Greensboro Daily Photo

Susan Sassmann, Community Member Extraordinaire

Today, we're featuring this photo of Susan Sassmann to remind all of us that Saturday, June 21, 2025, is the 21st year of the Greensboro Summer Solstice Festival. It began in 2025, and initially held in Greensboro's Bicentennial Garden. The event pre-dated the naming of the garden The Tanger Center Bicentennial Garden. Originally, the event was to be a one year happening, but people loved it so much, it has become an annual event for Greensboro, timed to happen as close to the Summer Solstice as possible. Approximently 5,000 attend the event annually to enjoy the many performances, events, food trucks and vendors. This is a place to don your best fairy wings and sparkle as magically as you can. See here for all the details from vendors to bands & schedule. And yes, the giant, Paper Hand Puppets out of Saxapahaw will he there and the evening will end with a fire show. A $10 entry fee helps pay for the event as well as the performers.

The extraordinary Sue Sassmann moved to Greensboro from Toronto in 1987 to attend college where she majored in fashion design. She has done so much in her time in Greensboro, including co-founding the Women's Resource Center in the mid 1990s. Now "retired", Sue will be seen in full fairy regalia floating from venue to venue and booth to booth to make sure everyone is having a fabulous time at the festival. Sue is one of those people who just keeps making an impact and giving back to community. If you see her on Saturday, be sure to thank her.

Happy Friday!

500 Westside Block South Elm: One Block at a Time

Today, we're on the westside of South Elm Street in the 500 block. We were so captivated by the view from Ziggy's on the east side of South Elm Street, as Ziggy's has set up a lush jungle of potted plants at their entrance. However, we missed the Downtown Greensboro building,  Stolen Skate Shop, Ambleside Gallery (which we love and at least have featured before), Rock's Hair Shop, and the Vintage to Vogue Antique Shop. The antique shop is located at 530 South Elm, in the building that once housed Jules Antiques, owned by Gary Brame. Seen in the photo, is the Community Theatre of Greensboro at 520 South Elm Street and 518 South Elm with the ever eclectic Terra Blue Shop and just in the corner, the Fordham Drug Store at 514 South Elm. The Fordham Drug building was built in 1895 and housed the drug store for over 100 years. Barely visible is the office with Edward Jones. 

The National Register of Historic Places describes the 500 block of South Elm as having been built in the late 1890s and early 1900s with buildings that are two stories in height, with the west side of the block offering a lot of diversity in building styles. This part of Elm Street would be a great streetscape for a period-piece movie. The yellow brick in the CTG building sets it apart. Notice the alley between the CTG building and Terra Blue. We'll feature a shot of it tomorrow.

Happy Tuesday!

CTG Alley in the Middle of the 500 Block of South Elm

Today, we're featuring the alley in the middle of the 500 block of South Elm Street. It is used by the cast and crew of CTG and the gateway to the Herman and Barbara Cone Family Education and Event Center. The yellow "brick" wall is a wall of CTG donors.  CTG was founded in 1949 and has been a great community resource ever since. 

The alley was originally left here to serve as an alley for Glascock Foundry to access their foundry on Lewis Street. That business was originally founded in 1873 as Glascock Plow & Foundry. The foundry made wood and coal stoves and other cast iron items. A special thanks goes out to Great, Great Grandson Nollie W Neill, Dr. who  is a Glascock Stove historian and collector.  Most importantly, he collects stories and items from his great great grandfather's business. How wonderful that he remembers that little bit of lore about the alley on the 500 block of  South Elm Street. Do you have a family story to share about Elm Street?

 

Upper 600 Westside: One Block at a Time

To continue up the 600 block of the westside of South Elm Street, to the right of Chez Genese is Mosaic Piano Services, Artmongerz (2005), Elsewhere Living Museum, The Crooked Tail Cat Cafe (est. 2017) . Social Status Shoes, and, rounding out the block,  Lewis & Elm- a wine, cheese, beer, and seasonal fare establishment on the corner (est. 2021). 

