A reader with a good memory reminded us how Velvet’s Sam Moore earned his teardrop tattoo back in 1998: Moore initially faced murder charges (later reduced to manslaughter) in the fatal stabbing of Stephen Hendricks in a steetfight that erupted at 18th and Main on May 25, 1998.

Club Velvet owner Sam Moore was arrested in a late-night raid. Representatives from the Richmond Police Department, the IRS, the Alcoholic and Beverage Control, & the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were part of the raid. CBS6 is reporting that this was “the result of a lengthy investigation involving illicit activities inside Club Velvet and on the behalf of Club Velvet”, and that Moore was arrested on outstanding warrants unrelated to the raid. [via]

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One of the city’s most distinct and inexplicable landmarks, Ed Trask’s mural of the “sullen-faced Princess Diana” on the side of a strip joint with spotlights, has been painted over. [via]

Tobacco Avenue rolls back through Shockoe, this time with a visit to Velvet:

“Co-owners of the Velvet nightclub said yesterday that there is nothing in life they appreciate more than driving their Hummers, watching young women take off clothes for money and researching the history of Diana, Princess of Wales - whose mural is plastered across their Main Street-facing brick wall. [...] To help greet the city’s visitors at Main and 15th streets, the men also commissioned a depth perception-handicapped artist to paint a picture of their favorite princess on the side of the gentleman’s club.”

Visible from interstates 64 and 95, the twin spotlights at Velvet beckon to the lonely traveller seeking a “$4 steak, potato, and lapdance lunch”.