vol. 111 / Night Owl🦉The Night Owl shares his favorite ways to explore and celebrate Richmond.
VOL 111/NIGHT OWL
Say hello to this week’s guest editor—Mickael Broth, also known as The Night Owl! Requiring little intro, most Richmonders have a favorite Night Owl mural, sculpture, or water tower by now. What you might not know is that Mickael moved to the River City in 2001 with the intention of painting as much graffiti as possible. His involvement in vandalism resulted in a ten-month jail term, which he chronicled in his book, Gated Community: Graffiti and Incarceration. Since that time, Mickael has gone on to pursue an active (and legal) career in the arts. He was awarded a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship for his studio work and is now shown widely around the United States; from museums and galleries to alternative spaces and abandoned buildings. He has painted over two hundred public murals around the world, in addition to helping curate multiple public art festivals and working with youth groups. Mickael is also the author of Murals of Richmond, which documents Richmond’s public art explosion. Take it away, Night Owl!
Texas Beach
DIY Skatepark
Texas Beach DIY Skatepark sits on an abandoned plot of land near Texas Beach of the north bank of the James River. It was started by skateboarders who took it upon themselves to provide for the community what the city has not. In recent years, skateboarders have poured concrete ramps and revitalized the area for all to enjoy. Now overseen by Richmond Area Skateboard Alliance (RASA) in conjunction with the James River Park, groups of volunteers—from dads with their young kids to teenagers kicking it after school—are in the process of building Richmond’s first city-sanctioned DIY concrete skatepark. This is one of the few organizations where every single cent contributed goes directly to the effort! Everyone involved is pouring their time, talent, knowledge, and in many cases, their own money, into this project on a 100% volunteer basis. As a side note, RASA also runs after school skate programs for Richmond Public Schools called RVA SK8 Club. Show them (and the local skate community) some love!
This spot on the river is popular for obvious reasons; it’s an amazing blend of industrial might, decay, and natural beauty that literally puts you in contact with the river. This is the spot I’ve been coming for over 15 years to experience the serenity of the river on a warm summer day or the terrifying torrent of chocolate milk that the James morphs into after heavy rains. This love of the river is the inspiration behind a new book project I’m working on with my homie, Sotheby’s realtor Justin Owen. We're aiming to create a book that celebrates the river in the way that people now enjoy it, as a place to be active, to learn, to meditate, to build rope swings and drink cases of cheap beer (take your cans with you!). For me, the river, and more specifically Pipeline, is what made me fall in love with this city in the first place.
I hesitate to mention my favorite restaurant, but Dinamo has been around long enough that if you haven’t been there (and become a regular) by now, then I just don’t know what you’ve been doing with your life. This place can do no wrong. From the white pizza with anchovies to the succulent rockfish, the eggs in tuna sauce, the squid ink pasta! I could probably list every item on their menu from memory and tell you why each one is amazing. And each tabletop is literally a work of art with reverse painted glass pieces that also line the walls. And the black and white tile floor! And the slowly spinning propeller in the window (dinamo)! I just love everything about this place so very much. Plus they’ve got great neighbors (Salvation Tattoo and 821 Cafe)!
Grid Supply Co., operated by Richmond Grid magazine and Here Weekly, is now featuring the original artwork of Richmond based illustrator Clara Cline (also known as The Wild Wander). Check out our new collection celebrating the flora and fauna of some of our most beloved wilderness.
vol. 110 / Rooted 🌱Here’s to celebrating the artists, small business owners, and nonprofits rooted in this place we call home.
VOL. 110 / ROOTED
Here’s to celebrating the artists, small business owners, and nonprofits rooted in this place we call home. This week, we’re featuring an illustrator documenting the natural world around her, community supported radio, and an entrepreneur bringing a new brand of healthy eats to the River City. Let’s get to it.
The Wild
Wander
Rooted in Richmond, Clara Cline, a self-taught illustrator known as The Wild Wander, is known for creating field guides for every state in the country. Her hand-illustrated letterpress charts detail flora and fauna native to each state. After working a series of office jobs, Clara turned her after-hours passion into a day job that fills her abiding curiosity for forgotten history and the natural world. In addition to her popular field guides, The Wild Wander offers original artwork featuring favorite trails and regions, apparel, greeting cards, and prints. You can check out Clara’s work at Awl Snap on Broad Street or visit her site to find Clara’s latest creations as she follows in the footsteps of early American naturalists.
