Mystery Photo - 10.1.09

(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

Somewhere on Holloway St., 1920s

803-815 NINTH

The west side of the 800 block of Ninth St. remained undeveloped until the late 1940s. At that point, a multi-storefront structure was built, followed by two detached structures. From the 1950 city directory:

803 Walsh’s Drive In Restaurant
805 Sears Launderette
Piedmont Coffee Service Inc
Carolina School of Watch Making
807 Vendapak Co
809 Carolina Baseball League
811 Sears Wholesale Co Inc confrs
813-15 Royal Sandwich & Food Company

(I believe "confrs" stood for "confectioners")


813-815 Ninth St., the Royal Sandwich and Food Co., looking northwest from Ninth St. ~1950
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The description of the Royal Sandwich and Food Co. from "Durham and Her People"

"Royal Sandwich and Food Company... was organized in 1940 by Taylor A. Davis.... During 1937, Mr. David came to Durham as a distributor for a large baking concern. He later went with a a local sandwich manufacturer prior to entering business for himself. [He and his family] reside at 1421 Pennsylvania Ave. [The company] is housed in a commodious plant, amply equipped to give real sandwich value down to the last penny. They cover Durham and surrounding territory with all of their food products. The firm maintains a 'Grade A' health rating. Every kind of sandwich available is made fresh daily and delivered to their many customers. In addition to sandwiches, Royal Sandwich and Food Co. distribute donuts, buns, cakes, Long Johns, and Short Johns."

(I'm not sure what either a Long John or a Short John is- anyone?)


Looking west, ~1950.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Aerial view of the block, 1959.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

By 1965, the business lineup was:

803 Lloyd’s Dixie Dog restr
805 Electrical Supply Co of Durham
807 Tucker’s Service Elec Appls
809 Watson Electrical Construction Co of Durham
811 Royal Sandwich & Food Co Inc

By 1970, Royal Sandwich was out of business:

801 Vanity Nook
803 Maddux Supply Co elec sup
805 Watson Electrical Construction Co Of Durham
807 Watson Electric Construction Co Of Durham (Whse)
809 Maddux Supply Co (Whse)
811 Maddux Supply Co (Whse)
813 Graham Knitwear clo
815 Lane Auto Supply Co Inc

1975:
801 Vanity Nook
803 Stephenson Inc bldg sup
805 Watson Electrical Construction of Durham
811 Casey Printing Inc
813 Place Lounge The
815 Cal Tone Paints

1980:

801 House of Hair The
803 Stephenson Inc bldg sup
807 Dataflow Inc
815 Cal-Tone Paint & Decorating Center

1985:

801 House of Hair The
803 Stephenson Inc bldg sup
807 Dataflow Inc
815 Vacant

1990:

801 Pizza Palace Storage
803 Stephenson Inc bldg sup
807 Dataflow Companies Inc
815 Dataflow Inc (Overflow)


I can't really picture these buildings during the 1990s - I'm not sure if they were mostly empty, or there was simply nothing there that attracted my attention. Glenn Dickson, owner of the property, developed a plan to demolish the existing buildings and redevelop the property with an infill development. The existing buildings were torn down in 2001.


Looking south from Green St., 02.06.01
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The building, once completed, was one of the very, very few examples of new, pedestrian-scale urban infill architecture in Durham.



Overall, it's a nicely done development - I'd prefer to see it extend to the corner of Ninth and Green, rather than set back from that corner with a surface parking lot, and I'm not a huge fan of the way the grade separation is handled between storefront and sidewalk. If anything, I'd prefer that the development was taller. But given how terrible we are at executing decent new construction in Durham, I'd call these quibbles.

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36.011352,-78.922282

802-816 NINTH

Looking west from ~Iredell, ~1950.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The east side of the 800 block of Ninth St. was residential through much of the 20th century. A frame structure at the north end of the block housed the West Durham Wet Wash Laundry, which became the White Star Laundry, during the 1920s - before that business moved to the north side of B/Green St. ~1930. That building was abandoned by the early 1930s, and torn down by the 1940s.

The second non-residential structure added to the block was the ABC Store, No. 3 at 802 Ninth St. The store had formerly been located at 772 Ninth St., but moved ~100 feet north when that structure was torn down and replaced in the 1940s.


