What's in a name? | Easy Street, Norfolk

Where you sleep till noon...

Better get there soon...

Move them ever-lovin' feet

To Easy Street.

- from the musical "Annie"

Irony isn't dead yet. Not in Norfolk, anyway. Not as long as we've got Easy Street.

Yes, Easy Street does exist. But it's not a broad avenue lined with mansions. It's a narrow, one-block stub of a street - an alley, really - off Tidewater Drive just north of Interstate 64, tucked behind check-cashing stores, a union hall and a gun shop.

As late as the 1970s, it wasn't even paved.

According to city records, Easy Street came into existence in 1940 when the property of J.D. Guy was subdivided. Presumably it was named by the developers of the subdivision, called Miller Heights: W.B., F.W. and Rowena Miller.

Perhaps the Millers were inspired by the 1917 Charlie Chaplin film "Easy Street," which was no stranger to irony, either. Chaplin's Easy Street was a lawless slum controlled by violent hoodlums. Hapless policemen, trying in vain to keep the peace, kept getting hauled away on stretchers.

What's life like on Norfolk's Easy Street?

"It ain't easy," said Lawrence Abbott, sitting in the shade outside his apartment on a recent sweltering morning. "We have our good days and our bad days. There's a lot of nice people here, but kids from other neighborhoods come in and cause problems."

One of the bad days occurred in March when a 19-year-old man was found shot to death on the ground a block from his Easy Street home.

Over the years the street has been a boon to headline writers.

In 1979 the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority opened Robert Partrea Apartments, a 114-unit public housing complex for the elderly and disabled, on Easy Street. The project had been on the drawing board for nearly a decade but was plagued by cost overruns and bureaucratic delays.

"Living on Easy St. costing million more," the afternoon Ledger-Star reported in 1973.

Residents of the complex are divided on the quality of life there today.

"It's easy for me. I enjoy being here," said Ethel Bullock, a resident since 2005 who was out for a brisk morning walk. "Everything is convenient, and everybody here pulls together."

But Beatrice Edwards, an eight-year resident, complained about a dearth of activities. She said the current management won't let residents use the common kitchen or barbecue grills.

Ed Ware, a spokesman for the housing authority, said the restrictions were put in place because residents failed to clean up after an event.

"It doesn't feel like a home, it feels like a prison," Edwards said. "We can't do this, we can't do that. We used to be on Easy Street, but not anymore."

Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com