Greensboro Daily Photo

On Westover Terrace

Some people dream of the future and technological innovation. Others are quite content to live in the present. Still others, have a little piece of their heart in the past. We suspect the residents of the above home fall into the past-loving category. In front of their house we see the retro lawn chairs and that beauty of a 1956 Dodge Royal. Can't you imagine sitting in that yard in the evening, catching fireflies with your children, and piling in that sedan to head for an ice cream... maybe even at nearby Yum-Yum.

The Westover Terrace of today is a street dissected by Benjamin Parkway. It has a busy part by Grimsley High School and Wendover Avenue. It also has a little section on the edge of Westerwood. The above house is located on that section that cuts through from Friendly Avenue to Aycock Street. As we drove by, we could almost imagine Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, and Carl Perkins music playing on that car radio. 

Bill Black Chevrolet Cadillac

If you are longtime readers of our blog, you know that we love family-owned businesses, especially ones that value history. Bill Black 's Chevrolet Cadillac dealership  is one such business. It first opened in 1955 on East Market Street in downtown Greensboro (also selling Oldsmobiles). Since 1966, they have been at their current location at 601 East Bessemer Avenue. In 2004, they purchased North State Chevrolet and, according to their website, kept many of the North State employees.   Their website has a paragraph on the dealership's history. We'd really be happy if they would also feature photos of the "good old days."  They are located on the edge of the Aycock Historic District, where homes look like they did decades ago. 

We're not sure if the dealership's flag was flying half mast on the day we drove by. We do know that Old Glory looked majestic as she rippled in the air, high above Bessemer and Yanceyville Avenues.

HPU and Biscuitville Collegiate Bowl

Well, it is the weekend and a lot of people in Greensboro will be on the go, especially if it is nice weather. The Biscuitville Collegiate Bowl will be in full swing. The event is a way to bring together all of the local institutions of higher education (IHE). Students will dive into sweet tea and slosh through pools of jelly and feel as if they are romping inside a buttermilk biscuit. Greensboro is a logical place for the event because Biscuitville is headquartered here. Plus, we have so many different IHE's.

While at the airport, earlier this week, we noticed that in the parking reserved for airport board members was this HPU-mobile. We're about convinced that this Mercedes is owned by High Point University's president, Dr. Nido Qubein. Perhaps he was at the airport attending to something for the Biscuitville Bowl. Probably not. Likely, the above person was attending an important meeting related to the Piedmont Triad International Airport. As for the Biscuitville Bowl. All day today, they're still taking individual entries down at the Green Bean. Hope to see you up to your neck in biscuit dough. Hoping to see you working hard on a college campus. Hoping to see you... period. And Mr. Qubein, too!

This Old Car

Sunday afternoon, we pulled off the road when spotting this car at the Antique Marketplace, out near the airport. The car was really attractive and refurbished to look spotless inside and out. Unfortunately, we are not car experts and it didn't have anything to indicate make, year, or model. We included a photo of the instrument panel and slender steering wheel (see below) as we're counting on our readers to identify it. Imagine how fun it would be to take this car for a Sunday drive on a warm, spring afternoon. This old car gets around at we spotted it a little later on Wendover Avenue, when we were en route to a big box store.

 The business across the street is Varco Pruden, builders on non-residential low-rise buildings. The glass in the VP building matches the car perfectly and the trees, blooming back to life, are icing on the cake.

 

Captive Audience..... on the Road

Driving back from Washington, D.C. this weekend, as we were approaching Greensboro, we saw this truck on the road: "best coffee on the Interstate", Pilot travel centers. On the side, the truck's tank had written, "flammable". Somehow, we don't think the liquid inside was coffee. This was a brilliant piece of advertisement from which one cannot escape. Seeing the coffee-bean shaped sign made us want to stop for coffee. However,  the closest Pilot (Flying J) travel center to Greensboro is in Mebane and we had already passed it. We settled for getting back to town 15 minutes earlier and brewing coffee at home.

Seeing this photo and looking at photos from this time last year,  we notice spring is a little later in arriving this year. Perhaps it is for the best as we don't want any beautiful blossoms to get damaged. If you want to learn about trees that will be blooming soon, look here. Do you have any in your yard? Something a little farther away from home is this 1:32 video about early blooms of spring in the Chicago Botanic Garden. At any rate, as we look at the dull, almost colorless, photo above, we can hardly contain ourselves, anticipating another beautiful spring in Greensboro. Spring, hurry up! Please!

 

Fordson Tractor on Highway 150

The weather was so lovely this weekend, it called for a Sunday drive. We hadn't spent much time in the northeastern end of Guilford County lately so, yesterday, we got on Highway 150 at the end of Strawberry Road and drove east until we ended up in Caswell County. If you live in the city limits and surrounding areas of Greensboro, it might be hard to remember what rural North Carolina looked like.On Highway 150, once you cross under Highway 29, you start seeing lots of tobacco barns, plowed fields, and other signs of yesteryear. The above tractor was no exception. It is an early model Fordson parked near Faucette Farms.