1959 aerial.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

By the early 1960s "Rinaldi's Take Home Restaurant" had been built at 806 Ninth St. I wrote about Pete Rinaldi's father's restaurant, Rinaldi's, located at Peabody and West Main St., previously. Evidently Pete Rinaldi, who went to school at EK Powe School in West Durham, went on to start the restaurant at 806 West Main St. Rinaldi's evidently had an early franchise agreement with Kentucky Fried Chicken, where Rinaldi would be allowed to keep his own name on the restaurant. Per John Schelp's account on my previous post:

"Durham's first Kentucky Fried Chicken was at 806 9th Street. The owner asked Colonel Sanders if he could call his franchise, 'Pete Rinaldi's Kentucky Fried Chicken.' The Colonel agreed -- making this restaurant one of a few KFCs in the nation to carry its owner's name. During his visits to the Duke Rice Diet, the Colonel enjoyed standing next to his life-sized fiberglass likeness (accurate down to the eyeglasses and Rotary pin) at the KFC and startle the beejeezus out of customers."

Another commenter described Mr. Rinaldi as:

"...just an all around great man! Pete would never charge police, firemen, soldiers, or EMT service people for their meals. Pete was generous almost to a fault (if there is such a thing). Pete always wore a crisp white button-up shirt, a thin black leather vest, and a rustic-style tie. Pete was an Itallian (just in case you couldn't tell by the name), and to him, keeping his "jet black" hair and his health as long as he could was very important. "

By the 1970s, though, it was simply known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

(Pete Rinaldi evidently went on to open another Rinaldi's restaurant on Guess Road which was very popular, sporting the logo "Takin' Care of Chicken Business." After Mr. Rinaldi's death ~1990, it was replaced by a Bojangles.)

By 1965, another restaurant was built at the north end of the block, known as the Little Pigs of America. By 1975, this had changed to "Round the Clock." By 1980, the name of this restaurant had changed to Biscuit King. By 1985, the KFC was out of business. By the late 1980s, the ABC store had moved to Hillsborough Road.

This section of Ninth St. appeared to have a certain desolation to it from the time I arrived in Durham 20 years ago; Biscuit King, however, retained a strong following.

Several years ago, after the completion of Ninth Street North across the street, Glenn Dickson (owner of all the parcels) announced that there would be a Phase II to Ninth Street North on this stretch of Ninth St. Biscuit King was shut down, and a redevelopment plan was put together. This plan stalled for some time, but recently seems to have revived in revised form. Of the remaining three buildings, only the former Rinaldi's houses a tenant - the Nancy Tuttle May art studio.


804 Ninth St., 09.12.09


806 Ninth St., 09.12.09


816 Ninth St., 09.12.09

The recently revised plan envisions a significantly higher density development than originally contemplated. You can read more about the development drama at Bull City Rising. . Kevin describes the proposed development:

[...] central to the agreement: building heights, which under current zoning could in theory reach 145' tall; the developer has agreed to a scale-down of heights as the structure moves from the more-commercial Elmo's side to the largely residential Green St.

On the southern end of the site, heights could reach 75' with a 9' stepback making the penthouse level invisible from the street, and with an overall average height of 65'. Heights step down to a low of 50' nearest Green St., with building heights limited to four story for all-residential or three story for office/commercial space. A 50' buffer strip between Green St. and the project would contain no structures, save for possible outside tables for dining.

Most of the new retail space created by the project would sit on the main block between Ninth and Iredell (19,700 retail sq. ft.) or in a new multi-story structure to eventually be built where Vin Rouge and Blu sit today (18,000 sq. ft. retail, with 64,650 sq. ft. of office space above.) For comparison's sake, the existing first phase of Ninth Street North contains 12,500 sq. ft. of retail and an equal amount of office space.

In other requirements, the developer agreed to completely hide the visibility of the structured parking deck at the center of the Iredell/Green/Ninth block via the building structures, save for the entrances -- it initially would have been visible from both Iredell and Green -- and to allow only one drive-in window, for a possible bank, to be located in the deck structure itself.

Stucco can make up no more than 20% and glass no more than 25% of the structure, which must be articulated so as to avoid presenting "a long, unbroken plane to the street."


(Courtesy Bull City Rising)

Who knows what this will end up looking like in the long run, if it gets built. But I give the developer points for 1) endeavoring to create more urban spaces and higher density use of land in close proximity to existing retail, Duke, etc. and 2) not tearing down the existing structures until ready to actually build.

