Every time I go to the Aldi on Arthur Ashe at Broad St., En Su Boca tries to seduce me with its tequila and tacos perfume. It doesn’t work all the time, but I feel the pull when I’m browsing the nonsense in Aldi’s middle aisle. I once bought sweatpants there. I’m not...
President Donald Trump signed an executive order today moving marijuana out of the federal government’s most restrictive drug category, formally acknowledging that cannabis has medical value and a lower potential for abuse than previously recognized. The order reclassifies marijuana from Schedule I, alongside heroin, to Schedule III, placing it...
A December 31, 2025 deadline could shutter hundreds of vape shops, raising questions about consolidation, equity, and who benefits from regulation. On December 31, most vape products currently sold in Virginia will become illegal to sell. Under a law passed by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by Governor Glenn Youngkin, only nicotine and...
Editor's Note: This story that begins, as too many do, with a clown in someone’s DMs and ends with a camera duct-taped to a toy train. The first thing to know is that Mike Shea tried to make a normal introduction. In his mind, it was a filmmaker reaching out to a musician he admired. In Jonathan Facka’s mind, it was a man in full clown makeup...
LA based street artist Lauren YS says their new mural on the side of Unkindness Art and Nevermore in Northside is an independent, self-funded project meant to communicate a human message rather than a political slogan. “There’s no sponsors, no corporations involved, no client to get upset. It’s all me,” Lauren said. “Street art is still a really...
I hadn’t seen him in years. Then I caught his pop-up photo show in an alleyway gallery in Oregon Hill a few months back. The images were real life. Honest. Some of them tough to even look at. Street people, prostitutes, gang bangers, punks mid-fight, scenes in bars, bikers, protests, pain, and joy all jammed into the same wall. But it wasn’t just...
When you walk into Homme Essentials the first thing you notice is the space is warm, intentional, and stocked with pieces that seem chosen with care rather than trend-chasing urgency. That’s by design. Co-owners Alan Long and Christina Campitell have been shaping this place for years, drawing on their very different backgrounds in retail and...
Tacky Lights season has officially kicked off, and the region is glowing again. From tight city blocks to wide Powhatan backroads, homes across Central Virginia have thrown the switch and settled into that familiar holiday tradition of trying to outshine the neighborhood. Most displays stay lit through New Year’s Eve, which gives you plenty of...
The Joint Commission on the Future of Cannabis Sales held its final public meeting before lawmakers begin drafting the next version of Virginia’s adult-use cannabis bill. The bill will be introduced when the General Assembly returns in January and, if it passes through the full legislative process, would not reach Governor-elect Abigail...
The Carver neighborhood sits tucked between the highway and the downtown sprawl, close enough to reach everything and overlooked long enough to feel like its own island. So when CONEX appeared there a few weeks ago, rising out of a sunken concrete pit built from cargo containers and covered in murals, it felt like the neighborhood had quietly...
