Richmond’s New Year, New Riverfront & Old Alligators (Carytown ball drop, Scott's Addition, Brown's Island 2026, etc) - Unscripted #030

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Richmond at midnight—past, present, next. We open with Carytown’s ball-drop nostalgia and the one-off Brown’s Island NYE event, then ask who should run a true public New Year’s party now. From there: the 2026 outlook for the riverfront and amphitheater, airport ambitions at RIC, and why a connected downtown matters more than bar crawls.

Mid-episode, we taste non-alcoholic “bubbly” from Point 5 and talk simple ways to host without alcohol. We cover the coming vape crackdown (why most disposables are disappearing, what’s actually FDA-authorized), nicotine as a stimulant in low doses, and real health risks like diacetyl/popcorn lung. We close with Jefferson Hotel gator lore, a look back at the year that launched the studio, and what’s ahead for 2026—more interviews, voice notes, and live shows.

Richmond VA, New Year’s Eve, Carytown ball drop, Brown’s Island 2026, riverfront, amphitheater, RIC airport, Scott’s Addition, vape crackdown, FDA authorization, nicotine risks, non-alcoholic bubbly, Point 5 Richmond, Jefferson Hotel alligators, Richmond events, 2026 plans.

Quick interjection to invite you to Vera House Studios. If you are a local Richmond business, entrepreneur, brand owner, or service provider—and you know you need to create better content to get your products and services in front of the right people—we can help.

Transcript

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Welcome back to the Vera House podcast and happy new year. We start 2026 by talking about Scott's edition and all of the crazy development that's happening there. We talk about the alligators, huge alligators that used to live in Palm Court at the Jefferson Hotel. So crazy. Like the craziest thing that you never knew. And we also talked about the fan nostalgia for any of you who have ever lived in or around the fan and how it used to be in like the early 2000s, early 2010s. And we had fun on this episode. We did. We really did. It's a great way to kick off the year. We talked about how vaping and vape shops in Virginia may not be a thing very soon. We talked about some of the guest interviews that we've had the opportunity to share on our podcast. Some of the really interesting people in our community that we've had the opportunity to talk to and find out more about. And we talked about New Year's Eve itself, the Carytown celebration, and then subsequently the one-off Browns Island celebration that I argue we should definitely bring back. So this is a great episode, a great way to kick off the new year and stay tuned. So happy new year. Thanks dude. Happy new year. Welcome to 2026. Yeah, man. I literally, yeah. You said 2026 and I'm like, oh yeah. Took you a second. It does. Yeah. I said it and it doesn't sound real because 2026 is like the future. Where are the flying cars? Where's the teleporter? Where's the instantaneous one button push microwave for a fully cooked turkey dinner for anyone who's seen the fifth element? We're past the quarter century, dude. Here we go, popping bottles. It's like, what's it going to hit? But yeah, celebration is in order. We made it all 12 months of 2025, which was a harrowing act all in itself. It was. Yes. 2025 was a roller coaster. Big year for data centers. Big year for data centers. Yes. Big year for Scott's edition. Yeah. Big year for Richmond in general. This is the biggest glass of bubbly I've ever, probably not ever had, but it's a big one. Well, dude, we got a full episode ahead of us. So we got to be prepped and ready. And where did we get this bubbly from? Yeah. So this is of course, from point five, it's a non-alcoholic sparkling white. So basically champagne wine type deal from the wonderful people at point five. Yeah. They always hold us down. I love that, that they have stuff like this. Agreed. Because I think we were kind of talking about, you know, what are we going to do to ring in the new year? And you know, neither of us drink anymore. So we weren't, my first thought wasn't to pop some bottles, but I'm glad they have this. Because I remember growing up, the alternative that my mom would always give to us on a holiday, instead of champagne, when we were kids, she would give us like sparkling apple cider, which is delicious, but not really what I think about when celebrating. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, cheers, dude. Cheers, bud. Happy new year. That's nice. Yeah. Yeah. It does taste like champagne. It does. Yeah. Like, I feel like with wines, especially white wines or champagnes, I kind of worry that they're going to be like sweet. Yeah. And I don't like sweet. I mean, I don't really like sweet, like drinks for sure. I'll eat some carrot cake. Okay. So I like some other sweets and stuff. Yeah. Like sweet drinks, not my thing. Yeah. This is a good balance. It's like, it tastes, you have that kind of bitter dryness almost that you get from a nice dry champagne. Yeah. Or like a dry cider. Right. And there's a little bit of like sweetness in there on the back end. So it's, it's not just such a tough, you know, like it's a well-balanced drink. Yeah. They do a good job of that. Dude. So what else? Remember when they used to do the big ball drop in Carytown, like the New Year's Eve? I was just thinking about that. Times Square type deal. Yeah. I think I saw something online about it too. I never actually went to one of those. I think I heard about them before I was living in the city. So I never went to one. Yeah. And by the time I moved to the city, they had since done the last one. Yeah. I don't know when the, do you know when the last one was? I actually don't know. No, no, I don't. I remember. I have been to one. I remember them happening while I lived in the city, but I never went to them. Yeah. It, I mean, it was fun. I was there and I was drunk. I don't really remember it, but I just remember it was packed. Like if you look at the picture of it. That picture I saw on like RVM magazine. Yeah. It's crazy. Like look at that. Like thousands of people. And that guy's like standing on, it looks like he's standing on the bird. Right. On top of the, actually, yeah, that looks like the sign for bygones. So that would be Maybe that's Yeah. Maybe that's bygones. Bygones. And New York deli. What is now the New York deli rooftop. Yeah. Because they didn't used to have a rooftop. They didn't. So like that, that was like, I saw that picture and I saw some videos from back then. And I really wanted to go to the next New Year's celebration in Cary town, but they had, they canceled it after I saw that, that post about it. And when they canceled it, it was like, yeah, it was huge bummer. And I'm not sure if it was the same year. It might've been that year. It might've been the year after it, but they planned and they did a New Year's celebration on Brown's Island. Do you remember that? I don't know. I don't think so. So I do, because I, along with a couple of friends of mine, DJ'd the New Year's celebration on Brown's Island. Oh, that's cool. And this was a big, it was a big deal because Brown's Island didn't have live music on a regular basis. They had like the folk festival and jazz fest, I think. But by and large, it was just, you know, kind of an empty space. And because the, the, the attention or the appeal of the big New Year's celebration was still there, they just weren't having it in Carytown. They decided to move it to Brown's Island because they could host like 10,000 people down there. So they did it. They lined the perimeter of Brown's Island with pavilions that you could rent. And some of them have vendors in it. Some of them were like VIP areas. I think it was from like seven to midnight, something like that. It was all ages. So friends or family and young, young people, young kids could come by and come hang out. It was cold. So you had bundle up, but they had, they had a massive stage at the, the far end. So not the end near the Belvedere bridge or Manchester bridge, the other end of Brown's Island towards like Tredegar street. They had a massive stage with like an LED ball drop counter, like you would see in other big cities. And I remember them setting it up and inviting me to DJ. And I was like, this is the coolest thing that has ever happened to Richmond. We're finally a real city. We have a real ball drop with the screen on it and a counter, and we're going to DJ. So like, so jazzed about this. It goes off. It was incredible. Sold out 10,000 plus people on Brown's Island. And it's me and my buddy Amir, DJ Hoodie, my buddy Joe, he was DJing under the name Bobby Lee Beat back then, Dodie, who used to live here. And it was just us and 10,000 people having a DJ party on New Year's Eve. And they don't do it anymore? They did it one year and they didn't do it again. Dude, what? Yeah. And a lot of people didn't even know, or you tell them now they're like, wait, what? That happened here? Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. All right. We've got to start a petition to bring it back. We really should. Cause this is why I was thinking about the Carytown New Year's Eve thing, because like, don't get me wrong. There's definitely things to do for New Year's Eve. There's tons going on, but there's not like that. Right. And that is cool. That is cool. And it's not like we couldn't facilitate it again. I think this was a time period where looking back, the people that were spearheading these projects were smaller organizations that needed a lot of help. So RVA Mag, maybe Style Magazine, and then maybe some other, I'm assuming lots of other vendors or backers were collaborating to make this happen, but it was a big effort to make it, like to pull it off. Yeah. Nowadays, there are organizations that do large events on Browns Island all the time. You know, the Broadbury Entertainment Group, I think it's Live Loud is their name, but they do all the shows on Browns Island. And then there's multiple festivals that have events on Browns Island now. So there's no shortage of groups that have the resources to pull it off. Right. It's just a matter of someone being willing to take on all of the effort that it takes to do it the right way. And at the time, RVA Mag was like leading the charge because they were interested in this type of community event. I even think that RVA Mag had a hand in the Carytown New Year celebration. Probably. Yeah. You know, it's, when you think about New Year's, like, yeah, especially in big cities, like they all have a big events like that. They all have big events and it's got to be coming, right? Like with the development of Browns Island and the amphitheater and their turn, you know, all the parks down there and stuff, it'd be the right place to do it. Yeah. You know, it'd be pretty sweet to basically just do that exact same thing, but with all the new developments now. You know, 2026 is going to be, I think, one of the most surprising years that we'll see in Richmond. There's already talk about massive change. We've already seen a lot of change, but I anticipate a lot of positive change in the city itself, but just in like infrastructure and, you know, digital assets and places for people to communicate and the community building and all kinds of stuff. And I'm excited for it. I could see a Vera House New Year's Eve celebration. Dude. If there's someone out there who has the crazy idea of throwing a New Year's Eve celebration on Browns Island, I think we'd be into that. Yeah. Well, I know we've talked about doing like a live podcast. That would be super fun. You know, whether it's at like River Rock or, you know, any of these events coming up. And I think that's definitely to come in 2026. And yeah, let's throw a New Year's party. Why not? Let's throw it. Like, let's get Dick Clark's, you know, second cousin lookalike to host the show. We'll get No B.S. and Butcher Brown to play some music. We'll have vendors and artists and food and make it a thing and make it a big all-inclusive community event. Because I thoroughly, I truly agree. I should say that's what people really like about that time of year is the community events or just the events in general. You know, we spend who knows how many times or how many, you know, hours or dollars on events throughout the year. Why not end the year with a bang? Like something with something like that. Yeah. You know, and like going to the bars is cool or whatever, but it's yeah, it's different, you know, and as people that have, you know, quit drinking within the past year plus, right? Like going to, like I used to go to the Hoff, you know, I go to the Hoff every, you have a blast, right? When you go and you go get super drunk, like have a blast, you know, stay up late, Uber home. Like it's fun. It's a lot of fun. But yeah, if you're, you know, if you're not going out to do that, then you're normally looking for a show or some sort of other entertainment or a ball drop or like something like that. And that is what Browns Island would be or what the Carytown New Year's Eve thing would be. And if it doesn't exist, then it's like, okay, what are you going to go do? And you kind of just choose to not do anything. Yeah. Because it's like, well, what are the options? Whereas if there was a big community gathering, it's a little bit different because it's like, sure, if it was on Browns Island, there's vendors and beer trucks and all that stuff. Like, yeah, that's awesome. But it's the whole thing's not revolved around that, right? You have a big stage up front. It's a big community event. There's thousands of people there. There's stuff going on, you know, different booths and you know, whatever, right? Whatever they want to turn it into. There's music and it's a little bit different than like being at a bar where the music is sort of like the background thing going on. And it's all, you know, the focus is drinking. Yeah. Which again, nothing wrong with that, right? But yeah, I don't know. It's like, it's hard to, we are in this like stretch of time in Richmond where we're gaining more things to do, but we're not quite there yet with stuff like this. Right. Right. Like, we're definitely seeing changes with the types of things to go and do, right? We're at Connects and it's like, that's a very different type of place in a different part of town. So yeah, it's a different vibe. It's something different to go and do. And of course you've got your parks and stuff like Lewis Ginter and Maymont. They do cool stuff too. But yeah, there's not like a big, yeah, it's like fun, man. We need a ball drop. Yeah. And you know, I always kind of had this gripe growing up here was one, we don't have a football team, so we don't have a large sporting event and then like the stadium itself to go and rally around. The biggest one that I know about or that I've been to and experienced is the VCU Rams playing at the Segal Center. That's like the big sporting event. You just went, right? I just went. Nice. Actually, I think that was my first time going to a Rams game, which was, it was a blast. It was a great time. And I can see why people really love going to the games there because even though, even if I'm not a huge, you know, a follower of this sport, I always love going to a game. Yeah. Like any game, anywhere, any sport I'll go because being there is always a good time. Yeah. It's always fun. It's a good vibe. It's a great vibe. So, you know, I was like, you know, I looked at other bigger cities and the things that they had and I was kind of like, oh man, I wish we had a football team or wish we had a national recognized or nationally recognized sports team. We have the Braves, but now they're the Flying Squirrels and now the stadium is not where it used to be and it will be kind of a bigger, more professional. Oh, it's going to be a whole park now. Yeah. Like it's going to be an entire. It's a whole thing. To do. But I think it would be really cool if we embrace these larger scale, bigger draw in like events. I know we do throughout the year and there are, you know, standouts like the things on Browns Island, but I don't know, man, I'm just partial to the big blowout celebration on Browns Island. I think that that's what we need to bring back. Stamping it now, 2026, Browns Island, New Year's Eve. I love it. I'm in, dude. Sign me up. Yeah. Yeah. And they'll do the Vera House live podcast. We'll host it. 100%. We'll get some local Richmond personalities as, you know, co-hosts or guests and make it a thing, man. You'll televise it, put it on YouTube. There's so many ways to make this a really cool experience. So yeah, I think we should definitely lean into that. Definitely agree. You know, and I know I was sort of joking, but not really like when I mentioned big year for data centers, right? Like when I think about 2025 Richmond, there's a few like big things that stand out developmentally and economically, which is the airport, a lot of changes to the airport, a lot of money being put into the airport. They're going to open up international flights to Europe and no longer like Richmond is sort of like a connection hub, right? You always have to get a connecting flight and their goal is to change that. So they put a bunch of money into the airport last year. All that's changing. That means that Richmond now has more travel options and vice versa because people are going to be able to fly, you know, like more people can come directly here. They do the free Ubers to the airport in the morning. So clearly they are pushing the tourism aspect of Richmond and trying to generate more money for the city through tourism. Also the ability for Richmonders to travel abroad easier without having to fly to, you know, LaGuardia or Charlotte or whatever, right? Or DC. So big year