2007 July archive at rduwtf.com

Archive for July, 2007

The Ghosts of Hillsborough Street

Published by Robert E Leebowitz July 24th, 2007 in Raleigh. 2 Comments

There was a time when a 7th grade science teacher in the suburbs could tell a story about bowling on Hillsborough Street and the entire class would buzz with scandal. In the late 70’s and early 80’s, Hillsborough Street was Raleigh’s main drag and and to the suburban kids looking inward, the street name was synonymous with hookers. There were no hookers walking Hillsborough Street at that time but there was a thriving economy of hedonistic youth culture. Continue reading ‘The Ghosts of Hillsborough Street’

Askew-Taylor

Published by A Loud Arcane Toad July 23rd, 2007 in Art, Raleigh and Good Stuff. 9 Comments

GOOD STUFF: Down at 110 Glenwood Avenue, the south end of GloSo, sits Askew-Taylor Paints & Art Supplies (www.askewtaylor.com), one of the few businesses there that’s been around for decades. In recent years the focus has shifted from house paint to art supplies. The hectic parking situation means that Askew-Taylor might move some day, but for now they remain a fixture in the neighborhood. This store hangs on the same way other local independent businesses do: by cultivating a customer base who want something they can’t find at the big box craft stores. Shop here and you might bump into one of Raleigh’s finest artists. You’ll definitely run into design students from NCSU. And it’s a great place for parents to shop for art and craft supplies for children. Big pads of Rhodia grid paper from France, Moleskine notebooks, cheap watercolor sets, expensive watercolor sets, drafting supplies, paintbrushes, adhesives, frames, all these and more are crammed into the non-descript two story house with the red awnings.

Junior Castles

Published by Robert E Leebowitz July 8th, 2007 in WTF, Raleigh, Urban Planning and RDU. 6 Comments

The recent N&O feature about tear-downs in the Triangle has been successful in turning a contentious issue into a contentious discussion. The article was followed by: op-eds, an article about the debate generated by the original article, and a forum on the Share.Triangle.com website - the N&O attempt to get “hyper-Local”. That forum is a fun read; with the two extremes being, on one side: NIMBY’s who might over-legislate to the point that every downtown neighborhood would have a Hysterical Commission to mandate that all new houses must look like the old houses. On the other side you have the “Don’t Tread on Me”, “let the market rule”, typing in ALL CAPS “USA: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT” types.

We think something needs to be done, at least to slow the rate of demolition and speculation until guidelines can be set. But we’d hate to see an overreaction that prevents the building of projects that are considerate of their surroundings and might even be innovative and modern in function and appearance. At this time, we fully advocate the practice of active criticism, shaming and praise where applicable. Our contribution to the Share.Triangle.com forum goes something like this:

Just as people have the rights to build a house that shows no sensitivity to the surrounding neighborhood, the surrounding neighbors have the right to complain about and criticize that house. Most of the criticism should be brought against the developers and realtors that build these properties on spec but also against those who create the market for them. I don’t hesitate in my criticism of people who drive Hummers because they’re a stupid display of ego and perceived status that adversely impact my environment (earth rapers). Why not criticize houses that do the same? Sure, it’s a touchy subject because a house is personal, and an investment and a public representation of class level and taste but some of the same people here defending the rights to build whatever you want and telling people to “mind your own business” wouldn’t hesitate to criticize a neighbor with 3 sofas on the front porch or 4 cars parked in the yard. Should bad taste be immune from criticism if it’s a display of wealth rather than a display of poverty? I don’t think so.

Textured Luxury

Published by A Loud Arcane Toad July 4th, 2007 in WTF, Architecture, Raleigh and RDU. 4 Comments

Is it flattering or just weird that a big name fashion designer nods to Raleigh’s modernist architecture in the marketing literature for some wildly expensive handbags? I don’t know. Comparing the “textured luxury” of a 1200 dollar purse to a design movement that was focused on creating affordable architecture is the kind of stretch that only an advertising “creative” could make. (Let’s pause briefly for a replay of the brilliant Bill Hicks routine, “Marketing and Advertising.”) Even stranger is the mention of these handbags by prolific N&O writer Samantha Thompson Smith.

