It’s been 6 years since Gaston flooded Main Street and Shockoe Bottom:

Then, at about 6pm at night as we all stood in the main entrance way to our street level offices the front doors opened….. it was a wall of water about 12 inches high. It swept through the office. Everyone ran to get stuff off of the floor and into the cars in our parking deck behind our office. Within a minute or two the water had risen to about 3 feet deep. It was time for us to leave. [...] We ran up stairs and spent the next 5 hours on the second floor of the building watching in amazement as we looked out the windows onto what was East Main Street. It was now a 9 foot deep river.

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Jeff Ruggles guest-posts over at The Shockoe Examiner on the origin of the Shockoe in Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom:

It is plausible that the Powhatan called such dams “stone-things” or shacquohocan. In time, what began as a word for stone dams could have comeinto use as a place name for the part of the river the dams occupied, and then for the banks adjacent, where the Indians might have had a temporary encampment. [...] It was there that the English, when they journeyed up the river in their boats, could proceed no farther, and so it became a place significant to the English as well. The same place on the river was known to the Powhatan and the English for different reasons—the English as the head of navigation, and the Powhatan as a place for fishing. The English heard the Powhatan name for this place and adopted it. They abbreviated it, attached it to a nearby creek, and eventually it became the name for their settlement on the north bank of the river.

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TA has details on the recent dress-code updates at TIki Bob’s:

The no-pants-necessary policy will allow clubgoers aged 18 and up to enter the North 18th Street nightclub – known for its 10-cent tacos, low-cost beverages served in plastic cups, and bros – without the same cover-ups required in all other bars and restaurants.

Two recent posts on Richmond BizSense spotlight redevelopment in Shockoe at 1425 East Cary Street and in Manchester at 310 Stockton Street and make the point that the demand is certainly there:

“The Bottom is just really strong. It is where people want to live right now,” Johnson said.

“There seems to be no end to the demand for apartments in downtown Richmond, despite the economy,” Berry said.

“While the condo market has certainly contracted, the apartment market is still very strong,” Berry said.

The birds are back! Richmond will again play home to one of the most unique birding events in the United States as it hosts the 3rd annual Gone to the Birds Festival on Saturday, July 31. Gone to the Birds takes place at and adjacent to the 17th Street Farmers’ Market from 6-9PM.

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The 2010 Shockoe Tomato Festival will be Saturday, July 24, 2010 from 11AM-4:00PM. More TBA.

Richmond Police are seeking a man wanted in connection with the armed robbery of a man and a woman just before 1AM on Friday, June 18, in the 1700 block of East Franklin Street. Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (804)780-1000.

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Richmond Playlist is reporting that Alley Katz may have closed their doors due to tax problems.

Via the RTD, a video uploaded to YouTube 2 weeks ago shows the after-hours environment along 17th Street:

Shockoe Bottom in Richmond, VA has received a lot of press lately because of violence erupting after local hip-hop clubs close at night. We’ve dealt with this issue for years, and it finally drove us out of the neighborhood. Vibrant, historic neighborhood by day is taken over by the barbarian hoards at night.

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Early rumors of more violence in Shockoe Bottom have proven to be true:

Richmond Police investigators have identified the man found shot to death early this morning as Reshawn Devon Thurman, 28, of the 1100 block of Hinton Street in Petersburg. Officers received a call for shots fired at 2 a.m. and found Thurman at 2:01 a.m. in a parking lot in the 1600 block of East Grace Street.

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Urban Scale Richmond “took the opportunity of spring-like weather last week to explore the urban fabric of the oldest part of Richmond”, observing that “a pedestrian’s view of the city brought home the geographic, historic, and architectural complexity of the neighborhood.”

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Shamrock the Block 2010, Richmond’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day bash, is set for March 13 from noon-6PM at the 17th Street Farmer’s Market: bands, food, crafts, fun for the kids and of course, beers.

Check out David Turner’s amazing Shockoe Bottom paintings 2003-2007.

The disaster was not the rainfall from Gaston, but the city’s handling of the infrastructure.

According to a lawsuit filed by Shockoe Bottom business owners against the city, the city’s mismanagement of its infrastructure prior to Hurricane Gaston increased the severity of damages to their businesses. The business owners are seeking $250 million in damages and $350,000 for each plantiff named in the suit for property damage and lost profit. Some plantiffs in the suit were never able to reopen their businesses following the storm.

Not all business owners are a part of the lawsuit. David Napier, SBNA president and owner of Old City Bar, chose not to join in the lawsuit because he felt it was hard to pinpoint blame for what happened and he is grateful for the city’s help in the efforts to rebuild.

See Richmond Bizsense‘s article for more details and the complete list of plantiffs.

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