Sure, I regret the loss of these structures to new development, but if that new development actually maximizes the use of the land while creating a pedestrian-scale, architecturally interesting, walkable environment - well, that's when there is actually some sense in replacing the underutilized, low-density existing structures. It's just so unbelievably rare in Durham that we aren't just tearing down for a lower-and-more-desolate land use, or some government-funded 60's-style non-urban structure like the new bus station, that it's rare that we have to actually contemplate the relative benefits of creating a more livable pedestrian environment vs. preservation. That's when I say that recycling the building materials from these buildings - while creating a development that can maximize walking trips, transit use, etc. and, ideally, divert development from greenfields - may be the most sustainable future for the site.

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36.011105,-78.92175

JOSEPH WHITFIELD HOUSE - 822 BROAD

822 Broad St., 1980.

The unusual house at 822 Broad St. was built prior to 1913, most likely by Joseph Whitfield, who lived in the house during the 1910s. Whitfield was a machinist who became a Quarry Superintendent with the City Engineering Department in the late 1920s.

The house is unusual for the materials employed - brick facing with stucco gables, each with leaded glass oval windows.

Mr. and Mrs. Whitfield lived in the house until the late 1940s, when it appears that only his wife continued to live in the house. By 1952, it was occupied by Marcus Edgerton, who continued to live in the house into the 1960s.


822 Broad, 06.27.09

The small storefront building sits in the rear yard, facing Green St., which was known as the "B Street Grocery" and operated by Salley Pulley during the mid-20th century.

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36.011608,-78.91927

800-810 BROAD STREET

Looking northeast from near Broad and West Markham, 01.09.57
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun)


(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

The east side of the 800 block of Broad Street was residential throughout the early and mid 20th century.


810 Broad Street.
(Courtesy Joyce Avery)

In the early 1970s, Eckerd Drugs demolished four houses - about half the block - to build a drugstore, set far behind a surface parking lot. When Eckerd's moved north to Broad and Guess Road in the late 1990s, the former drugstore became a Dollar General.


800-810 Broad, 06.27.09

This is an abysmal land use - they don't even set drugstores behind this much surface parking in the suburbs anymore. I hope that someday this goes away, and a new building is built up to the corner.



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36.010382,-78.919349

Mystery Photo - 09.24.09

"Before and After Series: Raleigh Durham Highway 70, 01.02.53"
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Update:

Here is another, later photo of the same intersection:


1962.
(Courtesy Wayne Henderson)

MURDOCH BUILDING

Murdoch Building, 1929, during a national tree-sitting contest, during which Arnold Taylor sat in the tree for 6-7 weeks. Note the trolley tracks in Broad Street.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

The Murdoch Building was built by William A. Murdoch in 1925 as rental property. The property was built with three units - a storefront facing Broad Street (735 Broad), a gas station facing the corner (737 Broad,) and a storefront facing College Road / West Markham (1803 College / West Markham.

In 1928, 735 Broad held University Pharmacy, and 737 was the Broad St. Filling Station. 1803 Markham held Nelson's Cash Grocery.

In 1934, 735 Broad held Dennis' druggist and sundries, and 737 was the Dennis filling station. 1803 Markham held Oliver Wright's Grocery.

In 1941, 735 Broad held Henry Woods General Contractors/Painters Supply, and 737 was the Dennis filling station. 1803 Markham held Riddick's Grocery.

In 1948, 735 Broad held Henry Woods General Contractors/West Durham Plumbing Co., and 737 was the Dennis filling station. 1803 Markham held Riddick's Grocery.

In 1952, 735-737 Broad was the Dennis filling station. 1803 Markham held Riddick's Grocery.

In 1960, 735-737 Broad was the Dennis filling station. 1803 Markham held Ralph's Produce


Ralph's Produce.
(Courtesy Pamela Strand)

By 1980, 735 held the Underwood Barber Shop, and 1803 Markham was still Ralph's Produce.


735 Broad, 1980.

As of September 2009, the entire building houses Sirens- a bar/lounge.


Looking southwest, 09.12.09

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36.00981,-78.919915

2000-2010 HILLSBOROUGH ROAD

Looking northwest from W. Markham and Ninth, ~1950
(Courtesy Barry Norman)

The West Gulf Sales and Service Station was built in the late 1940s on what had previously been vacant land.


