W.G. and Vanessa talk about The Frederick Building, The West Virginia Building, and other urban residential hotspots!

Welcome to the Huntington Tri-State Time Machine, sponsored by Realty Exchange.

I'm your host WG Bunch. This is a podcast where my guests and I share our memories of the Huntington Tri-State Area. Huntington, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, Chesapeake, Ohio. Nothing too serious, no political views, and no ulterior motives. We're just here to share our fun stories about this great area.

Whether you're a past resident or a current Tri-State resident, I think you're going to have fun with us.

So sit back and relax and welcome to The Huntington Tri-State Time Machine, sponsored by Realty Exchange.

If you have a memory you would want me to talk more about, just send me an email at TSTM@mail.com. Or post a comment on the Tri-State Machine FB Group page.

Realty Exchange is the top-performing real estate company in the Tristate area, which covers Huntington, West Virginia, Ashland, Kentucky, and Chesapeake and Proctorville, Ohio. 

When you are selling, buying, or looking for investment properties, your first stop is Realty Exchange. And let us know what you think about the podcast!

Copyright 2024 Vanessa Hankins

This is the Huntington Tri State time machine brought to you by Realty Exchange

Anncr: This is the Huntington Tri State time machine brought to you by Realty Exchange, the top performing real estate company in the Huntington, West Virginia tri state area. Each week, your host, W G. Bunch, and his guests share memories and stories about the past, the present, and the future of the Huntington Tri State area. Sets, Huntington, West Virginia. Ashland, Kentucky, and the Chesapeake and Proctorville, Ohio areas. If you used to live here or you currently live here, you're going to catch yourself saying out loud, wow. I remember that. Now, here's WG.

WG: Hey, what's happening? What's, uh, happening? Uh, it's the Huntington tri state time machine. Once again, I love the fact that you listener have nothing better to do than to listen to us because we love you.

Vanessa: Super odd to me.

WG: I just want to let you know, WG Bunch, I am your host. And of course, the reason why you're listening, I already know. Yes, she's here.

Vanessa: I'm here.

WG: Yes, it is. Vanessa. Hankins. How are you, Vanessa?

Vanessa: I am wonderful.

WG: Cool.

How's everything at Safety Town? Little, uh, girl fell in sewer grate today

WG: How's everything at Safety Town?

Vanessa: Little, uh, girl fell in the sewer grate today. Her whole car. It was great. Teacher tried to get the car.

WG: Wait a second. Yeah, hold it, hold it. Um, you hit me with a left hook there.

Vanessa: You hadn't asked until now.

WG: I'm sorry. Wow. I'm going to go to hell for laughing.

Vanessa: Okay. Everything's safe. Car is not even broke.

WG: A little girl fell into a sewer.

Vanessa: She drove into it. I don't even know how she got that far off the road. Wild.

WG: Oh, my gosh.

Vanessa: Remember we talked about last episode?

WG: Everybody's safe, though.

Vanessa: Everybody's safe.

WG: That's why it's Safety Town.

Vanessa: It's safety town.

WG: And as Hank Dial said, it's not unsafety town.

Vanessa: Not unsafety town.

WG: There we go.

Tell us what your favorite funny movie of all time is on Facebook

WG: All right. Hey, thanks for being here, everybody. Um, we have got a, uh, very cool episode coming up. We're going to introduce our special guest. Uh, coming up, we're still doing, uh, what is today, the fifth or 6th or something of September, correct?

Vanessa: 7Th.

WG: 7Th. We're still doing our Stewart's hot dogs giveaway. All right. That's left over from the last episode.

Vanessa: Yes.

WG: Where you need to get on the Facebook page of the podcast and tell us what do you think the funniest movie of all time is? And if you're a personal friend of mine, you can certainly send it through me, Instagram. However you want to do it. You can go through our web page.

Vanessa: Uh, I think they should go to our Facebook.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: That's my preferred method.

WG: Go to the Facebook.

Vanessa: It doesn't overwhelm, WG. He's not really electronically savvy or literate. Let's just keep it simple. Let's go to Facebook.

WG: I love kiss. Keep it simple. Stupid. Yes. There we, um yeah. So tell us what your favorite funny movie of all time is. Remember, no wrong answers. It's not well, what am I supposed to say? We're going to do a drawing on the 15th it will not be this episode. It will be the next episode. That's when we will do our drawing. And I promise you, it is not fixed. It is going to be an actual.

Vanessa: You can't see it. He did the scouts honor. He's serious about this. He promises.

WG: I am pinky promising with everyone listening right now. This is a legit thing. Anyway.

Our sponsor is Realty Exchange. I think I know something about them

WG: All right, uh, let's thank, uh, our sponsor, Realty Exchange. Realty Exchange. I think I know something about them, but, Vanessa, tell us a little bit more.

Vanessa: Realty Exchange is the top selling real estate company in the Huntington tri state area. Licensed in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, and Florida. You can find us online@realtyex.com.

WG: All right. And also thanks to, uh, our podcast company that's Circle 270 Media. If you're doing a podcast, nobody listens. They will help you if you're thinking about doing a podcast. Good Lord. If those clowns can do it, I can do it. You contact Circle 270 Media and they'll get you set up.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

WG: So circle 270, Media. Thank you so much.

We're in CoWorks Huntington, West Virginia. Tell us about this studio

WG: All right, let's dive in.

Vanessa: Hold on. We got to think one more person who we're in our new studio.

