Illustration by Rachel Maves
Restaurants see it all. The buildings are vessels of time, with tales featuring characters from owners to diners and employees. If only the walls could talk (though in some cases, they do). But what’s a really old space without a little occult activity?
Kevin Sheffield, co-owner of the forthcoming Smoke & Barrel restaurant at 2329 W. Main St., has a long history with the Fan corner spot. Having bartended there for seven years during its run as Lady N’awlins, Sheffield recounts a particularly spooky incident.
“I was throwing the trash out, and I saw a shadow from the back door go [toward] the bathroom,” he says. “I went back and opened both bathrooms, and it looked like a dress, like a shadow of a woman. I said, ‘Hey, we’re closed,’ and nobody was there. … I ran outside freaking out.”
At Helen’s, among the oldest restaurants in the city, there have been countless paranormal phenomena observed since its original opening in 1935, from unexplained crashes to sightings of a blue, glowing hand. In 2019, it was deemed the most haunted restaurant in the state by the Food Network, and several ghost hunters have visited over the years.
General Manager Claire Tuite, daughter of Helen’s owners John and Leslie Tuite, recalls the first time the family encountered the ghost of the restaurant’s namesake, particularly the look on her mother’s face as she shared the experience. “I remember thinking I’d never seen her make that face, and she said, ‘I just saw a woman float into a booth in this dress,’” recalls Tuite, who has been working at the Fan institution for 18 years.
They believe that woman was Helen, a former employee and daughter of the original restaurant owners, and that her spirit still lingers. “Helen is very protective and has mostly calmed down in becoming more comfortable with our love of the restaurant, but in the first few years there were a lot of coffee pots and mugs being thrown, and it still happens from time to time, but it was [once] constant,” Tuite says.
Beyond ghostly sightings and a little spooky activity, there’s also the Grim Reaper of the dining industry: the notorious restaurant curse. Even if you don’t believe in bad luck, there are undoubtedly a handful of addresses in Richmond that seem to have hosted a rotating cast of churn-and-burn ventures. Is it bad juju? An inconveniently located property?
Nathan Hughes of Sperity Real Estate Ventures has been handling commercial spaces, particularly restaurants, for nearly two decades. He says there are deeper explanations for a food business’ success or failure beyond a little voodoo.
“I think that it’s really a mixture of things,” says Hughes, who has handled negotiations for restaurants from Neighbor to Soul N’ Vinegar and several properties for Lindsey Food Group. “There are places that stay vacant, too, and sometimes because of that stigma of a curse, no one else has been able to make it there, so no one wants to touch it.
“Also, just the location, the traffic flow, sometimes out in the ’burbs you don’t have a cut through or [you’re] buried in a strip mall and people have to hunt for you — those can all cause recurring issues, even the layout [of a space],” he adds.
The latter may play a role at 203 N. Lombardy St., essentially two spaces in one: a front area traditionally used for dining, and a back space that has previously hosted live music. Balliceaux had a run there from 2009 to 2016, and Bogart’s for decades prior to that. Since then, there has been a two-year or less cycle for the businesses that followed: Flora (March 2017-November 2019), Poor Boys RVA (May 2019-September 2021) and Brun (March 2022-July 2023). Sprezza, an Italian restaurant previously in Shockoe Bottom, is set to debut in the space later this year.
“I don’t necessarily believe in things such as cursed buildings and whether or not they can hinder a concept from taking off,” says Angela Petruzzelli, owner of Sprezza. “This is especially true in a city like Richmond, where real estate is limited. Restaurants are volatile businesses; they work and don’t for millions of different reasons.”
Hughes believes properties can overcome their transient reputations.
Located near the intersection of Broad and Belvidere streets, 506 W. Broad St. had also earned a reputation as a rotating space. Beginning in 2017 it was home to Tiny Victory, Yaki, Boka Tavern, and Antler & Fin, but now The Riviere, known for its lively brunches, has been operating there since 2021.
“I think there’s a code to each one of the spaces we can point to that were considered cursed over the years that have defied that curse at different times or are defying it now,” Hughes says.
Another of those supposedly jinxed spaces is the building housing El Pope, 1731 W. Main St. Formerly the location of eateries including Belgian concept Brux’l Cafe, Dogwood Grille & Spirits, Peacock’s Pantry, and Mainstream Bar & Restaurant, the site’s current tenant has been there nearly five years.
“I think that if anything lasts five years or more, that’s a pretty long time; it means they were through at the very least [a] one-lease term,” Hughes says.
Whether these events — ghostly and otherwise — are a function of the paranormal or just the inherent struggle to keep a restaurant going, their tales have become part of RVADine lore.
