When I received a call from Beth Petty in the film office at the Charlotte Regional Partnership, I wondered why NASCAR Media would want to film a promotional video in an our old Empire Hotel. What do old hotels and NASCAR have in common I asked myself. After seeing this footage...well I understand... a great theme for an October race...
I was asked "can we write on the walls?" "Sure" I replied...They obviously looked for and found the worst room in what we hope to return some day back into a grand hotel. The economy has certainly slowed our development process but it has not ended the optimism of redevelopment of this spectacular piece of our history. And while we are waiting opportunities like this are part of what make owning an old hotel interesting. Maybe someday that room will be where guests talk about the weird NASCAR commercial...
I received a nice thank you note the other day from Aaron Clinard, Chairman of The City Project, Inc., High Point, NC’s downtown development corporation. About 20 of the people involved in that effort recently visited Salisbury to see our progress toward making our downtown a special place.
What stood out most in his note was the comment about the widespread enthusiasm we have in this community for downtown development and preservation. It reminded me of incidents with two of our downtown heroes, Paul Fisher and Mike Fuller.
Removing metal façades from the 1960s is something present in the DNA of every downtown development person, or so I thought. Late one night I received a phone call from Paul Fisher and found out that it was not a hereditary trait, it was a virus, and Paul Fisher was infected. Mr. Paul was in the throes of the F&M Financial Center project. He called me one night on my cell phone, telling me that they had begun tearing off the metal façade at the building at 225 N. Main and what a jewel they were uncovering… He said he was so excited that he wanted to go down there and tear the rest of the metal off with his bare hands. I suspect that he told Randy Goodman to be back early the next day because Randy had the metal off in record time and Mr. Paul turned one of the ugliest buildings in the downtown back into one of the prettiest.
My Board president Mike Fuller also had a full case of the virus. DSI had just purchased the buildings at 210-214 S. Main (to the right of the Gateway Building). Covered in ugly metal, Mike could not wait to get it off. One afternoon we surmised the task and began work. A truck, a piece of rope, a ladder and a dose of craziness was all it took. It was as we thought, and as the photo above shows, very much like peeling a banana… Mike’s virus was not easily cured as witnessed in his later transformation of Innes Street Drug at 112-114 S. Main.
Planning, perseverance, and a number of other factors have been part of the rebirth of Downtown Salisbury. The most important element has been enthusiasm, and I am thankful for the enthusiasm of people like Paul Fisher and Mike Fuller.
I come from a small midwestern town, where on any given Saturday my brother and I would walk from our house, down Platt Street and up four blocks to Main Street.Anything we could ever need and the only place we ever shopped was on that street – penny candy from Carter’s Five & Dime (Okey Dokey & Co, anyone?), new church shoes from Loxtercamp’s (Ralph Baker Shoes), or a box of nails for Dad’s next project from Hager’s Hardware (how about Bernhardt’s Hardware?).We could grab lunch at the Corner Café (that could be Sidewalk Deli), an ice cold pop at the soda fountain in City Drug Store (maybe Innes St. Drug), or cream horns and fresh-baked cookies from Wigwam Bakery (the soon-to-be The Sweetest Thing).
My first trip ever to Salisbury was for my first interview for my current position.And as I drove through town for the first time I thought, “This reminds me so much of my hometown!”The feeling of familiarity was comfortable and seductive.I could imagine living near downtown and walking to town, like I did at home; or stepping through the doors of any store and being greeted by name, like I did at home; or stopping on the street corner to discuss the day’s events with most anyone, like I did at home.And it so happens that I didn’t just imagine these things, I lived them.And I loved them!
I love Downtown Salisbury.It’s just like coming home…
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