History of Charlotte

[KJHburg]

Truist Plaza stands in place of this city-flop.  This was Cityfair a 3-level retail marketplace built and opened in 1988 and closed 3 years later.  reopened in 1994 then closed and razed in 1999.  The food court was very successful over the years but the retail suffered like Z Gallerie, Benetton, etc.  There was a Fat Tuesdays there too.  I attended the MBA classes for UNC Charlotte on the 3rd floor in 1994.  

Photo from social media.  Photo from N College and 6th St. 

[rancenc]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Truist Plaza stands in place of this city-flop.  This was Cityfair a 3-level retail marketplace built and opened in 1988 and closed 3 years later.  reopened in 1994 then closed and razed in 1999.  The food court was very successful over the years but the retail suffered like Z Gallerie, Benetton, etc.  There was a Fat Tuesdays there too.  I attended the MBA classes for UNC Charlotte on the 3rd floor in 1994.  

Photo from social media.  Photo from N College and 6th St. 

Unfortunately, a lot moving parts were occurring almost simultaneously, when this center opened in the fall of 1988.   If I remember correctly, around the time of it's construction period, NationsBank (BofA's predecessor) announced in late 1986 that the company's new 60 story corporate tower was going to be built at the site of Belk's downtown store.  With that announcement and Belk's subsequent closer, that cut off a major funneling of pedestrian traffic into CityFair which was the second level I believe.  Ivey's uptown was also closed at the time of CityFair's opening.  So you have two major "anchors" so to speak departing the immediate vicinity.  The center did start off with on a relatively positive note and had a reasonably good mix of retailers in the center.  Actually the retail variety was much better then what even Epicenter would generate during it's lifetime.  There were definitely some design flaws, especially with the parking deck, but I personally had high hopes for the center during it's early stages of opening, but unfortunately it might have been WAY ahead of it's time...who knows!

 

Edited March 2 by rancenc

[videtur quam contuor]

I have had few celebrity encounters but this is my favorite. From this site and reposted here out of the pleasure of the memory. 

Posted January 30, 2019

I saw Bo Diddley, a love of mine as a teen, at CityFair. His band performed in the open area/food court for some reason. They played some of the set then Bo put down his guitar and slowly walked offstage while the band played on and I wondered what was happening. After a minute or two with band continuing but no Bo I went to the mens room. There was no one in there... wait I hear something in the stall. Bad sounds, someone with intestinal struggles. I bent down to see and saw the snakeskin boots. It was Bo. I said "Bo, you alright in there?" He said "I love me that chinese hot mustard but it don't love me. I be alright." I finished my work and returned to the music area and in a few minutes Bo returned to stage lifted his guitar and resumed the set.

Edit: to be clear I was not a teen at the time of the encounter. My teen years were the reason for my attendance at the show.

Edited March 2 by videtur quam contuor

[Windsurfer]

6 hours ago, videtur quam contuor said:

I have had few celebrity encounters but this is my favorite. From this site and reposted here out of the pleasure of the memory. 

Posted January 30, 2019

I saw Bo Diddley, a love of mine as a teen, at CityFair. His band performed in the open area/food court for some reason. They played some of the set then Bo put down his guitar and slowly walked offstage while the band played on and I wondered what was happening. After a minute or two with band continuing but no Bo I went to the mens room. There was no one in there... wait I hear something in the stall. Bad sounds, someone with intestinal struggles. I bent down to see and saw the snakeskin boots. It was Bo. I said "Bo, you alright in there?" He said "I love me that chinese hot mustard but it don't love me. I be alright." I finished my work and returned to the music area and in a few minutes Bo returned to stage lifted his guitar and resumed the set.

Edit: to be clear I was not a teen at the time of the encounter. My teen years were the reason for my attendance at the show.

Good thing you didn't pass some paper under for an autograph

[KJHburg]

History is present in uptown Charlotte you just have to know where to look for it.

Mecklenburg Investment Company Building in Brooklyn   built in 1921 

Grace AME Zion Church   1901 

Iveys Building which is 100 years old this year! 

 

[rancenc]

Charlotte in the decade of the late 1960s!