Looking northwest from Hillsborough Road near Ninth, 02.20.51.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

I'm not sure when the service station shut down. It was converted to a photography studio at some point. Since , it has housed the restaurant Vin Rouge.


Vin Rouge, looking northwest from Hillsborough Road, 04.05.09.


Looking northwest from near West Markham and Ninth, 04.05.09.

The site appears to be in the sights for redevelopment by Ninth Street North developer Glenn Dickson, per a site plan filed in September 2008.
Although on that site plan, 2000-2010 Hillsborough was noted at "Future Phase" - occurring, presumably, sometime after long-delayed Phase II of the Ninth St. North development.

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36.010645,-78.922346

776 NINTH ST.

776 Ninth St., 02.20.51
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Built in the early 1940s, the masonry structure at 776 Ninth St. initially housed the Durham Transportation Corporation bus service. By 1946, the building housed the Yellow Cab Company and Hastings Bus Lines. By the 1950s, Avis Rent-A-Car shared the building with the Yellow Cab Company.

By 1965, the Atlantic Beauty College had renovated the building for their use.


772-774-776 Ninth St., 1970s.
(Courtesy Elmo's Diner)

The Atlantic Beauty College remained in business through 1985. In the late 1980s, the Ninth Street Bakery moved down the street from Ninth St. and renovated the space for their use. They moved their wholesale operations downtown at around the same time, to the then-recently-vacated Herald-Sun building.

I'm having trouble nailing down when the bakery decided to shutter their retail operations on Ninth St., but I think it was around 1993. The bakery would remain wholesale until ~5 years ago, when they resumed a retail presence out of their downtown location. (Which is nice, but doesn't approach the great selection of stuff they had when on Ninth St.)

The loss of Ninth St. Bakery on Ninth St. was softened by the opening of Elmo's Diner, which had been a Carrboro institution for a number of years at Carr Mill Mill (nee Durham Hosiery Mill No. 4.) The diner quickly became a fixture on Ninth St., seemingly busy at all hours of the day (and night.)


776 Ninth St., 04.05.09


04.09.09

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36.010462,-78.921771

772-774 NINTH STREET

772-774 Ninth, 02.20.51
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

A masonry structure was built at 772-774 Ninth Street in the early 1920s, brick-faced with a tile roof, which housed the West Durham Garage. (For whatever reason, this Spanish Revival style was very commonly used for 1920s-1930s auto-related businesses - one remnant of this style in Durham is the former Aldridge Motors building on Morgan St. or the nearby Murdoch building at West Markham and Broad Sts.)

By the mid-1930s, the garage was out of business, and the building was occupied by two tenants - a surprisingly libertine combination for North Carolina. 772 was occupied by ABC Store #3, and 774 by the Atlantic Company, wholesale beer distributors.

It appears that in the early to mid-1940s, the former garage building was torn down and replaced by a new masonry structure (at the same time that its neighbor, 776 Ninth St. was constructed.) The new brick masonry 772-774 Ninth St. was again occupied by the ABC Store (at 772,) but the beer wholesaler had departed. 774 was occupied by the Durham Transportation Company bus service, which also occupied 776.

In 1946, LR Barnes, upon his return from serving in the Army during World War II, opened the Barnes Supply Company at 774 Ninth St. Per a 1951 writeup, the store "handle[d] a complete line of general farm merchandise, featuring feed, seed, hardware, etc." 772 Ninth St. was occupied by Pud's Shoe Shop. By the 1950s, Barnes had expanded to occupy both bays of the building.


Barnes Supply, 1970s
(Courtesy Elmo's Diner)

Barnes Supply remains in business, and is, with the closure of McDonald's drugstore, the oldest business on Ninth Street.


Barnes Supply, 04.05.09

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36.010331,-78.92176

Mystery Photo - 09.17.09

"Around Town - Flood Pictures" - 08.18.57
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

770 NINTH

Looking southeast, 02.20.51
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The Dennis Service Station was built in the late 1920s. By the late 1940s, it had become the West Russell Amoco Service Station. At some point between the 1940s and 1970s, the building was replaced by a more modern service station building, sans awning.

Between 1970 and 1975, this was renamed the Ninth Street Amoco. Between 1975 and 1980, it became the West Side Game Room, which it remained into the 1990s.

It currently houses Cozy, a women's-clothing-and-other-stuff store.


