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

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a point where Springfield went downhill fast. Does anyone remember when there were abductions and crimes just rising so fast at the mall?

I hate to say this, but its directly correlated to when the URM% began to rise, and thus attracted blue collar workers to the area. It’s still largely reflected in the schools, and unfortunately the area is still highly crime ridden.

Sad all around. They have tried to rehabilitate the mall but that cloud forever will hang over it.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

The Shirlington of my youth is long gone (80s kid who lived across 395 in Parkfairfax).

I mostly remember that main strip of shops and not much else. Older apartments in the surrounding area, a little branch library, the animal shelter. My favorite place was BEST, a Sears-like place with toys and sporting goods on its lower level. It was next to the movie theater.

[Anonymous]

Haven't read the other posts, but I grew up in what is considered a very wealthy part of N. Va now, back in 70s and 80s. It was not so wealthy. Yes, there were Kennedy's (and I knew one who was very down to earth and normal, but just looking at her you knew she one because she had the same face), but there were plenty of middle class people with normal middle class jobs.

It was more conservative, gay phobic and racially separate than it is now. Even teachers were gay phobic. I remember getting a black penpal at a school in another state and my teacher pulled me aside and said she matched me up since I was one of the more accepting kids. Like how sad is that! Our school was so white too. There wasn't much diversity.

Traffic was more manageable.

Parents were more laid back-even mine who were on the over-protective side. We wandered the neighborhood from toddler-hood on with our gang of neighbor friends. By age 7 we wandered to another neighborhood too and played by a dangerous creek.

Tysons was safer. I think my over-protective parents let me wander the mall with friends by age 9.Now you hear about guns and even a shooting or 2 there. I think by 8 they were dropping us off at the neighborhood pool on our own. Pretty sure you could get a job at the snackbar by age 11 or 12. People were hired to babysit by age 10.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't read the other posts, but I grew up in what is considered a very wealthy part of N. Va now, back in 70s and 80s. It was not so wealthy. Yes, there were Kennedy's (and I knew one who was very down to earth and normal, but just looking at her you knew she one because she had the same face), but there were plenty of middle class people with normal middle class jobs.

It was more conservative, gay phobic and racially separate than it is now. Even teachers were gay phobic. I remember getting a black penpal at a school in another state and my teacher pulled me aside and said she matched me up since I was one of the more accepting kids. Like how sad is that! Our school was so white too. There wasn't much diversity.

Traffic was more manageable.

Parents were more laid back-even mine who were on the over-protective side. We wandered the neighborhood from toddler-hood on with our gang of neighbor friends. By age 7 we wandered to another neighborhood too and played by a dangerous creek.

Tysons was safer. I think my over-protective parents let me wander the mall with friends by age 9.Now you hear about guns and even a shooting or 2 there. I think by 8 they were dropping us off at the neighborhood pool on our own. Pretty sure you could get a job at the snackbar by age 11 or 12. People were hired to babysit by age 10.

If you’re referring to Great Falls, before the 1970s it was mostly Dairy farmers who settled the land, and it was much more ‘rural’ than ‘conservation nature’ like it is today. Plenty of ‘normal’ families who lived on horse pastures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leesburg is definitely nova lol

It’s exurban nova. As is most of Loudoun; no one from Leesburg commutes to downtown DC unless they want to spend two hours each way in traffic. Nonetheless they had southern accents when I went to high school there a decade ago. I have a farm in Lovettesville and they still fly confederate flags and have country accents.

I know plenty of people who commuted to D.C. jobs from Loudoun. Growth has been explosive all over NoVa and you can't do that so easily anymore.

I don't think I've seen any confederate flags in Lovettsville. People are lovely, by and large. The most offensively obnoxious people in Loudoun are in the area between Middleburg and Purcellville. They smile in your face while they're sticking a knife in your back. So much toxic social climbing and virtue signaling. Lovettsville is a lot more real, and a lot nicer, with some high voltage people quietly living their lives. Madeleine Albright, who recently passed away, had a house off Harpers Ferry Rd. Technically Purcellville, but in the northernmost section of Loudoun, by Lovettsville.

Sure they commute, but most of the people I know and have heard of commute from Potomac Falls/Sterling, Ashburn at most. I haven’t heard of many people who commute from around Leesburg or Western Loudoun to DC, as has none of my neighbors in Lovettesville.

Maybe the confederate flags I saw were indeed not in Lovettesville proper, but maybe with a different address. They still have country accents though, by ‘offensively obnoxious’ do you mean the people between Purcellville and Middleburg fly confederate flags? I don’t venture out there much.

I grew up in Lovettsville in the 1970s. I don't recall any confederate flags then and I haven't seen any on recent trips to visit relatives who still live there. My father commuted to DC every day. He caught the train at Point of Rocks. A number of my friends fathers commuted to DC via train as well - one was a chemist at NIH, one was a pilot, the rest worked for the Smithsonian, the IRS, and other federal offices. A number of family friends still live there and commute this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leesburg is definitely nova lol

It’s exurban nova. As is most of Loudoun; no one from Leesburg commutes to downtown DC unless they want to spend two hours each way in traffic. Nonetheless they had southern accents when I went to high school there a decade ago. I have a farm in Lovettesville and they still fly confederate flags and have country accents.

I know plenty of people who commuted to D.C. jobs from Loudoun. Growth has been explosive all over NoVa and you can't do that so easily anymore.

I don't think I've seen any confederate flags in Lovettsville. People are lovely, by and large. The most offensively obnoxious people in Loudoun are in the area between Middleburg and Purcellville. They smile in your face while they're sticking a knife in your back. So much toxic social climbing and virtue signaling. Lovettsville is a lot more real, and a lot nicer, with some high voltage people quietly living their lives. Madeleine Albright, who recently passed away, had a house off Harpers Ferry Rd. Technically Purcellville, but in the northernmost section of Loudoun, by Lovettsville.