 

Edited March 17 by rancenc

[Durhamite]

1 hour ago, rancenc said:

Charlotte in the decade of the late 1960s!

 

Wow, urban renewal in the 70’s and 80’s  seems to have did a number on various sections/streets in Charlotte the would have been ideal for connected historic building stock storefronts, activity, etc.  Maybe there’s more still there than I give credit with all the development.  Just didn’t realize how much was there other than Tryon St….who the hell approved this massacre?

Edited March 17 by Durhamite

[videtur quam contuor]

That is a view from South Tryon looking north. Sterchi furniture store is a key orientation marker. The dome of First Baptist, later Spirit Square, can be seen over the American Credit building and Hall house beyond in the next block north. The Independence building is at the square seen behind the NCNB branded building. The Johnston building is toward the camera/viewer from the NCNB building. Hotel Charlotte upper left. Several other identifiable buildings, some extant. This is the Charlotte I knew when I moved here.

[Rickybobby]

7 hours ago, rancenc said:

Charlotte in the decade of the late 1960s!

 

Great picture!

I'm half way through reading "Sorting out the new south city". It's been a fantastic read so far. I've often wished for good pictures like this to look at as I read along. The maps in the book leave a little to be desired!

Anyone got any other Charlotte history related books that you would recommend?

[videtur quam contuor]

 

The point Tom Hanchett makes is the dominant social group has made the rules to maintain their power through time and political, economic and cultural changes, and systems  adapt to maintain this power status. Not a surprise, but the focus on our local example serves to help understand how it would have happened in other cities and regions with differing groups and power structures.

The maps are terrible in that book. They were meant to be printed on slick finish paper and the cheaper text style paper and their reduced size to less than half a page makes them illegible. The orientation on most (all) shows the compass rose pointing to the upper left so North is where NorthWest normally is . The book is good reading, though the references to contemporary time are dated since the work was from 25+ years ago. The few photos are also reproduced poorly. I have recently read the reprint from 2020 or so. 

[Boricua]

10 hours ago, rancenc said:

Charlotte in the decade of the late 1960s!

 

I see a NCNB/NationsBank/Bank of America building. Where's First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo?

 

[Windsurfer]

2 hours ago, Boricua said:

I see a NCNB/NationsBank/Bank of America building. Where's First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo?

 

Wachovia was on West Trade. It's in the pic (the white one on the left side of the other buildings) First Union is, I believe, on the right across from NCNB with big blank wall.

[Bikeguy]

 

[Windsurfer]

1 hour ago, Bikeguy said:

 

Thanks!   That's so awesome. I remember the year well. I graduated from high school then and we used to go over to UNCC to visit the new library.  The airport threw me back too.  My first flight ever was from there the year before when I flew to South America as an exchange student. So much wrapped up in that for me.

[KJHburg]

^^Charlotte has 150 trucking companies, urban sprawl, an all news radio station LOL this is what ABC news thought made us a small city.  Not one word about banking which even in 1977 we were a banking center with First Union and NCNB.    They kept, in that news story,   calling Charlotte a town.  They did show the pyramids of the old Charlotte Civic Center but no mention of the Charlotte Motor Speedway or Nascar.  It is good to see an old clip like that and you can see the built in biases in it.  

 

[videtur quam contuor]

At that time the NCAA had both semifinal games  on Saturday afternoon. A dozen of us gathered at a home to watch the games with UNC-Chapel Hill in one game and Charlotte in the other. The city came to a near stop that afternoon. After the controversial and extremely disappointing Charlotte loss we considered the next game coming in a short time and decided we definitely needed more beer.

(insert "We're gonna need a bigger boat" gif here).

At the neighborhood HT we approached the cashiers and noticed that there was nearly no one in the store. The adjoining cashiers were conversing and we heard them say "Where is everybody?" They had no idea. 

[KJHburg]

this is an interesting story about how Charlotte brought the NCAA Final 4 championship games to Charlotte Coliseum on Tyvola back in 1994 and how Charlotte created a fake street of nightlife uptown called the Street of Champions.  I remember walking down S Tryon to all these businesses that popped up overnight.  And guess who the architect of this marketing plan was? 