Fordson was a brand name for general-purpose tractors produced by Henry Ford & Son, Inc. The first Fordsons were made in 1917 and the name was last used in 1964. Ford experimented with using automobile components in the tractors. The Fordson was the first affordable, small, lightweight, mass-produced tractor in the world. * From the looks of the above relic, we could well have one of the early prototypes right here in Guilford County.

It is hard to believe that it is already time to start working the soil. Spring has started sprouting up in Greensboro. Wonder if the Faucettes ever fire up the Fordson. Imagine getting behind that beauty on a Sunday drive!

*reference.

Hybrid Frame of Mind

When we were looking for yesterday's photo to feature a hybrid, it seemed as if we couldn't find a Prius anywhere. Now, it seems as if they are everywhere. Last night, we were heading home rather late and spotted this Prius in a Greensboro parking garage. Seeing this vanity tag, we got a big grin. What kind of sayings would you expect to find on the vanity tag of a hybrid vehicle? What are some good ones that you have seen?

Just maybe our summer highway hobby will be documenting the words on vanity tags of the environmentally conscious. MOTHER'S MILK, less the vowels, seems befitting for an environmentally conscious Prius owner. So clever! We're ready for a road trip.

H is for Hybrid

This hybrid beauty, a Toyoto Prius, commanded a little section of Friendly Center all to itself this weekend. The Prius is one of the most environmentally friendly vehicles sold in the USA. The first mass-produced hybrid Prius was first sold in Japan in 1997 and has been available worldwide since 2000.

The word "Prius" comes from Latin meaning "before" because it was released before the environmental awareness craze (reference). The Prius is currently in its third generation and keeps getting cleaner and cleaner. Have you considered joining the hybrid generation? They get even better gas mileage around town than they do on the highway. The best numbers we've seen are 95 miles per gallon.

Today is ABC Wednesday and "H" is for "hybrid". See our A-G "go green" Greensboro entries, here.

C is for Cycling

The City of Greensboro and Guilford County have made great strides in helping our community become more bicycle friendly. In the above photo, we see a bike rack full of bicycles on the hill near Curry Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.*  Spring Garden Street, the horizontal ribbon of road in the background, now has a bike lane extending most of it's length. Also, our greenways have been extended to make cycling around town easier. Not only do our greenways make walking, running, and cycling easier, the greenways themselves are being constructed in cleaner and greener ways (read more here). We are proud of our city!

The more bicycle lanes, paths and greenway trails we have, the more conducive it becomes for people to use bicycles for commuting. The more bicycles are used for commuting, the greener our city becomes. The North Carolina Department of Transportation is on board with this concept. They even have a website outlining bicycle maps and routes, one of which is a Murphy to Manteo trail with a route that seems to go through Greensboro (or at least pretty close).

For this round of ABC Wednesday, our theme is "Go Green" Greensboro and we are showcasing ways to keep the Green in Greensboro! Today is ABC Wednesday and C is for CYCLING (and COMMUTING by CYCLE) especially on CAMPUS where CAR parking is COSTLY and at a premium. While we still have roads with heavy bicycle use that aren't cyclist friendly  (like Horse Pen Creek Road), every year, Greensboro gets a little more friendly to people on two wheels. Here's to increased bike use and zero fatalities for cyclists in 2013 in Greensboro and beyond!

 

*For those of you familiar with the UNCG campus, Jackson Library is the white buildng in the background.

You've Got Mail on "Our Street"

Considering how busy the postal service gets this time of year, we just had to share this van, spotted on North Battleground Avenue (near Big Lots and Wendy's) this week. The mailbox at the top is "air mail" and just below is "e-mail." Behind the back door is "residential mail" and on the trailer hitch on the bottom is "junk mail, bills, taxes." Gotta love this sense of humor. We only wish we'd had a Christmas card to drop in the residential mailbox or some of our junk mail to hand off to the van's owner. We don't know where they really get their mail, but the van has North Carolina tags. What does your vehicle say about you and your lifestyle? If it is this interesting, you just might find it on Greensboro Daily Photo.

It is a busy weekend in Greensboro. we hope you find time to do something fun and meaningful. Today is theme day for the City Daily Photo Community, the meme that inspired this website. People around the world will be showing us "their streets." 

 

Sailing on Oak Hollow Lake

    We wonder how we've lived in the Greensboro area for nearly two decades and never known about the local sailing and boating scene. We've spent a great deal of time around Greensboro's Lakes Higgins, Townsend, Brandt, and Jeanette; however, somhow we haven't spent much time on the water near High Point. Last week, we were at Oak Hollow Lake just marveling at all of the people on the water with sailboats. The sight was breathtaking and a photographer's dream. 

