Graces Place (1973)

What a great place Grace Place was. I moved to RVA in 1990 to work at VCU and was grateful to find this place early on. Coming from St. Louis and Chicago, I was largely appalled by the restaurant food in Richmond. I used to drive to DC for a decent dinner on the weekend! Grace Place gave me hope that I might enjoy Richmond after all. The enclosed patio was a wonderful retreat. I ate and shopped the little store regularly until it closed. It was the only store I found that carried Tiger Balm & Dr. Bronner's soap at the time. Even after it closed, I would go sit on the vine-covered porch and read during lunch. I watched sadly when they tore it down.

Graces Place (1973)

Awwwww. I was just thinking about this place, and hopped on line to see if it was still there. I am so sad to discover it's gone:(I fell in love with Grace Place when I moved to RVA to attend VCU. I moved there from rural VA, and often found the dingey urbanity of RVA a bit much to bear. I used to love to go to Grace Place by myself, and sit at one of the bay windows with my yummy Farmer's Bowl (a bowl of hearty soup, served with fresh fruit on the side and a nice hunk of homemade bread, and cheese). The windows were hung with chintz curtains - so as you sat there in that room, with sunlight and breeze coming through the curtain, you could easily image yourself not in a dingey city but in a farmhouse on a hill, looking out over a sunlit meadow...*sigh*. Thank you, Grace Place, for being a bright haven during my stormy college years. You will be missed!

When I was a kid, Kathy Benham (friend of my mother's and, as such, my de facto aunt) sometimes took me there (among numerous other Richmond eateries, because Kathy didn't cook, which was fine with me because it was always exciting, going to all these cool places with my damn cool aunt). There as everywhere else, she'd fuss at me for "reading the right side of the menu" (i.e. looking for the bottom-line cheapest items and then choosing that). Not to get all hokey and shit, but... it was, for me, a genuine place of Grace.(*exits sobbing*)

I did a lot of work on the place without charge, some time in late 1989. When I was painting the dinning area I remove much of the old wall paper I found one layer that had little green churches on it. I was told it use to be a funeral home, around 1860 and notable deceased criminals were displayed in the front window. I love the court yard in the back. I saw lots of celebrities and politicians come in for lunch and dinner. I did this work because I wanted to help keep the best restaurant in Richmond alive. Michael only bought and served the best of the best organic food available.I thought it was going way overboard with it, now I think otherwise, he has a great and caring sprit. Richard Beasley

I went to VCU in the early 90s and lived in a grand pre-depression condo mostly inhabited by original owners. I would walk to Grace Place which was practically behind my building. The avocado melt was my favorite. I miss Grace Place and whenever back in Richmond drive down Grace street still looking for it, wishing it was still there. Bring it back please, in so e fashion someplace in Richmond or Virginia. Robin Inn vegetarian spaghetti was my next favorite.

We worked near Grace Place and loved to eat there. There was always such a sense of peace about the place.My friend moved to NC and wrote Michael asking for his Chili Recipe because we really missed that particualr item. She sent me a copy. I have never made it or shared it as the measurements are vague but this is the recipe he sent her and it sounds right:Bean Mixture:70% red chili bean10% black turtle10% kidney10% pintoCook separately in small amounts of water. When 90% done, add tomotoes (blended whole) cumin (ground) tamarichili powderCook White beans cook in vegetable stock with diced carrots, white onions, green peppers, mix with corn from cob- put to the sideSaute in olive oil:2 dozen cloves galic (2 bulbs)and cumin seedoptional 2 jalepeno peppers with a splash of vinegar to jalepenosWhen garlic is clear, add carrots and all veggies- last 2 minutes add corn and warm.Season with a pinch of salt, tumeric, and chili powderAdd bean mixture to sauteed mixture and simmer on low heat for 1 hourGarnish with sour crean ,chopped green olives, grated cheese, and corn chips on the side.I would love to have the Farmers Plate recipe- that was also a favorite and maybe not too complicated-

Grace Place was somewhere I are as a high school student at TJ and was not thinking of it as a vegetarian restaurant but as simply good food! I love sweets and they served these HUGE slices of Bluberry Cheesecake. It was not until I moved away and came back looking for GP and it was closed;-( I was telling someone about it and they said "that tofu place". Lol from that day on I have dreamed and thought about that cheesecake! Better than anything Ive had anywhere!!! Everything was enjoyable on the menu.

