More Accolades for Nashville

[BnaBreaker]

Everytime I see a positve list, I see Nashville, Austin, and Raleigh generally neck and neck on them.  Out of the three, Nashville has to be the most urban with Austin a close second.  Raleigh, to me, is a giant spit wad with no real defined core.  A simple look at satellite images show it to be a city of office parks with a nice, compact, downtown.  Yet they are going to put in a Light Rail system there.  One has to wonder how that's going to do in neighborhoods not designed to encourage foot traffic?

 

Raleigh is a nice city with a clean, compact core that has a nice sampling of historic architecture, unlike it's bigger sister Charlotte.  However, I totally agree with you that the city of Raleigh is not on the same level as the city of Nashville.  The two are constantly compared for some reason, but to me, the only real way one can make that comparison is if they lump in the other sizable cities of Durham, Chapel Hill, and Cary with Raleigh and compare the two metros. 

[Nathan_in_DC]

Nashville among 52 places to visit this year, by NY times

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/01/10/travel/2014-places-to-go.html?_r=0

 

That's incredible that Nashville was included at such a high spot on a list as, well, worldly as that one.  Shows that the city is truly coming into its own and finally being seen as something more than a country music tourist trap!

[e-dub]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25807124

 

eric b

[volsfanwill]

wow, made british news, awesome

[Paramount747]

Austin has been a tech town for a decade or more. Nashville is the next big tech town.

[volsfanwill]

22 reasons to visit Nashville

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/25/nashville-tennessee-travel-reasons_n_4631624.html

[dxfret]

A very nice article in TIME magazine about Nashville - "The South's Red Hot Town".

http://time.com/13819/the-souths-red-hot-town/

[MLBrumby]

Jon Meacham (a TN native) moved to Nashville recently.  There are many news/sports journos who have moved there in the past decade because of its central location and ... well... it's a nice place to call home.

[dxfret]

Attached is a PDF link from the Nashville Chamber with the full print article from TIME magazine.

http://www.nashvillechamber.com/docs/default-source/pdfs/time_nashville_feature.pdf?sfvrsn=2

[nashmoney]

That's a good article! I like how they went back in history with bredeson and the bellsouth building and showing Nashville's progression over the years.

Time magazine is global, so this is definitely another boost to our image.

Someone should mail a copy to our state legislature

[CityHeart]

 In the USA TODAY paper-The winners of the 10Best Readers' choice Awards for Best Convention City--

 

1.Indianapolis

2.Boston

3. Nashville

4. Salt Lake City

5. Atlanta

6. Denver

7. New Orleans

8.Washington

9. Minneapolis

10. Chicago

[Guest]

That is great news. I hope the conventioneers keep on coming, otherwise it is we taxpayers on the hook.... {GULP}

[donNdonelson2]

I'm happy to see that Nashville placed on this list, however, I will point out that it is not a survey of convention planners or convention goers, but an online survey in which folks could vote once per day.  (they had similar votes going for "best presidential attraction," "best public gardens," etc.)  I'm only aware of the vote because The Hermitage and Cheekwood pushed the voting on their Facebook pages.  I noticed the convention center vote on the USAToday site when voting for The Hermitage and took the time to vote for the convention city award, as well.  Each time a person voted, the current vote tally would post and Indianapolis was always WAY out front.  I suspect that they were waging an intense campaign for votes for this particular prize.  The results might have had the Music City Center at the top of the list had they been pushing votes in a similar manner!  No shame in coming in third, but a first place win would have been sweet, eh?

