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smeagolsfree

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2 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

These videos by J Utah are pretty cool. He does them all over the country and several international cities as well. He did this one during the NFL Draft.

I'll never forget the video he did on Tokyo during I believe was dawn time. Wow! Such an advanced city and mighty clean for a metro with 40 million people. It's insane what incredibly sophisticated cities are around the world that we hardly every think of in our daily lives.

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On 12/1/2019 at 2:39 PM, MLBrumby said:

Thanks Chris!! Just a few random observations/thoughts while skimming through that video...

1. I thought it was cool b/c the person driving (video'ing) did not seem to know exactly where s/he was going. So in that vein, it was like a first timer's view of the core of N'ville. And it shows very well. Sort of took me back to my first time, and there was a whole lot less to see then. I sometimes have this opportunity in a 'new' city and just let the streets take me where we may go. 

2. People everywhere for a weekend day. Yes, it was the NFL draft week but couldn't help noticing all the out-of-state cars... and that's actually something I notice always when I'm up there. Visitors quickly love Nashville and then they tell two friends... and so on... and so on... etc. 

3. Canyons! With the video cameras, I see how streets can seem like canyons (yes, the type we talk about here). Yet, the Broadwest and Grand Hyatt projects were barely out of the ground at that point. S/he did NOT go up Deaderick, which was Nashville's original canyon, and still one of its most visually appealing street vistas (although there's not as much pedestrian activity). 

4. I've forgotten (overlooked) just how much of the old classic downtown buildings still exist in Nashville. And from a car, the presence of Doric/Corinthian columns and neoclassical stone/masonry work is so nice to see, and somewhat unusual for a sunbelt city. 

5. Nashville is blessed with a lot of greenery and the trees that have been planted look so nice at that time of year. 

6. How many midsize cities have so much street activation 12 blocks from the core (Gulch) and 20 blocks away (Division/Broadway & 25th at West End)? Even more so than a lot of much larger cities. And that barely scratches the surface of Midtown. Nashville is so blessed to have Vandy so close to downtown. The video didn't even get over to the Village/Edge Hill/Belmont/12 South, which are destinations (would be in any other comparable cities). 

7. As the video passed the sites of projects that had barely started or were planned, I imagined how that 'ride' will feel in 2-3 years. And it will be simply  "MORE CITY".  I appreciate that Nashville has the narrow streets that Atlanta (mostly) obliterated 70 years ago. These days, it makes for a much more intimate pedestrian experience. And very glad that Nashville did NOT run all Interstate routes through the heart of town.  Love the fact that the loop preserved and protected the CBD. I've noticed for several years now that the I-24/65 corridor is the 'throughway' for travelers while the I-40 corridor takes a lot of the burden off the local travelers. Yes, I realize the Midtown to Airport link is congested and annoying, but (trust me) it's far better to have that congestion diverted to the south (I-40) while other commuters take the northern loop to Madison/G'ville/H'ville/Clarksville et.al. than to funnel them all through the same corridor. Not denying here that I-24/65 need expanding. 

8.The Gulch is going to turn Nashville instantly into a large city. In this video, it doesn't even show up. (barely) But in 3 years it will be part of the expanding core. Likewise, Broadwest will make it seem like downtown as you travel east on West End. Likewise, the drive up Division will have a canyon with Dinerstein/Greystar/DuoBrand hotel buildings. It already looks urban. 

9. Music Row! Um, I really don't know what to say here... so I'll riff a bit: that video captures one of the lasting impressions of my first time in Nashville. As a kid, my downtown (Atlanta) was forbidden fruit except when I was with my parents, and only then accessible by way of a vast 'wasteland' of Spring Street/West Peachtree/North Avenue (my parents rarely drove down Peachtree), and it was usually to get to a place to park... then take a shuttle (or Marta and then a shuttle) to go to a Braves game. My Dad did not work downtown (which is so common in Atlanta). As such, I did not grow an appreciation for downtown... perhaps a bit unfair. But don't misunderstand, I loved the skyline... just was always so disappointed when I was actually "IN" downtown. When I first visited Nashville... and specifically Music Row, I saw the trees and the houses and businesses and in my (warped) mind I thought, "This is what a city's business district should be like".  That was sort of a bass-ackward way of my first recognition of Nashville's charms. 

10.  (Personal note here... so move on if you're inclined)  Just watching that video reminded me of how much Nashville has changed since this 'boy' first visited in late 1987 for his campus visit. I wasn't even thinking of Vandy back then. But I visited, and Nashville lured me there. My uncle (himself an alum and until the late 1970s, a resident of Nashville) had somewhat paved the way.  Suffice to say, it was a different place then. I was born in 1970. My hometown was about to launch its second post-WW2 when I was born. It's had 3 more since then. So all I knew was a boomtown that was untouchable to me (a kid or 'little' people). I've come to learn that a lot of people move to boomtowns to 'connect' to a place, but you might say that was beyond my reach. With as many forebears who were actually born in Atlanta, I guess I was looking for someplace that was 'mine'. It could have been anywhere... but maybe not. I happened to come to Nashville... a version that has all-but-vanished... and it connected with me immediately. I like to say we've grown together. 