The minor, forgivable error is writing about the mid-20th century “College of Design.” Back then, and until quite recently, it was the School of Design (SOD). Less forgivable is the contention that there are a “slew” of modernist homes in Raleigh. A slew means a large amount or number. There has never been a slew of SOD-related homes in Raleigh, and there are fewer every year. Modernist homes designed by important figures such as Matsumoto and Catalano have been demolished. Several of the homes that remain are threatened either by demolition or by developer land grabs. When Thompson Smith does go on her fantastic tour of that slew of modern Raleigh homes, maybe taking the more economical 700 dollar purse, we’d love to tag along.

BIT WTF?

Published by YeahYeahGirl July 3rd, 2007 in WTF, Raleigh, Durham and RDU. 6 Comments

It has always annoyed me. It has also become an excellent barometer for the Triangle area’s (particularly Raleigh’s) ever-increasing homogenization. It’s called the Independent Weekly’s “Best of the Triangle”.

Here’s a partial list of national chains that made the cut as the best the Triangle has to offer (comments are Raleigh-biased because that’s where I live- so sue me.):

Champps Sports Bar- Come on! I don’t even go to sports bars and I know there a million sports bars around that have more character- Mitch’s and the Player’s Retreat come to mind immediately, both of which have been around forever and manage to attract customers as much for their divey charm as for their TV screens.

Hooters- see above- and there are also plenty of places to get wings served by hot chicks who don’t have to wear pantyhose under their short shorts.

Panera Bread- I didn’t realize that wi-fi was a verb but if i was into “wi-fying” I think I could find a non-chain someplace outside of a mall to do it. You can’t throw a rock without catching a signal these days.

Starbuck’s - ok- this one REALLY gets me- why don’t we just call it “Best Corporate Coffee Behemoth That Tries to Crush Every Mom-and-Pop Coffeehouse in the Universe?” Aside from making pretty OK coffee available in airports Starbucks can kiss my ass. I’m proud to live in a town that put the Starbuck’s on Hillsborough Street out of business. Yeah!

Mellow Mushroom- they’re not national yet but they are all over the southeast. Note that they did not place for best pizza (maybe because their pizza sucks?) but for outdoor dining. Perhaps people were voting for quantity over quality- they do have an awful lot of tables on that pleasant quiet corner of Glenwood and Peace Streets. I was appalled that Moonlight Pizza didn’t make either of these lists.

Waffle House - yes, Waffle House used to be about the only place for late night food in the area but that was about fifteen years ago. Anyone in the area who hasn’t heard of the well-hyped Raleigh Times Bar has been living under a rock- and missing out on some kickass late night grub.

Moe’s Southwest Grill- Baja Burrito anyone? No one there gets fired if they don’t scream “Welcome to Baja!” at every customer and they don’t use chips with so much blue dye in them that your shit will be bright green for a week. And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one.

Bruegger’s Bagels - they’ve always sucked. But I have to admit I don’t know where the good bagels are ’round here.

Maggiano’s and Olive Fucking Garden????? Maggiano’s isn’t bad but it’s a national chain. Olive Garden? No comment.

PF Chang’s - Duck and Dumpling? Peking Garden? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Cheesecake Factory - Anyone looking for amazing desserts and doesn’t want to wait two hours at Crabtree Valley Mall? May I suggest Hereghty in Glenwood Village Shopping Center? Heavenly delicious is right.

Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, Borders - I suppose they have their place but could they be any less Triangle-specific? Huh?

Outback- I’d rather get my bloomin’ onion at the State Fair. Once a year is more than enough.

Men’s Wearhouse, Nordstrom, DSW- See Best Buy, B & N, Borders…

Belk - Sure, if the corners of the Triangle are Texas, Florida and Maryland.

