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Erfurt, Germany, also has a famous medieval stone bridge (over a small river, not a railroad) with half-timbered shops and other buildings on top of it.
How sad....
I have good memories of eating at the Union Street Cafe in the same building in the early 1980s. As I recall it had two levels with dining upstairs and a piano bar on the ground floor at street level.
That album and hit song by Ambrosia bring back memories of my UT days. The often criticized lyrics of "How Much I Feel" were a surprising yet refreshing and honest jolt. Yet if the line is read in context the singer is committed to his wife and praises the years that they had been going strong.
That whole era of 1970s soft rock has been sadly forgotten for the most part. Do others recall Pablo Cruise, Charlie, Player, or the late Bob Welch' 1979 Three Hearts album with the minor hit "Church?" I would throw Toto into that mix too based on the song "Taking it Back" and others. Pretty songs with great hooks.
That era was swept away by dance, electronic, New Wave, and metal bands led by men with mascara and big hair.
I had this album on 8-track tape back in the day. "Hocus Pocus" was spread across two channels so it faded on one then the tape head moved to the next one and the second half of the song resumed, fading back in.
Fascinating article. Looking forward to walking the area in the future.
Plus the fold-out cover and psychedelic photos are cool to look at also!
David Shire's songs hold up well over time, in particular the soaring "Manhattan Skyline."
Triva note-the song "Disco Duck" appears in the TV version of the movie but not on the soundtrack nor on the theatrical version. Extra scenes were added to keep the running time the same after R-rated scenes were cut for TV.
"Night Fever" seemed strange at the time, like two songs grafted together. The analysis by Rockner helps to explain it.
It seems unfair that these roaming food trucks are allowed to compete with restaurants that pay rent (and therefore, property taxes via the landlord) and employ multiple people.
Great article.
Right on the money about the trolls on knoxnews.com commenting on articles. Lately they seem to be increasingly nasty and/or illiterate.
Another clueless move by UT that started with the disgraceful way they pushed out Phil Fulmer...you would think they would let her stay until 62 when she could qualify for Medicare.
Isn't that fenced off footbridge near Neyland Stadium and over Second Creek from the World's Fair?
If you look at historic photographs of most medium or large size cities in the first half of the 20th century they too appear "ugly" thanks to the soot and horse droppings. The move away from coal furnaces to natural gas or electric heat and the replacement of horses with automobiles resulted in the elimination of smoke and most soots and cleaner streets. Yes, internal combustion engines produce waste gases but they are less visible than smoke particles from coal.
Perhaps downtown Knoxville ironically is lucky that it was left to slumber during the mid and late part of the 20th century which spared it from the wholesale destruction of older buildings elsewhere.
Though by proxy I would say that the Smokies and Gatlinburg are part of the greater Knoxville area tourism ecosystem.
Within Knoxville it has to be UT itself as the biggest draw.
Well-written article. Industrial archeology is a fun hobby.
Sounds like a good use for that former brownfield site.
Mmmmm...I would call Bill Haley & The Comets the first rock-and-roll band. People today underestimate the influence of big band music on early rock-and-roll.
Firing Fulmer just one year after he won the SEC East, nearly beat LSU in the SEC playoff, and beat a good WI team in a bowl game was the first mistake.
The Lane Kiffin hire was solid at the time and as proven by his first season. No one could foresee that he would jump to USC after one year. Yet he has had a lot of success at USC and he is a good coach.
I understand that UT was spurned by the first number of candidates to replace Kiffin and that Dooley was not a first choice but was young and came from a solid SEC football family.
Johnny Majors had a losing record in his first two years at UT so people need to give Dooley at least one more year. It's hard to build a program when you have four head coaches in four years.
On the other hand the hiring of "Quizno's" Martin as the replacement for Pearl appears to be bad on all measures so far. He had never been to the NCAA with his previous team Missouri State and his coaching resume was thin. I hope I am wrong.
Throwing Pearl under the bus for minor violations was a huge mistake and showed incredible disloyalty to a head coach who had rebuilt the men's program from nothing into a contender.
Were the statues vandalized?
The most concerning thing is that under Dooley the Vols have gotten worse, not better, as the season went on. His comments after the UK loss that "we are a bad team" are no way to motivate young players. My guess is that Hart will not hesitate to let Dooley go if they post another losing record in 2012.
Sounds like quite a character...
