Colin,
I grew up in Virginia Beach and never even noticed Greekfest until my senior year in HS, 1984. I was surfing in the ritzy area of Virginia Beach and saw a couple hundred black college kids holding Greek banners on the beach. No problems that I saw.
I went away to school and came back to the beach in 1986, I lived blocks from the beach and I can’t remember any issues that year either.
In 1986 and 1987 I worked in the oceanfront Tourist Shops. Truth be told we had issues with blacks shoplifting, urinating or defecating in the stores, and harassing our mainly high school age help, all summer.
But in 1987 is when it really started. I lived a block and 1/2 from the oceanfront. My roommate of 2 years was a mixed race guy named Mike, we went to HS together. Well Labor Day Weekend 1987, I worked the day shift Sunday I scored Sunday Night and Monday morning off.
When I got off work, Mike's younger sister come by for a visit, she was a very attractive light skinned mixed race girl. I decided to run up to the liquor store and Mike's sister Monica was going with me, she rode on my handlebars of my beach cruiser.
We got harassed the 4 blocks to the Liquor store, college age black girls and boys cussing at us and trying to grab her off my bike.
I ran into the store and when I came back out, Monica told me, don’t stop till we get home! She was 16 and scared for her life. Cars up and down the street were pumping loud rap music, Jeeps and Suzukis w/ no tops, huge speakers so loud they almost caused a concussion.
Open drinking and weed smoking, cursing all over. Just out of control.
I went out that night w/ another friend and the traffic was logged-jammed everywhere, I stayed off the main street, Atlantic Ave, I was getting intel that you risked your life going down there.
After the weekend, I got reports from friends that worked in the oceanfront bars and restaurants. 15 people coming in and all wanting separate tabs. No one tipping. People being threatened and white girls being groped. Hotel rooms being totally trashed. Smashed furniture, urination and defecation everywhere. Sex in public.
Packing 20 kids into a room made for 4. Typical College "Spring break" behavior. The Police began to make some arrests but not too bad.
The next year, 1988, people were ready for it.
Hotels tried to deny access to college age kids, but it didn't work. Noise ordinances, loitering laws, anti-cruising laws, anti-profanity laws were all used to try and calm down the crowds.
I went down to the beach with my now old roommate, Mike, he drove and there were about 6 of us in his car. He got on the strip, (Atlantic Ave). We couldn't get anywhere because all the pedestrian traffic (Jaywalking) wouldn't let a car move.
Mike gunned it to get out of there when another guy in the car screamed, "run them over!" Bad move. We got swarmed by college kids kicking and hitting the car. Then two undercover cops jumped in our car and said, “Shut the Fuck up, you guys are going to get killed! Get out of here."
I bailed out of the car with another guy and headed for a bar. The Bouncer said we should all leave after a while. It was getting too dangerous.
The next night, Labor Day 1988, people had been kicked out of their rooms for trashing them. Some had left their possessions in the rooms and were locked out. They got pissed and started a small riot. It lasted a few hours.
1989, I had moved to Norfolk to go to ODU. My gf at the time worked for a boutique that had a place in Norfolk and at the Oceanfront. It became a war that weekend.
The college kids came back in force, all pumped up from the stories on how bad they had been treated the past 2 years, they came for revenge. Organized gangs came as well.
I watched the riot from the TV in a bar at ODU. ‘They stayed all weekend.’
"FIGHT THE POWER" & Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" fueled the madness.
The rioters tore up everything in sight, from hotels to tourist shops to long old beach landmarks. The rioting and looting had organized. Cars following the rioters got filled up with looted goods. Parking lot attendants were threatened with guns and death if they towed cars that didn't pay to park.
Locals, mostly whites, were beaten. Including friends of mine. All of this is well documented. Rioters were arrested and the National Guard was sent in.
Public Enemy’s "Welcome to the Terrordome" mentions Virginia Beach.
We in Virginia Beach were labeled racist because we tried to protect ourselves.
It didn’t stop there. Every Weekend and every Summer Holiday, (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day weekends). Blacks poured into the beach for Years. Some not even checking into rooms or spending money but to harass and loiter and commit petty crimes.
The years after Rodney King had the College kids filming every arrest on their camcorders. My wife's gf's husband worked undercover for VBPD. He gave me an ear full about the nastiest.
Cops being sprayed with urine and other body fluids, etc. This went on for YEARS! Virginia Beach got a reputation as the "Black Beach", white people stopped coming because of the unruly behavior of the blacks. And it wasn't just black college kids anymore, it was blacks of all ages.
This past April, during public school Spring Break my wife was jogging on the boardwalk on the beach w a girlfriend and witnessed about 100 kids, gathering for a fight. A black girl beat down and stripped naked a white girl while everyone took pictures/videos and laughed.
All escaped before police responded. My wife was terrified. This happened 2 blocks from our church.
I called my City Councilmen about it and the Chief of Police responded by calling me personally. I warned him that the off-season wasn't "off" anymore. I told him the oceanfront needed more officers. It was a prelude to what happened later that month.
After 20 years it seemed to calm down, then last year and this year, the college kids returned for Spring "Beach Weekends", This past year was the worst, stabbings and shootings and all the same types of behavior as the Greekfest weekends.