-----Original Message-----
From: J Leatherman
Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2004 10:18 PM
To: rk@rkpuma.com
Subject: OV Memories
Hi Roberta-
Just wanted to pass along a few great shots of long gone OV
landmarks.
The first is of Dr.
Ben Tucker in 1970, standing outside his store located on West Ocean View
& First View, across from Florence's Drug Store. I
remember Mr. Tucker as a very kind man, who treated the kids like the customers they were,
not nuisances. Although Florence's had a better selection of comics, Tucker's sold 45 rpm
records which saved us a bus trip to Wards Corner
to buy the latest Beatles hit record. I also preferred Tucker's limeades to Florence's;
not as sweet. Tucker's closed after his passing in 1975 and the building became a dance
club called O'Hara's 2003-Disco by the Sea.
Next is of the old Virginia Transit Co. (VTC) bus station,
circa late 1960's, located
across from the library. I used to catch my school bus at this station long before Norfolk
had it's own school bus fleet. Back then, public school students rode the city bus to and
from school. Remember school bus tickets? Not the later punch cards but the individual
tickets sold in books? I learned the trick of carefully peeling the ticket in half (printed
on fairly thick paper) and then pasting each half on another piece of thick paper
trimmed to the same size. Since both sides of the original ticket had printing, you just
had to be sure a printed side faced the driver when you placed the ticket in the coin box
. Two rides for the price of one! I also remember this station having a little snack bar
that sold the best hamburgers, and it also had a juke box and pinball machines in the
back. I missed many a school bus in the mornings because I was engrossed in a pinball
game-- "Heat Wave", trying to get the thermometer up to the top which lit up the
"Special When Lit" lanes. I ran food errands for park employees because
food was half the price of what they would pay at the park stands, but they didn't have
the time to go themselves. In exchange, they would give me tips or free rides.
In the spring I'd
get off the bus and run over to the park to check on the progress of ride assembly and
other work done in preparation for opening day Easter weekend. Thiswas the Fish Pond game
located near the main entrance. Players would pick up floating wooden fish and plastic
ducks that had numbers on the bottom corresponding to prizes on the shelf-- usually a
cheap trinket like a metal clicker, key chain, or the infamous Chinese finger trap.
Although bigger items were displayed on the shelves: lamps, salt & pepper shakers, and
stuffed animals-- I never once saw any of these items won. The photo was late 70's and the
woman behind the counter is Ida (Klinefelter) Weil, whose uncle, Wilber
"Web" Klinefelter, managed all the games. Under no circumstances would
anyone ever call him Wilber, unless you wanted a bust in the chops. Ida's sister was my
first girl friend when I was 16-- BRENDA KLINEFELTER WHERE ARE YOU!!??
Hope your visitors enjoy the pictures. Keep up the great work on
the site Roberta-- it's always a pleasure to visit.
Joe Leatherman
