by Leo Suarez

Murals In Downtown

Do you like murals? Downtown Raleigh has a couple that most visitors overlook. I want to highlight them so that next time you are close, you might remember to walk a block over and take a look at the cool building art. Click on the pics below to get a larger view and go here for a map.

Two Butterflies

You can find the two huge butterflies plastered on a white wall across the street from Café Luna and Marbles Museum. Head toward the intersection of Blount and Hargett St. to see it.

Lincoln in a Lincoln

It is very appropriate for this mural of Abe in a Lincoln car to be on the side of Lincoln Theatre. Drive safe and twist that rubber neck of yours to the right when driving on Wilmington St. before Cabaruss St.

Johnson St. mural

I’m not quite sure how to name this one. I guess it is open for your interpretation. You can find this one on Johnson St, across from Hi 5.

Farmer’s Market

This mural on the edge of City Market looks like a tribute to the farmer’s market. Notice the faces drawn into the fruits and vegetables. Go to the lot at the intersection of Davie and Person St.

Last, I want to show a spot that I think needs a mural. It is the 222 Glenwood parking deck. The blank wall facing Jones St. desperately needs some color.

by Leo Suarez

I’m Declaring The Glen On Peace Project Dead

For all of those who have been waiting for the glenonpeace.com domain to free up, now is your chance to buy it. I also think Network Solutions needs to re-do their search algorithms.

Their website is gone and with absolutely no announcements or signs of progress I declare this project dead. Does anyone think this may be coming back? Have some info that I do not? This boring 18 condo project is really not much of a loss and something better could occupy that space.

by Leo Suarez

Triangle Segway Moving Into City Market

This was an interesting find. Thanks goes out to Ginny From The Blog, a fellow blogeague, for letting me use her camera that night.

It looks like a Segway shop is opening up in City Market. I’ve seen similar shops in urban areas around the country and their main service is to rent out these two-wheeled contraptions. There currently are officers on segways in downtown and you can usually see them during large events. Are these the replacements for the horses?

I have never ridden one but I’m sure curiosity will take over, especially on a nice spring day, and I’ll give one a ride. Maybe one day we’ll have downtown segway tours like the one I saw in Washington DC.

by Leo Suarez

History: Geodesy In Raleigh

Take a look at the two pictures above. Do you see a connection maybe? If you think we need more stones, I agree with you. The stones are located on the southeast corner of Union Square, or near the corner of Wilmington and Morgan St. They were used to calculate the exact latitude and longitude of Raleigh. Here is what the plaque on this stone says:

Geodetic Survery Stones 1853-1854 Site used by U.S. Coastal and Geodetic Survey to measure the precise longitude and latitude of Raleigh by taking simultaneous readings of the positions of stars here and at locations in Richmond, VA and Charleston and Columbia S.C. A Temporary telegraph station was set up here to communicate with the other sites.

I had to look up what Geodesy was and here is the definition from dictionary.com:

the branch of applied mathematics that deals with the measurement of the shape and area of large tracts of country, the exact position of geographical points, and the curvature, shape, and dimensions of the earth.

I did a little research because I was interested in the tech used to accomplish this in the 1850’s. It turns out the telegraph was patented in 1837 by Samuel Morse, the man behind Morse code, and the following years after that, the technology was improved and used on a wider scale.

Interesting stuff. If anyone can add to this, please feel free to comment. Look for these stones next time you are walking around the Capitol.

by Leo Suarez

Rows of Shops Might Be Destroyed, Do You Care?

The shops shown in the picture above may be lost to a tower being built on this block. Nothing new to report here but for some background information on this topic, go back to this post. The shops look like they have been around for awhile. The Hillsborough St. bridge construction a couple years ago really hurt the businesses here and I do not think they have recovered. They have either moved or closed shop. There is little activity here and pedestrian traffic is almost dead.

I’d like to get some opinions from the readers. Are these shops worth saving/revitalizing or would you like to see something tall with ground floor retail?