Encapsulating the sound of Richmond since 2005, WRIR 97.3 FM is an all-volunteer, nonprofit community public radio station known for homegrown shows that offer a diverse listening experience featuring music, news, and views. We’re talking Open Source RVA, Frequency, Bebop and Beyond with Mr. Jazz, British Breakfast, and more. On Saturday, Richmond celebrates 15 years of RVA-focused, listener-supported radio at the Renaissance Ballroom with acts like No BS! Brass Band (pictured), Big No, The Hot Seats, Saw Black, Bon Ki, She, and BangNBest. The birthday bash will also feature an all LGBTQ rap show by the Secret Bonus Level band, an RVA Comedy Showcase hosted by Francesca Lyn, cake, and raffle items. Don’t miss a chance to celebrate community radio with your favorite WRIR DJs at the biggest birthday party for the RVA-focused, nonprofit station yet.
When Jaynay Jones, proud owner of Rooted Delights, went vegan in 2016, she struggled with giving up her favorite food—CHEESE! After dialing in a signature recipe over the course of a year, she took a leap of faith, ditched her nine-to-five job, and opened a vegan cuisine business specializing in a delicious Oat Milk Creamy Mozzah Cheez Wheel (dairy free, soy free, gluten free, tree nut free). In addition, she began curating private 4-course vegan events, vending around RVA, and traveling the East Coast doing pop-ups along the way. Today, you can score cheese wheels by Rooted Delights at Ellwood Thompson's, The Market at 25th, and Outpost Richmond as well as local restaurants and food trucks like 821 cafe, Intergalactic Tacos, Nomad Deli, and Root Stock Provisions. Better yet, meet Jaynay and her team in person at Urban Hang Suite every 3rd and 4th Wednesday of the month for Get Rooted Wednesdays.
Ever since the Iranian-born and Miami-raised Roben Farzad, host of Full Disclosure on VPM NPR, moved to the River City he has kept us on our toes wondering what he'll create next. Insightful and always humorous, Roben regularly dishes up a fresh take on everything from business news to pop culture to policy to cuisine. He's known for hosting live recordings of his radio show mixed with performances by musical acts like '90s alt-rock band Nada Surf, dinner experiences with favorite Richmond chefs, and offbeat collaborations with favorite local businesses. He's even a regular on National Public Radio, C-SPAN, and PBS NewsHour, just to name a few. And in 2017, Roben authored the book Hotel Scarface: Where Cocaine Cowboys Partied and Plotted to Control Miami. We asked Roben, who always has a joke at the ready, to describe a perfect day in Richmond as this week's guest editor. Take it away, Roben!
Westwood
Fountain
Believe me when I say I'm grateful to be able to wake up to RVA in the year 2020. The perfect day for me begins at Westwood Fountain, the diner in the Westwood Pharmacy, next door to the only full-service Pizza Hut in America that hasn't been converted into a funeral home. Anyway, Westwood makes such a soulful breakfast. Like many establishments in blue-blooded, XL-SUV-lined Westhampton, I'm often the most ethnic person there—that is, unless you consider the Lebanese owner, Faissal Aridi (pictured), who is like an uncle to me. Digging into a bespoke omelet, I brood over story ideas, stopping off at nearby Libbie Market or Black Hand Coffee for a postprandial coffee where I will likely bump into someone else with a story idea. I'm exceedingly pitchable when under the influence of CBC: cold-brewed coffee.
I take that buzz downtown. There are very elevated stretches of both Cary and Broad Streets just west of Shockoe that topographically feel like a discount San Francisco. I work out of AudioImage Recording, by the Jefferson Hotel. The place is gorgeously frozen in times (plural), what with its eight-track tapes and 1920s fixtures. When I want to have a live band in studio -- we had Silversun Pickups in December -- I book them at RainMaker in Shockoe. It's always nice to pop in at nearby Fountain Bookstore -- one of best indies in the country that opened in 1978.
When I need to treat myself after a long day of recording, I journey to Carena's Jamaican Grille. The South Side of Richmond can be so exotic and intimidating; you need to cross the river, enter a different time zone, and survive both deer ticks and tailgating from guys in extended F-150 trucks. Sometimes, I get decompression sickness and have to pull over. But that never keeps me away from Carena's legendary eatery, which was just featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Carena Ives (pictured), you see, is my RVA big sister. She let me write chapters of my book at her restaurant. She gives me tough love about show ideas. And her jerk sauce is just so exceptional — it brings you to ecstatic tears — that I would eat a softball glove dipped in the stuff.
As you're out and about exploring Roben's tips, make a stop at WPA Southside at 3414 Semmes Avenue. Here you'll find two Here Rep t-shirts like this one hidden behind the counter. The first two readers to swing by, order a free cup of coffee on us, and tell them Here sent you will score this comfy cotton t-shirt emblazoned with a hand-drawn design with Richmond's airport code.
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