The blog has been pretty word heavy this week and pretty centered on development and business. I know many of you actually read what I write, even when it’s a rather long piece and many of you are here more for business and development than anything else. Hopefully for you guys it’s been a great week. I know there are a lot of you because the blog has been viewed between 800 and 1000 times each day this week.
But there are others for whom these topics and excessive letters on the page are not of interest to you. You’d rather see crazy, cool urban scenes, laugh a bit and mostly, you just like the pictures. Some of you have already stopped reading, scanned the pictures and are ready to click away to some distant shore in Internet Land. Well, this blogs for you. Random photographs with a few odd thoughts along the way.
I have no idea the story from the lead picture. I expect to see young girls downtown. I expect some of them to have purses, shopping bags, even a random dog in their arms. I really don’t expect deer heads – especially two simultaneously. From the expressions on the faces of the children in the shot, neither did they and they don’t seem real happy about the development.
I don’t think of February as The Month to plan your outdoor urban wedding, but at least a couple of wedding parties did just that. An entire wedding entourage boarded the trolley. I didn’t know you commander an entire trolley for yourself on your special day, but apparently not only is that true, but they hang a festive banner across the front to announce the happy event.
The other wedding party was not related to the trolley party. This wedding didn’t actually take place outdoors, but rather in the Square Room which, again, is not a place I think of when I think of holy nuptials, but to each his own, right? They took to the side courtyard for photographs and I noticed the happy bride didn’t look so much happy. In fact, she looks a bit put out. I don’t think it was the weird guy taking photographs, but maybe so. The party looks sort of ADD. They were supposed to be posing for a photograph and they are looking in a dozen directions. At least a couple of them seem to be having a good time.
I don’t think I used this shot of the Armature Building when I wrote about it. The photograph shows some of what sits beneath the street and, some people think, has the potential to be another wave of development of a small “underground Knoxville.” The Standard Glass Building shown here is currently being developed as an entertainment venue and I may have some interesting news on that front, soon.
The Downtown Dog Park hasn’t made an appearance on the blog in a long time. It’s still there and is extremely active, especially on the random nice weather days we’ve had in the last few weeks. Diagonally across from that is O.P. Jenkins Furniture Store, which I don’t know that I’ve ever mentioned. This is a huge, family owned and operated furniture store on Summit Hill which has been open downtown since 1907. Originally located “about 200 feet” from their current location, they are a downtown fixture and Urban Woman and I really enjoy digging through the various floors of merchandise and, often, finding a jewel of a bargain.
I really enjoyed this musician just outside Cafe Four. This is what we need more of from the Knoxville Busking Community. What a pleasant addition to your meal on the patio at Cafe Four, right? Contrast that with Elvis and his kareoke machine who has been setting up in the same spot. He and his machine are both awful and the last thing I want to see or listen to during a meal. But people give him money. I’ve seen it myself and I want to scream at the top of my lungs, “My God, no, people, please no.”
Riot Printing Company has moved to 202 Randolph Street, which is between Magnolia/Depot and Jackson. It’s walkable from downtown, just around the corner from Sawworks Brewing Company. I love the new place simply because it illustrates how one persons seedy urban corner is another person’s perfect place to make a living. They have 3500 square feet at this location and do screen printing, embroidery, vinyl banners and print posters.
Dang, I still managed to write nearly eight hundred words. I can’t seem to help myself. Have a great weekend, everybody. Catch the symphony, the Friends of the Library book sale half off and bag sale days, or just get out and walk your city!