for the Richmond airport, a big year for Scott's edition. Oh yeah. Obviously Scott's edition has been blown up every year, year over year. It's its own ecosystem at this point. It's impressive. And I think, I think I mentioned this before, I probably felt the same way that a lot of people felt, which is when there's big sweeping change in the city, it feels a little like, ugh, not, slow it down a little bit. Like we like the way it is. It's good. Don't change it. But then Scott's edition kind of kept growing and kept adding and kept building. And every time I go over there, there's a new building, a new apartment complex or a new restaurant or a new shop. But if you take a, you know, take a couple of months and not visit Scott's edition, and then you go back and see it as it has been, has it matured essentially. It's impressive to say the least, but it is, I would say it's a welcome addition, no pun intended, to that area in general, because you have shops, you have retail, you have some elevated food options, you have some middle of the road food options, you have some new, you know, new styles of food and vendors and shops and things. And it just really, I think they took advantage of the geographical layout in a really cool way. You know, for a time, the only thing that was over there was the dairy bar. And then there was the shuffleboard place. What was the shuffleboard place called? Tang and Biscuit. Tang and Biscuit. Yeah. And there was Tang and Biscuit. And then, you know, slowly there was Stella's Market. And then there was Lost Letter for upscale dining experience. And then there was ZZQ. So things started to pop up and it was like, all right, I'm going to go, it was a destination place. I'm going to go to ZZQ and then I'm going to go back to the fan where I can like bop around, or I'm going to go down to the bottom where I can walk around. But now you can just go park at Stella's Market and hit four or five different spots in one trip and just be comfortable being there, which I think is great. Yeah, you can spend your whole day in Scott's Edition really. And in a funny way, what Scott's Edition has become is sort of what I think we all wanted out of a downtown. Yeah, good point. It's like, yes, Shaka Bottoms never really like scratched that itch, I don't think. Even when we think about like the Capital District, you know, sort of like the top of the hill on Fifth Street, like sort of that coming from the river, coming from Browns Island, you come up the hill and it's just like, you know, there's a couple little things but like, it's just not, it's not cool, you know. And yes, Scott's Edition came out of left field and was like, all right, we'll do it. And you know, you've got the people, the original investors of the wharf and stuff that are putting money into Scott's Edition. There's a ton of legal battles going on in Scott's Edition over a lot of the vacant parking lots and stuff. And many of them were resolved, literally like basically as we speak, as the year is closing. And what that means is like people are putting millions of dollars into these undeveloped parking lots that are gonna become buildings, commercial buildings, apartment buildings. And then all of a sudden, we've got our, you know, I compare it to like a Brooklyn or an Austin or something where it is this like very condensed part of the city and it still is sort of like this destination where, you know, like for somebody like yourself, somebody like me, it's like, like you're in Scott's Edition but you're just on the skirt of it to where you're not like struggling to find parking and like all that type of stuff. So luckily you're outside of it. And same thing with me, I don't live over there. So we like it because we're not in the middle of the chaos, right? And it's like, oh, I'm going to Scott's Edition. And then you know, you're going there, you know, it's going to be hard to find parking, but it's part of the, it's part of the trip over there, right? Where you just ride your bike or walk over there or whatever, you know? And then it's cool and you have an appreciation for it and you like it because there now is a ton to do over there. I lived in Scott's Edition in 2015, there was nothing to do, literally nothing. There wasn't a coffee, the only thing that was there was the dairy bar, that was it. And I would go walk around the whole town and there's just nothing, it's just industrial warehouses and everything. And I hated, like I loved my apartment, but I hated living over there, there was nothing to do. And it was right when that crunch fitness first was starting construction below the, I think it's like the 3600 building over there on Broad Street. Right. Yeah. Right. It was so boring. I hated it. Yeah, man. I remember that part of time or that, that period of time, there were empty warehouses that became raves and I used to DJ those raves and then they got raided by the police and then no more raves. And you know, the, the punk underground kid in me was like, no more warehouse parties, boo. But then when they started opening up these really nice apartment complexes and I was comparing them to the places that I'd lived to and that lived in the fan that didn't have any of these amenities, the, the windowsills have been painted shut 10 times over. They call that the landlord special where it's just caked on and the landlord's never going to change it. But you have a, you have an in window AC unit. You didn't have any access to parking. So you had to risk parking on the street or buy a parking pass. And you would look at your friends who had just moved into this newly renovated kind of Westin modern styled apartment complex with like granite countertops and some new appliances and you know, central AC, which is now like, oh yeah, everyone has central AC, but not eight years ago in the fan, you didn't and a pool. And then you could walk to the dairy bar and then eventually you could walk to the corner store and then eventually it was Stella's market. And it's like, okay, I see the appeal. And you, you have, I feel like a lot of Richmonders had the choice to make. It's like, oh, I can be hardline and committed to keeping old Richmond as charming and, and you know, living in the fan and living that lifestyle and then just like being deadline. Okay. Hardline. I'm going to, I'm a Richmonder. I deal with this being what it's like to live in the cities or you could go live over there for a little bit more money and have a great time. Yeah. I did that. I took that road. There's something nostalgic about that like time period though, you know, cause as soon as you started talking about the fan and like, you know, having central AC and stuff, it takes me straight back. I used to live in the house attached to the back of sticky rice. Oh yeah. I have a sticky rice tattoo on my thumb. I would literally walk downstairs, like just walk out my front door and walk right into sticky rice in my pajamas and get a bucket of tater tots and some PVRs. But my rent was 80 bucks a month. I lived up in like, it wasn't even a bedroom. It was like a little closet. Yeah. And all that fit in there was like my mattress and my TV on the wall, but I had a little window unit and that was it. And then during the winter I would swap it out for a little space heater. Like that was it dude. And yeah, you'd walk to, it was called like there was like a little my noodle type place across the street and then like Pearl and the picnic, I think it maybe was called a picnic or maybe I think it was before that, whatever it was called before that, but it's always been like a noodle place. Yeah. Um, and then what was the place above Pearl? Vintage. Vintage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to DJ there. Nice. I can see that. Yeah. So there was that spot. There's a tattoo shop across the street, the barber, the main street barber. And then I would walk to strawberry street cafe, you know, a lot of that stuff still there. But yeah, it was cool, man. It was a good time. It was a good time. And I think from my perspective, like coming from the West end and moving to the fan, moving to the museum district in my first apartment, the charm was, was rich. Like I wanted nothing more than to get out of the West end and into a cramped fan apartment with the landlord special and a window unit AC. Yeah. But that the charm very quickly wore off because I realized that there were other ways to live in the city and there were other options and other avenues you could take. You could find someone who owned a two-bedroom house for a time. I lived in a two, three-bedroom house in Churchill and that was great. And Churchill on its own is an entire ecosystem as well, right? Like there's markets up there. There's new families, young families, there's restaurants, there's things to do. There's Chimborazo Park and Libby Hill Park. That was great. And I realized, okay, yeah, maybe I don't want to do the