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St. John’s Bakery (and maybe some kind of dojo)
12/24/2016 7:49 AM by John M
322 N. 25th Street in 1994 / VIA the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
— ∮∮∮ —
Pat’s Cleaners and Shirt Laundry & Smiley’s Deli and Grocery Store
322 N. 25th Street in 1992 / VIA the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
Corner store was a laundromat for years.
Sticky buns
Used to be clown parties upstairs.
The grocery store slipped by me when I did the article about the building. It must not have been there long hence the banner sign? Smileys must later have moved to 324 N 27th, and think is where they busted a cigarette tax ring along with other illegal activities there?
Parr’s Cleaners and Laundromat took over both sides in 1965 and were there until the building sold in 2001, or at least owned both sides. The second floor remained abandoned for many years until the Pyramid Institute Karate Dojo Club occupied it between 1983 and 1991, and is where musician Jesse Poe lived, recorded, and started his group Tanakh.
@Clay Street that raises several questions
@Clay Street… Jesse Poe and his music group – parties? I know they also said that there were stages and other “odd” things left behind when they moved to the second floor, most left behind from when it use to be a Masonic building. And looked like they may have been used for “activities”. He also mentioned that the building is haunted.
@Eric no this was before he lived here. I don’t remember him even being around before 1999…but that upstairs space had long been rented by other people who used it as a practice space, and there were many parties there.
And as I recall, St. John’s Bakery had to move because of some neighborhood drama (?) and they changed their name to Metro Bakery moved into the strip mall next to the Carytown Ukrop’s. There is a cell phone & computer repair business at that location now. I could be remembering wrong, but that is what I recollect. Maybe someone else can remember something more specifically than I can.
@7 you are remembering correctly regarding the bakery. The owner and his wife left Richmond around 2007 or so, closed Metro bakery at the time; wife works at Wells Fargo and got transferred.
St. John’s Bakery was a great place, excellent pastries and coffee, cookies too as I recall. I’m not going into the ‘neighborhood drama’ but that’s a great way to describe it so I’ll leave your description with that phrase.