WG: That's right. Tell us about this. I love this studio. It's like a bank and you can.

Vanessa: Hear us really well, I think. Hey, if you are listening and you've been listening a while, let us know if you've liked the last couple of episodes, the sound quality, because we're, like, really doing this now.

WG: This is like in a podcast studio. Studio.

Vanessa: Legit.

WG: I know this is legit. I've never sounded or looked better in my entire life.

Vanessa: WG has his drunk goggles on, I think. Uh, anyways, anyway, we are in CoWorks Huntington. WV we're right downtown where Chase Bank is. Same location, um, as a lot of banks have, they've downsized a little bit. So they took advantage of the space here in Huntington and did a co working space. So Co works. West Virginia.

WG: Next time you come to Huntington, if you live out of town and you go to Jim's Spaghetti, shout out to our boy Bradley Tweel, who has been on a show before. Um, and you take a photo of Jim Spaghetti walk one block down and you can take a photo of this is where they record the Huntington. That's where the Huntington Tri state time machine is recorded. You can take a photo out front and stuff. Tag us. Call me in advance and I'll give you a price. I might show up, but again, are you doing prices? Uh, price is negotiable.

Vanessa: You're a mess. Hot mess.

WG: Yes.

All right. Give it all away. I'm not going to say guess who

WG: All right. Now let's guess who's. I'm not going to say guess who?

Vanessa: Uh, good talk about him.

WG: Yeah. You know who's here because you've already read here's the description of the show.

Vanessa: You got to quit doing that. Give it all away.

Today's show focuses on what it's like to live in urban Huntington

WG: Okay, here we have we have Mr. Mel Cummings here. Mel, say hello.

Mel: Hello.

Vanessa: Following directions. Very well.

WG: Mel is first of all, Mel is awesome. Mel is also with realty exchange, but he is the owner of the building. Now, if you whether you live here or not, west Virginia building, correct me if I'm wrong, mel tallest building in correct.

Mel: Yes.

WG: Yeah, it's that one across from the.

Vanessa: Keith Albee with the awesome light.

WG: Yes, with those cool ass met. We've given him a shout out before that Mr. Alex used to own. And Mel is now running the show and keeping it busy. And we want to hear all about it because the focus of today's show is living downtown. Question for both of you. If you Google, what is the, uh, population of Huntington? What do you think pops up? Vanessa, what do you think?

Vanessa: I should know this, and I have absolutely no clue.

WG: Give it a shot.

Vanessa: 50,000. I don't know.

WG: Mel, what do you think?

Mel: I've seen a little less like 46.

WG: It's between 45 and 50. That's the population of Huntington. Now throw in, uh, some of the sites, including Google, have the quote, unquote huntington metro area that makes sense. Which includes Ashland, Lawrence County, Ohio, Wayne County, Cabo County and believe it or not, Putnam County. But it also includes Ona and Milton and Barbersville, so like that. Now throw all that stuff in the mix. What do you think the population is, Vanessa?

Vanessa: I bet it doubles, at least.

WG: So you think 100?

Vanessa: Yeah, at least.

WG: Mel, what do you think?

Mel: Thinking close to triple. 150 to 160.

WG: It is. Almost 200,000 people live in this area. So don't make fun of us because we're talking about, quote, unquote, urban living. And so many of our listeners live out of town. They're like urban living. We can't have urban living.

Vanessa: Listen, if you grew up in East Lynn and then you move into town.

WG: Yes, it's, uh, a rude so that's what we're talking about today is we're talking about what is it like to live, uh, yeah, downtown, urban Huntington. And Mel, again, is the, uh, owner of the West Virginia building, which is it's all rental, or can you buy it's?

Mel: Uh, all rental.

WG: Okay. It's all rental. Um, and for the old school, for the old schoolers, like me here used to be a place on top called Permans. Permans was a restaurant. Permans was a restaurant. We talked about it on a previous episode, in case you missed it. Permans was, back in the 80s, permanent was a restaurant at the top of the West Virginia building. Infamous for number one. It had a valet parking only place in Huntington, West Virginia, that had a valet parking.

Vanessa: Where was the lot for it?

WG: I don't even know if there were cars. I think they may have just taken.

Vanessa: Why am I a weirdo? Why is that piqued my interest? Where did the cars go?

WG: I actually don't remember if the cars ever came back. Maybe it wasn't valet. I don't know. Anyway, but they had valet parking and also they had an elevator operator. The elevator was just a push button thing where it was like you got on the elevator and it was just like, promonza is on top. Which how many floors is it?

Mel: It's 15 stories.

WG: 15 stories. So you would hit 15 and it would take you to 15. But for some reason, they had this dude on a stool in the elevator who would just hit the button.

Vanessa: Uh, well, if you're having a valet parker, you also need to have someone push the button for you.

WG: It was the experience. It was the end all, be all for prom dates.

Vanessa: We didn't have that in Eastland.

WG: I got to go to proms with girls completely out of my league because.

Vanessa: I would because you would take them there.

WG: Because I would.

Vanessa: They were getting in line. We're going to go with his daddy's going to send us to the nice place.

WG: I'm like, first of all, we're going to start at Promons. And they're like the permanent. I was like, I didn't know there were more one. Yeah. I said, I ain't taking you to no steak and ale. No, we're going to pramans. And they were like, I'm all yours. I was like, oh, baby, baby. And then at the end of the night, they would give me a handshake and say I've had to say until.

