202 East Parrish Street / 116-118 North Church Street

Re the Record Bar chain: I believe they were bought out by Tracks, which may then have been bought out by Turtle's... at least, that was the succession of signs at one or two Record Bar locations I observed during the 1990s. Some more info here. A small but significant portion of the records in my collection have bits of Record Bar memorabilia in them: stickers, flyers, even a bag or two.

Sorry, I realize this is at best tangential to your topic ;-)

Ok, something more on-topic to justify this post: looking at the "before" images in your last few entries, I keep finding myself thinking: Damn, we used to have a city here! (I won't add "What the hell happened?" because that seems pretty clear.)

Keep up the good fight.

I'm pretty sure that location was one of the first Record Bars. The founder was a Durhamite, as I'm sure you know. The local stores were sold to Tracks, then on to Blockbuster Music, the corporate management of which sucked out what was left of their soul after CDs, and led to the closing of pretty much every store around here. I think a few survived as Wherehouse Music for a while...

There *is* a connection between creativity, entrepenurship (sp?), and a "good" city. I find it telling that Durham knocked down its cool music stores to build monolithic government edifices, and then wondered why nobody wanted to be downtown anymore.

-kat, former manager of 3 different area stores

Gary, I know you said you had scant evidence on the buildings along this block, but do you know if this portion of Parrish also had many black-owned businesses?

--ASE.

Woozle

Tangential is fine - as long as it isn't comment spam. I didn't patronize Record Bar much - mostly Poindexter's and... oh, what was it that Millenium Music was called when they were on the west end of Brightleaf... But I remember them being in Northgate. Nice collection, btw! And thanks for the encouragement.

Kat

Indeed, the source I've seen states that this was store #1. It is rather amazing that most of the stuff taken by urban renewal was seemingly viable business and residence. Of the ?~1200 or so urban renewal pictures I've scanned, I've uncommonly seen one that was of a vacant or abandoned building. I think you are right about the constellation of creativity, entrepreneurship, and the "good" city. I also think that decrepit commercial structures are some of the best incubators for creativity and entrepreneurship - because the rent is cheap, but the urban space is appealing. A place like Little Five Points can provide opportunities for a great venture like Bull City Headquarters...

And that, I think, is the opportunity lost when we knock things down. I strongly believe that downtown Durham would have 'come back' 10-15 years ago, and in a more grassroots kind of way if these structures hadn't been demolished. But because there are so few left, there aren't a lot of 'fringe' properties for small businesspeople to rent. And none of the new buildings are likely to have dirt cheap rent that a struggling entrepreneur needs to get started (unless they cut a special deal.)

GK

Andrew

No significant quantity that I know of in either block of East Parrish St., based on the businesses that I do know were here, but I haven't had any time to get to the library lately to spend time with my friend the old city directory.

GK

With regards to the hotel on the corner, the City Directories list the Hotel McArthur occupying this space (and an address of 204 E Parrish St) from 1943 through 1959. For the next four years, it was called the Carr Hotel.

The Church Street Hotel and the Piedmont Hotel also occupied this space from 1913-1929 and 1930-1939, respectively, although the Directories list the front door during those years as 114 1/2 N Church Street. The 1937 Sanborn map confirms this.

I haven't checked the Directories thoroughly enough to ascertain the occupant during the early 1940s.

It appears that the Church Street Hotel was the second one with that name, being preceded by the original at 107 1/2 N Church St, from 1907-1913 or then-abouts. It is the three-story building, second from the SW corner of Church and Parrish.

Journalist Wyatt Dixon described the Church Street Hotels in his articles, which can be found at the library in a bound copy of How Times Do Change:

(from March 11, 1937)
"Mrs. L.N. Holleman, who has for several years conducted the Church street hotel on Church Street, announced this afternoon (Monday, June 16, 1913) that she will move the hotel from its present location over the Durham Water company to the new Warren-Christian building that is being erected on the corner of Church and Parrish streets immediately after the building has been completed."

Mrs. Holleman was one of Durham's pioneer inn keepers and many of the older residents of the city recall the place she ran on the west side of Church street before the new structure was occupied. Many of the community's best citizens were her roamers and boarders and when the new hotel was occupied her guests transferred their suitcases to the new quarters for the fame of Mrs. Holleman's table was all that was necessary to keep them. She operated the new hotel for sometime in a highly successful manner and it was significant that her new place should be completed and occupied close to the time the Malbourne was taken over by Mr. Bugg.

During recent years the Church street hotel has changed hands many times and it no longer caters to the citizens of Durham for most of the lodgers are transients.

(and from October 6, 1939)
Mrs. Holleman's Church street hotel, located on the southeast corner of Church and Parrish streets, for many years was one of the major hotels in the city. The building continues to serve as a rooming house until recently, although it had shown considerable decline in prestige for several years.