The first time Maria’s husband was ticketed for driving without a license was after being stopped because of a broken taillight. The second instance occurred after he hit a deer. Both Maria and her husband are undocumented immigrants living in Charlottesville. They settled here after fleeing their native El Salvador due to a civil war […]
Former congressman Tom Perriello announced his surprise candidacy for governor of Virginia Thursday, upsetting the plans of many leading Virginia Democrats. In a hastily arranged speech at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in downtown Charlottesville, Perriello spoke of how his father first arrived in Virginia. “He grew up in West Virginia, Italian immigrant […]
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the rest of the world saw Charlottesville as the home of Dave Matthews. But to insiders, the beating heart of the local music scene could hardly have been more different from the frat-friendly hits of DMB. It was called The Dawning. A weekly goth night held in the […]
“Oh, look at that, it’s the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile!” Two excited women race across the parking lot of Reid’s Supermarket on Preston Avenue yesterday and marvel at what appears to be an enormous hot dog on wheels—they immediately begin taking selfies. Isaac Wilker is one of two recent college graduates who drives one of eight […]
Breweries have been popping up around Charlottesville like mushrooms after a rain. About a dozen beer producers are now located within an easy drive from town. But curiously, only four breweries are actually located within the city’s limits: Champion, South Street, Three Notch’d and—the newest addition in September—Random Row. In the middle of a regional […]
As the presidential election played out across the United States, the battle for both the White House and an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives played out in Charlottesville on its own small scale. At Carver Recreation Center near the Downtown Mall, afternoon voters were greeted by a pair of smiling volunteers from […]
The Downtown Mall’s newest bar doesn’t have a bartender. Technically, it doesn’t even have a bar. At Draft, there is no barrier between the customer and 60 taps of beer. “It is pour-your-own, with no bartender,” says Chris Kyle, Draft’s technology manager. On arrival, customers stop in at the front desk, where their IDs are […]
On varying scales, Charlottesville is home to most of the cultural institutions of a much larger city: theater, opera, art galleries and film. Now we can add fashion shows to that list. On Saturday, Rag Trade brings fashion, music and art downtown to the IX Art Park. Three local designers will be featured amid choreographed […]
Seven years after William Shakespeare died in 1616, a collection of his plays was assembled into a single volume for the first time. Only 900 copies were printed—235 survive today. For the first time, one of those First Folios is at the University of Virginia, on loan from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., […]
The Charlottesville area has always been shaped by immigrants, and we have a long tradition of recognizing them for it. French-born Claudius Crozet, who served as an engineer in Napoleon’s army, constructed the first railroad from Charlottesville to Richmond in 1851. He then blasted a railway tunnel straight through Rockfish Gap, missing perfect alignment from […]