3. Canyons!  Yes, Deaderick is our canyon for now.  But it was not always so, as this photo from 1968 reveals.  Hardware stores like Montgomery Ward and some really dumpy stuff has been replaced by government and financial buildings.  And food trucks line the street in the summer.  This view is from Sixth Avenue looking east toward the courthouse and river.

 

DSC_5974.thumb.jpg.efe23c9fbbcf2256b4c557129128fdb4.jpg

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12 minutes ago, Native said:

3. Canyons!  Yes, Deaderick is our canyon for now.  But it was not always so, as this photo from 1968 reveals.  Hardware stores like Montgomery Ward and some really dumpy stuff has been replaced by government and financial buildings.  And food trucks line the street in the summer.  This view is from Sixth Avenue looking east toward the courthouse and river.

 

DSC_5974.thumb.jpg.efe23c9fbbcf2256b4c557129128fdb4.jpg

What a transformation! Deadrick is pretty dead pedestrian wise, but such a pretty street to walk down. 

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The removal of the "transit mall" element of Deaderick Street with the opening of Music City Central (bus station) and full renovation of the look of the streetscape certainly did result in a beautiful environment. Too bad there is so little activation except for Thursdays when the food trucks line a portion of the street.

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4 hours ago, Native said:

3. Canyons!  Yes, Deaderick is our canyon for now.  But it was not always so, as this photo from 1968 reveals.  Hardware stores like Montgomery Ward and some really dumpy stuff has been replaced by government and financial buildings.  And food trucks line the street in the summer.  This view is from Sixth Avenue looking east toward the courthouse and river.

 

DSC_5974.thumb.jpg.efe23c9fbbcf2256b4c557129128fdb4.jpg

Some observations... 

The latest model cars I see are from 1969 (see the Ford Country Squire at the left by construction fence), but this could have been taken in late 1968. Within 7 years this street was drastically transformed. https://goo.gl/maps/qsWqUJd291kvqCLU6

The Andrew Jackson State Office building apparently has just broken ground, as evidenced by the crane and construction fence at the left. I think it opened sometime in late 1969. That seems like such a short amount of time to go vertical. 

I don't see the Montgomery Ward, but such stores were likely quite small in a city the size of Nashville. I recall someone I talked with on a flight once who had grown up in Nashville in the 1950s. He said the department stores on Church Street were quite small by today's standards. 

Why don't we ever hear anything about the old Andrew Jackson hotel? Was it because it was a dump? It looks like a nice old masonry midrise, but not anything particularly remarkable in its architecture. That parking ramp at the right has me cracking up... like just park anywhere? And anyone know what the old masonry building to the left was? 

Why did Deaderick change so quickly? Was this also urban renewal, just a later version of the type that swept through James Robertson Pkwy so destructively? 

In the distance the east side of the old public square is visible. Obviously a facade that was still a working business and apparently downmarket from what one might expect next to a county courthouse. I find that fascinating. What was the population of Davidson County then... about 350,000, or so? Yet in 1969, the courthouse was not unlike any other rural Tennessee county courthouse square. Anyone know if the farmers market was still held on the square at that time? Or had that already moved to where it is today?

 

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“Anyone know if the farmers market was still held on the square at that time? Or had that already moved to where it is today?”

Here is a website with information regarding the locations and dates of Nashville’s farmers markets through the years.

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/wpln/files/nfm_history.pdf

 

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Great photo, @Native,     Your shot of the Hermitage Hotel shows the beautiful terra cotta dentil moulding that used to encircle the rooftop soffits.    In the early 90’s, when the hotel was showing its age, some of the masonry started to crumble and rather than repair it, the then owners had it all removed and replaced with cheap glossy white flatboard material.    It looked horrible.   For years the removed masonry pieces were stored up on the roof of the hotel, and I had hoped it would eventually be restored but the pieces disappeared some years ago.    Some years later, the hotel was purchased by the new ownership group who undertook the phenomenal 5 star renovation, restoring the interior beauty.     But the roof masonry was never restored, or even addressed, in the renovation and in fact the cheap glossy white flatboard remains today.    I wondered if the new owners even knew.     Maybe someday.... 

 

0F8D05D6-EDBA-44C5-A281-E2E2E8107B25.jpeg

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4 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

If you're into NASCAR... or not, like myself, this is sort of neat. But perhaps not if you're trying to drive a normal car through downtown. At least it's just one block and they have the N-S avenues open.

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Very cool! (Yes, I'm into Nascar and from the north, it's a thing lol).

I probably won't get down there for the burnout competition, but it should be really cool!

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