house thing. Maybe I want just another one, two-bedroom apartment. Got an apartment in the fan with a friend, second story duplex sandwiched between two other buildings. I was like, all right, this is it. This is, this is what I wanted all this time. I didn't want it after a couple of years. I was like, okay. The furnace gets too hot in the wintertime and the AC doesn't cool down enough in the summertime. I have to walk up two and a half flights of stairs from the front or the back to get to my apartment. Whether I'm moving stuff or carrying my gear back and forth or groceries. Yeah. I think I want to switch it up. So when I, when I found an opportunity to move just outside of Scott's addition, I jumped on it for sure. I had a third floor apartment on Gray Street. You know, it's a row home, but I'm at the very top of it. And there's no natural light because you're right up against these other houses. I'm on the third floor. Same thing. Furnace gets like crazy hot in the winter. And I did, I was fortunate to have like a garage space in the back. So I had parking, which was really nice. But then you got to go up these iron stairs. Like, yeah, it gets old. It gets old. Yeah. I was there for maybe like 16, 18 months. And like the first, you know, first year, first summer was great. And then after being there for, you know, eight, nine, 10 months, it's like, dude, I'm over this. Yeah. And during that time I was living in a, right before that apartment, I lived in a three bedroom house in Carytown, actually down the street from where we are now. And then I moved into this fan apartment and I was so jazzed to live in this fan apartment. It's all I wanted, just the charm and to be, you know, two blocks from Monument Avenue and a couple of blocks from, you know, High Point and down the street from Lombardi market and just the Richmond fan life. Like that was very appealing. And then lockdown happened. And then me and my roommate at the time were stuck in that apartment for over a year, two years, I think at that point, the charm quickly wore off. And then I started to see it for exactly what it was and what I didn't really care about or care for. You know, the, it was a, you know, 50, 60 year old house. There was someone who lived below us, two and a half licensed staircase, actually the price was good. I was only paying like $600, $700. I was paying almost three grand for that apartment that I was just talking about, the third floor one. That was like 2,700 bucks. That's crazy for back then. But the things, you know, tiny, tiny kitchen. So it was like a shotgun house. Like the rooms were in front of each other, going down a line. It was one hallway to get to all of them. And after a while I was like, okay, the charm has definitely wore off. My door never closed all the way. The AC didn't work correct. The power was like finicky. If you ran too many appliances all at once, you trip a breaker and you have to run all the way down to the, to the basement to trip the circuit breaker. I didn't want to do that anymore. I think a lot of that definitely comes with, you know, age and your preferences changing and things like that. And when I look at Scott's edition, I can see the appeal now because I, I see the things that I want in the neighborhood. It's different for somebody who doesn't want those things. Yeah. I feel like Scott's edition is very much a step towards sort of like that DC type lifestyle, you know? And I mean, clearly it is, right? Because a lot of the investors in that area are from DC development companies. So yeah, I totally agree. And the fan, I mean, it's basically just all vape shops now. It is. It's funny you mentioned that. That won't last very long. Good. The city is making the sale of vapes and vaporizers for nicotine use illegal in 2026. Yeah. Good. I mean, they were, they were all getting raided, you know, in the past several months anyway, right? Because it's like, Oh, it turns out they don't even sell vapes. They just sell drugs. Yeah. There were a few of them that were selling weed and selling other things. But the, the shops that only sell like nicotine products, they're going to essentially have to close. I read an article recently that the city is making the sale of nicotine vaporizers or vaping devices from all sorts of brands illegal. And a lot of these businesses make their money on selling vapes. They sell like other devices like bongs and bowls and things like that. And probably sell like cigarettes and you know, the, what do you call them? Like the snooze or the pouches, the nicotine pouches. They probably sell all that stuff, but they make the bulk of their income from vapes and from like elf bars and the, the, the lost Mary's and all the different kinds of, there's even like one made by Mike Tyson, which I thought was hilarious. But all of those vapes will be illegal in 2026. So all these businesses are going to go out of business. And I remember a few numerous episodes back, I think we both kind of railed against like, why do vapes have to look so shitty? Why do they have to have the terrible neon open signs and the bright fluorescent lights? It's like, well, that won't be a problem very soon. Yeah. Which is good, man. You know, and like, you know, I don't wish failure on anybody's business, but at the same time, it's sort of this thing where this is what all big corporations do, which is like, yeah, let's sell Coca-Cola. And then it's like few years go by and they're like, oh, actually that just makes you fat and unhealthy. So they realized that the population notices that. So then they're like, oh, well, we'll just make diet Coke and then we'll sell that to you. And actually that's worse. And it's the same thing with the vapes, right? It's like, oh, well now everybody knows that cigarettes are bad. So we're going to sell vapes and tell them that they're, that that's better. It's like, yeah, plot twist. They're actually worse. Yeah. And it's like, who could have saw that coming? It's like everybody, everybody, including the people that buy them definitely knew that something was going to change eventually. I mean, it's a Tamagotchi with an inhaler attached to it. Some of them literally have wire, like wifi and cell service. I saw someone who uses her vape like an iPhone because it has like a cheap, crappy version of iOS on it. She's texting and like sending, you know, voice notes with her vape. How do we get this person help, man? I don't know, but she won't be able to buy one coming very soon. Yeah. But here's the twist. And this is where things get a little dicey and I'm interested to see how it plays out. The brand that are, there are two brands I believe that are still allowed or going to be still allowed to sell vaping products in Virginia. And one of them is Juul. And Virginia made the changes to the law that prohibits the sale of multiple varieties and multiple brands of the vaporizers earlier this year. So sometime around the summertime, Juul changed their company policy to just by happenstance meet the new criteria for being able to sell vapes in Virginia. So there seems to be some double dipping here. Let's find out who owns Juul. I bet you it's Philip Morris. I don't think it is, but I'd be curious. You're right, they don't. Curious to find out. But its parent company Altria bought a 35% stake in Juul in 2018 for $12.8 billion. So it's like, huh, wonder if that has something to do with it. That's definitely got something to do with it. That's crazy, dude. $12.8 billion for some cotton candy cloud smoke? Dude. Yeah, man. What is happening? The universe of vape products that will remain legal in Virginia is remarkably small. According to the FDA's own list of authorized e-cigarettes, nearly all approved vape products belong to major tobacco companies, including Juul, Vuze, Enjoy and Logic. Independent disposable brands and flavored products that dominate most vape shop shelves are almost entirely absent. So they're all going to be illegal. Yeah, good. I guess. I mean, I don't know. That's crazy, dude. Yeah. Did you know nicotine's not addictive? I have heard that recently. You know, so nicotine is, it occurs in natural plants and vegetables like potatoes and different plants and stuff like nightshade vegetables. And there was a study done by Harvard University in 2015 where they took pure nicotine. So, you know, tobacco, like mainstream tobacco products like cigarettes and even nicotine vapes, they have additives added to them. They have like over, they estimate anywhere between like 300 to 600 different chemical compounds that are known as pyrazines that are added into things like vapes and even like tobacco cigarettes. And those are the addictive compounds that are in a lot of these nicotine products. And by compounding them with nicotine, they become highly, highly addictive. You know, and if you rewind, you know, a hundred, you know, a couple hundred years, people were just smoking natural