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Comments
Submitted by Matt (not verified) on Fri, 7/27/2007 - 3:09pm
Is the current Public Hardware building among these photos? If not, I can't picture it (haven't been there).
Love the first photo!
Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Fri, 7/27/2007 - 3:46pm
Matt
It's at Mangum and Seminary St. You can see it in the background in the last photo at this post.
GK
Submitted by Michael Bacon (not verified) on Fri, 7/27/2007 - 6:13pm
Much as I like the business, it earns a C- when it comes to urban design. It's modern warehouse-style building, built with corrugated metal, I believe, and is essentially a big metal barn full of hardware stuff. At least it sits up close to the road, but the entrance is onto an adjacent parking lot surrounded by a fence topped with razor wire. I'm sure there have been times in the past two decades when that security has been necessary, but it's not necessarily inviting.
Their only weekend hours are Saturday until 3 (not sure when they open), so it kind of makes it hard to patronize them. My guess is they do their best business with small contractors and landscapers, in addition to the residents of NE-central Durham.
Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Fri, 7/27/2007 - 7:10pm
One of the interesting things about this parking lot is that, while I don't think I would necessarily propose it for this spot, the elements are here for a really good public space - open, yet enclosed enough to feel like sanctuary, one relatively low-volume street, active streetscape around it. This is the kind of spot that would make a great urban green space.
GK
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 7/28/2007 - 3:32am
And don't forget that the original (Parrish Street) location of Public Hardware was very briefly featured in the 1988 movie "Bull Durham," when Kevin Costner (a.k.a. Crash Davis) practices his swing with a cardboard tube in the reflection of Public Hardware's storefront window at night.
Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Sat, 7/28/2007 - 8:37am
Anon
Thanks for this info - I don't remember that scene (it's been a 'good little while' since I've seen Bull Durham.) That helps me narrow down when it must have been torn down.
GK
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 7/30/2007 - 4:02pm
Also, you may want to either visit or call up the folks at Public Hardware; years ago I talked to them about their old location, and they still recall a lot of info. about it (to include their 15 seconds of fame in "Bull Durham").
Submitted by recycle.tech (not verified) on Fri, 4/20/2012 - 10:00pm
The photo courtesy of Durham Public Library showing the Atwater Kent "service car" has the date 1910 at the bottom. The Atwater Kent radio was not manufactured until 1922, and the model on display in the window is a model 30, which was manufactured in 1926. I was actually amazed to see an antenna mounted on top of the service sidecar. If the repairman had a working radio and two batteries in the unit, that may be the world's first motorcycle with an AM broadcast band radio. They also must have offered home service of Sonora Phonographs, as advertised on the bottom of the sidecar.
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