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Durham photos


pompeyjohnson

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A few Triangle theatres ran that film (I know we did at the Carolina) back in September I believe. Sadly I missed it.

Bowling downtown would be a great addition. When I was in high school, bowling was one of those old reliable activities my friends and I would do when there wasn't anything else to do.

Speaking of bowling, anyone here ever played candlepin bowling? That's what we used to do in NE. I've enlightened a few people around here on the topic. Just curious if you've heard of it.

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Speaking of bowling, anyone here ever played candlepin bowling? That's what we used to do in NE. I've enlightened a few people around here on the topic. Just curious if you've heard of it.

Is this the same as duckpin bowling? I bet someone could make some money opening up a bowling alley that offered these different varieties of bowling.

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We drove through downtown Durham this evening. The place looks and feels a lot larger at night. It seems more active than it used to be. Hopefully this is a trend that'll continue. I've heard rumors that the city might get new towers for the first time in... decades. Every building there is architecturally significant, so hopefully any new highrises will do the city justice.

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  • 8 months later...

Afraid I don't have any to help you out, but just for the heck of it, I googled "Downtown Durham Pics" and got quite a few good links!

Good luck.

I did the same thing. Here's what I got:

Your search - "Downtown Durham Pics" - did not match any documents.

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I actually lived in Durham from birth until 1995, not counting a year or so in Greenville, NC back in the mid '80s. My gradmother was born in Durham and lived there her entire life except for a few years in Pittsfield, MA right after WW2, my grandfather lived there with her from 1948 until his death in 1991. They raised my 5 aunts and uncles in Durham, although all but 1 of them have since moved elsewhere. Wow I could type a novel out on living in Durham from 1919-present (my uncle lives in my grandparents old house in Durham) but I'll spare you. I've heard stories about how downtown used to be. My grandmother worked in the SS Kress building back when it was in business from high school graduation in 1937 until she left for MA with my grandfather in 1946. She remembered downtown being segregated. I heard a story about how, during the Great Depression her mother took her to "downtown" (they lived in what would be considered downtown now, in a house behind where the Papa Johns and gas station is off Main St near Duke's east campus) and they stopped off at a lunch counter and her mother realized she couldn't afford to get her a bowl of soup and some girls laughed and made fun of her. The malls really hurt Durham when Sears left around 1970 for Northgate and JCPenney and Belk left for South Square in the mid 1970's. I read online that the person in charge of the Durham Belk didn't want to move to South Square because he felt loyalty to Downtown Durham but the execs within Belk kinda pushed him to move to South Square because the downtown location was kind of "dime storish". My mom, who was born in 1956 told me that until 1970 or so downtown was the place to be. It was packed with shoppers. By the late 1970's it was pretty much an office park, like what happened to many downtowns during this period. My grandfather worked at the Liggett and Meyers downtown, I remember going there with him when I was in elementary school because he'd get ciggarettes really cheap for my family who all smoked backed then. I still remember the smell around the warehouses. It was a sweet unique smell that has long since vanished. I remember right after they built the Peoples Security Building, now called Durham Centre my grandfather took me around Downtown Durham and we counted the floors of buildings, we led a thrilling life. He told me that they were going to build another tower beside the Peoples Security Building that would be identical, which of course has yet to happen....I've always wished the tower would someday get built being the sentimental fool that I am.

I never made it to the Woolworths downtown but I believe it hang on until 1993 or 1994. It was sort of the downtown anchor to Durham like Hudson Belk was to Raleigh and when it closed it sent a little shockwave to remaining businesses, pretty much mirrored by the Hudson Belk closure, and a handful of stores closed with it.

In an effort to prevent this from turning into a novel I'm gonna cut myself off, any more questions feel free to ask, I'm not an expert but I do know some general info about the area thanks to family and personal history...

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Wow, NCMike, your story is interesting. I was born and raised in Durham, too, but I live in Raleigh now (but I'd MUCH rather be in Durham). I remember the smell of tobacco, too, when I would go down Gregson Street/Duke Street on my way to Northgate as a kid. :) I remember the Woolworth's, too. It seems like there was one downtown and one over in Lakewood someplace.

What elementary school did you attend?

For some reason, the "Metroscenes" website is not working. Those were the BEST pictures I think I've ever seen of downtown Durham.

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