""Cyndee Patterson, owner of event planning firm Patterson Blake: “It was amazing. What I did was pull every event coordinator I knew of in town (into it) so that everybody got a little bit of the business. And the big thing really was Street of Champions and coordinating what buildings like First Union and (NationsBank) would do, what we could talk them into paying for in their spaces. … We had to get liquor licenses to have all those storefronts downtown that were empty (to serve alcohol). We went to the owners and asked them to rent the space. We had to go all the way to the state to allow us to pull liquor permits (for the weekend). We had gone to Minneapolis, and we’d gone to New Orleans (for the previous Final Fours). We took everybody we thought might be part of this to figure out how (other places) did it, what we needed to think about, what we hadn’t thought about. It was a long ramp-up. 

Hugh McColl: “We were all fired up about it. And, giving Johnny (Harris) credit, he always had the gift for salesmanship. I remember we fixed up Tryon Street to make it look like it was more than it was. We opened up places to eat all along the way. If one looks back on it, we were not nearly as big as we thought we were. It shows you our ambitions were always high.”

Patterson: “I’ll tell you who was amazingly wonderful: There was a city planner who’s since passed away named Petrea Gearheart. We had mobile command down there and she had the street closings lined up and how to get trucks in and out for food and booze and beer and we had so much going on. On the side of the First Union building, that plaza, they showed games. You had music. If we hadn’t had the city (government) onboard. … It gave folks who were trying to promote uptown a real shot in the arm.”

Luquire: “I was not the largest advocate for Street of Champions. It made me nervous (because of possible bad weather and other potential problems). I kept asking, ‘Do you think it’s going to work?’ … I remember that weekend, (Petrea Gearheart) was sitting in a Winnebago (at Street of Champions) and the streets are packed. She waved me over. There was a sliding-glass window. She opened it and said, ‘Steve, do you think it will work?’”

How they put together Charlotte's only Final Four - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Charlotte's motto for this fake it until you can make it.  Now of course we would not have to do this but I do wonder how many people came back years later looking for those places?  Unfortunately Charlotte will never get another opportunity to host a NCAA championship game as they go only now to domed stadiums.    Who remembers this?  

[Windsurfer]

52 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

this is an interesting story about how Charlotte brought the NCAA Final 4 championship games to Charlotte Coliseum on Tyvola back in 1994 and how Charlotte created a fake street of nightlife uptown called the Street of Champions.  I remember walking down S Tryon to all these businesses that popped up overnight.  And guess who the architect of this marketing plan was? 

""Cyndee Patterson, owner of event planning firm Patterson Blake: “It was amazing. What I did was pull every event coordinator I knew of in town (into it) so that everybody got a little bit of the business. And the big thing really was Street of Champions and coordinating what buildings like First Union and (NationsBank) would do, what we could talk them into paying for in their spaces. … We had to get liquor licenses to have all those storefronts downtown that were empty (to serve alcohol). We went to the owners and asked them to rent the space. We had to go all the way to the state to allow us to pull liquor permits (for the weekend). We had gone to Minneapolis, and we’d gone to New Orleans (for the previous Final Fours). We took everybody we thought might be part of this to figure out how (other places) did it, what we needed to think about, what we hadn’t thought about. It was a long ramp-up. 

Hugh McColl: “We were all fired up about it. And, giving Johnny (Harris) credit, he always had the gift for salesmanship. I remember we fixed up Tryon Street to make it look like it was more than it was. We opened up places to eat all along the way. If one looks back on it, we were not nearly as big as we thought we were. It shows you our ambitions were always high.”

Patterson: “I’ll tell you who was amazingly wonderful: There was a city planner who’s since passed away named Petrea Gearheart. We had mobile command down there and she had the street closings lined up and how to get trucks in and out for food and booze and beer and we had so much going on. On the side of the First Union building, that plaza, they showed games. You had music. If we hadn’t had the city (government) onboard. … It gave folks who were trying to promote uptown a real shot in the arm.”

Luquire: “I was not the largest advocate for Street of Champions. It made me nervous (because of possible bad weather and other potential problems). I kept asking, ‘Do you think it’s going to work?’ … I remember that weekend, (Petrea Gearheart) was sitting in a Winnebago (at Street of Champions) and the streets are packed. She waved me over. There was a sliding-glass window. She opened it and said, ‘Steve, do you think it will work?’”

