On Tuesday night at the Durham County Library, I attended a documentary presentation and discussion about the history of Liberty Warehouse. The panel included Walker Stone, the original owner of Liberty, documentarian Carol Thomson and Liberty Arts metalsmith Andrew Preiss. It was a fascinating talk about what Durham was like when tobacco ran the town. […]
Lisa Sorg
Bio: Lisa Sorg is the editor of INDY Week.Email: [email protected]: http://twitter.com/lisasorg
Posted inNews
Heartbreak hotel: The history and future of The Velvet Cloak Inn and The Jack Tar motel
They look like fortresses. And in many ways, they are. The Velvet Cloak inn on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, and the old Jack Tar motel, aka the “Oprah Building” in downtown Durham, are two of the most mysterious, yet iconic structures in their respective cities. And the stories behind them are equally intriguing, mysterious and […]
Posted inUncategorized
The Jack Tar motel: The history and future of a Durham landmark
At 52, Jack Tar has let himself go. His paint, once vibrant Monaco blue, has faded to a pastel dusk. His roof leaks. His pool lies empty and stained. In the 1960s, when Jack Tar and his 100 rooms were built, the motel was considered the peak of modernity. With a rooftop swimming pool, parking […]
Posted inUncategorized
Tower of Power
Lie down on the lawn at the Corcoran and Main streets and try to imagine a 300-foot, 26-story skyscraper on that spot. In two years, a grassy half-acre in the center of Durham will be consumed by a tower of concrete and glass. It is part of Austin Lawrence Partners’ $70 million City Center project, […]
Posted inSoapboxer
Let’s do the time warp: Documenting The Jack Tar motel, aka the Oprah Building in Durham
This Wednesday, the INDY is featuring stories about two iconic—and now tattered—motels: Aaron Lake Smith is writing about the legal morass of The Velvet Cloak Inn on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh; I’m writing about the future of the former Jack Tar, aka the Oprah building, in downtown Durham. Each has its own sordid history; each […]
Posted inMusic
Live: Beck gets sweaty and does disco in Raleigh
Beck Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh Wednesday, July 23, 2014 “Reach out into the night/It’s a little too hot/It’s a little too wet/Is everyone wet?” Beck was approaching the one-hour mark of his 90-minute show in Raleigh, and the midsummer’s heat, humidity and humanity had congealed into a block, like a Yankee candle made from the […]
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Imagining more open space in downtown Durham
Downtown Open Space presentation City Council work session Thursday, July 24, 1 p.m. City Hall, second floor conference room Behind a three-story building with a top floor charred by arson, and tucked off Alley 26 in downtown Durham, is a desolate patch of asphalt. It is littered with construction debris, cordoned behind a chain link […]
Posted inSoapboxer
Bull chute in Durham’s CCB Plaza
Maybe it’s because I grew up in the country and didn’t see a structure taller than a barn until I was about 5: I love tall buildings and cranes and the interesting geometry that happens when the two converge. So I’m posting this photo for no other reason than I was briefly hypnotized this morning […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Free shuttle bus to Durham Farmers Market is another reason to eat your vegetables
By the time you’ve lugged a dozen ears of corn, a carton of farm fresh eggs, flowers, cheese and fragile peaches more than about five blocks, you’re likely to have bruised fruit and scrambled yolks mingling in the bottom of your reusable bag. So applaud DATA for its free shuttle from Durham station, 515 W. […]
Posted inNews
Poetic justice
Gov. Pat McCrory circumvented the traditional vetting and nomination process to name Valerie Macon, a state employee, as North Carolina poet laureate. By literary standards, Macon, a self-published poet, is unqualified for the honor, although her work “Vegetarian Meat Lover” did demonstrate her knowledge of expensive footwear. Macon’s latest book, Sleeping Rough, is about homeless […]
