Greensboro: Photo thread

[SouthJersey7]

Hello all, I am a UNCG student with a digital camera and I decided to take some photos from around Greensboro. This first batch is not far from the UNCG campus, and is devoted to my favorite kind of urban photo, that is average street scenes. The buildings in this thread, it seems were part of a larger urban fabric at one time but now are surrounded by single-use structures, one-story buildings in other words "sprawl". As a result many of such buildings are now looking a bit shabby. But on the other hand I do notice some are being fixed up. Anyway these pics aren't great I'm a VERY amateur photographer. And I will be adding more to the thread later. The point of these photos, will be to try to imagine what Greensboro might have looked like decades ago, before the age of "urban renewal" and to imagine what it could look like if urban living becomes a dominant pattern once more. Note that these are NOT in downtown, but from interspersed neighborhoods.

This is a pawn shop on Spring Garden street.

Further up on Spring Garden. One side a bar, and one side vacant.

Over on Lee st. This contains a tattoo parlor, a Caribbean restaurant and one that appears to be vacant. You can see the sign for the strip mall right next to it.

The areas where these photos were taken are not the greatest, and they're definately not pedestrian-oriented.. I can only imagine what a little infill development could do to transform these areas and "flesh out" the urban fabric. Anyway, thanks for reading. More to follow.

[Beany]

Thanks for sharing dead Its cool to see some more unique pics of the boro. Looking forward to more.

[DCB]

I can only imagine what a little infill development could do to transform these areas and "flesh out" the urban fabric. Anyway, thanks for reading. More to follow.

This is something I've wondered many times. There are also some notable strips near Guilford College on Friendly, and in the Grove St area. On the plus side, some of the damage "urban renewal" did in the 60s and 70s is getting repaired, (such as the greenway proposal to remove the Murrow boulevard/Summit avenue exchange and replace it with a "gateway project") but it's still depressing to see the stuff that got destroyed. I'm afraid some areas like East Market will never be the same.

[DigitalSky]

I go to UNCG!

[cityboi]

Those are nice pics. The Spring Garden St area north of UNCG looks like a "mini-town" with those buildings, almost like a downtown of a really small town. Thats what I like about Greensboro. The city has a number of unique and interesting neighborhoods.

[wfdude]

I agree cityboi. I graduated from UNCG in 2004 and that was one thing I enjoyed about Greensboro... lots of little urbanish buildings that seemed to once be neighborhood centers and whatnot. There are a couple of little areas I can think of -- the intersection of Walker Ave and Elam St, the intersectoin of Spring Garden and Mendenhall, the area of Friendly just across from Guilford College, and various sections of Spring Garden west of Aycock and UNCG, like the intersection of Chapman. Not to mention, Tate St. All of these places add so much character to the city. I'm from Raleigh and live there now, (and don't get me wrong, I love it), but it just doesn't seem like there are nearly as many little nodes of urban fabric or at least areas that used to be neighborhood centers (I guess I can think of a few now that I'm actually thinking about it), but whatever the case, it does make you wonder what these little areas of Greensboro were like back in the day. Other than what we've mentioned, can anybody think of any other areas like this?

BTW, great pics... I think most of us are amateurs lol.

Not to tanget, but I was polysci at UNCG, what were your majors?

[SouthJersey7]

Thanks for the feedback, everybody. Interesting that there are other UNCG students/alumni on here. Nice to see people on here agree with me about the condition of Greensboro, and there seems to be quite a bit of optimism as well. Oh and DCB, funny you should mention East Market, I was over there the other day and I think I know exactly where you were talking about. I'll try to get a few pics from there when I have time. Also there were a few other curiosities I noticed in that area. Pics to follow.

Not to tanget, but I was polysci at UNCG, what were your majors?

Computer sci.

[monsoon]

Thanks for the photos. I always enjoy looking at photos of Greensboro.

[Jerseyman4]

Great photos!

Spring Garden has some tacky stores/buildings around UNC-G and by the railroad tracks on some side streets.

[NCB]

Great pictures, deadmaker7!

[SouthJersey7]

Allright, time for round 2. First I'll start with some photos on Walker Street. For those of you who don't know, Walker is mostly a residential street with single family homes and apartments. Many college students living here. I was over there last night, and imagine my amazement and wonder when I stumbled upon an intact business district in the middle of a quiet neighborhood, with not one not two, but THREE bars! That's right three bars all packed into one little corner. Let's take a look:

(EDIT: It's actually FOUR bars, there's one called "Fishbone" right next to the Blind Tiger )

The Blind Tiger, Est. 1988.