    

    The 850 acre lake is next to a 1,500 acre park with a marina that has been open to the public since 1972. There is golf, a picnic area, fishing, sailing classes, and so much more.  The Oak Hollow Yacht Club is a public club and they hold regatta's the third weekend of every month. We must have been in the midst of the boat launching for the regatta when all of these beautiful sail boats (above) started dotting the shoreline. The yacht club held their first annual "Soak at the Oak" Regatta this past may. Perhaps we can all train and be ready for the one next spring. There is even a local radio control and model yacht sailing club that uses Oak Hollow Lake. If you are local, you will want to head down to Skeet Club Road and take advantage of this great, public recreation facility. 

    For our language loving friends, we found an A-Z dictionary (actually A-Y) of sailing/yachting terms. Why don't you click through and see just how many you know....... abaft, coaming, gunwale, lazarette, nautical mile, thwartships, tiller... tempted yet?

High Point Rowing Club's First Regatta

The High Point Rowing Club is not yet a month old, but this past weekend, they participated in their first regatta. The event was held in Wake Forest, North Caroina on Falls Lake. The regatta, hosted by UNC Men's Crew, gave crews a chance to get their times before November's big rowing event, Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, TN.  Head of the Hooch is the second largest regatta in the USA. The HPRC team is ready and plans to participate. This is a wonderful opportunity for the team. In the above photo, High Point's two crews are seen getting ready for this past Saturday's race.

While this blog is Greensboro Daily Photo, we're glad High Point rowing has brought the sport of crew to the Triad. Currently, the team practices on Oak Hollow Lake. It would be wonderful if Coach Gene Kininmonth also started a rowing program on Lake Brandt or Lake Townsend. Greensboro has lots of young ladies (and even a crew of parents) ready to row. Maybe they could even get Greensboro's own Caroline Lind, gold medal Olympic rower, to come home and give the girls a few tips.

That would be simply OAR-some!

Greensboro's C'EST-MOI Mobile

(Mais ... Qui êtes-vous)?

Today is more light-hearted than usual on GDP. Since we have lots of faithful readers who are Francophiles, we just had to share the "C'EST-MOI" mobile for all to enjoy. Maybe Rice Toyota gives vanity tags for a promotion with purchase as we see so many vanity tags on Rice Toyota vehicles! Given the dealership, we know C'est-moi  has local ties. If you get a chance, ask the "It is I" or "It's me" mobile, who they are... and let us know, please.

Here are some local vanity tags we've shared in the past. (A, B, C, D, E,). Perhaps our favorite is the one related to breast cancer and, since it is breast cancer awareness month, these tags seem especially meaningful to share again.

By the way, yesterday was our most viewed day ever on GDP. Either our vegetables brought readers out of the woodwork or our four years of meeting people and promoting Greensboro are starting to pay off in readership. As much time as we spend on the road driving and meeting people, it is hard to believe that the effortless snapping of veggies in our back yard brought in new readers. Regardless, we love every minute of it. And, hats off to Hugh (see his comment) for realizing yesterday's okra was, largely, too mature to eat! So for today, Hugh is our featured reader.....Hugh.......

C'EST TOI.

It's a 1961 Corvette

No doubt about it, the vehicle in the photo is a 1961 Chevrolet Corvette convertible. The vanity tags say it all. 1961 was the final year that whitewall tires were offered on the Corvette and the above tires are beautiful. It was also the last year for the option to have the "coves" in a contrasting color- an option not selected in the above vehicle. The 1961 production, 10,939 Corvettes were produced. Half of the buyers opted for the removable top. The base price was 3,934* The above driver has a pretty special vehicle.

This weekend was the perfect weather for being outside. We captured this photo at the intersection where New Garden Road meets Ballinger Road. Maybe he was en route to a meeting of the Triad Corvette Club. They have many fun meet ups for local members. If you are in the market for a new Corvette, the price can range from 50,000 to 100,00 plus.

From segway's to trains and everything in between, over the last 3 1/2 years, we've featured quite a wide assortment of vehicles in Greensboro. View them here if you are so inclined.

* info from conceptcarz

True Deliverance Apostolic Church

Right at the 315-degree angle where Liberty Road bends back on itself, intersecting with Alamance Church Road, you will find True Deliverance Apostolic Church. Led by Pastor Esther Richardson, on Sunday mornings, the congregation has a morning of great sermons and fellowship. This red brick and cinder block building is transformed into a house of salvation. The main entrance to the modest structure has a candy-striped awning. To the left of the main entrance is a white cross made out of fence pickets: No frills, but lots of deliverance for those who enter in.

True Deliverance is located in what we call the "religious deversity" corridor of Guilford County. Just about every religion imaginable- from Buddhism to Jehovah Witness to Baptist to everything in between- is concentrated in a few square miles southeast of downtown. Last Sunday, we enjoyed sitting in the parking lot of True Deliverance listening to the service. At some point, we'd like to step through the door to see what awaits on the other side.

If you are out for a Sunday drive today, head to the Alamance Church/Liberty Road part of town and start counting houses of worship. You will have enough faith-based conversation to fill all the waking hours in a week.

Volvo 122S.... Just Might Be Spotted on I-40......

