By Garland Pollard
Our memory of this place is totally gone. But apparently there was a Village Inn Pizza chain that had arcades. It was a big enough operation that individual franchises had their own game tokens. Here, a token from the Norfolk, Virginia location at the Janaf Shopping Center. We have it for sale on eBay; click on the picture to see if it is for sale. The pizza shop was apparently owned by Futterman Corp.
Janaf, or Joint Army Navy Air Force Shopping Center, was the main suburban shopping area for post World War II Norfolk.
The only thing we could find on it was that there are documents relating to modification of the pizza parlor at the Library of Virginia. It was store 18 at Janaf. The entry reads:
[Alterations to] Village Inn Pizza Parlor – Permit Number: 20379, Address: 18 Janaf Shopping Center, 1970 Box: 53 Control Number: : 788
Media: Diazo prints; Sheets: 5; Tag Number: 1970-002; Drawn by: Charles H. Thayer, Jr., Consulting Engineer, Six Tidewater Executive Center, Norfolk, VA; Contractor: W. A. Hall and Co., Inc.; Commissioned by: Futterman Corp.;
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3 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Mar 30, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Lived a half mile from this Village Inn as a kid in the mid 70s. I remember some rudimentary games, more like carnival games than arcade machines but the place was mostly about the movies. They played old b/w serials like The Lone Ranger and Tarzan. It was a staple for birthday parties, but my friends and I didn’t like going, especially as we grew older. Black and White Lone Ranger just couldn’t compete with Star Wars.
2 Hank // Aug 11, 2010 at 2:20 am
My father used to take us to the Village Inn after we went swimming at the Admralty Hotel swim club in the early 70′s. It was about the movies but the food was good. I was wondering if Jt was still open at JANAF.
3 Michael McNease // Jan 15, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Having grown up in nearby Poplar Halls from 1959 to 1974, I remember much about these years at JANAF. The various department stores…JC Penneys, Rices, Ames and Brownleys plus the two large grocery stores…Colonial Stores and Giant Foods…later, A & P. Other stores I recall include: Peoples Drug Store and Fanny Farmer Candies, Arthurs Men’s Shop and Wimpies Restaurants all near the courtyard where the library is located. This is where for a number of Christmas’s they had a Santa Claus house as well.
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