what a beautiful place! I remember those delicious crunchy salads, the yummy dressing,the nut loaf! the steaming mugs of herbal tea with the honey dippers on the table so you could add what you wanted...oh so many memories and everyone that worked there was graceful and joyful...even on those jam-packed days! I would love to have some of the recipes to try, even though part of what made them taste so good were people who made and served them!yes, Susan and David (comment above) thank you and the others for great memories!Deirdre (then Coghill) now Brandt-Brockwell

Loved this place and it holds a special place in my heart-- I was for a time, the only vegetarian I knew in college (William and Mary) and used to make the drive up. One day in 1995, I met a Jamaican guy at the counter downstairs and asked him about a book I was considering buying-- entitled "Diet for a New America". He said "if you read this, you can't go back..". So I bought it and the next day I was a newly minted vegan (the book was an expose of sorts about the 'American Factory Food Machine" as the author, John Robbins, called big ag.

I worked as a food server there. I love the place but I was the world's worst server! How did I not get fired...but I sure learned a lot and the Kings were lovely people. Val Walker from the old days

Controlling the spread of mold was one concern; but, so too, was the issue of how to dry the millions of water-soaked records. Initially, NPRC staffers shipped these water-damaged records in plastic milk crates to a temporary facility at the civilian records center on Winnebago, where hastily constructed drying racks had been assembled from spare shelving. When it was discovered that McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corporation in St. Louis had vacuum-drying facilities, the NPRC diverted its water damaged records there for treatment. The vacuum-dry process took place in a chamber that had previously been utilized to simulate temperature and pressure conditions for the Mercury and Gemini space missions. The chamber was large enough to accommodate approximately 2,000 plastic milk cartons of water and fire damaged records. Once inside, McDonnell Douglas technicians lowered the air in the chamber to the freezing point and then filled the room with hot dry air, which squeezed out the water molecules. For each chamber load, they were able to extract approximately 8 pounds of water per container - the equivalent of nearly 8 total tons of water for each session. In addition to utilizing two more supplemental drying chambers at McDonnell Douglas, the NPRC also sent records to a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) facility in Ohio for drying.

As part of the reconstruction effort, the NPRC established a "B" registry file (or Burned File) to index the 6.5 million recovered records. So too, the NPRC established a separate temperature controlled "B" file area to protect and safeguard the damaged records. Later, in April 1974, the NPRC established the "R" registry file (or Reconstructed File) to further assist with reconstruction efforts. Since then, staffers have placed all newly reconstructed records into the "R" registry file and stored them in an area separate from the "B," or burned, files.

In terms of loss to the cultural heritage of our nation, the 1973 NPRC Fire was an unparalleled disaster. In the aftermath of the blaze, recovery and reconstruction effort took place at an unprecedented level. Thanks to such recovery efforts and the use of alternate sources to reconstruct files, today's NPRC is able to continue its primary mission of serving our country's military and civil servants.

Grace High School was built in 1914-15 and torn down in 1960, replaced at the same location with Grace Elementary school built in 1962 and the name changed to Ira B. Jones to honor the principal who had served there since 1931.

First dates listed are years of birth and death. Last dates are years in office. Coadjutor bishops assist, and then succeed, serving bishops at times of death or retirement. Suffragan bishops assist, but do not succeed, serving bishops, and are listed below, indented. Crosses + placed after dates means bishops died in office. Originally statewide, the Diocese of California now constitutes most of the Bay Area north of San Jose.

Nearly a half-century ago at a Baptist church in Watts, Calif., Aretha Franklin recorded Amazing Grace. The 1972 album went on to become the best-selling live gospel album and while those live sessions were filmed, the Queen of Soul did not want the concert film to be released. Forty seven years later, the documentary has been released and on March 31, the film had its West Coast premiere right in that same Baptist church where it took place.

Grace Church is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in American (PCA), a growing denomination of conservative, reformed Christians. Our mission is to passionately proclaim the Gospel of Grace to the glory of God and the transformation of man. Grace desires to be a place where God is glorified, believers are edified, and the lost are evangelized.