Vanessa: They met their boyfriend at the Promise.

WG: They're like, what a lovely meal. And we are out.

Mel Cummings bought the West Virginia building in downtown Huntington

WG: So anyway, all right, let's start with Mel. Mel. You bought the West Virginia building? Why?

Mel: Uh, I mean, it's just a prestigious building in downtown and you don't are you from here? I am from Huntington.

Vanessa: I've been from Huntington.

Mel: Ah, born, raised. Haven't gotten very far. A few blocks.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: I love home. I love it here.

WG: I totally forgot about tonight. Uh, yeah, I totally forgot about this. Your mom was my fifth grade teacher, wasn't she?

Mel: I don't know, but very good chance.

WG: She was a fifth grade teacher at Meadows elementary. And your sister went to school with me.

Vanessa: You're just remembering this?

WG: I go in and out of space. I totally forgot about that.

Vanessa: The backbones of the community, man.

WG: You're the little one.

Mel: I'm the little brother.

WG: Yeah, little brother who done good.

Mel: Yeah, I got four older sisters.

WG: Look at you.

Mel: Bullied by women my whole life.

Vanessa: It happens.

WG: Yeah, we have a club. We meet on Tuesdays. The first Tuesday of every month, anyway. All right. Uh, so West Virginia building is all rental, but it's not all residential. Are there doctors offices and stuff in there or is it no, right now.

Mel: The only commercial spaces are the two on the main floor. The first floor.

WG: Uh, okay. Ground level. And again, everyone knows public Knowledge. I'm an idiot. Is that restaurant there still?

Mel: No, they're, uh, actually both vacant right now.

WG: Okay.

Mel: If you want to put in a restaurant. If you want to put in a restaurant, there's one restaurant space with is that you?

WG: Do we go through?

Mel: Yes, go through me, uh, and you can find me if you, uh, look up Cummings Rentals on Google.

WG: Okay.

Mel: If you type in Huntington, West Virginia, cummings Rentals, I'll pop up. Um, or you could even go through the West Virginia penthouse.

WG: What was the most recent place that was called? What was that place called? Sunset.

Mel: Uh, grill.

WG: Sunset Grill. Okay. All right. So sunset Grill. Not there. Location. Unbelievable.

Vanessa: It really ah.

WG: I've been, I've been to that location several times. So that's rip roaring, ready to go.

Vanessa: Beautiful space.

WG: It is very nice.

Vanessa: It was redone. It's been ten ish years. When that very first place came in.

WG: And redone it, they put that little, that wood fired thing in the back.

Vanessa: Yeah. How long has that been?

WG: That's pretty awesome.

Mel: Prior to me, um, that was what was it? Prime.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: So it was redone when prime came in. So, I mean, it's not been real long. That's a beautiful space.

WG: I've had several girlfriends break up with me at prime. It was beautiful.

Mel: Why are you such not even after prime?

WG: No, you didn't pay the bill first? No, actually they would tell me on the front end and I was just so desperate.

Vanessa: I still went on with the not deal with you.

WG: Anyway, that's how my life works. Okay, and then we have residential from three up.

Mel: Uh, yes.

WG: Well, we've got one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom all what?

Mel: Uh, one and twos.

WG: One and twos.

Mel: But we have about seven floors that we're going to be renovating.

Vanessa: Okay, so you're making five years space.

WG: All right, what's up with up top?

Cummings Rentals specializes in wedding receptions and private parties

WG: What's up with the penthouse?

building in December of, uh,: 2021

WG: What do you think it's best suited for? Like wedding receptions or private parties? Quintaneras. What?

Mel: So really, uh, there's four bedrooms, um, with five bathrooms.

WG: Hold it, hold it, hold it. The penthouse upstairs has four bedrooms in it.

Mel: Yes.

WG: And five baths.

Mel: So each bedroom has its own ensuite.

WG: Okay.

Mel: So you can actually go up there and just like in a hotel, you don't even need to like your neighbors. So if you're having an event, if you have family like some of mine that you don't necessarily want to see all the time, okay. You still have your own separate space. So let's say you have a family reunion that you want to have up there.

WG: I have a feeling your phone is going to start going off with people booking it for bachelor parties. Bachelor parties.

Mel: Bachelorette parties. So if the groom's from out of town and the brides from in town, you go up there.

WG: Good Lord. We're going guts. Hold on. We're in a rabbit hole. I love it. Keep going.

Mel: So you go up there, and the groom can have his family come up.

WG: All right.

e, because the total space is: 5250

WG: There's a kitchen, obviously, there is a.

Mel: Kitchen, and I have seating for up to 80. Look, if you wanted to put up there all right.

Vanessa: Yeah, that's awesome.

WG: Uh, okay, again, here's the deal. Let me just refresh your memory. Downstairs space for restaurant and some commercial stuff down there. Then you got the residential stuff, then you got Penthouse up top for private functions. Cummingsrentals.com, Cummings Rentals.

Mel: WB just Google, uh, Huntington, West Virginia. Cummings Rentals. It's, uh, property management backslash. Cummings Rentals, LLC.

WG: Okay. All right. It's ready to go. Correct. All right, now, um, and I'm assuming, um, we also have a Facebook page.

Mel: That you can go. So if you wanted to get those lights that you were talking about did.

Vanessa: I see someone did like, a birth announcement with the lights?

