This article is classified "Real"
What can I say about Richmond, Virginia? It's a sucking chest wound of a town. Kind of an experiment in sociology gone cruelly wrong. Don't panic. Pass through. Smell the homegrown apathy. Live and learn. Don't feed the natives. Locations of special note or interest: The Fan ------- A series of streets which spread apart in a fan shape. One small pocket of quasi-bohemia, an oasis of intellectuals (and those who feel that they should be intellectuals even if their grey matter just doesn't pass muster; see Art Majors, Virginia Commonwealth University) is located on these streets. Interestingly enough, one street, Monument Avenue, is decorated with statues dedicated to anarchists. Virginia Commonwealth University -------------------------------- Sort of an educational purgatory. (See Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, USA, Earth). Hollywood Cemetery ------------------ Final resting place of an assortment of anarchists, generals, presidents, a few minor literary figures, and misc. blue bloods. Littered with ornate headstones, crypts and mausoleums. Very gothic, very funereal - if you like that sort of thing. 3rd Street Diner ---------------- Located at the corner of 3rd and Main, it has the best bacon cheeseburger in town. Open 24 hours. A healthier mix of people than you're liable to find anywhere else in the state, let alone the city. Bottoms Up Pizza ---------------- Located in Shokoe "Bottom," ha-ha, it's easily the best pizza in town. Be forewarned: during lunch the place is filled with suits from the Corporate sector and at nights it's filled with drunken yuppies. The things you have to endure for a good pie... Downtown -------- A gutted industrial waste. Now it sports only a few discount stores and is dominated by corporate high rise buildings. Virtually deserted after the close of business hours. Tumbleweeds would blow through, except they're too afraid of being beaten up or shook down for spare change. Be sure to check out the 6th St Marketplace and Main St. Station, two failed attempts at revitalizing the Downtown area. If you listen carefully, you can still hear the tax dollars being sucked, sucked away.