molly Mason (“The Civil War”) for the original “Richmond Memories”, performed and arranged by Frank Coleman and Daniel Clarke.