Another Small, Quiet Urban Touch
You’ve likely seen him on the square, sitting at one of the small metal tables, smoking Pall Mall menthol cigarettes and waiting. His chess board on the table before him, he doesn’t try to make eye...
Possibilities for the East Jackson/Depot Neighborhood
Ed. Note: Today Just John turns his attention to the east along Jackson Avenue and side streets. A couple of notes: First, the Jackson Avenue Corridor plan, which will bring improvements to this area in the...
East TN History Center: There’s a lot Going On
Urban Girl and I have been hanging around together a lot the last couple of weeks and it’s caused me to take some fresh looks at some things I’ve allowed to blend into the background. One...
Imagining A More Authentic Urban Community
Ed. Note: Today we welcome downtown resident and guest writer Dee Pierce. After residing in a sleepy West Knoxville suburb for fifteen years, I’m wide awake in my new energetic and eclectic downtown surroundings. Yet I, along...
The Downtown Knoxville Week Ahead (8/10 – 8/16/2014)
If you see an event I’ve missed and you’d like to plug, please comment below or e-mail me (knoxvilleurbanguy@gmail.com) and I’ll try to add it. The list may, accordingly, be expanded through the week. Staying true...
New for Breakfast and Lunch: Brown Bag
It’s easy to live downtown and miss a few small jewels that target the downtown working crowd. I wrote about the Hot Bagel Company last summer, for example. Located in the edge of the old Whittle...
Neighborhood Connectivity and a Land Swap for Downtown
A larger vision of the north side of downtown is emerging through each of Just John’s posts. Each part follows the other and works together. Here’s his next piece in re-imagining this part of downtown: We...
Who’s Behind Those Beautiful Flowers?
It’s easy to get so used to seeing our downtown that you stop really seeing it. Little subtleties or perhaps even special qualities you once valued slip from your conscious view and fade to the background....
Urban Street and Building Design and Memorable Focal Points
When I first started writing this blog, I knew nothing about urban design. As I continue to learn, I realize that Just John’s latest installment gives some specific information which would have been very helpful to...
Southern Literature Converges in the City
Last year I wrote a piece about my friend Flossie McNabb at Union Avenue Books. I told, among other stories, the story of how she and I met sometime back in the 1990s at Davis Kidd...