Warwick-Laundry

The Warwick Laundry was located at 127 - 24th Street, between West Ave. and Washington Ave., in downtown Newport News, VA. The main entrance to the Laundry was on 24th Street, but there was a walk-in, One-Hour Cleaner service for dropoff and pickup located on 24th Street also (see photo below), and a second One-Hour Cleaner on 25th Street. My Mother worked at the 25th Street location. The Laundry had 2 floors; the upper level was the Dry Cleaning Department, which was managed by my Father, and the lower level housed the laundry. My Father began working for Warwick in 1941, and continued until 1944 when he got married and moved to North Carolino. In 1952 my Father returned to Virginia with his new family, and reclaimed his old position at Warwick. His new wife (my Mother) began working there also. At some point in the late 50's or early 60's, Warwick merged with Dawn Cleaners to become the Dawn-Warwick Laundry. My Father had to retire from Dawn-Warwick in 1962, and my Mother took his manager position. The original building that housed Warwick (and then Dawn-Warwick) was demolished in the late 1960's, along with the U.S. Restaurant, Tidewater Hotel, and a number of other businesses (such as Brody Canter Wholesale, Al's New York Delicatessen, etc.) located along Washington Avenue, 24th and 25th Streets, to make way for the Newport News City Hall. Dawn-Warwick was owned by the Smith Family (of Warrenton, VA), composed of C. Archer Smith and Stuart A. Smith, and was managed by C. Archer's daughter, Peggy Smith (Doley). Prior to closing Dawn-Warwick, the Smiths sold several business accounts to an Asian family headed by Kai Ting Eng. The laundry was then renamed, "Warwick-Central Laundry and Cleaners", and subsequently moved to a smaller location on Jefferson Ave., somewhere between Mercury Blvd. and Main Street. My Mother thought very highly of Kai, and continued to work for him on Jefferson Ave. for several years. In the mid 1970's, the business was sold again to a family named Zaye. And on a cold October day in 1977, what remained of the Warwick Laundry closed for good. My Mom, who was by then in her late 50's, so vividly recalled this day because she knew it might be the last job she would ever have, and she was right.

A Little Personal History...

My parents would get me up around 5:00 am and take me downtown with them on school days (no baby sitter or day care back then). We usually ate breakfast at the U.S. Restaurant, and then I would go with them to the Warwick Laundry where they worked. I remember Sam Canavos, owner of the U.S. Restaurant, as a very nice person who knew my mom and dad, and always treated us with respect. Around 8:30 my Father would drive me to Briarfield Elementary School, located on Marshall Avenue, and within walking distance of where we lived in Warwick Gardens Apartments. When the school day ended around 3:00 pm, one of my parents would pick me up and drive me back to the Laundry where I stayed until they got off from work, usually around 5:00 pm, but sometimes as late as 9 or 10 at night. For my first 3 years of school, I spent almost as much time downtown, playing around the Warwick Hotel, Laundry, Haskins Barber Shop, Bob's Esso Station, and the waterfront, as I did at home. I have great memories of the Warwick Hotel, the Hotel Soda Shop and Barber Shop (Louis Knight and Willie Smith were the barbers) and playing with Louis Graham, son of the Hotel manager back then. Mr. and Mrs. Graham lived in a suite at the hotel, and I played with their son and daughter, often roaming all over the hotel grounds. In the 4th grade, after my grandparents moved to Newport News from North Carolina, I didn’t have to get up so early any more, or get home so late. I ate breakfast at grandma’s house on Decatur Street, where we had moved the year before, and then walked to school with Ken Taylor (NNHS 65), Clarence Point (NNHS 64) or Wesley Staude. On bad weather days, Ken's mother would drive us to school. When I started the 8th grade at NNHS in 1959, I rode the school bus downtown.

Provided by Frederick C. Eubank (Newport News HS Class of 1964).