Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Travel Advisory In My Mind I'm Going to Carolina...
Posted by Carrington Fox on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 6:46 AM
It's a balmy Friday evening in downtown Asheville, N.C. Families, couples and sandal-shod singles cruise the festive sidewalks of Pack Square. The wait at Salsas Caribbean restaurant is half-an-hour. The noodle bar a few doors down is packed to the gills with people slurping soba at the patio tables. A half-dozen eateries within strolling distance have waits, and hopeful diners are killing time window-shopping on the gallery trail or watching a gregarious street performer wrestle balloons into the forms of bicycles and monkeys....
It's a warm Saturday evening in Chapel Hill, N.C. The spanking-clean sidewalks of Southern Village--the New Urbanist community on the fringe of the UNC campus--buzz with Tarheels, university professors, neighborhood tweens and families with little kids. As the sun sets, the casual crowd migrates from the pizza restaurant and ice cream store onto blankets on the central lawn. A live band fills the minutes until the feature film goes up on the outdoor movie screen....
It's a weekend night in Nashville. You're back from your jaunt through North Carolina, and you want to park your car and stroll a while, grab something to eat and get a little low-cost family-friendly entertainment. Where can you go?
Comments (2)
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The Hill Center, a true outdoor lifestyle center as opposed to a mall.
Tons of food choices and pretty good shopping.
The entertainment part is still in development.
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I rented a downtown loft in Asheville and spent the last month enjoying the vibrant restaurant scene (over fifty,in fact) as well as every aspect of this pedestrian friendly, art and live music loving community. I can assure you that there is no comparable in Nashville though East Nashville has the same vibe. Granted we are a much larger city with a larger downtown. Nonetheless, Asheville has had a 25 year development plan in place which includes a reverence for its art deco structures and historic movie houses as well as all things local. A hugh debate currently ensues as Urban Outfitters is being allowed to open a store in the downtown area. Again, like Chattanooga, there has been a long-term plan in place. Asheville suffers the consequences of its own success-too much traffic and little parking. With all due respect, the Hill Center is charming much like West Village in Dallas, but it does not begin to rival Asheville's downtown.
