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Downtown Richmond diner is reborn

Blacks run restaurant where they were denied service

By Ashlee Clark aclark@herald-leader.com

RICHMOND — The smell that floats from the back of the Stop and Go diner dwarfs the tiny building from which it begins.

A slight breeze is enough to lift the hickory barbecue smoke from the ribs and pulled pork that marinates and cooks all day behind the eatery.

The scent, reminiscent of summer cookouts and holiday weekends, sneaks into the offices and banks that line Main Street in downtown Richmond and lures customers through the bright green door that chimes with every new visitor.

Across the narrow imitation marble counter near the fountain machine is Christine Chadwell, who knows everyone as "darling," "dear," or, on some occasions, "sweetie." She reminds customers during the first week in August that they have only Pepsi and Diet Mountain Dew, from 2-liter bottles. She remembers two weeks later that someone (not her, she's busy at the register) needs to run to the Family Dollar up the street to get napkins and ketchup.