my best source on the sokno development is a community-activist type who lives in island home and is sort of perpetually at odds with knoxville development plans, but she thinks the planning process and whatever has been about as good as it could be under the circumstances (circumstances being the normal influence of/deference to monied developers). and, you know, most of the south bank of the river has been mostly industrial for years anyway. i doubt the impact on the surroundings will be all that dramatic. it'll be like the condos over by the big aztec-temple hotel, a little self-contained world. the effect on the beer line at the sevier avenue pilot will be minimal. (although i also heard that someone's turning that J&J beer joint farther east into some kind of upscaley place, which made me sad. i never went in there, but i always liked driving by it. seemed like something out of suttree.)
i mean, i also still when i'm in knoxville miss the downtown of 10 years ago, because it was this sort of deserted place that we could make whatever we wanted to, and the things that were there seemed kind of significant just for being there. (plus they tended to be weird, like j's mega mart.) but having been part of the downtown activist brigade i can't really complain about downtown having actually taken off a little. it's always the conundrum of trying to rescue abandoned places and then the consequences when other people start to notice them. you can't control it past a certain point.
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 00:49 (sixteen years ago) link
i just wonder where all these new people will GO, when they need to get some diapers or gasoline - and i think i know the answer: alcoa highway, NOT vestal
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 00:52 (sixteen years ago) link
probably. although you can get to the kroger on chapman highway pretty easily through vestal.
also speaking of knoxville and going corporate, my wife spotted a girl today on the upper east side today porting a bed, bath and beyond bag with a cynthia markert print jutting out of it.
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 00:56 (sixteen years ago) link
(there's not really much to shop at in vestal anyway. there's that sav-a-lot on maryville pike i guess, if that still counts as vestal.)
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 00:58 (sixteen years ago) link
That's the main intersection in Vestal!
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:17 (sixteen years ago) link
Brownie's is just a local in the heart of Vestal. They don't hate me, they just HATE having attention drawn to them...very paranoid about the interweb, as well.
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:19 (sixteen years ago) link
i thought the main intersection in vestal was where king tut's is. but maybe that's too close to the river? i've always been hazy on the boundaries. vestal is one of those elusive places.
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:23 (sixteen years ago) link
That's right next to the Savway!
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:24 (sixteen years ago) link
oh no i mean the other store -- farther out, toward montgomery village. is there a grocery store next to king tut's? i guess i'm just forgetting.
and do they still have vestival?
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:27 (sixteen years ago) link
right, chapman highway is the obvious go-to for the riverfront developments, yeah
i guess my point is, yes, there's not a whole lot of small businesses there and it's too bad that a gazillion new residents right next door will probably do nothing to change that situation. it ought to be a vestal bonanza!
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:27 (sixteen years ago) link
What? All of these things you are mentioning are extremely close to one another.
Vestival still happens, yes, but it has been invaded by boring hippies.
xpost
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:28 (sixteen years ago) link
good old pease furniture
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:29 (sixteen years ago) link
aw i like knoxville hippies.
yeah i guess that stuff's all close together. it's just a mile in south knoxville can seem like a long way. nothing goes in a straight line.
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:32 (sixteen years ago) link
i'm sort of freaked out that the big auto junkyard next to the railway bridge seems to have closed its doors, it's been there for at least 30 years
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:34 (sixteen years ago) link
I always liked that place. You mean the one near the one lane underpass, on Ogle?
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:35 (sixteen years ago) link
(i think the one-lane underpass is what makes maryville pike seem distant from king tut's in my mind. like a secret passage or something.)
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:41 (sixteen years ago) link
no the one on blount ave, before you get to the baseball diamond if you're driving from town. it's built up around the overpass on the right hand side if you're driving that way. it seemed like the stacks of cars just carried on up into the hills and the woods and the kudzu. there's only a few cars left there now, though, and it's disconcertingly... TIDY
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:43 (sixteen years ago) link
Some Vestal pics:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/vestalsignsized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/faintinggoatssized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/savwaysized.jpg
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:43 (sixteen years ago) link
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/roundhousesized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/peasesized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/onelanesized.jpg
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:45 (sixteen years ago) link
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/montgomerysized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/kingtutsized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/headsized.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/primrosehill/browniesbarsized.jpg
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:46 (sixteen years ago) link
haha i have NEVER seen that vestal sign
the savway used to be a cas walker's, did you know that? same red and white facade, too. cas walker's entire business strategy was to set up supermarkets in poor neighborhoods and sell the lowest quality products possible.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Haha, lol @ Cas.