I vote for the Brutalist buildings on the UT campus as the ugliest.
perhaps their facades can be saved as a compromise if something new goes up in their place. either way, the first priority should be saving them intact.
Nice juxtaposition of the parallel photos and the stories behind them.
Not specific to First Creek, but it relates to the overall waterways theme and urbanized creeks.
The latest issue of "Alumnus" magazine printed by UT includes a vintage photo of Second Creek circa 1860 looking up towards "the Hill." A smaller stream is in the foreground, running west between what looks like Main and Cumberland, and into Second Creek.
That smaller stream is now buried somewhere in a sewer I suppose for the last century or more.
Great series of pieces on the waterways. As I posted to an earlier article by Eleanor Scott it would be nice if the mouth of First Creek were altered to allow for fish to migrate upstream from the Tennessee River.
In its current configuration near the railroad trestle there's a waterfall effect due to the difference in height between the concrete culvert and the normal pooling level of the river which prevents shad and other fish from migrating.
There's a trend nationwide to "daylight" urban streams by liberating them from the tunnels and storm sewers in which they travel.
very cool. I wish her success.
Agreed that the creeks in the area are diamonds in the rough.
It would be nice to see Second Creek daylighted where it flows under World's Fair Park. Other cities and towns are daylighting their creeks and streams, rescuing them from becoming little more than storm water sewers.
Second Creek was buried in concrete tunnels from Asylum Avenue south to the old Atlantic Ice plant at the viaduct and Main some 80 years prior to the World's Fair when the L&N built a railroad yard over it. When Main and Cumberland were consolidated during World's Fair construction under the Southern Railroad (now NS) viaduct that portion of Second Creek that briefly appeared again by Atlantic Ice was buried as well, re-emerging south of Cumberland.
First Creek too should be daylighted and landscaped in the downtown area. I notice that where it escapes its concrete tomb near the Knoxville & Holston railroad trestle, next to Ruth's Chris restaurant, there's a small waterfall effect due to the difference in elevation between the concrete section and the "natural" mouth at the Tennessee River. This elevation is enough to prevent fish from migrating back and forth from the river and up the creek as they do now with Third Creek.
The small tributary of Third Creek that parallels West High School on one side and the trail on the other side has some interesting fish in the pools between the exposed shale.
On a positive note, at least the World's Fair resulted in Second Creek being cleaned up and partly landscaped between Cumberland and the river. And the Third Creek trails are nice.
Does any other city name their creeks in this type of sequential order, from First through Fourth Creeks?
I remember seeing the streetcar rails entering that former Trailways bus station parking lot into the late 1970s. They were one of the last traces downtown of the streetcar heritage.
The other relics of the streetcar era downtown were the poles on the Gay Street bridge, then in 1981 when Cumberland and Main were torn up for World's Fair related rebuilding. Tracks that had been buried in asphalt re-emerged briefly between Henley and the Southern railroad bridge.
The key is that buses are relatively unpopular and unused in cities similar in size to Knoxville.
What works better are light rail or streetcar lines which are being installed in medium size cities with great success around the country.
Light rail is perceived as cleaner, safer, and more modern than buses. It also leads to the rehabilitation and renewal of neighborhoods along its routes.
Perhaps Knoxville should consider a starter light rail system that would connect the downtown attractions starting with the Old City and Market Square with UT with extensions going west down Cumberland Avenue and Kingston Pike in a dedicated median strip.
Sure, light rail takes money from various sources but is it cheaper to keep operating mostly empty buses?
The article is somewhat dated-UT has not had an "outstanding football team" since 2006.
Notre Dame has had it own Bengal Bouts boxing tournament for decades now each spring.
I recall him speaking at the University Center and reading his poem The Carousel in 1979. He stayed at the Sheraton by the Krystals and signed a book I left for him at the front desk.
Their album "Citrus" is a modern shoegazer classic. If you had to pick one song download "Pink Cloud Tracing Paper."
in response to sevadaflava: keith emerson has indeed contributed significantly to the Bob Moog Foundation. now if only everyone who has ever downloaded an illegal song would give $5, just one time, to the Bob Moog Foundation, we'd be able to save every tape, plus build the Moogseum in no time flat. the two biggest influences in pop music in the 20th century were Les Paul's solid-body electric guitar, and Bob Moog's synthesizer.
in response to sevadaflava:
keith emerson has indeed contributed significantly to the Bob Moog Foundation.
now if only everyone who has ever downloaded an illegal song would give $5, just one time, to the Bob Moog Foundation, we'd be able to save every tape, plus build the Moogseum in no time flat. the two biggest influences in pop music in the 20th century were Les Paul's solid-body electric guitar, and Bob Moog's synthesizer.
