What did Northern Virginia look like back in the day (60s, 70s, 80s)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember there was a lot of land with a jail out near Springfield, right? Eventually closed and they built up that area

I think you’re referring to Lorton; They have since built up a housing community and a new middle and high school (South County MS & HS)

PP and consider Fairfax Station, 22039; specifically Crosspointe neighborhood and nearby developments. My parents bought a new house in a new Richmond American development in 1987 and although legally considered Lorton and this affiliated with the DC prison active and open at the time (but in its waning days) the development lobbied to assign the future homes a Fairfax Station address.

My parents loved in and kept a Prison Escapee hotline number posted by their phone. Anytime they heard or saw a Fairfax County police helicopter go up, they knew to call the hotline to hear a recorded message from the prison: # inmates escaped. They stopped calling after a while when a pattern was established. The inmates were usually running towards 95/towards DC and not towards the wooded areas to neighborhoods under construction.

I recall doing a day hike with my Girl Scout troop circa 1982 that took us uncomfortably close to the backroads of the Lorton prison - so close that we could see prison guards watching from the towers. I remember driving past some of the penitentiary grounds and seeing inmates working in the farm fields in the late 70s.

I worked near there and remember the schools going in to lockdown because of the escapees. It happened more often than seemed reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP and back to the Southern influence and even a local accent.
Again, many of my classmates were “original” Fxco families and yes, they had what we would have thought of as a “country” accent.

My family goes back 3 generations of being DC born. They had true Washingtonian accents that sound vaguely Baltimorean but not quite.

By the time I graduated from HS in the mid80s, very few of the “farm kids” were left. Nearly all had their homes razed for redevelopment. I don’t recall any of the families striking it rich from land development deals, either. Most moved out towards Fredericksburg or to Prince William County.

One of my earliest memories was visiting a farm stand on the corner of Keene Mill and Rolling. There was a wooden open air shack with an awning and presumably the fruits and vegetables were from the tiny farm houses directly behind the gravel/dirt lot that faced KM Road. This side was opposite the two shopping centers: one with a Giant/People’s and the other was Safeway/DrugFair.

The houses were tiny white cottages and dotted KM Road clear down into downtown Springfield.

There were absolute shacks on the side streets off of Backlick Rd. You'd turn down a side street and be in what looked like a rural area with run down houses.

I loved Annandale back in the day. We were close to everything, had our own movie theater, lots of great restaurants, great high school. Tom Westins was great for brunch, Fritzbees for dates, a really nice restaurant near the movie theater - I can't remember the name.

[Anonymous]

We lived in the apartments known as the Hamlets on Beauregard Street, Alexandria in early 1980s. The rent for a 1 bedroom was around $250 a month.

The laundry room was in the basement and you had to buy tickets from the management office to use them. The woman who worked there was a chain smoker and you’d walk in to a cloud of smoke.

Mosaic District was a just a multiplex theater in the 1980s and nothing else was there. Before that I think it was a drive in theater.

[Anonymous]

My wife and I remember when Fair Oaks Mall opened (July 31, 1980 -- approaching 44 years!), and recall in the early 1980's going to a casual American restaurant (but not a chain, such as Bennigan's, Ruby Tuesday, or York Steakhouse), which we believe was located where the Mezeh Mediterranean Grill is now -- on the lower level near where the Sears used to be. I believe that it had individual jukeboxes, where you could insert quarters and have a record play at your booth. The only food I recall eating there was sandwiches and french fries, but that may have been because we ate there only on Saturdays for lunch. I have a recollection that it was in operation in 1982, and it may not have lasted beyond that. Does anyone here recall the name of that restaurant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ballston Commons came along at some point but it wasn’t ever booming that I can remember. It was odd. Kind of almost rarely known of for anything in particular. It always had such an odd vibe.

It opened in 1986 iirc. We had recently moved to Arlington. They gave holiday gifts if you bought a certain amount in the mall...we got a Time to Shop! mug I still use at Christmas and a silverplated round tray I use for cards.

I liked Ballston Common well enough. Walked through it twice a day going to Metro and home. Penneys had good towels and sheets. Macys always was creepy. Hechts was better.

We played putter golf a couple of times at a miniature golf course catty corner from Bill Peck Chevrolet..the building on the corner now has blue triangle trim as an homage to Peck.