Mel: Absolutely. If you wanted to request, um, different lights on the building for an event that you're having, cool. Hit us up on the Facebook page.

WG: That's awesome.

Vanessa: People are wild with these birth announcements.

WG: Yes. And that's West Virginia building, that's the one when you come in town, it's right across for the people who don't live know, vanessa and I realized more than half of the audience doesn't live here. I mean, y'all are all over the country. The best way to remember the West Virginia building is it's right across from the Keith Albie. Basically, that's the big one. That's the West Virginia building. Yeah.

The Frederick is probably the most iconic building in West Virginia

WG: That we're talking about now, next to the West Virginia building is, I think, probably the most iconic, and that is the Frederick. That is the, uh, know, prominently displayed in, you know, the lights are still on with those bright white, beautiful lights.

Vanessa: That say the lot of, uh, wedding photography and senior photos.

WG: Yes, we love to play in the.

Vanessa: Middle of the road for the senior photos right there.

WG: Everybody loves the Frederick. And guess who used to live in the Frederick?

Vanessa: Vanessa Hankins lived in Puked in oh, my God. So many things. I didn't ask that Hankins family when they let me in.

WG: Tell us about the Frederick, ma'am. What's it like to live in a monumental, iconic place like that?

Vanessa: Uh, so backstory, just because you guys like to hear all my ridiculousness with the husband. Um, when we first started dating, he was his grandpa's maintenance guy. He cleaned and all the things. So I thought I was dating just like the custodian. Nothing wrong with, you know, uh, let me do the walk of shame two or three times before he let me know. His grandpa owned the building. His mom worked in the downstairs lobby. His sister also worked in the downstairs lobby.

WG: Mel, welcome to the show. These are the discussions that we ahead.

Vanessa: So, uh, yeah. Had no idea. I thought I was just dating the janitor and turns out I'm dating the asshole whose grandfather owns the building.

WG: Um, Brandon, we love you, brother.

Vanessa: No idea. We do love him. He's great. Um, but yeah, it was beautiful, obviously. Um, lots of interesting furniture. John Hankins, the owner, loves antiques. You can tell that as soon as you walk in the door. You've got the awesome restaurant downstairs. It's changed a few times over the years. Right now, 21 clubs in there.

WG: Yeah. And I know it has changed. You walk in the main entrance. Okay. And you've got the big foyer, marble steps. Yeah. A lot of people will rent that for function.

Vanessa: Many things. Yeah.

WG: You've got 21 to the left.

Vanessa: Yes.

WG: And 21 formally it was, uh, elephant walk and mings for old school people like me. You walk forward is the room that if you keep walking, is that room still there?

Vanessa: 21 has it now, too, actually. They've got, like, most of the ground floor.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: Um, he uses some of the old sandwich shop for storage, I believe.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: There's an entertainment space over there. The doors directly back that you're talking about. You can privately rent that room or use it in addition to the lobby.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: Uh, so literally any kind of event rental that goes through it actually goes through 21 Club. It does not go through our family.

WG: A second floor. If you go up the stairs and there's that little it's not a rotunda.

Vanessa: I don't even I mean, it basically.

WG: Is, but those are like attorney's offices and stuff still?

Vanessa: There's a few yeah, there's a few still up there.

WG: Now there's an elevator that takes you to residence. It's good.

Vanessa: There's some rentals. Um, quite a few people have purchased penthouses.

WG: Uh, can you get online and find any for sale?

Vanessa: No. John's old school. Um, you're going to have to come and contact the office and get walked through. It real old school. We're not in the modern times here with the Frederick. Um, because when you look at the.

WG: Frederick, what's deceiving is you just see the Frederick sign and you think it's not a very big building.

Vanessa: Oh, it's massive.

WG: It's so long and expansive. And it goes all the way over to what's?

Vanessa: An yeah.

WG: Yeah. And it goes all the way over that until you get in there. You don't realize how much space is in.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: Absolutely.

WG: Because our good friend we talked with before we started recording, wayne Scott had a lot of that space for, uh, rent and stuff. I remember going in there at one point, going, I forgot how massive this building is.

Vanessa: Yeah, it's huge.

Does the Frederick butt right up against the West Virginia building, or is there something in between

WG: And it's, what, three or four stories or two? I don't know.

Vanessa: I don't know. Five or.

Mel: Four.

Vanessa: I should probably count that.

WG: Does the Frederick butt right up against the West Virginia building, or is there something in between?

Vanessa: No, there's two properties between it, I believe.

WG: Is that where the Mexican restaurant is?

Vanessa: Yes.

WG: Okay. And what is it called?

Mel: I call it the Rio Grande Building because of the Mexican restaurant. But then the angel building, though.

WG: Okay. So they're not right back to back.

Vanessa: They've got firewalls.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: Uh, I did know that.

Some investors from Miami came up and said, we need someone to sell condos

WG: All right, now, I forgot to ask you, Mel, do you currently live in the West Virginia building or have I.

Mel: Currently I do not right now, but moved out.

at year this would have been.: 2005

Vanessa: Yes.

WG: What am I supposed to do with this? And a spokesperson from a, uh, company came and did a presentation for the investors of the St. James. The people who owned it. Swiss Capital Group was the name of the company. We are a company where we will go get food from any restaurant within, like, a two or three mile radius and deliver it to the St. James for a fee and stuff like that. I don't know why they approached the St. James, but Swiss Capital Group said no, thank you. And it was grubhub.

