(REPRINTED FROM THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT)
Staff headshots at Expansive Center in downtown Norfolk, Virginia on Jan. 25, 2023. Colin Warren-Hicks

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Its name appears as a buzzing glow of four tall letters, blazing red atop a marquee: N A R O. Naro Expanded Cinema’s art deco facade has helped to illuminate Colley Avenue’s main drag every night, bolstering the aesthetic and charm of Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood for decades. And nothing — its soon-to-be new owners assert — is going to change. The place has too much “soul,” they say. It’ll be kept.

“I feel like we have a responsibility to the neighborhood to keep this place running, and we need to be here,” Kate Loftis said. “We need the neighborhood. The neighborhood needs us.”

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