Check out the Byrds' trippy "Moog Raga" instrumental track from 1967.
Chicago connection with the references?
Reading the article on my iPod Touch makes me feel guilty in someway of contributing to the loss of printed media. On the other hand people are social creatures and pixels on a screen will never replace the need for local and personal interaction.
Hopefully native pollinators like bumblebees, moths, flies, and butterflies can take over the job. I too have noticed far fewer honey bees than in years past but quite a few bumblebees this summer.
Your comment about clovers reminds me that thanks to the quest for a perfect lawn clovers have just about disappeared from most subdivisions thanks to huge amounts of herbicide. Perhaps we are killing off their food sources at a high rate as a result.
Whoever says UT has one of America's ugliest campus has not visited many other universities.
To pick on just a couple of others Arizona State is a sun-baked collection of monotone, Brutalist, concrete buildings interrupted by busy streets, while the University of Illinois is completely flat and mostly devoid of trees.
Why did the students who nominated their own school as one of the ugliest even enroll at UT if they thought it was so ugly?
Plus Knoxville had an extensive network of streetcars until they were replaced by buses in 1947.
It's surprising that the only Amtrak service in the whole state of TN is through Memphis, missing both Nashville and Knoxville.
Due to abandonments of sections of the former Tennessee Central it will be hard to reconstruct a through east-west service across the state.
Sad ending to the story...I imagine Cadillac sales suffered during the Great Depression. Perhaps that weighed on him as well.
GM and Chrysler both went overboard in forcing franchises to shut down during their bankruptcy reorganizations. They made it that much tougher to buy and get service for their cars versus the Hyundai and other brands that by contrast are growing their ranks of dealers.
I remember shopping at Miller's on Henley as a UT student back in the early 1980s. Didn't it have a sculpture of a globe on the east side with a small reflecting pond?
Sounds like a fun trip. As the driver of a 1964 Studebaker I can relate to the fickleness of old cars.
When I hear a song with "Thunder Road" in it I think of the Bruce Springsteen song, not one by Robert Mitchum.
I will have to pull out my copy of the "Rock Wars" LP (from a 1980 radio contest) and play the Balboa tracks. There's a picture of the band on the back.
Good, well-researched article. I was familiar with the Appalachian Exposition (and its fancy AE logo) but not this later one at the same location.
The idea around a major Knoxville event focused on conservation would resurface with planning in the late 1970s for the Energy Exposition during the midst of the Carter-era energy shortages in the US. It was later renamed the more appealing Worlds Fair by its opening in 1982 and energy conservation was downplayed.
What about out of town and even out of state alumni contributions to UT? When they go down I imagine that the cuts in staff that result certainly would be a blow to the Knoxville economy.
If the Vols don't do well on the field then alumni are probably not willing to donate as much so it is all interconnected.
Like you Jack I graduated in the early 1980s and do not recall anyone ever talking about "the Rock." It was just sort of there, in the background, much like a tree or sidewalk on campus.
An overlooked but iconic image of the UT campus is the footbridge that spans Cumberland across from Strong Hall with "The University of Tennessee" set into its concrete sides. For two years I walked this bridge from Clement Hall to class and other parts of campus. Various banners related to sports, protests, or clubs were hung from it.
The newer footbridge farther east which spans The Hill and the other side of Cumberland has the potential to become an icon also, especially when looking east towards the bridge as it frames downtown Knoxville in the distance.
Another iconic view was the lit-up orange letters atop Neyland Stadium at night, facing the Tennessee River, as viewed from the balcony of the Communications Building.
Volunteer Landing is certainly unique among major colleges and universities around the US.
It makes me wonder how journalism schools in universities across the country are preparing their students for a future...where there are no jobs?
Who designed the ornate Clinch Avenue viaduct over Second Creek and the former L&N tracks?
The answer could be to increase the percentage of out-of-state students since they pay full fare without state subsidies.
The entrance requirements for out-of-state students in terms of ACT scores and GPA are much higher than for in-state students. UT should make the entrance requirements the same and slowly boost the total of out-of-state students by percentage to raise more revenue.
The University of Iowa currently has a student body that is some 40% out-of-state students paying full fare.
