NoDa (January 28, 2012)

 Certainly one of the most interesting sections of Charlotte -the North Davidson neighborhood was once a mill town (and one of the buildings that were converted was a mill. Made into apartments it was closed due to discovered termite damage). Artists attracted to the cheap rents in the area opened art galleries. Now the gallery crawls are very popular. Now there is also a thriving music community as well. The Neighborhood Theatre books many name acts (Robert Cray and Delbert McClinton are coming soon according to the signs) and provide a place for smaller acts to perform up close and personal.    

The Dog Bar in NoDa is unique....a bar where you can enjoy a drink with your best friend....Charlotte's only dog friendly bar! You don't have to have a dog with you to go there, but think it is really neat. Richmond would enjoy this place a great deal (though I would not be surprised that dogs are welcome at some bars in the city-Richmond is a very dog friendly city! NoDa is also home to a brewery (and makes a very tasty product I might add). There are a number of bars and pubs in the area, and many of them have live music during the week and on weekends.     

 The area is famous for its art galleries, and has a number of popular gallery crawls. Of course the art and music has attracted a lot of people, and I have been reading that with the success of the area a lot of development has gone up-so have rents in the area as well. Still, many of the old buildings have been converted in the re-birth of this area and it is also (as is seen at left) a great place for outdoor art. Every city needs a place for its creative people to create-and NoDa is the center of that activity in Charlotte. It is a fun place to park the motorcycle and to walk around. 

Sort of a NoDa institution is "Cabo Fish Taco". This is the first place I ever had a fish taco (but not the last) as I had to check that out a while back. There are a lot of good restaurants to explore in the NoDa area, and even a few good coffee shops (Smelly Cat is my favorite in NoDa).
Charlotte has a lot of fun neighborhoods, for one thing it is a big city in area and takes a long time to cover it all. For another thing, as I have noted, it changes a great deal in a relatively short time. It is a fun city to explore, and very different from Richmond. That makes this period in my life very, very interesting much of the time spent in "my two homes". Coming up next week, an interesting part of the Richmond area will be featured on this page. Thanks for visiting here! 

Uptown Charlotte Ride (January 28, 2012)

 Back in North Carolina on January 28, had wanted to check out a place called VBGB at the NC Music Factory in Uptown Charlotte (actually just slightly outside, though great views of the city there). I liked this place; great beer selection was on tap and samples to check out the variety along with informed bar people to make suggestions. The facility has a nice inside section, also a large beer deck outside. The sign is historic-nice to see Charlotte save a bit of its history. Made a short visit there, but I plan to be back later this year, and in the years to come. Think this will be a blast in even warmer weather.  

This is the "main" entrance (I guess...considering this is the sign for it) for what is a massive complex. NC Music Factory has a number of restaurants, bars, indoor music halls, outdoor music venues, a music studio, band practice facilities - a great variety of things went into the facilities creation. Plus I am pretty sure this massive facility once had another purpose-which would make it a rare rework of a Charlotte area building. I do know a lot of money has gone into it, and from what I am hearing, it is getting to be a popular place to hang out. Not so crowded on a early Saturday afternoon though. 
Below at left is The Fillmore, which is licensed I believe from the famous music hall in San Francisco. I also have a photo of Bank of America Stadium in Uptown Charlotte (which is not part of the NC Music Factory), but a place where over the years I have spent many happy hours indeed (especially when the Carolina Panthers win there).

View here is of the two tallest buildings in Charlotte. I always enjoy wandering around the city, there is a lot of interest to be found there. Have read over the weekend that E2 is open for business in the city-being the 13th restaurant owned by the great Emeril Lagasse (that is open uptown at the Levine Center for the Arts). Charlotte will also be the site this year for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and that will be a most interesting period in the city for sure later this year. Charlotte is a great town for food, fun place to check out a concert, and it is a modern and interesting city with a lot of elegant areas as well. I hope to bring some of those in a future post, some great riding weather is coming up, and this is a favorite destination of mine. Of course, so far there has not been much "winter" in this winter, it has been remarkably mild for this time of year. Snow fall has been at or very, very close to zero, and the temperatures have been very pleasant as well. I was not the only motorcyclist enjoying the 65 degree temperatures under beautiful blue skies. In my next post I will be sharing photos from the very interesting North Davidson area...aka Noda. While Charlotte does not often recycle buildings, what has been done with that area makes it one of the most interesting in the city.   

A Big Wet One in the RVA (January 21-22)

 Busy rainy Saturday in Richmond-stopped at Sedona Tap House, a new place which opened a couple of weeks ago on the Midlothian Turnpike. Nice setting, and a wide beer selection (they also have live music some nights I was told) but a bit pricy. Still, I enjoyed it. Also enjoyed the movie "Red Tails", though I am an aviation and history buff. Still an important story, and a good look at a period in American history that is well worth remembering. Movie was by George Lucas of Star Wars fame, and told he wanted to make it for some 20+ years. Good day along Midlothian Turnpike.  

 Sunday before the football playoff games went to Church Hill. Friend of mine lives there, and went with another friend. We took a walk in the Shockoe Bottom area, here at the Lucky Strike condo. At one time this was a tobacco factory, one of many in the Richmond area (now only the Philip Morris factories remain). Indian at top here used to be on the Richmond baseball stadium (aka "The Diamond"). Formerly the Richmond Braves were the team that played there, now the current team is making noise about moving as the new stadium they were promised is years away from being built. 