Beep, beep; move over (please). This weekend is summer's last hurrah and many Greensboroians will be heading to the beach. I-40 will be busy, busy, busy. Perhaps one local family will be lucky enough to travel in the above vintage Volvo. What a beauty! This four-door, Volvo 122 S model is a station wagon from the 1960's; a classic, Amazon estate. Right now, this Volvo wagon is parked in front of Import Specialty of Summerfield on Highway 220, just north of Greensboro in Guilford County. The opposite of this vintage Volvo is the very 21st century Volvo Technology Group, also located in Greensboro. 

Those who are headed to the mountains this weekend might be going to the North Carolina Apple Festival in Hendersonville. The Labor Day Flea Market and Gun Show at Hillsville, VA will be another day trip for many. People not leaving town will want to check out the John Coltrane Jazz Festival. For those who want to hit the trail and prefer to travel by horse, Purgason's Leather Products is right next door to Import Specialty. Have a great weekend and HONK, if you see this 122S on the road!

High Point Road

Were you out shopping on tax-free weekend? High Point Road was busy with people coming and going from the mall to take advantage of sales without sales tax. North Carolina is one of only 21 states planning tax-free events in the USA. As a State, we are committed to seeing that children return to school as ready as possible.

Another big event to help students get what they need for school is the Bright Beginnings Program through the local YMCA's. They will issue backpacks, school supplies, and fund clothes-shopping trips for children in need so that they can start their school. With many individuals and businesses on board helping with the Bright Beginnings Program, the Y plans to help 500 children this year. Hats off to all involved. It won't be long until children will be needing coats.... oh, and we have a program for that (the Give a Kid a Coat Campaign). 

Boho Salon Event

Last night, at First Friday, Boho Hair Salon on Elm Street held a fundraising event for Parkinson's disease. Team Fox, the grassroots fundraising group of Michael J. Fox, was on hand to spearhead the event. For $10, you could get a haircut at Boho and have your picture taken in the Back-to-the-Future mobile. All money was donated to their reserach eforts. Fun events like this make First Friday even more meaningful.

Delta Airlines @ PTI in GSO

Here we see a McDonnell-Douglas 88, the last variant of the MD-80 series. This Delta Airlines plane is parked at Lindley Field in Greensboro (GSO). Likely, this 155 seater is headed to Atlanta, Delta's main hub. Since Northwest Airlines and Delta merged, we see a lot more of the latter in Greensboro and the "old redtails" have been repainted. US Air transports the most people to and from Greensboro and Delta is second in passengers carried.

In the background, on the top right, you can see TIMCO Aviation Services peeking out from behind the jetway. They have a 600,000 square foot aircraft maintenance facility in Greensboro. TIMCO, established in 1990, is headquartered in Greensboro. Along with TIMCO and FedEx, DELTA, USAirways and all of the other carriers provide great resources for Greensboro. 

This photo reminds us of Delta's old advertising campaign. "We love to fly and it shows." 

Bike Riding on Highway 150

Bicycling has become quite popular in Greensboro. With the addition of the trail and greenway systems as well as getting more bicycle lanes- such as the one on Spring Garden Street near UNCG- our community is becoming more bike-friendly.

In the above photo, these four cyclists were traveling along Highway 150 in Summerfield. They were doing a great job of being conscious of the motor vehicle traffic around them and were considerate of cars, even though they are equally entitled to be on the road. From the looks of the matching outfits, likely, this quartet rides together often. When you are on a bike, there is safety in numbers. We hope they had a great ride.

As we ease into the work week, we wish you a happy Monday and to quote Sergeant Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues (1980's), "Hey, let's be careful out there." 

Widening Highway 220

This is the view of the point where the Atlantic & Yadkin Greenway comes to a screeching halt.... for now. Once the widening of Highway 220 is complete, the greenway will extend under 220 to the north of the old railroad bed, just north of Summerfield Elementary School. It will continue on NC Highway 150 West. For now, the best a trail-user can do is to turn around and enjoy the greenway in the opposite direction. When we were on the greenway (on the Fourth of July), this location was a birdseye view of the current construction process. We were enjoying a federal holiday; the construction workers were working tirelessly to meet completion deadlines.

With protected watershed areas nearby, this project has been a complicated one. Great care is being taken to ensure that the lakes are impacted minimally. Greensboro, while known for being green, doesn't have large lakes and is without a major river.*  We value every drop of water that we DO have. If you are local and want to take a drive the weekend, head up North Battleground on Highway 220. You just might not recognize it! Happy Friday, dear readers.

*read about the Haw River here and the tiny Deep River doesn't have a Wiki site (yet).

JESUS Bumper Sticker

We were behind this truck recently at a stop light.*  The entire time, we were thinking: 1) the driver attends UNC; 2) she drives a Ford truck; 3) she is a Christian; 4) she is from Minnesota (license plate cropped out of photo); 5) she must be a good driver because the truck has no sign of a bump or scratch- no easy task in a college town. That yellow lettering stuck with us for a while: Are you following JESUS this close? We even found ourselves talking to the bumper sticker, "wait..... we're not that close to your truck." Later that day, back in town on Battleground Avenue, we saw a Volvo with a vanity plate advertising a local community: OAKRIDGE.

