The Thalia Area is off Virginia Beach Blvd (at the Willis Wayside
stoplight, the old TB hospital and camp for WW II German prisoners)while
Pleasure House Road intersects Shore Drive. Geographically, one is on
the Lynnhaven River and the other ends at Chesapeake Bay. They are miles
apart. Don't see how we could be discussing the same "house".

Yes, there was a brothel in Thalia but it isn't the same as whatever was
on Pleasure House Road.  
Steinhilber's has been around since 1936.  Jeannie Steinhilber's parents
started the restaurant and she and her brother now run it. Never heard
that it started as a Jewish restaurant. I'll ask Jeannie next time I
talk with her about the origins of the restaurant.


(Sidebar - there is a really old house back in Thalia (Lynn Shores).
When I was a kid, we used to go down the dirt road and look at the house
which was on the river.  We were even bold enough to go into it after
the old lady who lived there died.  I fell through the floor of the 1st
basement to a 2nd basement which was below the first, scary
experience....

Regards,
Bonnie
Bonnie Capito
Librarian, Records & Information Specialist
LANT HQ, Code EV32
1510 Gilbert Street
Norfolk, VA 23511-2699
757-322-4785


From: Stephan A. Schwartz [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 12:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Pleasure House on Lynhaven Bay, 1814


Pleasure House Road, I am informed by an elderly woman who has lived on
the
Thalia waterfront (the section where the pleasure house is located, was
the
road one took to get to well... exactly that... a brothel.   It was
built by
a somewhat mysterious madam, back in the 20s, and was a very popular
stop
with the power establishment of Tidewater, Virginia, as well as the
Commonwealth at large, and its clientele came from as far away as New
York.
As VaB developed, what had formerly been a popular out of the way get
away
became an embarrassment, and it was closed after WWII.  Steinhilbers
Restaurant, which is nearby, was begun as the first Jewish country club,
then taken over by the family that still runs it.  Originally they
provided
meals and entertainment for those visiting the Pleasure House.  The
Madam's
house, quite grand at the time is still to be seen.  It was apparently
built
on the site of an earlier house, but this gets a bit murky.

-- Stephan

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html