tobacco, which does have naturally occurring nicotine in it. And, you know, so how do you, how do you capitalize on something that is natural like a tobacco leaf, right? Well, you center it all around this thing that occurs in the plant, which is nicotine. And then how do you make money off of it, right? Just like anything else, it's just like marijuana and like mushrooms and all this other stuff. You make it regulated, you regulate it, right? But how do you regulate just like a natural occurring plant? Well, yeah, you claim like, oh, it has this thing in it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Harvard did this study where they tried to get these rats addicted to nicotine and like there was no signs of addiction. They couldn't get that, they couldn't get the rats addicted to it. And if people are curious, we can include the link to the study in the description of this video because it's really interesting. There's a lot of research on this. But anyway, you know, it's not to say that vapes are good and cigarettes are good. It's the complete opposite because the majority of what's in these things is not nicotine, right? Right. Like nicotine is in a very, very small dose of, you know, two milligrams, three milligrams, six milligrams, right? But what else is in that stuff? And there's a great account on Instagram called MassSpecEverything, and they have these mass spectrometers where they take like the juice in a vape. And dude, these things have like formaldehyde in them. Yeah. It's insane what is in this stuff. It's pretty crazy. So, that's why I say, good. Close the vape shops and like, yeah, I don't know. Go out into the jungle and find you a natural tobacco leaf and smoke that up. Find you a nightshade plant. Yeah. Avoid popcorn lung. Yeah. And isn't, if I'm correct or if I'm incorrect, you know, obviously correct me, but is it nicotine a neurostimulant? It definitely is. Yeah. So, nicotine helps a lot with things like focus. And it even like, I'm probably not the right person to speak on this topic like in depth, but it helps a lot with neurodegenerative type things. Because it does, it's a stimulant, you know, it's a stimulant. And, you know, I use nicotine. Like I use, so the brand I use is called Nick Knack and this is not an endorsement by any means. But it's a, it's not a pouch, right? Because you run into the same problem with those pouches because they're plastic. Yeah. You know, like the pouch that the nicotine like powder or whatever is in, in these nicotine pouches, it's microplastics. They have PFAs in them. They also have additives and flavors and chemicals and stuff added to them. So, I don't use them super frequently, but I do use them when I'm like focusing or studying or working or something. Or I just, you know, have a day where I have a lot going on and I feel like I'm maybe a bit low energy or whatever and it's like, alright, I just want to sit down and focus for an hour or two. It's a little lozenge. So, it's almost like a hard candy. It's not like a pouch where you put it in your mouth and then like you spit or whatever. You put it in and it just dissolves, you know, and I don't even use the whole thing. I just break off a little tiny piece of it and just put it on my lip. And I can truly say like I'm not addicted. I don't even use them all that frequently, you know. Like there's times where I just like forget that it's even a thing, but sometimes it'll cross my mind when I'm working or trying to focus on something. But in my experience, like I don't, you know, I only use it when I'm trying to enter like a state of flow or a state of focus. And yeah, I will. I'll include the links to the stuff that I've found if people find it interesting. And it's just a bunch of research on it. And people even use it for to help them with the long symptoms of COVID. Really? Yes. There are people that have used it to help them that have lost their hearing and their sense of smell that have struggled with that for like years where after getting COVID, they lost their sense of smell. They lost their hearing or their hearing was slightly impaired. And by starting to chew specific types of nicotine gum and use just pure nicotine, not vapes, not cigarettes, but using actual nicotine, it was able to reverse their symptoms of long COVID and other, you know, other stuff as well. So, you know, I encourage people look it up, do your own research, you know, don't trust me. But based on the research that I've done, that's what I've found. And I've had only positive experiences from the rare times that I use it. Yeah. That's interesting. I, you know, I've heard that from one of our other friends. I've heard that from you. But personally, as someone who used to vape, it doesn't connect because that's not why I used to vape, right? I used to vape because, well, I mean, maybe to a point I used to vape because one, it's, there's a social aspect about it. I liked the feeling of, you know, inhaling the smoke. So similar to like smoking a hookah, I liked the act of, you know, inhaling the smoke. It was satisfying for whatever reason. Yeah. It's like a fixation type thing. Yeah. But the, the stimulation part of it, there's also that aspect. So vaporizers dose you with more per volume than a cigarette would, or it depends on, you know, how much or how strong the vape is, but you can get a nice little kick of like a stimulating sensation from a big pull on a vape and similar to like a hookah. But when I think about using nicotine without vaping it, it doesn't click for me. It's like, oh, I don't want to do that. Yeah. Inherently, I don't want to go and like take a little thing and like suck on it for an hour and, you know, get a little boost slowly over that time period. But, um, I know people that use, since like things similar to knickknack, um, there's the bigger one. What's the bigger brand that sells the pouches? Yeah. Zen. So there's like Zen and you know, other brands that make them. And I see like the benefits could be twofold. It could be someone who's like you, has no desire to smoke and no desire to, to, you know, use a vape, right? But you like the benefits that you get from using a little bit of nicotine periodically. There are other people that use it as a curbing mechanism to stop vaping or to stop smoking. And you know, obviously the negative drawbacks that come along with vaping and smoking is damage to your lungs. Your environment becomes tarnished with the smoke or the vape flavors or whatever. So using something like a Zen pouch or a knickknack is like a good way to kind of kick the smoke. I've got some dude. You want to try it? Yeah, go get it. I'll try it right now. We'll split, we'll break off a little piece. All right. These are very small dose. Okay. Cause I'm a wuss. No, that's great. If I, I don't do it. So I need the smallest. Same, same. Like I've, I've never been a smoker. I'm not a fan of cigarettes or like anything like that. I'm pretty straight laced when it comes to a lot of that stuff. So these are three milligrams. And then of course by breaking it in half. So you literally just take that and stick it in your bottom or top lip. So you don't eat it. No, you don't eat it. What happens if you eat it? I don't know. I don't know. But yeah, you stick it in your lip just like a pouch. Okay. And it just stays there. Yes. And so this is like a very clean um version of a Zen. Okay. Right. If you look at the back of a Zen can or, or tin or whatever, there's a bunch of different ingredients, right? And so all this is, is non tobacco nicotine peppermint essential oil and magnesium. Okay. That's all it is. There's nothing else in it. Yeah. Um, so, and again, this isn't an endorsement, but that is what I use and I like them. I'm going to have a hard time not swallowing this. I'll tell you, I'm telling you right now. No, you can swallow. Oh, swallowing the actual thing. Yeah. Well try your best. I don't know what would happen. I mean, you're not going to die. And I mean, if you do, I guess this is a solo podcast, but you know, I'll live on in spirit and carry the torch. No, because it looks and feels and somewhat tastes like candy and I love candy. Yeah. But I can feel like a little bit of the sensation there, but yeah. And like your mouth or start to like salivate a little bit, but like, I'm going to table this for later. Yeah. No worries. Well I'll, uh, I'll save that for, for later on today. I will report my current experience to you. Okay. Um, but no, it's just a little bit of a stimulant. You know, when I think about, um, like things like cigarettes and stuff, like how you mentioned that it's almost like this social thing, I have the complete inverse experience and opinion because if, if I'm doing this, sometimes I will do it for these podcasts because it's like a mental stimulation type thing. Um, but I wouldn't do it as like a social thing because it's, to me, it's almost, you know, if you're, if you're