The back of a vehicle makes a very effective place to advertise/proselytize. What does the back of your vehicle say about you? You know people are watching!  Since we photograph something related to religion every Sunday, this bumper sticker is having an even greater impact than the truck-driving, Carolina gal (from Minnesota) ever imagined.

Summer is a fun time to look for bumperstickers and vanity tags, especially if you are on vacation and have restless children in the car.

 

* (OK, we cheated a little and slipped out of Guilford County for an afternoon).

 

W is for Warnersville.... and Women

Today we bring you what appears to be a light blue, 1986 Chevrolet Caprice* along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard during the MLK parade. The sign on the outside of the car is celebrating the Warnersville community. Warnersville, Greensboro's oldest African-American community, is a mere .277 square miles in size with a population of 896. It was established by former slaves in 1867, just after the Civil War, on land sold to them by a white Quaker, Yardley Warner.  Today, approximately 80% of this neighborhood remains African-American (reference). Just under half of the residents in this neighborhood are women and 36.8 percent of the households in this neighborhood are single-mother households. 39.5 percent of the women in this neighborhood have sales and office occupations. The women of Warnersville work very hard at taking care of their children and providing for their households. Additionally, they work to promote their neighborhood. 

We're sure there are great men in Warnersville, too; however, today is ABC Wednesday and "W" is for Warnersville and the women of Warnersville- one of whom was riding in the Buick above. This round of ABC Wednesday, we're also mentioning causes to accompany these Wednesday posts. If you wanted to contribute to the Warnersville community, you could consider donating time and/or money to Jones Elementary or to Warnersville Recreation Center  both of which have served the community for a very long time.

*Thank you, reader, Fred Robbins, for identifying this vehicle for us. 

Patriot Guard Riders

The Patriot Guard Riders were in town recently. Here we see a row of their bikes, parked along Smothers Place with South Elm Street in the background. The PGR are a diverse group of riders across the nation that show their respect to those who risk their lives for America's freedom and security. At the request of the families of fallen heroes (e.g., military, firefighters, policemen), the freedom riders attend funerals. If necessary, they serve as human shields if the family members are at risk of being bothered by protesters. The long poles on the back of the motorcycles serve as flag poles when the riders are working. According to their website, anyone who supports their mission is invited to be part of the group. The only prerequesite is RESPECT. Having a motorcycle isn't mandatory..... but it helps.

The group was formed in 2005 in Kansas. Persently, they have around a quarter of a million members across the nation. We wonder if these riders are local or if they were just in town for the day. If you know, please share with our readers.

Southside & Fracking

Here we see a photo of Southside, taken at the corner of Martin Luther King Drive and South Elm Street, just beyond the MLK, Jr. bust. This is such a nice part of town with plenty of new housing. Southside sure gets its share of interesting vehicles (see here, for example). We like the one in today's photo, the little black car on the left. The rear window reads, "no fracking way."  Hydraulic fracturing, or... fracking, has been in the news a lot lately. It is a means of extracting shale gas from the earth through the use of pressure and liquids. Much of the controversy stems from the removal of the liquid that was forced into the earth to remove the gas. While fracking was "invented" in 1947, it became popular in about 1980. The pro and anti fracking groups are about as polarized as conservative and liberal politicians. The person in the little black car was against fracking.

In this day and age, you have to have a lot of nerve to tout your philosophy about anything on the back of your car. Some people don't appreciate the brazen solicitation and will retaliate with a beep, or shout through their car window while driving...... or even worse. What, if anything, would you be willing to write on your car? With school officially out in Guilford County, for the next week or so, Greensboro will be a ghost town. If you are taking a road trip with children, have them keep a journal of all the interesting things they see written on cars, interesting  bumper sticekers, and thought-provoking vanity tags. Encourage them to share the slogans with us at Greensboro Daily Photo. Happy Friday, folks. And, if you have school-aged children, happy first Friday of summer vacation!

 

Day 180, 2012

Day 180 is here again. By 5 pm, most busses will be parked and quiet for the summer and the 2011-2012 school year will have come to a screeching halt. Most students, teachers, parents, administrators are ready to bring closure to the year and have a break. After all, it is said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. It is a chance for everyone to relax, recalibrate, and have a chance to start out fresh again at the end of August. In North Carolina, there was a push to add five more days to the calendar. However, with no additional funding to pay for the cost of the days, it was determined that 180 days would be sufficient in the 2012-2013 academic year.

In some schools, all the teachers, staff, and administrators follow the students and ring out the school year with noisemakers and farewell waves. Then, they will dash back inside to put the cumulative folders in order, make sure their rooms are packed up, and double check that books are inventoried, technology is inventoried and stored and that their checklists are finished. While the students finish today, teachers have several more days of work. Hats off to a great finish to the school year and a happy new beginning....... in August. We suspect summer will fly by.