[MLBrumby]

 In the USA TODAY paper-The winners of the 10Best Readers' choice Awards for Best Convention City--

 

1.Indianapolis

2.Boston

3. Nashville

4. Salt Lake City

5. Atlanta

6. Denver

7. New Orleans

8.Washington

9. Minneapolis

10. Chicago

 

 

In case you want to read the blurb in USA Today...  http://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-convention-city/

I'm happy to see that Nashville placed on this list, however, I will point out that it is not a survey of convention planners or convention goers, but an online survey in which folks could vote once per day.  (they had similar votes going for "best presidential attraction," "best public gardens," etc.)  I'm only aware of the vote because The Hermitage and Cheekwood pushed the voting on their Facebook pages.  I noticed the convention center vote on the USAToday site when voting for The Hermitage and took the time to vote for the convention city award, as well.  Each time a person voted, the current vote tally would post and Indianapolis was always WAY out front.  I suspect that they were waging an intense campaign for votes for this particular prize.  The results might have had the Music City Center at the top of the list had they been pushing votes in a similar manner!  No shame in coming in third, but a first place win would have been sweet, eh?

 

Frankly, I'm surprised Nashville was ranked higher than New Orleans (I thought that would be the slam dunk favorite) and Atlanta (where you can always see hot babes in their birthday suits). 

[MLBrumby]

A piece on the 404 Hotel and Kitchen in Garden and Gun, hat tip to NBJ:  http://gardenandgun.com/blog/nashvilles-newest-boutique-hotel

 

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2014/03/garden-gun-magazine-spotlights-the-404-hotel-and.html

[smeagolsfree]

Thanks for posting MLB. I was making sure someone had done so. You guys are making my job a lot easier.

[MidTenn1]

Nashville is really getting some nice boutique hotels and encouraging rumors about higher end hospitality on the drawing boards. But there was a time when Nashville's hotel facilities were an embarrassment to the fledgling music industry when it wanted to entertain high end guests like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Elvis, and many more.

 

The top hotels were dumps like the Noel Hotel at 4th and Church, the aged Hermitage Hotel and a collection of 12 story, featureless brick facade hotels such as the Andrew Jackson on the Memorial Square. So, some people set out to change that.

 

The first high-end  'boutique hotel' in Nashville was the Spence Manor on Music Row where Sinatra, et al stayed. It was very exclusive and had high end features, service and fine dining for the 'A list' VIP's who came to town to record. Then Roger Miller helped finance the 'King of the Road' Hotel near the current NFL Stadium as one of the more accessible high-end hotels in Nashville (believe it or not, that was as good as it got in Nashville at one time). A nice Hotel opened up at 9th and Broad, but finally the Hyatt Regency was built in the 70's and and all VIP's could stay in a place with clean sheets.

 

With all that has happened since, including the very high-end Union Station and the 5 Star remodel of the Hermitage, the hospitality situation in Nashville has improved tremendously.

 

 

[CenterHill]

Thanks for posting that PH.    I've been here a long time and had no idea about some of those, like Spence Manor and King of the Road.    Yes, we have come a long way!  

[MLBrumby]

Good post, but the Renaissance was already up when I started at Vandy in fall 88. I think it had another name like Stouffer's (spelling?).  It was probably some corporate merger or acquisition or whatever, the details aren't so important.  Good list!   

[satalac]

How'd you forget the World Famous Drake Motel?

[UTgrad09]

How'd you forget the World Famous Drake Motel?

 

Several movies and numerous people have been shot there.

[donNdonelson2]

Ah, yes...the World Famous Drake Motel!  I think the slogan on their sign is "stay where the stars stay."  These days there might be porn stars staying there, but that would probably be the best they could claim. 

[satalac]

My last job, we'd hire temp workers and sometimes I'd go and drop them off there (it's where they were living at the time). Needless to say my gun stayed close by (but unseen of course). Got a lot of weird glares from the residents there while dropping them off. 

[Nathan_in_DC]

My last job, we'd hire temp workers and sometimes I'd go and drop them off there (it's where they were living at the time). Needless to say my gun stayed close by (but unseen of course). Got a lot of weird glares from the residents there while dropping them off. 

 

Reading the Trip Advisor reviews of that place are a hoot.

[UTgrad09]

Ah, yes...the World Famous Drake Motel!  I think the slogan on their sign is "stay where the stars stay."  These days there might be porn stars staying there, but that would probably be the best they could claim. 

The Drake Motel: The other place in Nashville that produces Snuff!