Sure they commute, but most of the people I know and have heard of commute from Potomac Falls/Sterling, Ashburn at most. I haven’t heard of many people who commute from around Leesburg or Western Loudoun to DC, as has none of my neighbors in Lovettesville.

Maybe the confederate flags I saw were indeed not in Lovettesville proper, but maybe with a different address. They still have country accents though, by ‘offensively obnoxious’ do you mean the people between Purcellville and Middleburg fly confederate flags? I don’t venture out there much.

I grew up in Lovettsville in the 1970s. I don't recall any confederate flags then and I haven't seen any on recent trips to visit relatives who still live there. My father commuted to DC every day. He caught the train at Point of Rocks. A number of my friends fathers commuted to DC via train as well - one was a chemist at NIH, one was a pilot, the rest worked for the Smithsonian, the IRS, and other federal offices. A number of family friends still live there and commute this way.

I believe it, I have coworkers who commute to DC and Arlington from West Virginia. I remember Ashburn was cornfields back
then, I can’t imagine what Lovettesville was back then. Proud LoCoHs Raider all the way babyyy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven't read the other posts, but I grew up in what is considered a very wealthy part of N. Va now, back in 70s and 80s. It was not so wealthy. Yes, there were Kennedy's (and I knew one who was very down to earth and normal, but just looking at her you knew she one because she had the same face), but there were plenty of middle class people with normal middle class jobs.

It was more conservative, gay phobic and racially separate than it is now. Even teachers were gay phobic. I remember getting a black penpal at a school in another state and my teacher pulled me aside and said she matched me up since I was one of the more accepting kids. Like how sad is that! Our school was so white too. There wasn't much diversity.

Traffic was more manageable.

Parents were more laid back-even mine who were on the over-protective side. We wandered the neighborhood from toddler-hood on with our gang of neighbor friends. By age 7 we wandered to another neighborhood too and played by a dangerous creek.

Tysons was safer. I think my over-protective parents let me wander the mall with friends by age 9.Now you hear about guns and even a shooting or 2 there. I think by 8 they were dropping us off at the neighborhood pool on our own. Pretty sure you could get a job at the snackbar by age 11 or 12. People were hired to babysit by age 10.

Tyson’s Corner nowadays is a complete criminal mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tysons was a farm, Route 66 did not exist, and Herndon was WAAAAAAYYYYY far away - wouldn't even consider moving and commuting from OUT THERE!!

I66 did exist. Gainesville to 495 opened in 1964. Inside the beltway 66 opened in 1982

http://www.roadstothefuture.com/I66_VA_Desc.html

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Fairfax County in 70s and 80s. Had a great childhood roaming the neighborhood with friends - summer pool, flashlight tag, bike riding, and youth sports.

There were houses near ours that were older rural homes. Some didn’t have indoor plumbing. Fair Oaks mall was a golf course before it was built. I remember going to the Sears at Fair Oaks mall and looking out the glass doors to the rest of the mall still under construction. Where the Inova ER is on Route 123 between Fairfax City and George Mason was a hospital - Commonwealth Hosp. I remember visiting a school friend there while she had her tonsils out.

[Anonymous]

My wife is Nova born and raised…
She graduated from Chantilly HS in the late 70’s. According to her there were homes in Chantilly without indoor plumbing. Her parents were “forced” to sell their house so Fair Oaks mall etc could be built.

I grew up in Fairfax and then moved to Old Town. Old Town was pretty seedy in the late 70’s. Lots of massage parlors along Washington St. A lot of public housing as well but over time it has decreased as the value of that land I has gone up.

[Anonymous]

Anyone Farrells ice cream on the lower level of Tysons? That was the place to go for a birthday in the late 70’s.

Bought my first BB gun from WOOLWORTH’S in Tysons.

Shakey’s pizza on Route 1 just south of Beacon Mall in Alexandria was awesome. Played a lot of Galaga, Joust and other arcade games there. Pizza was awesome.

Dixie Pig BBQ, not sure if that is still around.

Also remember living near the Woodrow Wilson bridge as a kid. The old bridge was a shit show. They would raise it and not be able to get it down.

[Anonymous]

I had a birthday party at Farrells at Tyson’s. Lost my retainer there.

There was a Shakeys in Fairfax City on Route 50 (near where Anita’s is)

[Anonymous]

Grew up in Lake Barcroft.

Used to have so many fun places. A Hot Shoppes drive-in in Bailey’s Crossroads where they’d bring your order to your car. The Giffords Ice Cream parlor of Columbia Pike. The Frozen Dairy Bar on Route 50 that looked like it came right out of “American Graffiti.” Seven Corners was an enclosed mall with two high-end department stores and an S&W cafeteria. There were also some nice places in Annandale, including a Three Chefs for breakfast and an Italian restaurant. All gone now.

Stuart HS was a very high-achieving school. Kids dressed nicely and respected the teachers. Bob Dole’s daughter went there as did the children of many Congressmen. Quite a few kids went to Ivies and UVA. Both Justice Thurgood Marshall and the Attorney General under President Johnson lived in the neighborhood. Our rivals were Annandale, which always had the best football team; Jefferson, which was a normal school for regular kids, not a magnet school that crazy parents fought about constantly; and Falls Church, which was considered more working-class.

Go back occasionally. Lake Barcroft and Sleepy Hollow are still nice but Seven Corners is crap now and the whole Baileys Crossroads/Culmore area is run-down and feels unsafe. There are areas I felt free to roam around at night with friends as a teenager that I’d avoid at any time of the day or night now.