The above photo was taken at the bus hub at Grimsley High School.

West Market UMC: Sin and Salvation on One Street

While the Edwards trial is in session next door at the federal building, West Market Street United Methodist Church is surrounded by media vans and tents full of news reporters. Fortunately they haven't been around on the weekends. Can you imagine needing to dodge news reporters to go pray? The verdict should be handed down very soon so, likely, this is the last week that we will see the media frenzy. 

Every Sunday, we post something religious or spiritual on GDP. And, once every year or so, we find something that evokes the notion of sin and salvation in one spot. August 2009, it was a tobacco field in the front yard of a local Baptist church (here). Today, it is infidelity and the misappropriation of funds (maybe), being argued passionately, in the back yard of the church. Here we see almost the same view of West Market Street UMC on a day that trial followers aren't in town. Also, read church history, here. Perhaps Mr. Edwards can stop by and... reflect.... once the verdict is handed down, regardless of whether it is guilty, or not. Happy Sunday, all. Enjoy the weather. Enjoy the peace and quiet.

Midway Auto Sales

For as many used car lots as we've been in lately, you'd think GDP was looking for a used car. That is not the case; however, when that magical 10 minutes before sunset strikes on a glorious, golden evening, we cannot help but to stop and admire the beauty overhead. Such was the case last night at 8:22 pm on West Lee Street at the Greenway. We went to see the greenway and were disappointed that the brilliant display of color was not working. Instead, the panels were all white. However, the sky was beautiful in that part of town and made stopping all worthwhile.

If you look closely, you will see three chairs on the corner of Midway Auto Sales at 502 West Lee Street. This is the very spot where, during business hours, you will likely find the owner and employees sitting to solve the world's problems with a good friend, prospective customer, or both. You may recall two and a half years ago when we took a photo of Sprinkle Gas Station, just down the street from Midway (see here). Well, they have the requisite chairs on the side of the building-- a real must if you are an old-time southern business. You've got to be willing to sit and develop a relationship with people who come your way. Fellowship and friendship are at the very core of the success of these old-time businesses. We'd love to be a fly on the wall and listen to just what gets communicated in those three chairs! Happy Thursday folks. Time permitting, consider driving or biking around town and seeing just how many businesses have their chairs outside.... almost as important as hanging a name shingle.

Llantas Usadas

Today's photo was taken in East Greensboro on East Bessemer Avenue, formerly the main east-west corridor leading into Greensboro from the east- the pre-1970's Wendover. Today, this little section near Summit Avenue is quite an enclave of Hispanic businesses.... peluquierias, taquerias, and llantas usadas. The Mexican flag flies high at Tamayo's Used Auto Sales. The above photo (at 2301 East Bessemer Avenue) offers used cars and used tires in a semicircular building that probably has quite a history.

Prior to 1957, Bessemer used to be a thriving town with Bessemer High School, located in the heart of this part of town from 1911-1963.* The neighborhood was so cohesive that to this day, the school has a Facebook page. In the high school's fifty-two year history, it only had 3 principals. It was the kind of place where everybody knew everybody's name and the principal made sure you towed the line, long after you graduated. Lets hope that sense of community still exists,today..... in two languages.

 

*Bessemer reference

El Día de los Niños

Center City Park will be brimming with families today. The Greensboro Public Library and Casa Azul are bringing us another great day in the park from 12- 6 pm. Mexican children's author and illustrator Marcos Almada Rivero will be reading over the course of the weekend. His books look like so much fun, rather like Maurice Sendack's Where the Wild Things Are meets Indiana Jones....full of adventure with a message-- delightfully illustrated.

There will be salsa dancing, art activities, food, face paining and more. Likely, the library will have their fancy bus open for perusal. This is the fourth year of the event that celebrates the diversity in our community and to brings people of all ethnicities together.

See a photo from the first year of the event here and another photo of the event here and read more about the event here. Head on out and let us know what you think!

Coe Grocery and Seed Company

Today, we take you to the 500 block of South Elm Street. The blue building behind the tree is Coe Grocery and Seed Company-- a Greensboro institution. However, we have been told that the two-story, brick building to the left is the original Coe Grocery and Seed. It is now houses the trendy Civic Threads. Civic Threads sells t-shirts that advertise their building's former tennant, now neighbor next door. If this brick building is, indeed, the former Coe Grocery, then the second floor should be the location where Greensboro's Jewish community held their early services.

Greensboro needs a Jeri Rowe or Jim Schlosser-like person to provide us with a complete history of this building. If those walls could talk.... We didn't see anything about the building in Gayle Fripp's book (Greensboro). If you have information, please do share it with our readers. Related, here is a Jeri Rowe article from 2009 that talks about the characters of the 500 & 600 block of South Elm Street.

Finally, at first we were upset that that giant SUV blocked our camera's view. However, nothing dates a picture better than vehicles on the street;except, perhaps, hair styles.

