Never Thought They'd Outlaw Slots

Dad has told me many stories of old Fairfax, how back in the 40s all up and down Lee Highway in Fairfax City was for sale for nearly nothing, but his Dad (I called him PawPaw) didn't buy it because he, according to PawPaw, didn't need real estate when he had all those slot machines. "He'd bring home bags and bags of money every night. Man. Never thought they'd outlaw slots."

Could you imagine? My PawPaw, when he would buy property, he would buy in bulk. Not just a parcel, but several. During an auction of a property of several acres in the Shenandoah Mountains, he won the bidding, then when the next patch of land came up for sale, he decided he’d better get that, too, to keep people from poaching on his land. So he did. He bought the side of a mountain for a nominal amount.

My dad is full of interesting stories, especially about his father and the history of Fairfax. When they (who's they? Dunno.) were building the Rite Aide on the corner of Lee Hwy and 123, they were wondering if there were any buried gas tanks, as it had been a gas station at one point. Someone pointed across the road to John’s Auto Repair and said, “Go ask him. He’s been here for years.” So, they asked my dad and he said yep, when the gas station closed, they left the tanks there. Other business had been there since, such as a Roy Rogers, so the tanks were lost in history. So, they dug up the tanks before breaking ground for the new Rite Aide, instead of finding out the hard way that there were buried fuel tanks.
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