Vanessa: And they said, how did I miss out on that?

WG: They said, no, we're not interested. And, uh, what doesn't make sense to me is I don't know why they made their decision based on I don't.

Vanessa: Know why the owners, they lived in community. So another backstory here, my husband at the time, when they came in, was their maintenance guy, and my mother in law was the, uh michelle was like their main office.

WG: Michelle might have been in that meeting.

Vanessa: I'm sure she was. I'm sure she was. That's why I'm like, I never heard of. But they lived in communities, these investors lived in communities where this already existed and made their life easier. So it's wild that they didn't want.

WG: To hear, let me backtrack. I'm not 100% sure it was either DoorDash or grubhub, but when they started popping up, I went, that's the same company that the St. James had, right?

Vanessa: And that was so many years ago.

WG: Yeah, they said, that's crazy. They said, thanks, but no thanks. And so it was like kind of a little bit of a hindrance.

Vanessa: I wonder if maybe they were thinking, though, that their clientele that was going to buy those condos was going to be older people who wanted to do it themselves.

WG: Could be now. All right, hold on. Let's get to the game we're going to play. Your call. Uh, Mel, of course, is just like, I don't know what is coming, but here it comes.

Who do you think is the most overrated actor

WG: Everybody, first question I have for our panelists and for you listeners, of course, we have no idea what you're going to answer. Vanessa, I've never asked you this. Who do you think the most overrated actor is?

Vanessa: Tom Cruise, hands down.

WG: You're not a Tom Cruise.

Vanessa: I'm not even taking a pause on that one. No.

WG: Maverick.

Vanessa: I don't even have to think about.

WG: Have you seen Maverick?

Vanessa: I have not. And I've heard it's fantastic. And I'm sure I'm going to watch it because I loved the original Top Gun.

WG: But listen, I am going to probably people are going to hate me for this. I don't understand Daniel Day Lewis. First of all, he retired and he's like in his 50s or sixty s. And he's like, I'm just not going to do movies anymore. I'm like, who the hell do you think you are?

Vanessa: Apparently, he's wealthy enough to not give a shit.

WG: But I guess but his movies are not for me anyway. I did like the one where he owned the oil wells and his son, he would, like, beat the hell out of his son. And he'd be like, I want your milkshake. What is no, that's not no country.

Vanessa: I've seen this movie. What are you talking about?

WG: I like that movie. Lincoln? No, thank you. I was like, can't believe they're making a movie.

Vanessa: I didn't watch that one.

WG: Daniel Day Lewis is is you know who said that was their favorite actor? Chris Miller. Chris Miller on our show said that was his favorite.

Vanessa: He did say that.

WG: So much for my new Kia.

Vanessa: Chris is out of here.

WG: Yep, I did.

Vanessa: We did like you, Chris.

WG: My Kia sportage just went down the two beers.

Mel: Which actor do you think is most overrated

WG: All right, Mel.

Vanessa: Mel, what's yours?

WG: Most overrated actor? Think about it.

Mel: Just throw back know, since you were talking about that, I'm gonna throw Alice Cooper and Monster Dog out there knowing how you love Monster.

Vanessa: I looked up last week.

WG: I love it when people reference past episodes. Alice, Cooper and Monster Dog. Yeah, I looked it up.

Vanessa: Was it a German movie or something crazy?

WG: It was crap. No matter what country, I'm going to watch it.

Vanessa: I made myself a mental oh, it's going on the list of terrible shit to watch.

WG: I will watch Major Pain because apparently it's good.

Vanessa: It's hilarious.

WG: That's from the other episode. Don't watch Monster. Talk it's off. Anyway, go ahead. Yes. Belle Cummings, by the way.

Mel: My kids love major pain.

Vanessa: It's hilarious.

Mel: It's wonderful.

WG: Yes.

Mel: Um, I would go with Cage.

WG: Oh. Most overrated.

Vanessa: God, that's my dad's favorite guy.

WG: That's actually a pretty good call.

Mel: Yeah, I just want to bring his neck when he starts talking.

WG: Oh, m my oh, gosh. And I just did a bad impression.

Vanessa: Well, when I grew up on his movie. So I'm with you. That's my dad's favorite guy, for sure.

Better to vacation on the east coast or the west coast, Vanessa asks

WG: Next question again, nothing to do with what we're talking about today. Um, better to vacation on the east coast or the west coast? Vanessa.

Vanessa: This one's hard.

WG: Um, I know what you're going to say. You're going to say east. You, uh, glow. East coast. America.

Vanessa: I'm east coast for sure. You're right. You got me.

WG: I'm throwing everybody for a curveball. I'm going Gulf Coast, baby. Texas. Louisiana.

Vanessa: Did we not know this was coming, Mel?

WG: Let's not let the cat out of the bag.

Vanessa: Did we not know this one was coming?

WG: Mel, what do you think? East coast or West Coast?

Mel: I've only been to the West Coast once and that was in high school.

WG: And you liked or no, last I did like it.

Mel: I did like, um know. So I would have to go with something I haven't done.

WG: Okay.

Mel: So I would go west coast just to explore.

Vanessa: Yeah, for sure. That's a solid answer.

WG: We got west coast. All right, next one. This could be controversial. Hold on.

Vanessa: Why am I East Coast? How do I radiate that? Is it the white trash in me? Is that what you're doing here?

WG: No.