Farm Course Fun!

If you live here, you know Greensboro is a big golf town. If you do not live here and like golf, you should make it a point to come play one of our courses. Above, we see an event from a few weeks ago at the Farm Course of the Greensboro Country Club. Golfers seemed to be enjoying every minute of the event. With six million dollars of renovations to the Farm Course, located off Carlson Dairy Road in Northwest Greensboro, use of the venue has increased significantly. Golf architect, Donald Steele, redesigned the above course. The 103 year-old Greensboro Country Club has not only one but two fabulous 18-hole courses. 

In addition to Greensboro Country Club, Grandover, Bryan Park, Cardinal, Forest Oaks, Pleasant Ridge, Starmount and Sedgefield  Clubs are some of the many options for golf in Greensboro. This News & Record article about golf in Greensboro goes all the way back to 1937-- the year of the first PGA-sanctioned golf tournament in Greensboro, the Greater Greensboro Open.

We're sharing this sky shot with Skywatch Friday. While an overcast sky doesn't make the most attractive sky picture, it can be good golf weather. Fore!

G is for Green

Happy Leap Year (Day)!

Today, we're going green with a seafoam-green scooter in front of UNCG's Brown Building on Tate Street. On nice days, this perky, Buddy 50 scooter is spotted out and about in Greensboro. For driving around town, running errands, coffee-shop meet-ups, or heading to class, this little-engine-that-can is very practical.  The top speed is 30 MPH and it can get up to 100 miles to a gallon of gas, making it very environmentally friendly. If you calculate your carbon footprint (here), and can factor a scooter into the equation, your annual emission will likely be low!

One definition of carbon footprint is "the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event, product, or person".* There are carbon footprint reduction programs (see this one, for example) and at least one Greensboro business has achieved certification for reducing its carbon footprint-- BounceU. Wouldn't it be nice to get more local businesses working actively on reducing their carbon footprint. It is ABC Wednesday and "G" is for going green! We think we'll run over to Scooter Nerds on Battleground and test drive a Buddy 50!

* reference

Bridge on Bessemer Avenue

Greensboro started the week with a snow event, had a sunny Thursday, and  rain is predicted for today. At any rate, it is still a good weekend to get out and enjoy our city. Here we see a car heading west over the Bessemer Bridge at Church Street. The above bridge connects Fisher Park with the Aycock Historic District. 

Nearby, is a walking bridge that allows pedestrian traffic to move back and forth. It is known as the Hendrix Street Pedestrian Bridge. It was rebuilt in 1997 and named after Max Thompson, who, while alive, worked tirelessly to make the refurbished pedestrian bridge a reality. We need to try to get a picture of the pedestrian walkway before the leaves return to hide it. It helps minimize foot traffic on the above bridge.

Notice the nice job they did of keeping the vintage, early-20th century look on the Bessemer Bridge. The low street lights are reminiscent of the gas lamps of yesteryear. Today, Bessemer is not nearly as busy as it was in previous decades when it was the principal east/west artery before Wendover was constructed. It is, however, incredibly convenient to use in getting from the east side of town to North Eugene Street, the First Presbyterian Church, Latham Park, Moses Cone Hospital and everything in between.

This is our contribution to Skywatch Friday.

A is for AIDS

In this week's parade, the Challenged by HIV/AIDS Ministry marched along Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive making people aware of the fact that people who are HIV positive in Greensboro can find a warm and inviting community to not only help them work through issues related to the disease, but also to live a full and productive life once diagnosed. The ministry educates, trains, supports, loves, and ministers to people affected and/or infected by the disease. Additionally, they offer over a dozen opportunities for service and community involvement. In an nutshell, they teach people HOW 2 LIVE POSITIVE. The group meets in Greensboro and in Kernersville (info here). Higher Ground, the Triad Health Project and Winter Walk for Aids (info here) are other interfaith ways to get involved and to find support. 

As for GDP, we're starting another ABC Wednesday Round. Previously, we've featured A-Z streets of Greensboro. For the last series, we shared A-Z people of Greensboro. This round, we're not so sure we can commit to a theme. Themes require EXTENSIVE preplanning, as opposed to random photos one stumbles upon while walking through life. Having said that, if we can loosely translate "causes" to mean anything worthy of caring about, we might try A-Z causes. For A, we could have featured adoption, (public) art, animals, alumni associations. A-Z Causes?......!

At any rate, Aids awareness, support, community involvement, and quality of life are causes worthy of featuring. So, drumroll, for ABC Wednesday, Round Ten, Week #1, A is for AIDS. (Go here for GDP's previous posts and HERE to see what others around the blogosphere are posting). This week, there are some FABULOUS entries for the letter "A" from angels to aviation; however, at least for the first 65 entries, we are the only blog to pick "AIDS" (or to commit to a theme)-- all the more reason to do so. 

