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Hi! Happy weekend.

I’ve only had dinner once at Littler, but it was a magical enough experience (the carrot cavatelli, the record player!), and I feel quite sad at the news, this week, that the Durham bistro is closing at the end of June.

Read Lena Geller’s rundown of why owner Gray Brooks decided that the restaurant’s small size made operations untenable in the long run. (And if you’re feeling nostalgic for Durham establishments of yore, revisit this piece on Copa.) 

A more positive Durham food news item from this week: After putting in his fair share of time with pop-ups, Lutra Bakery owner Chris McLaurin is getting a brick-and-mortar. And they’ll be serving much more than cinnamon rolls!

Thanks for reading! Below, please find our usual roundup of Triangle happenings, plus a few links from the outside world.

I really enjoy this (Lord of the Ring coded?) photo of Ken Burns shrouded in fog. Read our interview with him here . Photo courtesy of PBS North Carolina.

elsewhere in the culture section

There are plenty of things to do this weekend, including Bimbé in Durham (stay tuned for a recap next week) and Artsplosure in Raleigh. Here are our recommendations for some things to do, including a rare screening of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land at the Carolina Theatre.  

One of those recommendations is the Raleigh premiere of Growing Pains, a coming-of-age film that Triangle resident (and former INDY intern) Marian Fabian worked on as a screenwriter and co-producer. RIYL: Lady Bird, The Miseducation of Cameron, supporting young filmmakers. 

The big news today is that Durham’s Lakewood neighborhood is getting a skate park, thanks to the Scrap Exchange and skate park materials passed along, in true “reuse, reduce, recycle” spirit, from Wheels Roller Skating Rink. Read Justin Laidlaw’s report if you love skating, positive community news, or the history of shopping centers. 

Speaking of shopping centers: Here’s another piece from Lena, this one on Raleigh’s Gateway Plaza, which has seen a spate of new businesses open up—hot new item Mala Pata, legacy establishments like Fiction Kitchen, and more—as they collaborate and take stock of what it takes to run a food establishment in an uncertain world. 

Behind the scenes at Elaka Treats, which makes frozen desserts—not ice cream, in the traditional sense, but something much more adventurous and interesting.

A conversation with Ken Burns ahead of his new PBS series on The American Revolution. And here’s Jane Porter’s fascinating piece on the history of madams and sex workers in Raleigh, around the turn of the 20th century and into the 1930s. The piece comes from a conversation with historian Madison Phillips, who delivered a “lunch box talk” yesterday at the City of Raleigh Museum. The museum offers free lectures on different topics every third Thursday. 

ICYMI: Our spring fundraising drive. (Listen to Ken Burns, support local media!)

— Sarah Edwards —
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Sarah Edwards is culture editor of the INDY, covering cultural institutions and the arts in the Triangle. She joined the staff in 2019 and assumed her current role in 2020.