Vanessa: What do you think, Mel? You can see his facial expression.

WG: He didn't say Myrtle Beach.

Vanessa: I love dirty Myrtle. I do.

WG: Dirty Myrtle. Is that what they call it?

Vanessa: Oh, yeah.

Mel: I think he's saying warm water versus cold water.

WG: Dirty Myrtle was actually an aunt of like I was only seven and I was like, why did they call her that?

Best pizza in the Huntington tri state area, if either of you say

WG: Anyway, all right, last question, everybody play it home. Um, play it home. Here's a good one. And I'm going to start with Mel on this end. Best pizza in the Huntington tri state area. Hold on. Mel Cummings think it doesn't matter what toppings, but if you want to give us a little explanation on your choice, that's fine. Your favorite pizza in the Huntington tri state area, if either of you say.

Vanessa: The one and you better not say, I'm vegetarian walking out of here.

WG: And I don't eat carbs and I.

Vanessa: Don'T like don't be that. Person.

WG: Yeah, don't be that. Go ahead.

Mel: No, I love pizza.

WG: Okay.

Mel: Uh, it's almost too broad of a question.

WG: Okay.

Mel: Because there's so many options, so many different you know the, um, old sections.

WG: Of pizza, the old joke that I was raised on kids ear muff. Ear muff. Kids pizza is like sex. When it's good, it's really good, and when it's bad, it's still pretty. Like, Mel Cummings is not a poor, uh, guy. He's like, I don't know why I'm here.

Vanessa: And you acted like I'm the one.

WG: I know.

Vanessa: That's terrible.

WG: That's such an old joke. Go ahead.

Mel: Yeah, so, um yeah, I tried a new pizza down in Barbersville, which was Al's New York Pizza, which was wonderful, but I'm still not going to go with it.

WG: Okay. Al's, um, New York pizza. Yeah. Where is that?

Vanessa: That's in barbersville.

Mel: That's in well, uh, Pea Ridge area.

WG: Kmart.

Mel: The old Hills kmart Plaza area has absolutely no signage.

Vanessa: I was going to say I have heard about it, but I didn't know where it was. Places in that area.

Mel: Okay, so you know where the huge liquor store is?

WG: Why would you look at me?

Vanessa: We all know where that is.

WG: Why are you asking me?

Vanessa: Did you see my mom water when you walked in?

WG: Uh uh. I know where the Cosmetology school. Okay, anyway, go ahead.

Mel: Yes, it's, uh yeah, but I mean, that backyard. But I'd have to go with Monty's, just because I like greasy's Monty. Greasy off the wall.

Vanessa: You know what was the best and it's not there anymore, I don't think, is the Monty's that was over in Chesapeake. That lady could kill some pizza.

WG: God, it was so what?

Vanessa: No, that's not my answer, because I don't even think it's there anymore.

WG: Okay, um, what's your answer?

Vanessa: You know what? I'm going with my mom's. Iron skillet deep dish pizza is, like, the freaking best pizza. But listen, I don't really talk to my mom anymore, so I haven't had that in years. So if I'm going with wow. If I'm going with a local place, I am going to go with Marco's Pizza. And I know it's a chain, so don't come at me for that. It consistently is always good. We've never had a bad experience ordering for a family with lots of different my daughter doesn't eat sauce. If you cannot put sauce on a pizza when I say no sauce yeah, sorry about that, guys. Didn't mean to bump the table there.

WG: Okay, very emphasizing.

Vanessa: Well, listen, have you ever had a daughter who is a drama queen, lose her shit over them putting marinara on a pizza that you told them no marinara?

WG: To the best of my knowledge, I don't have any children.

Vanessa: I hope they don't. Knocking on the door terrible mom's at home, you know?

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: Marcos has been great across the page, so I'm going with them.

WG: All right? You're going, marcos all right. Um, I don't know if I have a favorite, but I think you're going.

Vanessa: To go with the one that you hate.

WG: Probably mhm, that we did a show on with Jordan.

Vanessa: Oh, no.

WG: Uh, it's because it's so original or whatever. I'm a genos type of boy.

Vanessa: I like gino's. I like Giovanni's.

WG: Every time I eat gino's pizza, I'm an equal opportunist. Anytime I eat gino's, I feel like I'm nine years old. Like, I feel like I'm a little kid. I'm like this. I'm right back to being a kid and nobody knows. Everybody who knows me knows anything that's going to take me back to my childhood.

Vanessa: You love it.

WG: I am good. I'm golden. I'm good to go.

How do they answer again? They do it on our Facebook page

WG: So, hey, how did you guys do? How did you guys do? All right. How do they answer again? They do it on our Facebook page. Is that what that's called?

Vanessa: Yes. Find us there.

WG: Yeah. Vanessa's our social media person. All right, now, it's because he's old. Yes, I am.

Mel WG: Can people contact you about other properties downtown

WG: All right. Now let's get back to the whole downtown living thing. We're all living downtown. We've heard about West Virginia building. We've heard about the Frederick building. We heard a little bit about the St. James building. Now, there's also the Renaissance building. Our good buddy Shane Radcliffe owned the Renaissance building. He doesn't own it anymore, does he? He sold it, right?

Mel: It was all condos.

Vanessa: Yeah, I was going to say there's some super sweet condos in there.

WG: Yeah, those are very nice.

Mel: The Angel Building, which he rents out, which is downtown also.

WG: Yeah, angel building.