Fall Bike Ride

This past Sunday was a perfect day for a bike ride. Here we see a group of cyclists en route, calling a fellow cyclist who was lagging behind-- ahh technology. We met up with these cyclists on the part of the greenway trail that parallels Benjamin Boulevard, between Friendly Center and Grimsley High School.

If you are interested in cycling and want to find like-minded people, the Velo Club of Greensboro is an active, social cycliing club.  It was established 36 years ago, in 1975 and continues to add meetings and events. In addition to their weekly Sunday rides, the local club is gearing up for three big events this fall/winter: 1) The Tanglewood Park Festival of Bikes on November 18th; 2) the 15th annual Polar Bear Ride on January 1st; and  3) the big Cyclocross Race at Bur-Mil Park on January 22nd. The Polar Bear Ride would be a great way to bring in the new year that would be perfect for those of us who vow to move more and eat less.

Whether you join a group or do something on your own, travel on Greensboro's Greenway or on paths uncharted, we suggest you head outdoors and take advantage of these fleeting good-weather days.

 

 

Southern Railway Car in Gibsonville

Returning from Burlington yesterday, we drove through downtown Gibsonville, a community of approximately 6,000 people located in the easternmost part of Guilford County. Named in honor of Joseph Gibson, Gibsonville was incorporated in 1871; however, the Gibsonville  Post Office opened sixteen years earlier in 1855. Founding fathers laid the boundaries of the town in both Guilford and Alamance Counties, which has been quite a challenge with respect to governance. In 1971, 100 years after its incorporation, Melvin O. Wyrick published a History of Gibsonville, excerpts of which city officials have posted (here).

Southern Railway can trace its roots, and the beginning of its many iterations, to the 1830's. The bright red, vintage Southern Railway car, parked downtown, is an iconic memory of Gibsonville's booming rail history. It is located beside the tracks that parallel to E. Railroad Avenue, across from the former Cone Mills Minneola Textile Mill. Gibsonville saw extensive rail traffic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the flurry of commerce surrounding the textile mill.

A little bit of downtown Gibsonville is peeking out on the left of the photo.  If you want to see more of the historic community and experience Gibsonville's southern charm, visit their annual Christmas parade-- to be held at 2pm on Saturday December 10th. We're placing an order for snow flurries to accompany the parade!

 

Labor Day Day Weekend-- Got Plans?

Labor Day Weekend is upon us! This Castle of Horror Clown, last seen scooting through Market Street at the Fourth of July Parade, is hoping that you have a little time to clown around this weekend. While much of the world celebrates Labor/International Workers' Day on May 1st, in the US, we celebrate the holiday the first Monday of September. Traditionally, this is the last hurrah of summer vacations, after which academics become the focus for students. Drivers beware, I-40 through Greensboro will be bumper to bumper today and Monday... Just sayin'.......

We're sharing this photo with Skywatch Friday crowd, hopefully some people are out there visiting blogs and not all away on vacation. We'll be staying in town, trying to find great things to photographs, but we will try to find some time to don wild clothing and clown around. Let us know how you are spending your weekend.

 

Center City Resource Team

If any wrong-doings happened in downtown Greensboro last night, it was not because we lacked police patrolling the area. In the above photo, six policemen on bicycles, who are part of the Center City Resource Team, were congregating in the city parking lot between Design Archives and Bin 33 Restaurant. Two minutes earlier, they had been riding up Elm Street in formation.  Additionally several members of the foot patrol were in Center City Park around its closing time.

With over 20,000 people in the community having  the right to carry a concealed weapon (or with a permit in process) and additional people who have guns illegally, these policemen risk their lives with each turn of a bike pedal. They do so much for our community and make a genuine effort to build rapport with the people who frequent their beat. Property owners in the downtown area pay an assessment to get extra services ranging from additional police to getting hanging baskets watered and having extra garbage pick up. So, if you are downtown, don't assume there is a problem, just because you see a mini-brigade of police.

Rice Toyota

When Garson Rice, Sr. opened Rice Toyota in Greensboro in 1965, it was one of the first Toyota dealerships in the USA; the first in the South. At the time, 2630 Battleground Avenue seemed more remotely located as Battleground was not as commercial and built up in the 1960's. Today, the Rice Toyota Dealership has grown and extends on both sides of the street. It is not unusual to see salesmen and managers traversing the multiple-lane highway to get to the offices (or McDonald's) on the other side. Knock on wood, those smiling guys in polo shirts and slacks seem to have mastered crossing the street safely.

In the photo above, a Rice Toyota customer and Prius owner, is sporting a badge of pride-- a vanity plate. As the Greensboro owner informs us, this Prius gets 49 miles per gallon of gas.  The owner has reduced her carbon footprint and is providing a subtle reminder that we all need to be getting 40, 50, or more, miles to the gallon of gas. We first test drove a Prius at Rice Toyota. Perhaps it is time to see what we can negotiate with Mr. Rice, Junior, who works tirelessly to continue the legacy built by his dad. In three years, the age of the dealership will equal the MPG.