WSTB

May 7, 2022:
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The first photograph appears to show the new park space behind The Easley? If so, it has a nice skyline view! I really wish they could bring a Victorian-style cast-iron fountain to that space. Yes, they are still designed and made, today. You can even find a foundry that can make fun designs. I was in Toronto on a business trip and just happened to pass-by the most amazing NEW dog-themed fountain in a small pocket park and the park was filled with people.

This is the fountain and the company that made it, if anyone at City Hall is interested: http://clarksvillefoundry.com/berczy-pa ... o-ontario/

Look at this... It's amazing! http://clarksvillefoundry.com/wordpress ... C00687.jpg

What if we hired them to design and cast a fountain with all of the animals and objects from classic Winston-Salem tobacco tags and package designs. Everything from a top to a red elephant, and have a camel at the top. Maybe we could also have Prince Albert sitting on the edge of the fountain? That could cost too much, so maybe a small Prince Albert with the camel at the top. Of course we shouldn't use Joe Camel, but it would be a regular camel as seen on the original packaging in 1913. If the City hates creating water features, maybe a local business or several downtown businesses could raise the money to create something like that and donate it to the park? This park would likely become very popular and well-photographed if we did that.

And I want to say Thank You for going through the trouble to photograph the construction and areas of interest to discussions on the forum.

I'm guessing this is from Spring 1989?


I was only four years old when this was recorded around Spring 1989. I think parts of it could be older. The source says parts are from 1987, when I was around two years old. For us Millennials, this is Winston-Salem from around the time we were born. It's not the empty, lost its largest employers, down-and-out looking place history seems to portray it as. Downtown has impressive retail and much larger festivals in the video. It also has Beneath the Elms ice skating in downtown. I thought that closed much earlier?

"Marauding braves" . . . LOL

I don't recall a "renewed and vibrant center city" at all in 1989. That "impressive retail" was just the last hangers-on in their death throes - places like Millers, Mother-Daughter, and Woolworth's. This was the golden heyday of Hanes Mall. Street festivals like Carolina Streetscene and Mayfest drew the crowds, but there was little else to do beyond their barricades. Nightlife consisted of a handful of dance clubs (notably The Orchestra Pit) and a few hotel lounges. If 1989 is remembered for anything in this city, it will be the tornado swarm of May 5.

"Beneath the Elms" limped along into the mid-1990s



- Winston-Salem Time Traveller

Possum, you're correct! When RJR Nabisco left Winston Salem in 1988 with the LBO, it was the beginning of the mass exodus of companies from the city. RJR Nabisco had already established a major corporate presence in NYC, so the senior executives had effectively moved away even earlier than this time period. The city core was really bad at that time. From that period into the 1990's the city began a precipitous decline as local leaders panicked. If I remember correctly it was also around the mid to late 1990’s that the plans for the IQ and other downtown changes were beginning to be developed.

There used to be a chromium sculpture in that little plaza which was inexplicably removed.

https://www.emporis.com/buildings/12385 ... lem-nc-usa

Moral: Don't fret about the dandelion. It won't be there for long.

I had forgotten about that sculpture. I'm sure it cost a LOT of money since RJR had it custom built. It's probably sitting in a warehouse somewhere and it's a shame it wasn't donated to the "city of the arts" to use somewhere in the city.

Thankfully, I did get to see it (sculpture) in the Summer of 2003, before it was removed. I also saw the last Winston Cup trophy through the windows of the old Reynolds Building. I seem to remember Matt Kenseth won the trophy I saw? I have photographs of it somewhere? Both the sculpture and the Winston Cup Trophy. I remember a friend from high school, who was with me on that trip and into photography, loved the reflective diamond sculpture. Though I'm not much of a sports fan, I was excited to see the Winston Cup. As someone named Matt, it was great to see a Matt win the last Winston Cup trophy. Yes, that is how I remember who won it and the year of that trip.

I really wish they would've built the proposed (never built) fountains to replace the planters in their ugly concrete plaza. That would've added an attraction to bring people into that empty and cold space. Concrete plazas are always a bad idea and usually look exactly like that... empty. The architects of RJR Plaza did a lot of things wrong. Even the design looked dated the day it opened. And yet that project won the highest AIA national award for the year it was entered. A project that removed the retail from the Art Deco building, created a windswept concrete plaza, and a blank concrete wall along Main Street. I'm not sure if a storefront can ever be added at the corner of Main and Fifth, but some effort should be made.

Photo by Tina Keaton:

https://ibb.co/HrT5VNd

That is a really, really nice pic - thanks for sharing. Where is the 55-story BB&T Headquarters Building?

What exactly is the purpose of this comment?

No purpose really beyond my not so obvious apparently poor attempt at humor lamenting the loss of BB&T. So, I do apologize for soiling the posting of what really is a super great picture in my opinion. And I apologize further for the comment about BB&T since it obviously does no good to keep dredging it up - what was I thinking, again I do apologize.

I missed this video the first time around. I will say this about that time period (1989), the downtown sidewalks were packed with people at lunch, much more so than they are now. We still had Integon, Wachova, and a larger RJR workforce, among other businesses. Mercantile Plaza was always crowded at lunch, lines at every restaurant. Out of the bag lunch concerts at the sawtooth plaza were well attended. Downtown had a vibrant business feel to it then, during the day. Interestingly, that video sounds like it was narrated by Glen Scott, a local radio personality from WSJS, which, with WTQR, was also downtown at the time on Summit Street. Night time was a different story. The Orchestra Pit saw pretty decent crowds. Most of the activity was farther down Fourth Street. Shobers was always packed on Friday's after work with West End Cafe directly across the street where Mozelle is now. Down the hill, was the Rose and Thistle, First Street/Spring Garden Bar and Grill, Shrocks, and Twin City Diner maybe a year or so later (a seafood restaurant was there in 89, I believe). Piedmont Airlines was still in WS, but soon thereafter became USAir. : (

The first picture here is one I took in 2003, between that Saturday evening’s double features at Films on Fourth at the Stevens Center. I was facing west while standing on Fourth Street between Spruce and Poplar...but much closer to Poplar. The second was taken 19 years later (i.e., yesterday), but at the intersection with Spruce. Not exactly apples to apples but also not apples to oranges either. It’s remarkable to contemplate how very different that stretch is now, and I’m happy about it.