Jim Evans (Evans Garage) wrote: Wed 1/21/2004 11:14 AM Subject: I remember when: OV Park ( <== click to enlarge image ) would have auto shows which lasted for weeks under the ballroom; there were 12 cylinder Lincolns, Packards and 16 cylinder Cadillacs. Most of the local car dealers participated. In the 30's there were 13 filling (gas) stations, 5 auto garages, and 4 drug stores.
There was a race track on Granby near the corner of Bayview Blvd. in Commodore Park. It was used for horses and autos. Johnnie Tadlock started racing there when he was a teenager. The track was called Widgeon's Farm and was complete with bleachers. There was a boxing arena on OV Avenue that operated for many years to sellout crowds. Some local boxers are still around, Cliff Williford --and I think "Bingo" Stant.
Where the Amphib Base is now, was farms and fish camps. Little Creek was dredged and the rock jetties were put in. There was no Shore Drive beyond 1st Bay until east of the Lynnhaven Bridge. The city had an incinerator where Oceanair is now, and a city dump at the end of D View Ave. The city used the dump to fill a lake called Lake Kilby. When it would catch fire which was often, the firemen would go through the neighborhood and ask residents not to open the faucets. If you did, it would suck air and keep the fire trucks from getting water. Holy Trinity school only had four rooms upstairs and an auditorium downstairs. I used to set rabbit boxes to trap in the area south of Holy Trinity in the woods My father's hunting buddies in SC called him one day (about 1929) and asked if he wanted a small buck fawn. He did --and went there and brought it back. It was so small the horns were only about an inch long and it still had spots all over. It became such a pet for us we would take it to OV park at night without a leash and it would follow us everywhere. Pete & Gus Boogades, who owned the restaurant just inside the park would get us to put the deer up on the counter and feed it milk. They said it drew a larger crowd than the fireworks night. We kept it for several months until a state game warden who lived a couple of doors from us informed us it was illegal to have a wild animal and he took it a put it on a game reservation near Richmond on Rte. 60. In the 30's there must have been an over population of cats (or they were spreading sickness) because the city wanted to get rid of them. In OV, police officers riding bicycles, carried a small single shot 22 rifle, to kill any they could find. Boys would go find the cats and then find a policeman so they could watch. They would shoot under houses to get them. I don't know if this policy was city-wide or just in OV. There was one colorful character in OV that almost everyone new-- a fisherman whose mother owned a hotel & rooming house on OV Ave near where the 7-11 is now. He only liked to fish and imbibe in sauces. A local doctor had him committed as being unstable too often, and when he was released from the institution they gave him a letter to show he was stable. He loved to show it to prove he was sane and no one else could prove they were.
Charlie Rock's father used to own a fish market on 1st View which was later owned by Joe Sakakini. Mr. Rock had a peg leg and was a good dancer. When he was up in the ballroom dancing, you could tell downstairs, by the thumping of the pegleg. That ballroom had most of the big name bands calling there. Most would play for a week. They would also give band concerts at the bandstand in the evenings. I know some of the boys would get on the front row of seats at the bandstand and lick sour pickles and the horn players had trouble playing and looking at the pickles. There was a judge in OV before the city annexed who was also the coroner. One day when a body washed up on the beach they searched him for ID and found $7.00 and a pistol-- well he was fined $7.00 for carrying a pistol, so it was confiscated. Carl Spencer was a county policeman. I've seen Little Bay frozen all the way to the air station several times and Big Bay as far as you could see. We used to walk nearly to the base on the ice. Ice and snow would stay on the ground most of the winter, and the creeks would stay frozen. There were a lot of septic tanks in OV and some outhouses-- one next-door to our home on D View. Also, several people kept cows and horses. The cows were tied in a field in front of our house on D view to graze during the day.
Mr. Davidson had the ice house on Government Ave where the Knights of Columbus building is now. He made the ice there for all of OV. OV had some big football games on the field in front of Tom McCoy's store on 1st View at the old OV school. Later the ball games were held in a field where Pinewell by the Bay is now. That was partly sand and some clay. When the wind was off the water, the dust was so bad you couldn't see the plays being made. The telephone office was in a small building behind Hasketts Drugstore --never more than two operators on duty at one time. One of those operators is still living in Talbot Park. The telephone book was less than ¼ in thick and about half the size of our present books. Our phone number was 87 at home, and 88 at the garage. When OV grew to three numbers we had 887 & 888. When it grew to five numbers we couldn't have them anymore. Bayview Boulevard didn't exist between Tidewater Drive (Cottage Toll Road) --and Granby & Bay Ave. didn't go all the was to Gate 4, either. The marsh where the I-64 crosses kept it from going all the way. There was a foot path and a foot bridge for use at low tide. Monkey Bottom ceased to be when the government bought the area and pumped sand over all of it. Pinewell was originally plated for every lot to be a corner lot. I had an early map of the area that showed only a couple of streets that retained the names that we know today; there were streets and lanes. Granby was called Lynnhaven throughout OV-- most everything west of it was Taylors Farm to "Monkey Bottom" An earlier map of OV only showed two buildings in the area-- both at the end of Granby where the park was located. I loaned these maps to a local realtor to copy and haven't seen them since. They were given to me by Bill Ryan who was the clerk of court in Norfolk-- and given them by the clerk of court of Chesapeake. I'll add to this again as it comes to me. --Jim Evans Back to Tour Mail: Current
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