413 Catherine Street

We had a busy day. Madeline’s attends a private school and one of their big fund raisers is the annual Spring Fling. So thus is how the day began. It was a lot of fun and not nearly as draining as Chucky Cheese. The school had a Sponge Bob Moon Bounce, Jonathon the Juggler, a pseudo petting zoo (guinea pigs, and hamsters), face painting, a cakewalk, a visit from the police, who enjoyed handcuffing the little ones and for the grand finally the raffle. Madeline spent all of her money in an attempt to win a Baby Bratz doll in the raffle only to lose to her sometime friend sometime nemesis, Leah, the other diva in the third grade class. Dave and I hung out with the cool parents (Leah’s dad and Geoff, Lily and Ivy’s dad). So after being completly depleted of energy and forced to remain until the very end so we could be present for the raffle, we headed home where we met my friend Diane and her granddaughter Tiffany. The kids hung out in the apartment for a while but since most of the house is packed up, we decided to take a walk down to our new neighborhood park, Abner Clay. On the way out the door Lily called to see what Madeline was doing, because she too was on her way to Abner Clay Park. So we meet again. The kids had fun, despite a run in with some of the neighborhood bullies who thankfully focused most of their pestering on the adults. After a lesson on racism and our attempt to be friendly with them we went from being white b@%&*es to actually being referred to as “Miss Diane”. The struggle began when four young neighborhood kids (pre-teens) walked up to Diane and demanded the swing from her. Diane, who was going to give the child the swing, explained you couldn’t just walk up to someone and demand something. The child was not amused and the conversation quickly degenerated to physical threats from the child at this point the rest of us stepped in, not about to be bullied from kids. After a serious of questions from the kids, and a showing of Geoff’s battle wounds from when he was a young punk kid, we won some street credit with them, and made friends. It was an interesting experience, I could sympathize with the boys, who probably perceived the situation as a white woman in their neighborhood taking something they felt belonged to them. Jackson Ward historically is an African American community. Until recently when many Caucasians have moved into the neighborhood and begun restoring houses. Unfortunately as a result the property values have skyrocketed and many of the neighborhoods original inhabitants are being forced out due to the dramatic increase of property taxes creating much racial tension in the neighborhood. I can’t say I blame the kids. When I graduate I plan on teaching in inner city schools so overall the incident provided insight as to what I’ll be up against. We concluded our evening with a trip to Skate America, the kids had a great time and the adults were reminded we aren’t kids anymore!

Our official closing date is May 16th, thirty-three days and counting. We're so excited we have been dancing around the house celebrating our approval (unfortunately, not as gracefully as Bill "Bojangles" Robinson). This statue is located at the intersection of Leigh and Adams streets in Jackson Ward. Robinson lived with his grandmother in Jackson Ward until he left in hopes of pursuing a career in entertainment. Although Robinson resided in New York he frequently returned to his home in Jackson Ward and often performed at the Hippodrome on the Deuce (Second Street). When Robinson observed children dangerously crossing busy Leigh Street he donated money for the city to install a traffic light to ensure the neighborhood children had a safe place to cross. After Robinson's death the Bojangles statue was erected to honor Robinson’s generosity and concern for his neighborhood.

We walked down to the Maggie Walker Museum today. Unfortunately they were in the middle of changing exhibits and making repairs to the home so there was not much to see. We did have the opportunity to watch a short film about Maggie’s life and a chance to peruse the gift shop. Maggie Walker was the first women bank president in the United States. She was a volunteer for the Order of Saint Luke’s, an organization that helped impoverished African Americans with healthcare and burial expenses. Maggie quickly worked her way up to a high position within the order and as attempt to further help her community she decided to open the Saint Luke’s Penny Savings Bank which still remains an African American owned and operated bank in Jackson Ward currently known as Consolidated Bank and Trust. http://www.consolidatedbank.com/ We’ve decided to close our account with our corporate mega bank and support our new neighborhood bank.

In the spirit of sending positive thoughts into the Universe we have started packing. The pile of boxes was generously donated by our friends, Tonya and Mark, who conveniently both injured their arms when it was time for them to move last March. So their friends and family (including us) had the pleasure of moving them - in return we get free boxes. I think they might have had the right idea though! I foresee sprained arms in Dave's and my future. Especially considering those boxes are all full of books and we haven't even begun to pack the rest of the house. Two English majors should not live in the same house. We have far too many books!

Okay D.C. punk girl influence coming out there for a moment. Did I mention I grew up in D.C.? (For those of you not familiar I am a patient boy... are lyrics from the D.C. punk band Fugazi's song "Waiting Room" that I can't seem to get out of my head while we play the waiting game.) Anyways we made the formal loan application and now we wait... The picture illustrates too many people in our too small loft, we currently reside in, at last year's Halloween Bash. We can't wait to have all that open space so we can entertain in style! Mark your calendars for a kick a$$ Halloween/Samhain party next year at our place.