How they put together Charlotte's only Final Four - Charlotte Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Charlotte's motto for this fake it until you can make it.  Now of course we would not have to do this but I do wonder how many people came back years later looking for those places?  Unfortunately Charlotte will never get another opportunity to host a NCAA championship game as they go only now to domed stadiums.    Who remembers this?  

I do remember it!  That and the NASCAR events they used to put on along Tryon, were truly impressive.  Ironically, "pop ups" became a thing later on.  Hugh McColl gives a lot of credit to others, but when he whispered, folks listened.

[KJHburg]

1935 map of Charlotte and I have one like this in my home.

Notice the airport location that was around the site of Freedom Mall on Freedom Drive now county offices. 

Notice the neighborhood names some are still around others are renamed or replaced.  

check it out @CLT Development  

[Windsurfer]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

1935 map of Charlotte and I have one like this in my home.

Notice the airport location that was around the site of Freedom Mall on Freedom Drive now county offices. 

Notice the neighborhood names some are still around others are renamed or replaced.  

check it out @CLT Development  

Wouldn't the airport be Camp Greene?

[lit]

5 hours ago, KJHburg said:

1935 map of Charlotte and I have one like this in my home.

Notice the airport location that was around the site of Freedom Mall on Freedom Drive now county offices. 

Notice the neighborhood names some are still around others are renamed or replaced.  

check it out @CLT Development  

I had to turn my head 45 degrees to the left for the layout to make sense

[KJHburg]

4 hours ago, lit said:

I had to turn my head 45 degrees to the left for the layout to make sense

Yes I do not like it when I map it is not oriented to the north.  

8 hours ago, Windsurfer said:

Wouldn't the airport be Camp Greene?

no Charlotte's first airport was where the Freedom Mall stood and Camp Greene would have been close to that but just south.  I only learned this in the last few years about that airport and there are some old aerials where you can see it.  Look at Tuckaseegee Road going out that way.  

[jjwilli]

Look at how big Revolution Park was before 77 came through and sliced it in two.

[KJHburg]

from the Sullenberger Aviation Museum which is opening this summer!

""For six years, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce tirelessly advocated for an airmail stop, culminating in the city’s inaugural airmail flight on April 1, 1930.

 
Interest in establishing an airmail stop in Charlotte dates back to 1924, when Clarence O. Kuester, Sr., Business Manager of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, wrote to the Department of the Post Office to inquire about including the city in airmail routes. 

 

Recognizing the potential for growth and prosperity, the Chamber of Commerce sought to position the city strategically within the burgeoning airmail industry. Between 1924-1929, the Chamber petitioned the Federal Government numerous times advocating for a Charlotte airmail stop. 

After failing to compete with Greensboro for inclusion in the New York to Atlanta route in 1926, Charlotte finally won over the Federal Government in mid-1929. After constructing a landing field and encouraging many businesses and banks in town to utilize the service, Charlotte welcomed its inaugural airmail flight on April 1, 1930, marking a significant milestone in the city's aviation history. 

To learn more about the history of Airmail in Charlotte, please visit our museum set to open this summer.""

[videtur quam contuor]

My first flight was in 1957. My parents put me on a Lake Central Airlines DC-3 in Evansville, Indiana and my 19 y. o. sister collected me in Indianapolis, my home. During a quiet flight in the unpressurized cabin we were flying so close to the ground that in the darkness I could see the winding headlights of cars on the roads below.  Some time passed and then in the darkness I unexpectedly heard and felt a THUMP and looked out and saw green grass illuminated by the wing lights. We rolled to a stop. This was not on the itinerary of the flight, at least as much as I was told. There was another loud slam noise and I could feel a mild shiver in the cabin. The single stewardess (term of the time) told me we were making a mail stop. The cargo door opening and a bag of mail thrown in the hold was the noise I heard. Shortly after we rolled across the grass field and completed the journey. 

This was a surprise birthday gift from my sister and parents and a memorable one it was. As with other events in life I may not recall EVERY time but I certainly remember the FIRST time.