Goodnight, Asheville!

Temptations

2008-09-19T21:41:00.000-07:00

Temptations was built after I moved away from Asheville, so I've never been to the establishment. It sounds like a fun place, from the way it looks on the outside and how their official web site describeds itself:

Temptations opened in October of 2005 as a Martini Bar and Café. Since then we have undergone many changes and developments. In 2006 we converted our basement into a dance club and thus the Red Room was born. Featuring the best loc
Js, the Red Room has quickly become a staple in Asheville’s nightlife scene. In 2007 we added a stage to the upstairs, and began hosting live music events featuring the best in local musicians and national acts.

The Door Of Perception (Or The Door To Nowhere)

2008-09-15T17:44:00.000-07:00

This is one of Asheville's quirks that make it one of the greatest cities on Earth. My brother pointed this out to me, so kudos to him for noticing this treasure. It's a door suspended on the second story of a building near a metal ladder. It is located in an alley between Broadway and Market Streets, near the Mellow Mushroom.

You have to ask yourself, is this a residence? Does someone live here? Does a person really crawl up a ladder to leave/return to home each day/night?

Do you know the story with the door in mid-air? Let us know by commenting on this post.

Chicken Alley Apartment

2008-09-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Judging by the number of posts I've made about this tiny piece of real estate, it comes as no shock that I love Chicken Alley. Somewhere around here I have a 35mm slide of the yellow and black "KID" tag being created. It's been there for close to 5 years now.

The gentleman behind the door is the lucky resident of that hidden little apartment downtown.

An Old Office Door Near Chicken Alley

2008-08-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

This is in the alley behind the back loading dock of Lark Books.

The Whiskey Tavern

2008-08-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is on the corner of Broadway and Woodfin Streets, across from Home Trust Bank

French Broad Chocolate Lounge

2008-06-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is one place I wish I could have visited during daylight hours. Their web site certainly has me convinced it's a place worth checking out.

French Broad Luscious Chocolates is a small, family-run company. Not including our two little boys, whom we haven't yet conscripted for duty, we are two, husband and wife. Sam and Max are a long way off from being allowed to handle chocolate; we grown-ups have a hard enough time not eating our profits! We share responsibility for every aspect of our little operation, making each small batch with our own, um, four hands.

Every batch of hand- mixed, -scooped, -dipped and -decorated truffles is certified organic by our fellow crusaders for a better world of eats, North Carolina Crop Improvement Association. The certification process is rigorous, requiring that we use only certified organic ingredients, with very few exceptions (for more info on the rules, check out our ingredients page), and maintain impeccable cleanliness in our operation.

Being certified is no small task, especially when considered aside another primary company directive: to be part of the local business community. We dance the very complicated dance between concern for our local and regional economies and availability of certified organic ingredients. Sometimes we must look beyond Appalachia for stuff that is best grown right here. Even if our neighbors grow an abundant supply of delicious organic raspberries, if they're not certified, we cannot use them for our certified organic Fresh Raspberry truffles. Them's the rules. Undeterred, we will continuously strive to localize our efforts whenever possible. Note: if you see an ingredient listed that you think we could source locally, let us know!

Chocolate, and all things made from cacao, is an inevitably international food, unless you live in the tropics. It is a testament to the effects of globalization at which few of us would scoff. A world without chocolate is no world we want to live in. And so it goes with the vanilla bean, tea, coffee, and too many other things we have come to take for granted. What that means for an ecologically minded company like ours is that we must find our supplies from people who share our concern for fair trade, even if they must travel thousands of miles before they end their respective journeys in our mouths.

We are very proud of our what goes in our truffles, so check out our page devoted to ingredients.
-- French Broad Chocolate Lounge

10 South Lexington Avenue
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 252-4181
Get directions

Asheville Fish Company

2008-06-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

As evident from the photo, this building is on the corner of Walnut and Broadway, across from the Mellow Mushroom.

S&W Cafeteria

2008-06-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

The renovated S&W Cafeteria building on Patton Avenue, near Pritchard Park downtown, now houses the newly opened upscale restaurant S&W Steak & Wine and the Corner House, a coffee shop and casual restaurant.

That gives the public a chance once again to eat and drink among the 1929 building’s period touches, including porcelain tiles on the walls, terrazzo floors, sculpted plaster ceilings and steps made of travertine marble.

The cafeteria closed in 1974, a casualty of the movement of much of the city’s retail activity to Asheville Mall. The building saw various uses over the years but had been closed for some time before developer Steve Moberg decided to take the plunge and put it back in use.

Moberg, whose other projects include the Lexington Station condominium and retail complex on South Lexington Avenue downtown, bought the building last year. He is building six residential condos on the building’s third floor and adding a level and a half on the roof to house four more.

Those units are scheduled to be completed later this year. All but two of the condos are spoken for, Moberg said.

The S&W was designed by architect Douglas Ellington, also responsible for iconic structures including City Hall and First Baptist Church. It was part of a small chain of cafeterias in the South started in Charlotte by two men who served as mess sergeants together in World War I.