Considering we are rabidly opposed to the corporate coffee shops we were thrilled to discover Dose (sorry no website to link to yet). Dose is located at 522 N. Second Street, once known as The Deuce, in close proximity to the Hippodrome, the former entertainment hotspot for Jackson Ward, which hosted many artists in its hay day including Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Robinson and Duke Ellington. Dose is a clever play on words, dos translates to two in Spanish therefore referencing its location as well as its services. Their iced mocha generously topped with whipped cream was the perfect choice of beverages to meander the streets of the ward. Although we were tempted to stay and enjoy our coffee in the contemporary designed indoor balcony where we could read some of the local presses they carry or enjoy the sights in their open-air balcony over looking Second Street. The staff was incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about the neighborhood. I did not notice if they had WiFi but if so I foresee Dose as my future studying spot. (The photo is an interior shot I pirated from Richmond Renaissance.) Here's a link to find non-corporate coffee shops in any area:
http://www.delocator.net/ 

Okay so it’s a difficult market we’re dealing with. The house/shack pictured above is what a 170,000 dollars will buy you and apparently this house was such a good deal it sold in a couple of days! Thankfully we have an awesome realtor, Graham Rashkind, with Keller Williams Realty. Graham warned us that our price point was vanishing fast in the city and showed us some gorgeous homes in Barton Heights, originally a streetcar suburb of Richmond, that is undergoing tremendous rehab projects as well as new construction that Graham is the listing agent for. We loved the homes especially the pink Queen Anne on Monteiro Street (listed for 150,000 if anyone is interested). However being stubborn city folk we just could not give up the convenience of walking everywhere. Even though Barton Heights is technically in the city of Richmond it is not within walking distance to the things we enjoy. So we decided to search, confident that we would find something (livable) in the city. Graham was great, and extremely patient with our efforts, adding much humor to the situation when we were feeling defeated and thanks to his connections found a house we could afford that had a roof and windows that wasn't located in the middle of a gang war zone. Furthermore this house was the best rehabbed house we have seen. The owners spared no expense on renovations resulting in beautiful hardwood and marble floors, working gas fireplaces and upgraded fixtures. We strongly recommend anyone looking to find a house, contact Graham he is extremely knowledgeable about the market and this man has got the hook ups! See link under “Best realtor in town.” Check out our album “The Journey” to see some of the fabulous homes we were introduced to that were loaded with potential just waiting for someone to make them theirs. Can you tell I have read a lot of real estate listings recently? Keywords to stay away from: In need of TLC, Handyman Special, Tons of potential, just a little work/updating, sold as is and rare opportunity. These are all code words for needs to be condemned.

Feeling pretty confident that everything was going to work out with the house we drove Madeline past today. She could careless what the house looked like inside, but was thrilled that it is only two blocks from her best friend or “soul sista” as they refer to each other, Lily. The picture is of Lily and Madeline after they robbed the bank of all of its candy. We were hoping they would at least go for the money but why steal money when you are just going to use it to buy candy when they have all of that candy out in the open and unguarded? Jackson Ward has no idea what chaos is about to be unleashed upon its streets when these two get together.

Here is a shot of Clay Street from our walk this evening. Click on the photo album entitled "Our Walk" for other photos of the neighborhood. We did not even come close to taking pictures of everything we wanted to but our memory card filled up too quickly. Check back for future photos of the neighborhood. It really has some remarkable buildings and interesting history.

In the spirit of impoverished future homeowners we opted not to attend VCU’s French Film Festival this weekend but instead to check out First Fridays. First Fridays is an event sponsored by Curated Culture, a non-profit organization that promotes local artist, all of the galleries along Broad Street and scattered throughout Jackson Ward open their doors for an open house on the first Friday of each month. This event is free and open to the public. We were amazed by what an incredible event this was. We often had to remind ourselves that we were still in Richmond. The streets were filled with street performers ranging from spoken word artists, musicians, poi dancers (fire twirling and breathing) to the elementary aged “Fartist” using a balloon as his medium. This was not at all what we had envisioned: Richmond's upper crust attending, glutting their selves on wine and cheese while ogling "safe art". The art was fabulous, albeit pricey. The image above is an egg tempera portrait by one of our favorite artists, Susan Jamison, from Roanoke on display through April at the ADA Gallery. I highly recommend anyone that has not attended a First Friday to check it out; I have to say this is one of the best events in Richmond. Click on the link in the "Things to do in Jackson Ward" section for more information. Wine and cheese at our new place anyone? This is only three blocks south of our new house!

UPDATE: note the changed location of Susan Jamison's exhibit which I originally stated was in the 1708 Gallery also Susan said to check back with ADA next month there should be drawings available for those of us that would love to support out local artist but lack the tens of thousands of dollars to do so. Every new house deserves new art so we look forward to seeing what Susan has available. In the meantime check out her website at: http://www.susanjamisongallery.com/ If any one knows how to get hyperlinks to work in blogspirit please email me or leave a comment and enlighten me. I'm not sure if it is part of the problem but I use a Mac.