RICHMOND, Va. -- A nearly four-minute video posted on Facebook is transporting Richmonders back more than four decades. More than 40,000 people have viewed the video since Jay Carneal, owner of Memory Box Archives, posted it online Wednesday. Carneal's business transfers older media like photo negatives, video cassettes and film to newer, digital media.
He said when customer Dorbert Ogle brought in her father's old footage of various business signs around Richmond, he knew it was special and should be shared. With Ogle's approval, he posted an edited version on Facebook.
"I think it's a time capsule," Carneal said about the video's online popularity. "It sent a lot of people instantly back 45 years. They were able to take a moment and just enjoy the memories from a sign."
The signs, he said, allowed people to "remember Richmond when" as if it were only yesterday.
Most people guess the film was shot in the late 1960 or early 1970s, but Carneal said people are now slowing down the footage to look for clues on its precise vintage -- looking at the make and model of cars that drive by.
So which sign brought back the most memories for the life-long Richmonder?
"I'd say the People's drug store sign," Carneal said said with a laugh. "There was a nightclub called Much More on Broad Street where Bill Bevins used to deejay. Sometimes you had to park at the People's across the street. We tried to avoid parking there because sometimes you'd get towed."
