Knoxville Fire Department Memorial Service
You know that moment when you are sitting in your house and you hear bagpipes outside your window and you realize it’s time for that service you planned to attend? Not so much? Well, that’s what...
Urban Churchill Ghosts
The title is a mash-up because the day was a mash-up. It’s the kind of juxtaposition that enriches an urban environment and sometimes leads me to connections I wouldn’t otherwise make. Days like this past Tuesday...
How Could We Change James White Parkway?
In this installment of his series on how to transform downtown Knoxville, Just John examines James White Parkway, which he affectionately calls our “highway valley.” It addresses, at least indirectly one of the sites targeted by...
Bar Marley! Bar Marley. Bar Marley? Bar Marley . . .
It’s been a long and winding road for Bar Marley. And they haven’t even opened. It’s become an interesting guessing game on the part of many observers. It seems certain, then it seems certainly not. I’ll...
Major Downtown Project Updates (Plus Bonuses)
I’ve mentioned them before, but progress is being made on the first two projects to convert parking spaces to buildings (in one case a former building along with the surface parking). One is a bit more...
The Downtown Knoxville Week Ahead (10/5-10/11/2014)
If you see an event I’ve missed and you’d like to plug, please comment below or e-mail me (knoxvilleurbanguy@gmail.com) and I’ll try to add it. The list may, accordingly, be expanded through the week. Staying true...
New Business: James Freeman Interiors and Gifts Opens Today
The businesses just keep popping up on the 100 block of Gay Street and it’s a welcome development. In recent weeks I’ve written about the opening of Bootleg Betty, my belated discovery of The Village Marketing Group and...
The Urban Land Institute is Coming! What Does That Mean to You?
Last spring I heard rumblings that the Urban Land Institute would visit Knoxville. I didn’t really know what that meant and didn’t tune in until the summer when I realized the outside group would look at...
What to Do with the World’s Fair Park?
Back for another round, Just John takes a look at the World’s Fair Park. It has elicited quite a bit of conversation in recent months and one such exchange followed his piece about making Henley Street...
Old Gray Cemetery 14th Annual Lantern and Carriage Tour
Some weekends in this city just carry too much action. I wrote about the Hola Festival yesterday. Just a bit outside of downtown Greek Fest has been working their Mediterranean magic for years and the two...