This story was updated March 27, 2026, to reflect new information. When the axe fell on Stefan Friedman’s restaurants, their sudden closures left staff and patrons surprised. Ace Biscuit & Barbecue, Omakase Obscura, The Wine Guild of Charlottesville, Vitae Spirits Distillery, and Old Metropolitan Hall—the entire once-bountiful table of Friedman’s company, A Moveable Feast—folded or changed […]
After a 20-year love affair, Melanie Schaefer decided to branch out: to copper, brass, and bronze, that is. Silver, she says, has become too pricey for artistic monogamy. “In the last year, the price of the metal that I use has tripled, plus some,” explains Schaefer, a jewelry maker who, until 2026, has worked almost exclusively […]
By now, you’ve likely seen them: videos of people in homes like ours, on streets like ours, sobbing, screaming, or silent. Dragged from their cars, their homes, their lives by masked, anonymous men dressed and armed for war. You’ve seen federal agents shoot and kill unarmed Americans, and witnessed federal officials blame those people for […]
It’s a scene out of a Stanley Kubrick film. You’re blindfolded and led into a room you’ve likely never seen before. A silent usher takes you to a seat where you’ll remain for the next hour with only your ears to guide you. Musicians take up their instruments and begin to play. There is no […]
The Ice Bowl, to be honest, seems like two excellent ideas surrounded by a lot of terrible ones. The excellent ideas: Tossing a disc into a basket for fun, and raising money for the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank while you do so. But you’re tossing that disc out in the middle of the woods, […]
Since the University of Virginia held its first classes in 1825, West Main Street has served as an important thoroughfare between town and gown. The buildings and structures constructed along the major roadway between the two spaces since then reflect the changing economies as both Charlottesville and UVA grew. But in the absence of solid […]
River Hawkins knows tequila. More to the point, he knows mezcal. When you’ve gone deep down the wormhole of tequila’s smokier, more bracing brethren, Hawkins says, tequila is almost too sweet. “I think of it as a dessert drink,” the Bebedero and Mejicali owner says of the typically 80 proof liquor—without a trace of irony. […]
With eyes closed and mouth open, I hear deer everywhere. It’s just before sundown on the day after Christmas, and we’re clustered in a hunter’s blind beside an old privy in a field flanked by woods, waiting for a deer to tiptoe into view. The forest floor, littered with dry autumn leaves, is crackling. The […]
Think of this as Charlottesville’s field guide to the new year. We rounded up the city’s most dialed-in experts in politics, food, art, weather, and beyond, and asked them to predict what’s coming up for 2026. Their collective wisdom charts the trends, shifts, and stories that will shape the year.—C-VILLE writers VIRGINIA POLITICS Fast times […]
Half a century ago, Peter Jensen launched Project Censored, in part as a response to how the Watergate break-in was covered. Richard Nixon didn’t censor the initial reporting, but he didn’t have to. The press simply didn’t cover it with any serious scrutiny until well after Nixon was elected. The story didn’t reach the American […]