Healing Charlottesville"Sin City" Older Than ThatLetter to The Hook
editor@readthehook.com August 8, 2002 Dear Editor: I enjoyed your cover story "Sin City: Charlottesville's Naughty Side" because it reminded me of local porn history omitted from the story. By starting with the Pleasure Chest on Cherry Avenue in the '80s and by not stating that the X-rated related history was brief or abridged, the article gives the impression that no porn occurred before then. Not so. The downtown Cinema (later the Movie Palace, now Jefferson Theater) used to show adult movies. Its proprietor, Democrat Robert Stroh, ran for city council in the mid '70s and received 2,088 votes coming in seventh in a field of ten candidates for three seats ("Two City Seats Go To GOP", Daily Progress, May 5, 1976.) A letter to the Progress ("Candidate's Theatre Draws Comment" by Naomi Wallace, May 1, 1976) questioned his moral qualifications for office. The Terrace Triple (now vacant next to K-Mart) showed "businessman special" adult matinees as recently as the early '80s. The most famous local red light history was a house of prostitution on Fifth SE between Garrett and the train tracks. Marguerita's (Marguiretta de Crescioli) opulent brothel operated from 1922-1949 out of an 8-room, Jeffersonian style, red brick house. Torn down in 1972 as part of Garrett renewal, the demolition uncovered a large but unknown amount of cash, coins and bills in jars, that had been hidden in the walls. When word got out, throngs gathered to pick through the ruins. ("Marguerita Ville," March 5, 2002, The Witness Report. Excerpts from "Marguiretta's: Charlottesville's Legendary House of Ill Repute," Kathleen Phalen, Albemarle Archives: Famous, Infamous and Unforgettable People and Events that Shaped Central Virginia, Carden Jennings Publishing, 1997.) A generation from now, like today, letters to editors and micro presses will provide the few glimpses into the giant glory holes of local history.
Blair Hawkins Not Printed and no response from The Hook after 3 issues as of August 29, 2002.
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