
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 11, 1995                   TAG: 9504120016
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ANOTHER STROLL DOWN HENRY STREET

HENRY STREET, Roanoke, transformed into a mini-Beale Street, Memphis, "home of the blues and the birthplace of rock 'n' roll"? We'll believe it when we see it - or at least the start of something like it.

The Henry Street of the 1940s and '50s, of the Dumas Hotel and the clubs and the restaurants, where black musical greats like Lionel Hampton and Fats Waller once stayed and played: that Henry Street has not just grown seedy, like a down-on-his-luck performer looking for a comeback. That Henry Street is gone.

Today, there are three buildings left standing on what is now First Street Northwest, and there is precious little activity. The Henry Street Music Center and Jazz Institute and an annual music festival are the only sporadic signs of life to spring from the promises and dreams of a revival first envisioned a dozen years ago.

It should be understood, therefore, that the odds of moving Henry Street's renewal to anything approaching comparison with Beale Street do not quite reach "excellent" on the old reality-o-meter.

But so what? Neither do they sink to "no way," either. The interest of a Memphis developer who was a key mover in the eventual success of the Beale Street Historic District lends cautious hope to the stagnating ambitions for Henry Street. So does the opening of a rehabbed Hotel Roanoke and new conference center on that side of the tracks.

John Elkington believes Henry Street can be a center for entertainment that would complement Roanoke's City Market restaurants, that the flavor of its old Gainsboro neighborhood can be recaptured and, even better, that he and a group of Roanoke architects and civic and city leaders known as the Henry Street Revival Committee can produce a land-use plan in the next three months. A great idea, in theory.

Best of all, Elkington recognizes the importance of private investment to the project's success - something in the range of $7 million to $10 million.

He may be just the kind of cockeyed optimist to sell the vision to the monied people who could make it a reality - an optimist with a stubborn streak. He has a track record in Memphis, where he is credited with much of the success of Beale Street, a project that survived many lean years before becoming an entertainment district that draws 4 million blues lovers a year.

He also sounds like a cockeyed optimist with a realist streak. He is making no promises that, should he become involved in developing Henry Street, success would come easy. For one thing, the commercial life of Henry Street itself, so warmly remembered in the black community, thrived largely because of segregation, a time when blacks were not welcome in most white businesses. No one can, nor should anyone want to, replicate that legacy.

Recognizing such difficulties at the outset, in addition to the need for both careful planning and private investors, suggests Elkington might have the combination of vision, experience and commitment to finally bring Henry Street home.

Maybe.

by CNB