Looking northeast, 04.05.09


Looking east-northeast, 04.09.09

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36.010199,-78.921781

762-764 NINTH

Looking southeast, 1940s.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

762-764 Ninth St., the bookend to the two-story structures at the Perry St. end of the Ninth St. commercial strip, appears to have been built in the late 1920s. It initially housed Whitmore’s Bakery at 762 and Mack’s Food Shop at 764. Upstairs tenants appear to have been residential.

1950s

762 Hoke Telev & Radio Serv
Lee’s Watch Repr Shop
764 Jakes Inc sporting gds

1960s

762 Lee’s Watch Repair Shop
764 Brown’s Auto Supply Co

1975
764 Sloan Auto Parts Inc

The store remained Sloan's Auto Parts through the 1980s and 1990s.


762-764 Ninth, 1980.

It appears to currently house Stitch Doctor Embroidery at 764 Ninth and A1 Mail Stop Shoppe at 762 Ninth.


762-764 Ninth, 04.05.09

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36.009912,-78.921882

758-760 NINTH STREET

756-760 Ninth St. was built in the early 1930s. 756 housed Southern Dry Cleaners as its original tenant, and 758-760 housed Pender’s Stores and Parragon 5¢ to $1 Store, respectively.

756 Ninth would house the Southern Dry Cleaners until 1980, while 758-760 had a variety of other tenants:

1940s:
758 Colonial Stores gros
760 Royal Sandwich Co

1950s:

758-760: Red & White Super Mkt gros (later Eaubanks Red and White)


756-760 Ninth St., 1950s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The Red and White closed in the late 1960s. 756-760 became the Towel Shop, which it would remain through 1990.

756 currently houses Ultimate Comics. Several years ago, 758-760 was renovated to house Charlie's - the renovation pushed back the storefront to create an outdoor dining space, which I think is a pretty creative way to deal with the shallow sidewalks
on Ninth St. I seem to remember that the brickwork had been covered as well - but maybe I'm not remembering this correctly.


756-760 Ninth, 04.04.09


758 Ninth Street, 04.05.09

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36.009746,-78.921858

754 NINTH

(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Built in the late 1920s, 754 initially housed Pender's Stores, which moved from next door (752 Ninth St.) By the late 1930s, Columbia Billard Parlor was located there. This became Pop's Billiard Parlor by the 1940s, and part of Southern Dry Cleaners, which expanded from next door at 756 Ninth, by the late 1940s. It remained as such until the early 1980s, when it became the original home for the Ninth Street Bakery (yes, there is a reason it is named as such.) By the late 1980s, Ninth Street Bakery had moved to 776 Ninth St., and Natural Wonders (a health food store?) took its place. This was followed by "Earth and Spirit."

Currently, the building houses Dain's Place.


754 Ninth St., 04.05.09

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36.009592,-78.921918

Mystery Photo - 09.10.09

Another toughie today. I should note that occasionally I've run across photos like this that are very difficult that I eventually discover aren't actually of Durham, despite having insinuated themselves in various Durham photo collections. This scene is of laying water/sewer in the street - I'd guess around 1900-1915.

748-752 NINTH

744-752 Ninth St., 08.29.63
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Built in the early 1920s, 748-752 Ninth St. housed Bowen’s Barber Shop at 748, Universal Stores Inc at 750, and Pender Stores Co at 752 in 1926.

1930:

748 West Durham Market meats
750 Moser’s Barber Shop
752 Universal Stores Co Inc (br) bros

1930s-1940s

748 Tally’s Market meats
750 Ninth St Barber Shop
752 Universal Stores gros

1950s-1970s

748 Whit’s Grill
750 Rambeau’s Barber Shop
752 Wagner’s Little Food Store

1975

748 Whit’s Grill
750 Ray’s Barber Shop
752 Sugar Plum Shop baker sup

1980

748 Vacant
750 Universal Hair Designs
752 Fields Shoe Repairs

1990

748 Mister Hoagie restaurant
750 Bahn’s Cuisine restr
752 Jin Shoe Repairs


Presently, 748 is occupied by Chubby's Tacos, 750 is still occupied by Bahn's (one of my favorite places to get cheap eats when I was a college student in the late 80s-early 90s) and 752 by Jin's Cleaners



748-752 Ninth St., 04.05.09

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36.009477,-78.921917