The Sewer

If you passed by Book Strings & Things and hung a left into the alley you'd find a door leading to a unique sub shop with an unlikely name ...... The Sewer.

Poor T. Marshall Hahn, always getting harassed

The Sewer was the brainchild of a guy named Garth, along with his merry band of hippie friends who lived commune style out in the Ellett Valley area.   Garth scraped together $350 and proposed opening this place that would stay open way into the night, quite often up until 3 a.m.   At the time nothing else in town was open this late.

Sitting around in the living room of the old farmhouse they kicked around names.  Fellow flower-child Ken suggested "Ditch Works", but when the name "Sewer" was suggested it was instantly accepted.  After all, there was a near constant stream of water running across the floor.  Remember, Stroubles Creek flows under those buildings.

So in December of 1971 The Sewer opened it's doors.  For a mere $1.50 you could get a beast of a hoagie with turkey, ham, salami, roast beef, bologna, american and swiss cheeses, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, onion, Italian dressing, salt, pepper, and mustard.  Enough for two meals, easily.

Thanks to the tireless work of Garth, Doug, Ken, Paul, Bill, Joe, Anita and Barbara, there was no such thing as insatiable munchies in the early 70's in downtown Blacksburg.

The only surviving mural left at The Sewer

The Blue Bug

This is just an update to the June 2012 post about our police force's addition to their fleet of vehicles.  Probably should have been called Herbie the Love Police (or even Herbie the Love Fuzz).  Anyway, after stumbling onto this picture today we now know when this thing was puttering around town ..... it was the Spring of 1972.

Scotty's Radio and TV

Scotty's Radio & TV             3615 South Main Street

At the far south end of town was a popular place for starting or adding on to your hi-fi stereo equipment, or to purchase a tv set, or indulge in other electronic hobbies.  Scotty's was an authorized Lafayette dealer (I think I bought a Fisher amp there) as well as a Zenith TV dealer.  They also sold compact units that housed the turntable, receiver, and sometimes 8-track player all in one.

This place probably had the best selection in town for a variety of electronic equipment.  The kids here showing off the Sony display are listed as (from left to right)  Carol, Courtney, Cliff, Margaret, Dan, and Martha.  Anyone you know?

Blacksburg High School

The old Blacksburg High School on South Main

It was out with the old and in with the new for students at Blacksburg High School about mid-decade when they moved from their long time home on South Main Street to the new, modern facility on Patrick Henry Drive.  The vacated building then became known as Blacksburg Middle School for quite a long stretch until being leveled to make way for new development.

The new high school on Patrick Henry Drive

The new high school was much larger and more modern, and served the community for more than 30 years before a heavy snowfall collapsed the gym roof and closed the school forever.

I'm hoping that a lot of you old BHS Indians who knew both schools will chime in and give us your reflections of the move from old to new in the 1970's.

Tech Drug Store

Pay no attention to that hippie in the foreground.

As mentioned earlier in a post about Corner Drug, the Tech Drug store was one of three located in the heart of downtown Blacksburg.  I can't say for sure, but I think Tech Drug may have been the smaller of the three.  The other one was Center Drug located across the street in the old Sharky's building.

Tech Drug was at 213 N Main Street where the right hand side of the College Emporium now resides.  The set-up was the same as the others ..... typical drug store items, a pharmacy, and a "soda shop" of sorts where you could grab a stool at the counter and order some lunch.

Tech Drug faded away and eventually became Partyrama, and the Center Drug became Dave's Hot Dogs.

College Inn

A nice picture of the College Inn Restaurant (with the Coca-Cola sign) that I recently acquired.  See the original post on this classic eating establishment at "June 2011".  Don't know the exact year this was taken but I'm sure it was in the 70's based on who shared this photo with me.

Snowflake Gold & Silver Works

Photos courtesy of Bob Moon    -    (click to enlarge)

Throughout most of the 1970’s there was a fellow in town that made quite a name for himself in the art of jewelry making, and as a silversmith and goldsmith.

Bob Moon started his apprenticeship with Joe Calloway (Joe’s Jail, see posting in October 2011) but felt the need to keep growing as an artist. He went on to take jewelry classes in Radford, and afterward set up shop with a leather worker in Myrtle Beach for a while. After two summers there he came back to finish his last year at Virginia Tech and shared space in a downtown business known as The Craftsman.

 In the mid 70’s, Kathy Barfield, an herbalist who had rented a space in The Craftsman as well, and Bob, took a space behind Argabrite’s (now Sharkeys) and named it Silver and Spice. A few years later, Bob broke out on his own and eventually began to really excel in the shop above Mr. Fooz seen in the photo above, and called it Snowflake Gold & Silver Works. He worked with other silversmiths and goldsmiths, giving them consignment space there.

Bob says he remembers as many as ten different silver and goldsmiths working in Blacksburg during the 70s. For me personally it was shops like these that made our little town such a cool place to live back then.

 Bob left the area in the mid 80s and still has a shop, located in a little mall outside of Chicago, IL.