stimulated, sometimes that can come along with things like anxiety and stuff like that. So I really only use it like when I'm by myself, honestly, when I'm in front of the computer or when I'm like doing a zoom meeting or even one of these podcasts. Yeah. Right. Where I want to be able to pay attention and kind of like hyper fixate on something or where I need to be able to hyper fixate on something like, oh, I'm working on a specific task or a specific project and I want to stay locked in on that. And yeah, I, I think it's beneficial and I find it helpful. So, well, you know, there, there's variations of things like these that I've always been curious about. I don't know if I'll get into just sticking this in my lip and not trying to eat it, but I'm noticing on my table here, I have something similar, but different. Those are great. It's called a cheat code and it has two milligrams of TTHC, five milligrams of CBD and five milligrams of CBG, which I'm not sure what CBG is, but it's an infused or THC infused non-alcoholic cocktail. And these resealable cans, how do you do these? So the back end. Yeah. So basically you pull that up and that slides back. Right. No, the other way. This way. Yep. Yeah. Okay. These are genius. Like it's resealable cans. Like if you're not watching, it's, it's almost like a, like a white call can, but not. Yeah. And we've tried these before. They're delicious. They're awesome. They're really, and I'm not a THC person. Like true, like typically me and THC are not friends. We do not get along. Same. And yeah, we had those at bingo. Bingo is who brews those and they were great. Now those came from 0.5 of course. And of course today's episode is sponsored by 0.5. So 0.5 is Richmond's first standalone alcohol-free beverage shop right here in Carytown. 0.5 is not just for those who are sober and sober curious. It's for all of us who just want something different to sip on. They carry everything from non-alcoholic beers and wines to nootropic drinks, which is of course what we've been talking about, like a nootropic type stuff built for focus and creativity along with functional beverages like THC, CBD, kava, and other plant-based options for mood, relaxation, and energy. They also offer gluten-free and dairy-free options including NA beers, wines, and functional spirits that work for a variety of different dietary preferences. So visit verahouse.co.5 for a 10% off voucher and be sure to visit them right here in Carytown. That's verahouse.co.5 and simply screenshot or download the voucher and use it at your next visit. But yeah, I like those cheat codes. I have them in my fridge at home. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not a big THC guy either. I've smoked weed over the years. I've done some gummies. I've done, you know, I hit the bong, hit the bowl, smoked a few blunts here and there. Never really stuck for me. I didn't really get the benefits out of it. I think that some other people get out of it. You know, I liked versions of it. Like I liked some of the gummies and some of them I didn't. And I've, you know, smoked some, some flower that I liked and some that I didn't. It just didn't really stick for me. And like when you said it doesn't, it like doesn't really agree with you. I definitely have more occurrences where it didn't really agree with me. Too high, too fast, too long, weird sensations. I just really couldn't get down with it. But I remember having these at bingo and just thinking, wow, this feels pretty good. Yeah. And for somebody that doesn't drink drinking a non-alcoholic beer is a great alternative. It's like, you know, you have something you can have, you can sip, it tastes good, but this has some sort of an effect that's not like getting drunk and it's not like getting high, but it's nice. Yeah. I've had some crazy experiences. I like we go camping every year for Thanksgiving with my family. One year, um, I ate like an edible, it was like a nerd's rope candy. Dude. Um, basically I took a one-way ticket to hell. You got ripped. Dude, I got something, man. I was like on another planet. I couldn't speak. I literally couldn't talk. It was crazy. And I like mushrooms. I'm a big fan of mushrooms. I've eaten a lot of mushrooms. And that one time eating that edible was like one of the craziest experiences I've ever had. It was like, I was paralyzed, dude. It was, it was the weirdest, craziest thing. And like, that doesn't sell me on wanting to do it again. After that happened, I was like, I'm good on that. Yeah. And like, even with those drinks, like when we were at bingo, I was like, I don't know about this dude, but then I had a couple of sips and I'm like, all right, I think it was fine. Yeah, man. And like, I, I'm tempted to, to experiment with it. Like in the past, I was tempted to experiment with it because you know, friends and family like, oh yeah, we like it. We do it pretty regularly. You know, you should give it a try. If you have trouble sleeping, you have trouble with anxiety or you don't want to drink, you know, give it a try. And me being a complete novice, I'm like, all right, where do I get some? What do I get? And how much? And I didn't know. So I asked a friend, he's like, yeah, you know, I want to try some, maybe I heard about the gummies were pretty good. So my friend gave me a gummy and it's just like a square, like, it looks like a, like a gummy bear, but square. And she's like, here, this is, this is light. I take a bunch of these. You're going to really enjoy it. It's 25 milligrams. I'm like, all right, cool. Sure. That sounds like a normal amount. And 25 milligrams is not a normal amount. I ate the whole thing and then I didn't do anything. I didn't go out or anything like that. Cause that's two milligrams. This is five, this is five milligrams. Didn't it say two? Oh yeah. So two milligrams of THC and five of CBD. Yeah. Wow. So I don't want it to see what would happen. And I was like, you know, I need to do some stuff at the house. I need to clean up my room. I need to do whatever, whatever. So I'm going to eat this gummy and then just have like a chill house day. I ate the gummy, the whole thing. And not 20 minutes later, I start to get the sensations and I'm like feeling it. And then five, 10 minutes later, I'm like, this is way too much. And then it didn't stop. Like the, it kept increasing in intensity. And after like an hour, I couldn't do anything. I had the TV on and I couldn't even look at the TV. I'm like sitting in my bed with my arms crossed, just waiting for this to be over, which is like the least fun experience. Right? You don't want that to be the case when you do THC or smoke weed. So yeah, I I'm hesitant to try it again. Dude, when I was in Africa, I was in Africa for a month and um, I had these little mushroom capsules and normally I don't have like a mushroom capsule. Like if I'm going to eat mushrooms, I just eat mushrooms. And, um. Oh, so like a pill. Yes, exactly. Like a vitamin capsule. And, uh, you know, it was basically just ground up actual mushrooms inside of a capsule, inside of a vitamin capsule. And I guess those capsules are made of like gelatin or whatever, you know, like vegetable gelatin. And so I was there and took one and like nothing happened, you know, waited like 45 minutes. I'm like, all right, maybe just take another one. Oh boy. I took another one and then like waited and like still like nothing happened. Going for a ride. Took like a third one and um, and uh, I was with Jackson and he did it too. And he took the same amount. And um, man, basically it was like this delayed onset of like this crazy mushroom trip. And the thing is we had to be at the airport the following morning. Okay. And like, you know, for anybody who's ever done mushrooms, like you can't take a bunch of mushrooms and then go to sleep. It's never going to happen. No. Um, so we're basically just up all night and eventually it gets to this point where it's like, we got to go to sleep. And, um, you know, so I go to my room in the Airbnb and I'm just laying there and I'm like, man, there's no way I'm going to be able to fall asleep. And sure enough, like, you know, I finally get to sleep. And then like 45 minutes later, there's a, the doorbell keeps ringing and I go to answer it. And it's like the cleaning lady for the Airbnb at like seven in the morning. And, uh, I'm like, what? They're like, yeah, checkouts at, checkouts at, uh, seven. And I'm like, what? And, and I couldn't tell if I was like tripping, I'm like checkouts at seven. Like that doesn't sound right. And I don't know. I was so disoriented and confused. And, um, that morning we were leaving to head to Zanzibar. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I get to the airport. Like, so we did my packing was so like all over the place and so confused. Like I just threw everything in my suitcase with no sort of organization whatsoever, which is not like me at all. Like I'm very OCD, very meticulous. And so I just throw everything in there. Cause I'm like, I don't even know what's going on. And I just zip my bag up and I'm like, we got to get to the airport. So we leave, we go to the airport and I get a phone call and it's like from an unknown number and I answer it and it's the property owner of the Airbnb. And he's like, Hey, uh, the cleaning lady's getting ready to leave. And she's looking for the key. Like, where'd you leave the key? And I was like, where'd I leave the key? And I was like, uh, wow. I checked my pocket and the keys in my pocket. Yep. And I'm like, I hate to tell you this dude, but the keys in my pocket and I'm about to board a flight to Zanzibar, which is on the complete other side of Africa. Like it's literally a Island off of the side of Tanzania. And it's like, yeah, it's in the ocean. It's like in the middle of nowhere. Total third world country. And he's like, uh, wow, dude. Like, and he's like, You're not getting five stars. Yeah, no. And uh, yeah, I'll make the story short. So he was like, don't mail it back because it'll get lost in the African post. He was like, wait till you get home to the U S and then ship it to me. But anyway, so yeah, I left Cape town with this guy's Airbnb key in my pocket because I took these mushrooms. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, man, I also have a story where I took way too much of something and then it, yeah, it took, it cost me like $200 to mail this guy because it had to go to like Egypt and then all the way to Cape town. It was like, yeah, like a little key in an envelope. It cost me like 200 bucks. Mushrooms. Yeah. That's the thing. Lesson to anyone out there is proceed with caution, but in the right doses in an, in the right environments, they can be fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. And check your pockets. Definitely check your pockets. Don't steal any Airbnb keys. Yeah. Yeah. But dude, close down the vape shops. I'm good with that. Yeah, man. I'm good with it too. I know a lot of people are going to be bummed out and there's ugly, there's, they look trashy. They're, they're ugly. And the article that I read about this is talking about it from the perspective of the business owners, people with, you know, no ill will to the community. They're small first time business owners. They have these shops and they're essentially going to go out of business because they can't sell anything. Right. Which it sucks from looking at it, looking at it from that perspective. It looks, it sucks for the business owners. It sucks for, you know, potentially that community. But I think overall it's a good thing. Less vapes the better. I totally agree. No popcorn lung. Is that what they call it? Popcorn lung? Yes. Did you not know that that was a thing? No. Well, I know that it's like terrible for your lungs because you're basically inhaling like moisture and chemicals and like, yeah, it's like, yeah, it can't be good, but I don't, I don't know much about it. I'd have to look it in, but look into it. But popcorn lung is one of the noted side effects of long-term vape use. And the severe side effect is it puts holes in your lungs. Or maybe it's the, the vessels in your lungs, the, the, like the, even like maybe they're called capillaries, but the little air sacs in your lungs get destroyed and explode like popcorn. Whoa. Yeah. I mean, duh. Right. Like, I mean, you know, like I was having to mention, I never heard of it, but at the same time it's like, yeah, what goes in your lungs? Air. So yeah, you think putting like, you know, mango, watermelon, citrus, and, and with, yeah, what? Like, yeah, that can't be good. It's not. So popcorn lung or bronchiolitis obliteratus. So obliterate your bronchi. Yeah. Yes, exactly. A serious irreversible lung disease where tiny airways, bronchioles, gets scarred. Yeah. Gets scarred and blocked, causing a cough, wheezing, and shortness of breath. Named after workers in the microwave popcorn factory who were exposed to buttery-flavoring chemicals that, I don't know how to say that word, diacetyl. While diacetyl was used in many food flavorings, it's also found in some vape liquids, linking a vaping, linking it to vaping through cases linked to e-cigarettes and debated as regulations exist. But yes, smoking chemicals like the ones in vapes cause the bronchi to get scarred and gives you an irreversible lung disease. Dude, it's way more fun to just go foraging in the woods and eat random berries and see what happens than to buy chemicals from the government and smoke those. That way you can get giardia instead of popcorn lung. Exactly. At least you did it organically. Right. At least you did it the natural way. And it's an adventure. Yeah. You didn't take shortcuts. You stuck to your morals and you ate a poison elderberry out of the woods. That's what we're supposed to do. Yeah. That's a great story that you get to tell your grandkids if you make it that long. Yeah. Maybe not. Yeah. Did you know that they used to have alligators under the Jefferson Hotel? I think I recently heard something about this. Well, I'm just thinking about like, you know, if it was the early 1900s and you were spending your holidays at the Jefferson, you would maybe never see your grandkids cause you got eaten by an eight foot alligator while you were on vacation. Yeah. That's insane. Like alligators at the Jefferson sounds like a movie, a B movie that didn't even make it to lifetime. Yeah. Well, it is a book. Uh, there's a whole book on this and this was brought to our attention from um, all the great girls that work at fuel pump. Shout out fuel pump. Definitely shout out fuel pump. Um, and so they brought this story up to us and I, it's one of these things where people bring up these stories and I'm like, that can't be true. And then you look it up and it's like, Holy, what the hell? Um, so the Jefferson opened in 1895. So 130 years ago, which is crazy to send this out. And this is when the automobile was on the rise and believe it or not, people didn't really know about alligators. Like they didn't think they, it's almost like this mythical thing, right? Where people would hear about alligators in Florida, but Florida was like this tropical, you know, alien land to people. Uh, you know, because people weren't used to just like hopping in a car and traveling for 13 hours. And if you were in a car from back then it'd be like 20 hours. Let's be clear. Florida is still a tropical alien land. Yes, it is. It definitely. Yeah. Florida is a whole different world, man. I lived in Florida as a kid. It's a whole different thing down there. Um, and so what would happen is people would travel specifically from New York a lot of the times, right? Like wealthy people in New York that had automobiles at the time, they would go drive around the country for the first time and be like, I'm going to go explore cause I got the money and the leisure to be able to do it. So they go to Florida and they would buy little baby Cayman crocodiles. Um, and they'd buy like baby alligators as pets. All right. As like souvenirs, not, not realizing that baby alligators grow up to be adult alligators. Right. And so on the drive back, you know, Virginia is halfway between Florida and New York. And for whatever reason, the Jefferson became like this dumping ground for these little baby souvenir alligators. That's wild. So it's insane, dude. It became a popular destination for a new generation of tourists and several scaly guests, both locals and guests began dropping off alligators, which they had purchased as souvenirs during a trip to Florida. Um, the 1899 census showed that more than 8,000 baby alligators were purchased by visitors who carded them up the Eastern seaboard, not taking into account that babies grow into adults. When they outgrew the kitchen sinks and the bathtubs, the alligators were donated to zoos or even unceremoniously dumped into sewers, prompting the rise of the urban legends that alligators roam the sewers. That's crazy. Yes. That's super cool. Cause Ninja Turtles, right? Cause Ninja Turtles. And all that. Yeah, man. I like that. Um, well, I guess Ninja Turtles are turtles. Whatever. Reptiles in the sewers. Alligators in the sewers was something I grew up thinking and knowing about in the, like the nineties. Yeah. Uh, some of these alligators were left at the Jefferson hotel to spend their days lounging in the hotel's luxurious Palm court. How exactly the Jefferson became Gator friendly is unknown, but its location has something to do with it. It is ideally situated between Florida and New York, making it a popular halfway stop during a lengthy road trip. New Yorkers would bring baby alligators with them. According to the Jefferson, the reptiles were not always fenced in and they would frequently climb out of the fountain in the Palm court during the night to sleep on the more comfortable lounge chairs. Old Pompey was the last