Walker Bar and right next to it Walker Tavern. Freedom of choice!

Side view of the above. Very attractive building.

I wish I'd had my camera last night, you should have seen the place. There was a band setting up to play one of the bars, and it was crowded! Lots of people out walking around. Very lively.

So as I mentioned earlier I was going to get some pics from East Market Street. Here's the results:

Now this first one struck me as having that "ghetto" vibe. Looks fairly well kept, if a little run down:

Right across the street from that were these two artist firms. This was encouraging to see, as artists can often help revive an area:

Greensboro Children's Museum...heh

So then I headed downtown for a bit. Here's some old looking buildings on Commerce Place (how's that for a pro-business street name ) :

The old Greensboro Fire Station, now a health club:

Coming Soon: Center City Park

Here's two really great old skyscrapers on Elm St. I wish they would still build'em like this:

Also on Elm this is a new condo development.

It is right next to and compliements this, the old railway depot very nicely.

Just a block from there on Davie St. I took these pics.

Here's "The Dixie", an old apartment building (1921) right next to the ballpark.

This is a pretty nice condo development although I don't like how they put the parking structure right on the ground floor, it creates that "blank wall" effect on the street

These buildings on Market St. are to become condos very soon.

Well that's about it for now. Hope you enjoy as much as I did taking them.

[Beany]

Great job dead. Thanks for posting.

This is a good shot of the of the Southeastern Building:

The News and Record reported today that Greensboro developers Barry Siegal and Willard Tucker have plans to convert this building into retail (first floor), office (next three floors) and apartments (top five floors). Work is scheduled to begin next summer. The developers also want to restore some of the original details that the building once had like large Doric columns which were once on the East Market side of the building.

[DigitalSky]

Nice photos. I think the corner of Walker Avenue and Elam St has true character... especially that Bestway store

[DCB]

Excellent pictures.

News on the Southeastern building conversion - notice the columns on the side, those were unfortunatley removed in the late 1930s to make room for a ninth floor.

I really think Davie street has some great potential for infill. There are surface lots everywhere, It's near Southside, Elm and the depot, and it isn't "contained" with parking decks on one side like Greene is.

[NCMike1981]

Is that seriously the Greensboro Children's Museum? It's quite....colorful..... :-p

[Dylan]

Great pictures.

[cityboi]

I love this building!

I think it was built before 1909 and was Greensboro first tall building even though its only 7 stories. Its the other Dixie Building. There is a great restaurant on the lower level of the building off the Alley called Cincy's. Its known for its chillie

[southclt]

I too am a UNCG alumni, I miss G'boro sometimes (also born there). When I went to school back in the late 90's the Walker Ave. area was jumping (especially on weekends) It's just a cool hip little corner.

Is Suds' and Duds still there? You can't beat washing clothes and having a beer in the same place.

Thanks for the memories!!

[DigitalSky]

I think Suds and Duds is still there.. I'll have to check when I go back. That Bestway is still operating too

[SouthJersey7]

Time for some random Greensboro photos, in the UNCG area:

Under construction

and recently built

Thanks for viewing!

[cityboi]

Once again Great Pictures!

[DigitalSky]

Yeah great shots around campus!!!

[SouthJersey7]

Yeah great shots around campus!!!

Thanks. UNCG is really getting build up nicely. That new one, the Humanities building really fits in well and the new dorms will be done soon and should also be a nice fit. I'm glad they really seemed to have learned their lesson from bad architectural mistakes, particularly the Bryan Building which could have been built by Martians, it's just such an awkward and abnormal building that looks like a prison and is surrounded (isolated) from the rest of the campus by parking lots.

BTW, those rowhouses on Tate St. are really fantastic, it's funny but I just noticed them and decided to snap a few pics. I wish they would build more! Maybe there will be some in South Side.

[DigitalSky]

Thanks. UNCG is really getting build up nicely. That new one, the Humanities building really fits in well and the new dorms will be done soon and should also be a nice fit. I'm glad they really seemed to have learned their lesson from bad architectural mistakes, particularly the Bryan Building which could have been built by Martians, it's just such an awkward and abnormal building that looks like a prison and is surrounded (isolated) from the rest of the campus by parking lots.

BTW, those rowhouses on Tate St. are really fantastic, it's funny but I just noticed them and decided to snap a few pics. I wish they would build more! Maybe there will be some in South Side.

Yeah those row houses are pretty cool. Agree about Bryan Building... and the new dorms, I'll be there next year!