Also, that Vestal sign is right across the street from Vestal park. Ever been there?
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:47 (sixteen years ago) link
great pics, roxy!!
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:47 (sixteen years ago) link
yes i have! not in awhile though.
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:48 (sixteen years ago) link
http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=W004
Thanks, Tracer!
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:49 (sixteen years ago) link
dude i went to five points village plaza in june
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:52 (sixteen years ago) link
I wish Knoxville would get a good planetarium, though (delayed response to way-upthread thing mothra said).
xpost what on earth is that
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:53 (sixteen years ago) link
it's out MLK boulevard, it's supposed to be a hub to revitalize "the wrong side of the tracks". its biggest attraction is an IGA. i went because i had to renew my driver's license and the old courthouse doesn't do that anymore - and no way am i driving to east town(e) mall. i was the only white person i saw for about an hour. it sort of brought a whole lot home to me that i avoided thinking about for years, re: knoxville
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:57 (sixteen years ago) link
haha also i have been to the "we need your head in our business" barbershop, when i got back from london in 2004. irony overload: they cut OFF the mullet i received from a london hairdresser!
Haha, that's GREAT!! re: the mullet
I wonder if that IGA serves IGA burgers...
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 01:59 (sixteen years ago) link
A cool local guy has opened a thing called South Knox School of Sound directly next door to the "Need your Head in our Business" place/Pease furniture. They do good all ages shows and music lessons.
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:00 (sixteen years ago) link
i hesitate to ask what goes into an IGA burger
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:03 (sixteen years ago) link
the arrowhead IGA - now some really creepy looking afterschool place - was where i honed the pacman and donkey kong skills that have made me so famous
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link
this thread makes me feel like richard ford
haha
i am great at pacman too! i honed this at the longbranch, tho
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:06 (sixteen years ago) link
hey is smoking outlawed now by the way?
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:08 (sixteen years ago) link
not that this is an issue for you these days
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:09 (sixteen years ago) link
Supposedly, but I have not noticed a THING changed, except Stefano's makes you smoke outside now.
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:10 (sixteen years ago) link
hah
ok i must sleep
good night knoxville!
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:11 (sixteen years ago) link
Night, Tracer!
Old City Java is under new management as of this month and has ice cream and cuet cupcakes now, which is nice. They have movie night instead of the wack Black N Mild dj night they used to do. Movies shown so far: Roadie (starring Meatloaf), Kindergarten Cop, Heathers.
― roxymuzak, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:18 (sixteen years ago) link
it sort of brought a whole lot home to me that i avoided thinking about for years, re: knoxville.
mm-hm. e.g. the county zoned the downtown-development areas so the condo dwellers could have their kids go to sequoyah hills instead of green (even though they could walk to green).
― tipsy mothra, Monday, 27 August 2007 02:24 (sixteen years ago) link
I LOVE SOUTH KNOXVILLE
The movie theatre celebrating its openinng this week with dollar movies, dollar popcorn and dollar bevs, playing kind of a weird selection of movies. After this, I hear they are going to have THEME WEEKS, which is great!
― roxymuzak, Thursday, 30 August 2007 22:09 (sixteen years ago) link
ps, that I LOVE SOUTH KNOXVILLE seems a little non-sequitur. I just moved back, is all.
The little Mexican store next to the Tacqueria on Chapman sells awesome Death candles.
― roxymuzak, Thursday, 30 August 2007 22:10 (sixteen years ago) link
i love south knoxville
i like those pictures too - knoxville looks more american than the last time i saw it i think
― ken c, Thursday, 30 August 2007 22:38 (sixteen years ago) link
who was the specials guy by the way - i saw neville staple a few weeks back at a random festival in cornwall!! he was immense.
― ken c, Thursday, 30 August 2007 22:40 (sixteen years ago) link
It was Lynval, I think.
― roxymuzak, Thursday, 30 August 2007 23:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I prefer Nashville and Murfreesboro.
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, 31 August 2007 10:21 (sixteen years ago) link
how in the hell could you prefer murfreesboro
― Tracer Hand, Friday, 31 August 2007 10:24 (sixteen years ago) link