Presumably, the Art in Public Places event will return next year. But the treble clef, in its original form, seems to be gone for good. Whether you liked it or not, downtown has lost some of its aesthetic interest with ...

I’m as happy as anyone about the S&W opening. It speaks well of the community to have preserved a building so near and dear to its heart. And I wish them well. During the ribbon-cutting, it seemed that it was ...

Following an auction nearly two years ago, not much about the building at 36 Market Square changed for over a year. Then, last April, a chain link fence was erected on the Market Square side, and it looked as if ...

One of the major complaints I used to hear about downtown was that there was no place to park. There was. But that was the perception, anyway. The city’s move to offer free parking on evenings and weekends at garages ...

On the 100 block of Gay Street, currently closed to vehicular traffic due to construction, there is a rare example of common sense. A fence stands between the sidewalk and the torn-up street. But in the middle of the block, ...

Home renovation shows always make it look so easy. An updated countertop here, some new paint there, a slipcover for the couch and—voila!—you’ve transformed This Old House into a showcase. But as anyone who’s ever taken on home renovation knows, ...

Some more new signs have popped up around downtown. What’s most noticeable is that they’re in the middle of the street. They remind drivers to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. While I applaud the message, I’m not a big ...

A little over a year ago, in my first Shot of Urban, I told of giving directions to drivers while standing on the corner in my pajamas waiting for my puppy to find just the right spot to make a ...

During the visioning sessions held prior to its renovation, Market Square was anticipated to serve as not only as a retail and dining destination, but also as a venue for a variety of events. And over the past few years, ...

Billed as “Knoxville’s Data Dog” and installed last month by the Knoxville Tourism and Sports Corporation, the unit is one of four currently in service around downtown. Two are located at the Knoxville Convention Center, and another just outside the ...

Giving directions to the Bijou Theatre got a lot easier last month with the installation of the venue’s new sign and marquee. Before, I’d tell people that it was just past the giant surface parking lot, and across from the ...

There are a lot of sounds in the cacophony of downtown. Sirens, buses, garbage trucks, demolition and construction are just some of the notes that form the soundtrack of the city. Chainsaws, not so much. So when a distinctive whine ...

Despite hard economic times, if you walk down Gay Street on a weekday, you’ll still hear a lot of hammers swinging. Work continues on the Crimson Building at Gay and Summit Hill Drive. And along the 500 block, behind a ...

I’ve never used the escalator from State Street to Gay Street that glides patrons of the Regal Riviera up to their destination. But glimpsing it the other day as I was walking the dogs along State, I was reminded of ...

“Shot of Urban” began appearing in these pages in March of this year. And this Year in Review issue seems as good a time as any to look back at some past columns to see what’s changed-—or hasn’t—since they ran. ...