alligator to live at the Jefferson hotel and was notoriously known for finding alternative sleeping arrangements. The staff would return in the morning to find the eight foot alligator in the hotel lobby. Pompey passed away in 1948 and now a life-sized bronze statue of him continues to greet guests outside the valet stand. I always saw those alligators had no idea why they were there. I don't think I ever noticed. And I was there like two weeks ago. Yeah. I never noticed the alligator statues, but that's crazy. It's insane. They would get out of the pool and sleep in the chairs. Yes, bro. Like literally in the Palm court, like downstairs, there'd just be alligators like hanging out there like huge. I mean, eight feet. That's a huge alligator. I'm thinking back to like biopics that I've seen from like that period of time. Yeah. It seems insane now, but I think that was, I can see how that's commonplace at a place like the Jefferson because you're thinking grandiose over the top decoration, over the top construction. This is the place for the ritzy of the Ritz. People like that with that kind of money did crazy stuff all the time. Yeah. And they could go to the Jefferson as like a Haven to do all of their crazy shit. So yeah, alligator sleeping in the chairs sounds bananas right now, but I could see how it could be a thing in like 130 years ago. Yeah. Well, and during like the industrial age, there was just no sense of safety basically. Right? Like you think about that picture in like Manhattan of all those construction workers sitting up on the pylon in the sky, eating a ham and cheese. Yeah. Just eating a sandwich. No safety equipment, no harnesses, nothing like that. People on motorcycles, no helmets. Yeah. It was just like a free-for-all, man. It was crazy. So it's like alligators during your hotel stay is just normal, I guess. I guess, man. I'm trying to put myself in the mind of a crazy rich person. And I think if I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted, I would try, 130 years ago, I'd probably try and get a baby alligator. Yeah. The part that is hilarious that none of these people thought that the baby would grow up to be a full-size crocodile or alligator is just silly. Yeah. It's like, yeah, sure. Maybe you don't know enough about alligators. You just think it's going to be this size forever. But then it like gets a little bit bigger and then a little bit bigger and then a little bit bigger. And you're like, oh man, it doesn't fit in my bathtub anymore. It's big enough to eat your cat. Probably big enough to take your ankle off. And you're like, yeah, you know, I think when we go to New York next, we're just going to drop it off at the Jefferson Hotel. Crazy, dude. That's bananas. You know what my first job was? When I was alligator wrangler. Very close, actually. When I was 15 years old, I got a job at a place called Off the Ark. Okay. It was an exotic pet shop. Actually, this was my second job. Sorry. My first job was sealing driveways, which was terrible. My second job, I worked at a place called Off the Ark, and it was an exotic pet store. And they had Cayman crocodiles. They're like this big. Yeah. And dude, they'll bite your finger off. I mean, of course, right? They had little baby sharks, huge snakes. You know, I had a bunch of snakes when I was in high school and stuff. So, I had like a little red-eared slider turtles. Like, they're not quite snapping turtles, but they still bite very hard. Like, I always thought stuff like that was really cool. Yeah. So, I would join you. I would also be like, yeah, man, I'll take two alligators and bring them back to Long Island. Yeah. We'll hang out at the Jefferson for a night or two. We'll drink champagne out of those cool coupe glasses with Leonardo DiCaprio and all the people from Great Gatsby. And we'll drop our alligators in the pool and go for a night at golf or whatever. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds exactly like something we would do. Dude. Well, speaking of a coupe of champagne, it's been a hell of a year. It has. We launched this place. Surprisingly so we did. And it has been a roller coaster in the best way possible. We've had an over-abundance of positive feedback and support from people in the community. So, thank you to everyone who's listening and watching. We couldn't do it without you. But it's also been super fulfilling for us. You know, this is a project that I think we both wanted to do in some capacity over the years. And we found an opportunity to do it. And it's been nothing but a blessing. Yeah. And I mean, we made the opportunity to do it, right? Yeah. So, this has been really cool. I mean, some standout moments would be, I think like our first viral video on Instagram was we were talking about the speed bump on Thompson Street. Oh, yeah. So, talking about hitting that speed bump and just like launching off the speed bump. We told the story of Short Pump. Yep. Right. The origin story of historic Short Pump. That video got millions of views. Yeah. We did our Halloween special, which was a ton of fun. So much fun. Those videos did really well talking about the werewolf of Henrico, talking about the haunted Pocahontas Parkway. What are some other standout moments? Is there anything from the episodes that stands out or that you think about? I mean, for me, in addition to those standout moments that the audience dictated they wanted more of. Yeah. We had the opportunity to interview a lot of really interesting people over the last six to eight months at this point. We've interviewed the owner of a massage and doula business here in Carytown. We interviewed the owners of a cabinet business off of Broad Street. We interviewed the owner of a watch brand here in Richmond. We've interviewed the owners and the organizers of an organization that's trying to help people with finding healthcare and community in their neighborhoods. We've had the opportunity to talk to some really interesting people. And I think that was something that I didn't expect. I kind of figured you and I would have some fun conversations, but something that I don't think we could have predicted was the opportunities to talk to these interesting people. Most recently, you and I got to chat with two members of one of our favorite bands. And just before that, we got to talk to one of the biggest brands in Richmond, the Richmond Experience. Yeah. So this place has done a lot for us as far as being engaged with our community, learning about the history of Richmond and Virginia itself, being on screen and all like out in the public eye, but also having an opportunity to kind of dive deeper on some things, whether personal or timely when it comes to the city itself. So those are just a few of the standout moments for me. It's been, it's been crazy, man. It's been super fulfilling, very enjoyable. I think there's some really exciting stuff to come in 2026, right? We spent seven hours yesterday planning out the entire, you know, next year, basically, especially going strong in Q1. Some of the exciting things that we want to do is obviously continue to interview amazing, you know, people that are staples in Richmond and brands and things like that. We were just talking before we clicked record about taking voice notes and actually taking voicemails from people where they can share their stories and tell us about their crazy experiences around Richmond. So that's something we're going to be doing that I'm definitely excited about. And if you're listening to this on audio I would encourage you to check out our YouTube channel because you can see the full length video versions of these podcasts if you're ever interested in that. So we look forward to continuing to improve our format and continue to share Richmond stories and have fun with it all. And yeah, man, it's been a, it's been a hell of a year and only, only more great things to come. Only more great things to come. And if you didn't catch the last episode, this is officially our grand opening. As of January 1, we are open for business. If you have a podcast that you want to launch, if you want to be interviewed on our podcast as a guest, if you're interested in content in general, please reach out to us. Send us an email, send us a DM, send us a voice note, carrier pigeon, US postal service. We're right here in Cary town. We would love to talk to you and see how we can help make your ambitions and dreams come true in the first half of 2026. Yeah. And you can do that by going to verahouse.co and you'll see a button there that says work with us and you can do it that way too. But we will keep an eye out for the carrier pigeon. That's for sure. Yeah. All right, dude. Happy new year. Proud of both of us. Grateful to have you as a friend, business partner. Likewise. Onward. Onward and upward. This podcast was recorded at Vera House Studios in Richmond, Virginia, and produced by Perry Young and Mike Metzger.