Jared - Sure, if the entire US is a Triangle. (It wasn’t, last I checked.)

Ace, Lowe’s - sadly, it’s true- there are few independently owned hardware stores anymore- Burke Brothers should have been the only one on a list with the header “Best LOCAL hardware store”.

Toys R Us - Play House? Wootini?

Target - I love Target as much as the next guy but once again- huge-ass chain. And it won for best place to buy candy. Odd.

Harris Teeter - Just because they CALL themselves “Your Neighborhood Food Market”… don’t be so gullible people! And how did Durham’s Blue Light get overlooked in this category (beer selection)?

What does all this mean? Well, not much in the grand scheme of things. It points to a depressing lack of creativity in the voters but who the hell are they anyway? I suppose I should be glad they’re all waiting in line at Starbucks while I’m getting a superior brew with superior service from the Mission Valley Cup a Joe… and I could TOTALLY wi-fi there. If I was into that.

Our RSS Feed Is Working.

Published by Administrator July 1st, 2007 in WTF. 0 Comments

Our RSS feed for posts is currently working and we’ll be adding an email subscription link later this week. Thanks to those who have been patient and to those that weren’t. We can’t really complain about the complainers. When we named this site, we fully expected to receive email with titles such as: RSS WTF? and you didn’t let us down. The comments feed isn’t working at this time but we’ll see what we can do - we aren’t programmers. I think it’s good enough, for now.

Local News Can Be Good News

Published by Robert E Leebowitz July 1st, 2007 in WTF, Raleigh and RDU. 3 Comments

Something’s happening at the News and Observer and they’re running articles about local topics that are actually interesting. The article on Raleigh’s greatest bicycle wheelie king might be some of the best writing I’ve seen in the N&O and comes on the heels of a very detailed article about teardowns - we’ll talk more about this in another post.

Sue Stock, the business writer who took over the Retailing column in Saturday’s N&O business section and somehow turned a guilty pleasure into a sleepy bore, scored with this must-read article about South, the restaurant at North Hills that was formerly Savannah. Savannah was opened and run into the ground by Chris Bender, of 5-Star and Wicked Smile fame. Or should we say infamy? How could Sue Stock write such a juicy article, and leave out the best juice? Writing about father suing son is great but why leave out stories like an angry contractor punching father in the face because of the debts of the son? And why leave out this article from the N&O archives:

June 4, 1996 The News & Observer
Restaurant owner guilty of assault

ANNE SAKER STAFF WRITER LEAD

RALEIGH - The young owner of Wicked Smile, a hot new downtown restaurant, pleaded guilty Monday to pinning a woman who worked for him against a wall and holding a blowtorch just inches from her head. The blowtorch was lit. Chris Bender, 26, could have gotten 60 days in jail, but District Judge William Lawton instead put him on probation for two years and fined him $500. He also ordered Bender to get counseling about domestic violence and to stay away from Samantha Dickinson.

And why omit this article about Bender’s business partner, who also had a problem with fire:

January 13, 2006:
Fire closes eatery

Sam LaGrone, Staff Writer

A North Raleigh institution of baked cheese and beer has taken a quiet exit from its old location. Vincent’s Pizza of NY has been closed since a fire gutted the interior of the popular pizza parlor in March.Faded signs on the doors and windows of the restaurant proclaimed the joint’s renovation and return. But Heritage Realty Management, the managers of the Tarrymore Square shopping center, said that they will be replacing Vincent’s with an as-yet-unnamed tenant in the next several months.

The restaurant had been in Raleigh for 10 years and at one time it had three locations in the Triangle.

Vincent Barresi, the restaurant’s owner, could not be reached for comment.

Tarrymore Square is located on Capital Boulevard at New Hope Church Road.

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Archive for July, 2007

The Ghosts of Hillsborough Street

Askew-Taylor

Junior Castles

Textured Luxury

BIT WTF?

Our RSS Feed Is Working.

Local News Can Be Good News

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