Throughout area, people gather to savor history

In churches and beauty salons, coffee shops and funeral homes, break rooms and bars, they stopped to watch history happen.

Moms with children, grown-ups with their elders, they watched, cheered and cried as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States.

In downtown Norfolk, more than 150 students, faculty, office workers and a couple of homeless people watched a giant screen at Tidewater Community College's Roper Performing Arts Center.

"Oh, my God," one student said to a friend, "I can't stop the tears."

Chrystal Davis, president of the TCC student government association for the Norfolk campus, said she wanted to charter a bus to Washington but the cost was prohibitive.

It took about three weeks to pull together the viewing at the Roper, Davis said. The students liked the theater because it was big - and symbolic. Decades ago, it had been off-limits to blacks.

At Ebenezer Baptist Church, Virginia Beach's oldest black congregation, nearly 100 were on hand by 11 a.m. to view a big screen.

They cheered when Aretha Franklin appeared on the TV. They clapped for Michelle Obama.

And when Ralph Parham II heard the notes of "Hail to the Chief," he felt chills. Parham sounded as though he had been trying to put words to that feeling for a while.

"This country is like an old well that's been stagnant for years," Parham said. "The water needs to be primed, so it can kick back in and spread flowers through the nation."

When Barack Obama could be seen making his way to his seat, the viewers stood and clapped.

"Wooo-hooo!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

In Suffolk, nearly every shop on North Main Street seemed to have a television.

Screens were spotted above the bar at Pisces Restaurant, in the staff break room at Sun Trust Bank, near the barista at Java 149, at Patsy's H air Boutique, in Baron's Pub and at the Oysterette.

Suffolk Sheriff's Deputy Gregory Lawrence ordered a BLT at the Oysterette.

"He definitely makes me feel hopeful," Lawrence said of the new president. "Me and a whole lot of people. He's like a breath of fresh air."

Just down the sidewalk, at Patsy's, hair stylist Tonia Wylie said she was watching an inauguration for the first time. I t wasn't something Obama said that she found inspiring - it was something that he did.

"He's walked into the White House," she said.

"That's what I'm going to remember. He finally made it there."

At Metropolitan Funeral Service in Norfolk's Berkley section, nearly two dozen watched on a large TV in a red, white and blue-adorned auditorium. Donna Alexander, who owns the home with her husband, state Del. Kenneth Alexander, arranged the event.

"It felt like my whole heart was about to come out," Pamela Gibbs, an employee, said. Her niece and nephew were with her, and Obama sends a message to young people like them, she said.

"This lets them know there is hope," she said.

"They also have a chance to go further."

It might take some viewers years to understand the significance of an African American in the White House, as Jessica Walker discovered while discussing it with her three small children. Walker had taken them to Greenbrier Mall's food court in Chesapeake, where they ate pizza and chicken and watched the inauguration.

"Today marks a historic day," Walker told the kids.

"I thought we already had history," said Jaden, her 7-year-old son.

"History is always being made," she explained, "but today is a special day."

A fter Obama had completed the oath and shook hands with Chief Justice John Roberts, the food court erupted with pumped fists, high fives and applause.

Pilot writers Scott Harper, Debbie Messina, Steven G. Vegh and Alicia Wittmeyer contributed to this report.