“It’s one of art deco’s crown jewels in Asheville and one of Douglas Ellington’s finest buildings that he designed in town,” said Jim Coman, president of the Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County.

“It’s the highest pinnacle of art deco. It’s as good as it gets,” said Coman, a Buncombe County zoning official who helped produce a comprehensive inventory of historic buildings in the county.

The S&W was completed in 1929 and was a community hub for much of the middle of the 20th century.

“It was a great place to go and eat,” said Che Spurlin, who lived in Asheville in the ’50s and is now a resident of northern Buncombe County. “You would always see somebody you knew.”
-- Asheville Citizen-Times

Lark Books

2008-06-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Almost 20 years ago, we published our first book. Since then, our list has grown to more than 300 books, with 60 to 70 new titles now appearing every year. From beaded bags to community quilts, from garden mosaics to garden seating, from art cars to art dolls, from fountains to feng shui…well, we’ve been busy.

There are about 50 of us who work at Lark. We share a love of what we do, a respect for the readers we serve, and a fair amount of pride in the books we produce.
-- Lark Books

Gallery Minerva

2008-06-15T20:35:00.000-07:00

A sign in the window gives the following information on the beautiful illuminated figures shown above:

As the creator of this wire sculpting process, the London native, Michael Gard, has made beautiful dancing figures. The process starts with an oil based clay sculpture that is transformed in to wax. He then takes single strands of wire weaving them over the wax sculpture. The wax is melted away in a boiling water bath leaving the wire sculpture intact.

Gallery Minerva
12 Church St
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 255-8850
Get directions

More Of Lexington Avenue

2008-06-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

Somke More Buds

2008-05-26T20:24:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read the title correctly.

I'm not sure which is funnier - the religious man pacing above and preaching loudly towards anyone that will hear him, or the guy holding the sign with the misspelling.
One thing I remember about downtown Asheville is that there are frequently religious nuts preaching loudly and often against homosexuals or other deviants, and there are just as often counter protesters holding up signs preaching tolerance and love. They inevitably end up shouting arguments and counter arguments at one another.
It's somewhat ironic that both sides claim to be preaching love and forgiveness, yet they are both violent and shouting to get their point across.

This photo was taken at Pack Square in 2006.

My Favorite Asheville Photo

2008-04-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Sure, there are prettier photos of Asheville out there, but I took this one, so it remains my favorite. This image is also framed and hanging on the wall of my cube at work, to remind me of this beautiful city.
This image was taken at the top of the rock that was blasted away to make way for I-240.

An Alley Between Lexington and Broadway

2008-04-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

It was in this alley I found a pair of sneakers that I still wear. Inexplicably, there was a pile of shoes appearing as rubbish, so I took an interesting looking pair that was barely worn. Most people gasp in shock at the story, but what is really the difference between this and buying second hand?

Another View Of Haywood Street

2008-03-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

This is peering in the direction away from the Civic Center.

I-240 Above Lexington Avenue

2008-03-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

I remember these shops in the foreground of Lexington Avenue being Broadway's, a club which frequently hosted 80s night dance parties, as well as The Octupus Garden, before they moved up the road a block or two to their current location.

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The Grove Arcade

2008-03-13T15:43:00.000-07:00

The official web site says that

The Grove Arcade was the grand dream of E.W. Grove, a self-made millionaire who moved to Asheville in 1910. By 1915, he had completed the Grove Park Inn and become involved in other civic projects. Grove understood that a successful city needed a vibrant downtown. In the early 1920's, he began plans to build an elegant new building to enliven the downtown of the city he had come to love. He conceived of the Arcade as "the most elegant building in America"—and as a new kind of retail center. Architect Charles N. Parker designed the Arcade, which was originally envisioned as a 5-story base with a 14-story tower, filled with shops, offices, and living spaces.
Dr. Grove died in 1927, two years before the building was completed. Only the base was built, yet at 269,000 square-feet, it was by far, the largest building in the region. When the Arcade opened in 1929, it quickly became home to a fine collection of local shops and services. Tenants included candy and cigar stores, a haberdashery, a public stenography office, fruit stands, millinery shops, beauty parlors and barbershops, a photography center, bookstalls and specialty groceries. Offices filled the upper floors. For 13 years, the Arcade was the center of commercial and civic life in Western North Carolina.

Overlooking Haywood Street

2008-03-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

This is Haywood Street, home of the library, The Civic Center, and Basilica of St Lawrence Catholic Church.

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The Asheville Civic Center

2008-02-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

A downtown staple since before I was a kid, this place has housed some memorable events--my sister's graduation, various concerts, shows, field trips, etc.

Another Beginning in the Mountains

2008-02-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

One thing I certainly miss about the mountains is the beautiful landscape. The lack of light pollution also makes for a very starry night. This photo was taken early one morning in Hooper's Creek, near where my sister lives.