Throughout this past summer, the North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Public Library presented a six-month series exploring “Asheville in the 1980s.” The series delved into the impetus for, and lasting results of, the City’s transformation during that critical decade. The programs attracted large and sometimes overflow crowds to Lord Auditorium. Now the entire six-program
David Mallett was a pioneer of the downtown Asheville revitalization, opening the Weinhaus at 86 Patton Avenue in 1977. It is Asheville’s oldest beer and wine store. In 1985, after 8 years of operating the Weinhaus, David Mallett spoke to the Pen & Plate Club of Asheville, of which he was a member, about the
But first some history. E. W. Grove built the new Bon Marche department store for Solomon Lipinsky; architect/designer was W. L. Stoddart, an architect from New York City. Lipinsky had founded the store in Asheville in 1889. The Bon Marche later moved into a new building across the street at 33 Haywood in 1936 (now the
The Asheville Mall opened in 1972 pulling the large department stores with it. When the mall was in the works, the mall developer wrote letters to all of the merchants in Asheville inviting them to consider locating in the new mall. Sears opened first in 1972, with other stores following in late 1973-74: Belk’s, Ivey’s,
Early Businesses Paved the Way Interesting things were going on in downtown Asheville in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s. Lower rents and sagging property values lured entrepreneurial/creative small businesses and restaurants to join long-standing small businesses to make downtown the vibrant and viable place we now see around us. O.Henry’s Restaurant opened at
The North Carolina Room, Pack Memorial Library kicked off with a full house the first of a six part series, “Asheville in the 1980s: A Formative Decade Told by Those Who Shaped It” on Wednesday evening April 27. The series is sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room. There was a current of
The North Carolina Room, Pack Memorial Library presents a six part series Asheville in the 1980s: A Formative Decade Told by Those Who Shaped It The first program of the series kicks off Wednesday April 27, 2016 from 6:00 to 7:30 in the Lord Auditorium, lower level. All events are free and open to the public.
February 1980: The Demoliton of an Entire City Block
When did Asheville’s renaissance begin?” We are often asked that question in the North Carolina Room. It is also the topic of a lot of published articles. Most responses turn straight to the 1990s. But native Ashevillians and those who lived here in the 1970s and 1980s usually see it differently. In just a few weeks, Pack Memorial Library’s