Field Guide: Southeastern Camera, and other old-school local businesses that have weathered the ages

Hi! Happy weekend.

Hope y’all are weathering the rain OK. 

A few months ago, I went into Southeastern Camera to pick up a batch of film photos. While talking to the employees—who are, by the way, friendly, knowledgeable, and don’t make you feel like an idiot when you ask for help (I’m speaking from personal experience)—I learned the store had been founded thirty years ago, in 1994. July 1994, in fact. 

So in this week’s issue, intern INDY intern Mila Mascenik (who also has the cover story this week!) takes us behind-the-scenes at the camera institution, which has weathered the ubiquitous rise of digital cameras, smartphones, and social media, and come out on the other side. It has two locations—one in Carrboro, another in Raleigh—and INDY photographer Angelica Edwards spent time at both to document the timeless feel of the store (and process). Definitely take a look at the photos.

“I’m happy we’ve been able to help people all this time,” says Tony Mansfield, a 1988 graduate of UNC’s School of Journalism. “I really feel that the customers are extremely loyal.” 

Celebrating Southeastern Camera’s thirtieth made me think of past coverage we’ve done of other old-school local institutions. We do plenty of coverage of institutions that close their doors—see Justin Laidlaw’s story on Beyu Caffe’s downtown closure, which I’ll expound on below—so it’s nice to spotlight the ones that have stayed the course. 

Among those: A 2022 feature by Brian Howe on Carrboro bar Orange County Social Club turning 21 (“cheap beer, stiff highballs, and a clean, cozy place to meet and talk; to celebrate or grieve; to waste a few hours or unwind a few years”), a dive by Jasmine Gallup into the historic Black businesses that have anchored the Triangle, a look at Durham’s longstanding supply store Not Just Paper (“When I ask them if the store has competition, they say “Amazon” unanimously”), and via the 9th Street Journal, time at the Stone Brothers new location, 108 (!) years in.

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elsewhere in the culture section

Several weeks ago, Beyu Caffe owner Dorian Bolden announced that he was closing the flagship location of the restaurant and coffee shop in downtown Durham—a place that has served, over the past decade and a change, as a lodestar for the local jazz scene.

This week, Bolden also announced that he is also closing the Beyu Boxyard RTP location; Beyu’s Duke coffeeshop and its RDU location will remain open, as well as the bean retail operation. Read more from Justin Laidlaw about what led to the closures here.

Also: Writer Gabi Mendick visits Durham’s two community fridges (there is also plans for a third) and follows the evolution of the mutual aid project, over the past two years. 

We’ve got four reviews of local music albums, too, and I hope you’ll give them a read: Brian Howe says that Bats & Mice deliver a lively comeback with P.S. Seriously (this is also a good excuse to read Howe’s magnum opus, “the lost era of indie rock.”). Jordan Lawrence listens to Counsel of Spirits by Pittsboro musician Matt Grays’s musical project, Radio Haw, and Jake Xerxes Fussell’s fifth album, When I’m Called, and Nick McGregor takes a long country drive with the old-school explorations—“at time hypnotic, other times unhinged”—of Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Cleek Schrey.

out and about in the triangle

Plates Neighborhood Kitchen in Raleigh announced it is closing. Via the News & Observer, a Japanese noodle bar, Daijoubu, is opening off Davie Street later this summer. The owners of Osteria G are opening a “Gatsby-style” steak restaurant in Holly Springs. 9th Street Journal’s guide to rooftop bars in Durham. Statewide, to-go cocktails are now legal. 

How to attract fireflies to your yard. Durham musician Alice Gerrard turned 90 this week (and, from the archives: how the folk legend trained her dog to fetch her a beer from the fridge). WUNC has launched a new North Carolina music blog. Ahead of the July 10 match between England’s Manchester City and Scotland’s Celtic FC, Chapel Hill is offering free trolley rides.

out and about in the world

An excellent longform read on the justice system. A poem about Coca-Cola. Dip for dinner. There have been some beautiful reflections on the life of the labor organizer Jane McAlevey, who passed away this week. Finally, somewhat closing our loop on the Southeastern Camera feature, here’s a look at “TikTok’s favorite camera.”

— Sarah Edwards —
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