Bridge here is part of the old Canal system, from what I read nearby it dated to the 1920's and could be raised to allow boats to pass underneath to bring supplies to the tobacco factories in the area (see the photo above). All those of course are gone, though Philip Morris still has some facilities in the Richmond area. Also near this site back in the day was the Confederate Naval Yard in the Richmond area, nothing remains of that from what I was able to read. Not far from this location also was the Confederate "Libby Prison". That building is also long gone though a plaque remains to mark the former site.    

Finally, here is Poe's Pub-love the "Sorry, we're Open" sign near the door. Great place and found today they have a Sunday Brunch (from 10-2). Always meet some interesting people in there, and there are many good beverages in there as well for beverage fans such as myself. It is real close to Libby Hill Park which has the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument at the top of the hill. Went to a real fun bbq festival with some great bands at Libby Hill Park last summer-it was a great time.
It was a cold and wet weekend in Richmond, but can't complain-its been a very good winter so far.    

Riding in Kannapolis, NC (January 15, 2012)

 Spent a pleasant weekend (with a bonus day thanks to the Martin Luther King Holiday) in North Carolina. Though cold (it is winter after all) bundled up and took a Sunday morning ride to the area that was formerly known as "Cannon Village" in Kannapolis, NC.This was once the site of a many million square feet complex of textile mills, but they are since torn down and long out of business. This survives-which is now offices for the NC Research Center, some stores and restaurants, The Gem (a great place to see movies) and even (as I found) the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. A statue of Dale Earnhardt can also be found there.

The NC Research Center can be seen at right. This is one of a new complex of buildings designed as part of a bio-tech research campus. The promise has not yet quite matched up to the massive investment, but everyone is hopeful that someday this will be a major job creator. It certainly is a beautiful collection of buildings, and some employment and research is going on there. It is certainly a beautiful campus and sure hope that it turns out to work out in the future. I think that the economy hit this project pretty hard and that things have a way to go yet. Hopefully it will soon take off.  

Trains run though Kannapolis, this one comes from Charlotte, NC and runs to (ta-da) places east including Richmond, VA. It takes a while to get there from Kannapolis, high speed rail being a dream, but given some rising fuel prices and this may be a future way for me to get between Charlotte and Richmond. Rail is (I am told) an important way for many to get to Washington, DC and back from Richmond. Rumor has it that many live in Richmond and commute via this method back and forth to work due to the high cost of housing in the Washington, DC area. I don't know for a fact this is true, but I have been told that it is that way. At any case, a very nice weekend in the 40's in North Carolina. Still a wacky winter to this point (not that I am complaining) with no snow either in the Charlotte or Richmond area, and in fact some very fine temperatures in the last few weeks. To this point, it has been a very mild and pleasant winter. Got out to enjoy the day, enjoyed the ride, and was fun to be back in the Kannapolis area to do some exploring. Saw some new things there-nice to spend a bit of time there on a cold but quiet Sunday.    

Pub Crawl in Church Hill (January 7, 2012)

 A good friend of mine and his girlfriend got one of the old houses in Church Hill, which I consider one of the most interesting and fun areas of Richmond, VA. Nice place with a nice history, I really envy him getting that place. We went out later on a pub crawl, as there are a number of interesting places in the area to explore. This was actually the end stop...Sette which is a pizza place in the Church Hill/Shockoe Bottom area. Nice specials though, and enjoyed the bartender there who was a lot of fun,and the game which was on the TV at the time. Made for a nice final stop for the day. 

This photo gives a good idea of "Hill" part of the Church Hill name, definitely the high county with some great views looking down at the city. Church Hill has some of the oldest and the most interesting buildings in the city, many of them date back to the 1800s if not before. It is a very interesting area to just wander around and explore, in fact I got a big kick out of the gas lights in the area-sure I had seen them but did not know they still worked! As usual in Richmond was pleased with all the nice people you come across, few cities are as friendly as you come across in the Richmond area, and I like that.    

 Speaking of friendly, The Hill Cafe was very friendly, and a nice place to enjoy a few frosty cold beverages (or a glass of wine judging from the selection I saw in there). Nice group of people, one of which had a small dog in a sort of computer case (Richmond is the most dog friendly town I have ever seen, and this again is a wonderful thing). I am told the food here also is pretty good, though did not get to sample it this trip, but I will on a future visit. There are a number of places in Church Hill that are going to be worth checking out,and sure that Tony and Tina will point me in the right directions.

Of course, St. John's Church is the site where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" speech, plus it is the burial ground of the mother of Edgar Allen Poe and the gravesite of one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. One of my favorite spots in Richmond and it is right in Church Hill.

Finally , made a stop at Patrick Henry Pub, but they were not yet open when we visited there. Still, they could not have been nicer and I hope to make a future visit there, as it looked to be a very interesting place to spend a few happy hours checking out some of the local beverages in the Richmond area and to meet some of the local people  

 

I had a great time during the short exploration of Church Hill, an area I have visited before and will many time again in the future.