Vanessa: Shane's like killing it, isn't he?

WG: All the there and there are tons of good. All right, let me ask you this. Besides what you have, Mel, can people contact you and say, maybe this isn't your property, but can you show me other properties downtown? Absolutely. How do they contact you for that?

-: 1433

WG: And you do commercial and residential commercial.

Mel: And residential sales and I'll do rentals.

WG: Okay.

Vanessa: Surrounded by two pros.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: Um, I know you forget pretty often that you're I'm still trying to figure.

WG: Out what I'm a pro at WG's.

Mel: Real estate royalty.

WG: Oh, please.

Vanessa: Train the trainer. Right.

WG: I know my cape and my crown.

I lived in a building called Houston House on the 20 eigth floor

WG: All right, so real quick. Ah, let me tell you, I never lived downtown Huntington. I lived in downtown Houston, and I lived in a building called Houston House on the 20 eigth floor. It was so magnificent. But I hated that name because it sounded like it was a rehab. And it was like, you live in Houston House. What is that? I remember my parents going, Are you okay?

Vanessa: But it was up in Huntington.

WG: If you ever watch the movie Urban Cowboy with John Travolta that was shot in Houston House, you'll see the Houston House logo and all stuff. Anyway, I lived there. So 20 eigth floor.

Vanessa: Holy moly. This building is awesome.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: Listen, you guys know me at home.

um, really cool. I was like,: 2021

Vanessa: How did you afford that? Was your dad? No.

WG: Real estate royalty?

Vanessa: No.

WG: People have a hard time believing it. I was a pretty damn good DJ.

Vanessa: Oh, yeah, I forgot. I mean, I believe it. You always impress me weekly on these.

WG: I had a roommate named Bill. We were like it was like two clowns living in this place. But the good thing is Bill fell in love. And he is still married to Melita.

Vanessa: Did he leave you to your I.

WG: Had the whole place to myself.

Vanessa: He still paid half the rent.

WG: Yeah. And I was like, shout out to Bill. It felt like every month I was like, I'm going to get the notice from Bill. Hey, I'm moving in with Melita. You're on your own. I don't know way I could have.

Vanessa: Afforded he needed to say, hey, my roommate is the, uh WG.

WG: Yeah, I know. Ah. We had meet and greets and the whole nine yards. One of the things we did in an apartment is we bought there used to be a store called the Sharper Image. And they sold completely overpriced gadgets and junk.

Vanessa: It's still a thing, isn't it?

WG: Is the Sharper Image still a I think it is. We bought a laser show.

Vanessa: Fuck yes.

WG: Um, for the apartment where this is why we're people I don't know how I ever got a date. I was like the corniest. I said corny with a C. Um, a female companion would come. I don't even know what I'm talking about right now.

Vanessa: I need to I know I'm sweating. Jesus.

WG: They would come back to the apartment and I would turn on this cheesy. Luckily Jaegermeister had a lot you are a train wreck.

Vanessa: I love it.

WG: Luckily yeagermeister had a lot to do with it. Where they were like, I've never had Jaegermeister. I was like, good, because you're going to need a lot of it. And turn on the laser show. And before anyway oh my god. I can't believe this is crazier than the Carl Lewis story. I knew the guy you're going to.

Vanessa: Rub your eyebrows off.

WG: Jesus. Uh, that's why we don't do this on video. We knew the guys that lived below us. And Chris arambrew. Hello, Chris. Nice to see you. Chris was a fantastic dude. He still is. And his roommate was a guy named Brian. And Brian looked like someone who just walked off of a soap opera set. He was like at same age as us and stuff. Just good looking hair always in place.

Vanessa: Stupid handsome.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: Not fair. God favored him.

WG: Every time I would see him in the elevator. He had like some sort of sports illustrative model or something that I was going, uh he's like, hey, WG? I was like, I hate you.

Vanessa: I have a light show.

WG: Yeah. I was like, do you want to come up, see the laser? Anyway, so then what would happen is we all had these big balconies. And when I would hear Brian on his balcony below us with little miss not Mrs. Wright, but Mrs. Wright. Now, um, what I would do is I had a peewee Herman doll, and what I would do is I would take the peewee Herman doll, put a little string around it, and I would lower the peewee Herman doll down to his balcony while he's out with his date, trying to romance her. I would just lower the doll down and go, Brian, hey. And these poor girls would be like, what is going on?

We would shoot fireworks off of our balcony constantly, which is illegal

Vanessa: So is this his bedroom or like the living room of the apartment?

WG: Yeah, if you look at the photo, it's like all of the balconies, like they were on top of each other. And I would tell my roommate Bill, brian's out there with a girl, and we would lower down peewee Herman. And I would go, Brian.

Vanessa: Brian, my main question is with this is why the fuck did you have a peewee Herman doll in your twenty s I.

Mel: Don'T what was the purpose prior to Brian peewee Herman doll?

Vanessa: That's what I need to know.

WG: That's for the next show we call that, uh, uh, uh. What do they call that when it's like a cliffhanger for the next are.

Vanessa: You also still friends with Brian?

WG: No, I'm friends with Chris.

Vanessa: Chris in touch with Brian. I want to know if Brian married one of the misses right now.

WG: Good question. I don't know. Chris, of course I'm still friends with because Chris thought was hilarious.

Vanessa: Because it's freaking the best.

WG: He would like, come knock on I.

Vanessa: Don'T know why I missed that opportunity living downtown.