We have special memories of Elsewhere Museum, est. 2016) , first when Sylvia Gray had a thrift shop there. She had a sign on the door that gave the hours it was likely to be open and a disclaimer that it just might not happen if something else came up. We wish we could find the exact quote. But serious, Sylvia was an inspiring woman who did an amazing job of raising her children in very tough times. Read the history of the building HERE. We love to walk past Social Status on a day a new shoe is being released or "dropped" as the young collectors would say. Triad City Beat didn't add a lot of history about this part of the 600 block, but they added great detail to Lewis Street, something we aren't covering in this Elm Street walk.

Happy Monday!

Bible Study?

Sunday's we usually post something reflective or spiritual. We hope you don't see this as irreverent; however, on First Friday, at our front row seat at wrestling, we saw this man who was also in attendance. Of course the sign is not likely true, but a little something humorous. As you can see, the man was really enjoying the wrestling match. By the time we got up, we didn't see him any more- at least, the sign was gone and he'd disappeared into the crowd. We never did get the back story on the sign.

We had a chuckle, because Friday isn't usually prime time for Bible study. Perhaps, this guy carries this sign everywhere. If you carried a sign with you, what would it say? We hope you have a great Sunday and hope that, on this spiritual-day-of-rest for Christians that the above guy IS at Bible study!

Happy Sunday!

Chez Genese: One Block at a Time

This is the view of West Elm Street, just north of the Old Greensborough and Elm & Bain space on the corner. To the left is Bain Street. The business is Chez Genese a very special French inspired restaurant known for its brunch menu. Chez Genese opened in October of 2018 and seems to have gained popularity as a great meal location. We ate there last Sunday and it was well worth the 30 minute wait. While they don't have bar seating for singles, they have a communal table that seats about eight. This is a fun concept and great way to be alone, but not lonely.

At the time of the 2017 Triad City Beat article, Charlie and Ruth Jones owned the building, had PB& Java downstairs,  and were still holding their Grub Hub dinners upstairs.  Oh how we miss those dinners. They were such a special way for people of Greensboro from all walks of life to network and meet each other. If you click HERE, you can see an example of just how magical those dinners were. And, if you click HERE, you see that Tamika and Jeff who have the Black Belt Soap Company. We first met them at Grub Hub. Today, Tamika and Jeff are thriving entrepreneurs and people we are so lucky to have met. We like to sit at the communal table at Chez Genese as a not to Charlie and Ruth. They would like knowing that the get-to-know-someone-new model is still alive and well in the building.

Elm & Bain: One Block at A Time

Elm and Bain is the next building up from Old Greensborough on the west side of Elm Street. Today, it is an event center with over 11,000 square feet of space. On their website, Elm & Bain has a lovely history of the building, starting with its origin in 1919 as the Blue Bell Factory. In 1949, it was acquired by Wrangler. Next, Wrangler merged with VF Corporation and this factory became part of a multi-use commercial space. * September 2021, it launched and became known as Elm & Bain. It is so fun to drive by on the weekends and see events happening there. It is a sort of a "Gatsby" experience, observing an event overflowing with guests having a great time. The center can accommodate up to 450 guests! This definitely makes the 600 South Elm block a destination.

Happy Friday!

 

*reference and more information and photos HERE.

Downtown Greensboro One Block at a Time

We had a couple of people ask us about the entrance to the Old Greensborough at Gateway building and so, we thought we'd feature it today. We featured an overview on Monday and then a planting from the garden yesterday, so here you can see the main entrance, the one that makes it accessible to people with special mobility needs. There is no door person, making it necessary to have an access card to enter.

Since we've been  spending a lot of time downtown lately, we've been searching information on line. We came across a great article by Brian Clarey in the February 1st edition of Triad City Beat entitled,  "Downtown Greensboro: Block by Block."  We thought we'd use Brian's article as a reference for the downtown blocks in 2017 and see just how much they've changed since then.  Brian started with the South 600 block, so it makes sense for us to do so and, serendipitously, we've already featured this area twice this week. At the time of Brian's writing, Andy Zimmerman had just purchased the above building and plans for renovation were underway. Fast forward eight years later to 2025 and the property is beautiful.

We're not sure yet if we'll feature the downtown streetscape photos every day in a row. We may interject some other photos along the way, but by the end of July or early August, you will have seen the whole strip of Elm Street from Gate City Boulevard to Tanger Center, westside and eastside. Who knows, by then, there may be even more changes.

Happy Thursday!