[Anonymous]

We moved to Arlington from MA mid 80s. It seemed Southern in that store clerks would smile and say hello! Some people had soft Southern accents.
We loved Frozen Dairy Bar. It reminded us of childhood.
There was also a branch of a family owned ice cream place near 7 Corners. I think it was Maryland based.
I got garden supplies at the Sears Garden Store where WF is. We remembered Bread and Circus from MA.
We got our washer, dryer and lawnmowers at the Sears on Rt 7.
Erols ruled.
There was a pet store in what is now Willston I. We got cat food there. I think the coin laundry is still there.
A lot of Central American refugees arrived in the late 80s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody who lived in NoVa in the 1980s would ever have considered DC a safe place to live.

Yes, go ahead and drive your minivan to the Mall and park for free right in front of the Air and Space, but be sure to get back across the 14th street bridge before sundown.

To be fair, crime was pretty bad in DC in the 1980s. It was even named "The Murder Capital" in 1991 because it had the highest rate of homicides in the country.

[Anonymous]

PP and started kindergarten in 1974 in West Springfield. I wrote about the shacks and farm stand at the corner of Rolling and KM roads.

Vivid early memories were driving to Ft. Belvoir for medical care and to visit my dad at work there. His office was in one of the cluster of WWII era shacks seemingly in the middle of a field. The ID card issuing building was in that cluster as late as 1980 when I got my first ID card. We didn’t join the neighborhood pool but a few days a week our mom would drive us out to the Ft Belvoir OC pool. Also notable about Ft Belvoir, goats were fenced in under a water tower and I remember my dad taking me to see the goats and explaining that they ate the grass so no need for a lawn mower.

Back to school shopping meant ballet slippers and saddle shoes from Kinney, a red cardboard pencil box from Giant, my metal lunchbox from People’s or Drug Fair. Itty Bitties were tiny erasers sold only at our school store (run by 5th and 6th graders & had a Dutch door w/ shelf) and my second grade teacher banned these from her classroom.

Watched fireworks display in the Kmart shopping center in downtown Springfield in a heavily wooded area perpendicular to KM road - undeveloped with only Kmart there circa 1976.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody who lived in NoVa in the 1980s would ever have considered DC a safe place to live.

Yes, go ahead and drive your minivan to the Mall and park for free right in front of the Air and Space, but be sure to get back across the 14th street bridge before sundown.

I am laughing because this is so true. I was born in Arlington in ‘73 and we moved out to McLean in ‘77 and this is exactly how we always “did” DC. My dad still does and amazingly, does tend to get Mall parking spots! I have it ingrained in me to drive always “into town” too and if my husband suggests taking the Metro, I know he is just kidding because he knows I never do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved to Arlington from MA mid 80s. It seemed Southern in that store clerks would smile and say hello! Some people had soft Southern accents.
We loved Frozen Dairy Bar. It reminded us of childhood.
There was also a branch of a family owned ice cream place near 7 Corners. I think it was Maryland based.
I got garden supplies at the Sears Garden Store where WF is. We remembered Bread and Circus from MA.
We got our washer, dryer and lawnmowers at the Sears on Rt 7.
Erols ruled.
There was a pet store in what is now Willston I. We got cat food there. I think the coin laundry is still there.
A lot of Central American refugees arrived in the late 80s.

You’re talking about Gifford’s (ice cream). It was closer to Bailey’s Crossroads than Seven Corners, but was so good. There was also a Hot Shoppes drive-in somewhere not too far from there. Now that area is run-down.

[Anonymous]

My mom and dad still talk about going to get ice cream at Gifford’s when my mom started to go into labor with me. I think it was off Lee Highway in what is now the Harrison Shopping Center maybe?

[Anonymous]

Might have been one there but the one I remember was the not 7 Corners but nearer Bailey's Crossroads (thanks) one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL no people did not have southern accents in Fairfax in the 70s/80s! This is a very transitory area thanks to the govt/military.

That being said, Reston Town Center was a field in the 80s!

Uhh yeah they did. Something like the Virginia tidewater accent is/was very common with certain white people in the entire region (including Fairfax but not exclusively Fairfax). Old virginia/old Maryland families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL no people did not have southern accents in Fairfax in the 70s/80s! This is a very transitory area thanks to the govt/military.

That being said, Reston Town Center was a field in the 80s!

Uhh yeah they did. Something like the Virginia tidewater accent is/was very common with certain white people in the entire region (including Fairfax but not exclusively Fairfax). Old virginia/old Maryland families.

+1
My family has been in NoVa for several generations and there is absolutely a southern accent among many of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom and dad still talk about going to get ice cream at Gifford’s when my mom started to go into labor with me. I think it was off Lee Highway in what is now the Harrison Shopping Center maybe?

Yes!!! I have such memories of that Gifford's. My grandma lived in Arlington and we'd go down to visit her and go to Gifford's. They had the best coffee ice cream. I remember it being so cold inside and they'd give you a small glass of water along with your ice cream. I miss that place!