WG: He would like, knock on the door and go, chris is brian is furious. I don't uh then and the other thing was and the final story, uh, mean, we were downtown, freaking Houston. We would shoot fireworks off of our balcony constantly, which is, of course, illegal.

Vanessa: Been there.

WG: We would shoot fireworks off. And, um, we did it one night, I don't know, memorial Day, July 4 something. We shot all these fireworks off bottle rockets. Not commercial grade stuff, but we would shoot these fireworks off, and all of a sudden, before we know it, out of nowhere, here come five or six Houston police.

Vanessa: Out of nowhere. Well, surprise, surprise.

WG: You could see the lights coming. And they kept getting closer and closer. And then Bill and I went, oh, no, I think they're coming to us.

Vanessa: Did you blame it on Brian?

WG: Should have. And luckily, my roommate Bill was like, we've got to clean the balcony because there are these the debris skid marks or whatever from where we shot them. So so there we are with a mop on our balcony and we're oh, we were sweating bullets. And before you know it.

Vanessa: Who rated on you? Who hated you in that building?

WG: Somebody.

Mel: That was Brian.

WG: It could have been Brian. Brian Perry. If you listen to this, you son of a fucker. Anyway, yeah. And the police were like, uh, uh, we have a report that somebody's been shooting. And everybody in the building were like attorneys and doctors. And then there was Bill and I in our early 20s going, bougie.

Vanessa: He is in his 20s in his really nice apartment.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: And ah, I was like, being a shithead.

WG: I know. And they were like, we, uh, have some, uh bill was the mastermind. Well, I was the one that said we should do it. And I was the one that had.

Vanessa: The fireworks because I'm but Bill was the mastermind.

WG: He was the one that was you.

Vanessa: Like how WG stories go.

WG: He wrapped up everything. He was like, number one, we got to clean the balcony. Number two, we got to put the shells and the sticks and stuff in the bottom of the trash and take.

Vanessa: No, you throw them, um, on Brian's porch.

WG: We should have we didn't hate Brian that much. So we had to get a separate trash bag, take it down to the trash room. And it was like a covert operation.

Vanessa: Neither of you thought, we're going to be really sweaty and look like we're up to no good when they knock on the door.

WG: Yeah. We were sitting there on our fake leather couch going, this is just what we do.

Vanessa: We're watching two sweaty men.

WG: Yeah.

Vanessa: We're watching sports on our leather couch.

WG: Yes, officer. Feel free to look around. And they're like, what are you guys doing?

Vanessa: A train wreck? Yeah, we're just like, absolute train wreck.

WG: We're watching college sports and enjoying the evening with a sprite. Can we get you a sprite?

Vanessa: There is so much more nonsense that can be had about downtown living. So this one's going to have to be an episode.

WG: That was downtown living for me.

Vanessa: This one's going to have to be.

WG: Uh here's the moral of the story. If you live downtown Huntington, no fireworks. Especially not the West Virginia building or the Frederick. They will find out and say, we know who you are. You listen to that stupid podcast. That's where you got the idea. Stop it.

Mel: No balconies on the front of the Frederick, only on the back

WG: All right, so you all don't have balconies?

Mel: No, no balconies. We do have windows that open, though.

WG: So windows open. All right?

Mel: No suggestions?

WG: No crazy fireworks or anything.

Vanessa: No balconies on the front of the Frederick, only on the back. But it's gloomy back there, all right?

WG: So yeah, let's not get crazy Huntington. I think it should be a bumper sticker. Don't be a WG.

Vanessa: And listen, I work with the cops. They're going to know. They're not going to like me anymore. So don't do it.

WG: Yeah, just say no.

Vanessa: God, Vanessa.

WG: Yeah, just say no to phantom fireworks. All right, Mel. Thanks for being here. We appreciate it. Um, I've known you for a while. Proud of you. I knew you before you owned the West Virginia building. You've got apartments to rent and whatnot. Uh, Cummings Rentals online in West Virginia. In the Huntington area. And he is going to hook you up. Faux show. Thanks for being here, man. I appreciate it.

Mel: Thank you all. I enjoy it.

WG: Tell your family I said hello. Love your sisters and the whole family.

Mel: I do have one question. Do you only have roommates named Bill?

WG: Yes. And what they do is if anyone doesn't know who lives with you my dad lives with me. Guess what his name is bill.

Vanessa: Everybody sits on fantastic.

WG: And everybody sits on the stairs and just goes, can we I'm just a.

Vanessa: Bill on the show, please.

WG: Yes. Uh, we'll get every bill I've ever known in my entire life. I'll have you pay my bills. That was a terrible joke. Anyway, Vanessa, did you have a good time?

Vanessa: Always.

WG: All right, cool. Thanks for listening. We got, I don't know, 50 or 60 other episodes. You all take a listen, all right. And, Vanessa, go ahead and take us out.

Vanessa: We are out of here.

Anncr: Thanks for listening to the Huntington Tristate Time Machine, brought to you by Realty Exchange, the top performing real estate company in the Huntington, West Virginia tri state area. If you have a memory you would want WG to talk more about, just send him an email at memories. Uh@htstimemachine.com, or post a comment on the Time machine Facebook group page. Did you like this episode? Be sure to share it with friends and family. You can find a link in the show notes that you can use to share it. And be sure to let Realty Exchange know that you like the podcast as well. Their contact information can be found in this episode's show notes.