Yearning For The Good Old Days

Charlottesville

July 11, 2022

This morning I drove past the Corner. It made me sad. I know many are upset over the changes at UVa -- I am more sad about the changes to the Corner and Charlottesville in general.

The old University Cafeteria space (most recently a Sheetz) is empty as is the space formerly occupied by Littlejohn's (and for a few months a cheesesteak restaurant). The College Inn closed; that space is now occupied by a Chiptole. How can there be empty stores on the Corner? With its proximity to the University and with the number of students who walk along there each day, it makes no sense to me. Worse than that, it just looks bad.

I continued my drive down to Bob's Wheel Alignment on East Market Street. After dropping off my car, I got a ride back to Minor Road by way of Rio Road. My driver was a lady in her 70s who has lived her whole life in Charlottesville. We drove down Locust Avenue which to me remains one of the prettier streets in town. She commented about how housing prices in Charlottesville have exploded and that no one who has lived here for a long time could afford to buy a house here anymore.

Which got me wondering whether the demand for Charlottesville may peak soon. To quote Yoga Berra, "No one goes there anymore; it's too popular." With all the traffic and the changed culture at UVa, perhaps the luster of Charlottesville is beginning to wear off? There have been a lot of changes since I moved here in 2015; you can still find marvelous areas, but something overall has changed.