Brewmasters is Today’s Twongo Deal
Daily deal site Twongo is offering up to 50% off at Brewmasters. The restaurant is located at Martin and Dawson (formerly Joe’s Place)
Rise Up Raleigh To Raise Money for Tornado Victims
On April 16 a series of tornados ripped through Raleigh and devastated many lives.
Tonight
(Friday), the City of Raleigh and the Carolina Hurricanes will be holding an event to raise money for these victims. Rise Up Raleigh will be a 12-band event at The Walt. Admission is free, but donations are strongly urged (by me, at least) and accepted at the door. The event features local faves The Connells and The Love Language along with Marcy Playground, who will be here to make up for their dreadful set at Downtown Live a few years ago.
Here’s the schedule (most links go to YouTube clips of the bands):
- 5:00 – Marshetta Parker
- 5:25 – Red Sonja Band
- 5:50 – Aunt Martha
- 6:15 – Motor Skills
- 6:40 – Desafiados Musical
- 7:05 – Alissa Moreno
- 7:30 – Young Cardinals
- 7:55 – Kooley High
- 8:20 – The Small Ponds
- 8:45 – Marcy Playground
- 9:25 – The Love Language
- 10:10 – The Connells
Downtown Parking Fees On the Way?
Earlier this week news outlets reported that the City of Raleigh is going to seek more parking revenues as a way to cover a larger than anticipated revenue shortfall for The City. Not only will Raleigh go after unpaid parking fines, but will also consider selling ad space in parking decks and ending the practice of free parking during nights and weekends.
"The city’s not making enough off parking and it’s obvious people don’t like paying for tickets. That’s the issue," said City Council member Mary Ann Baldwin.
During the last decade and a half downtown Raleigh has undergone an enormous resurgence that went along with a $2 billion investment from the private and public sectors. In the late 90’s we started to see Raleigh most interesting new restaurants appearing in downtown instead of in the suburbs. Popular bars in the suburbs began to fade as a bustling nightlife emerged in downtown Raleigh. In fact, almost every single interesting restaurant to open in the last 10 years has been in downtown Raleigh.
Apparently the City of Raleigh wants to ignore the role of free parking in that renaissance. The introduction of nighttime parking fees is a huge deterrent for restaurant patrons who have an alternative. If this becomes the city’s policy, expect a renaissance of its own in North Raleigh. Downtown parking fees would be a huge boon to restaurateurs in the suburbs.
Increased parking revenues from downtown lots also would be a big boon to McLaurin Parking Company , the company that operates these parking structures. You may also know that company as…the inlaws of Mayor, Charles Meeker.
Nothing lasts forever. Hillsborough Street’s nightlife scene in the 70’s rivaled Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street. North Raleigh saw a ton of great restaurants open in the 80’s. The popularity of downtown in the last 15 years is a delicate thing. If the City of Raleigh wants that momentum to continue, it must proceed with extreme caution. As it is, downtown is not perceived as convenient to where people chose to live, it isn’t perceived as an easy place to park, and it’s wave is nearing the point where we’ve typically seen nightlife/entertainment cycles end in Raleigh’s history.
Bill Maher Returning to Raleigh
On Thursday, April 21, Bill Maher will return to Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium. The ticket presale begins Tuesday morning at 10am and runs through Thursday evening at 10pm. (code is “incorrect”). What’s the over/under on minutes he will spend discussing Sarah Palin?
Cold Krispy Kreme Closes
On Friday, on the cusp of Raleigh’s biggest tourism weekend in history, the Krispy Kreme location at City Plaza closed. The site, which only sold room temperature, unfresh doughnuts, was reported to stay open thru the All-Star weekend. However when the biggest fans of flat round things were swarming, KK folded, passing up one last opportunity to make money in a city-subsidized facility. The Peace/Person location will remain open.
Like we couldn’t see this one coming from a mile away. The appeal of Krispy Kreme lies in their hot, fresh product. The greasy, room temperature product has never been appealing, and was set for failure in City Plaza from the getgo. Had the chain focused on delivering hot, glazed doughnuts instead of variety at that site, there was ample opportunity for success. I still adamantly feel that a small, Hot Doughnuts Now stand in the RBC Center would be a booming success.
So what is next for this site? Success in City Plaza will not come from sales during special events. There aren’t many of these kinds of events and the plaza is not interesting enough to be the hangout the city was hoping it would be. It is the business that can attract a steady stream of customers from lunch thru the afternoon that will make it. For sure, the easiest slam dunk is a good, basic, hamburger or taco stand. This facility is essentially a food truck, so the aim should be to serve quick food that is good. Only Burger or Char-Grill would do well in this site because good burgers sell; period. Another idea is a taco stand featuring good ingredients. Chubbys and Los Cuates could handle the job. Food from Fonda Y Birrieria Jalisco would be even better (just get a better name!). The beauty of a taco stand is that it would attract tons of traffic during non-peak hours. There are many like me who could eat a good taco appetizer at any hour of the day.
Raleigh now sits in a position similar, but on a smaller scale, to Atlanta’s once the Olympics was over. The long-awaited event has passed, and it is time for the City to get back to making Fayetteville Street a “sustainable” destination for residents on every day of the year. There still is important work to be done.
IMAX Closing For Upgrades
The
IMAX theater
in downtown Raleigh (the real IMAX) will close for about a month on Monday in order for it to undergo a huge upgrade. The screen, seats, carpeting, and sound system are being upgraded. The big upgrade, however, is a new projection system that will be especially better for 3D presentations. It will be one of the world’s first such IMAX upgrades.
The remaining schedule this weekend includes Tron 3D showings today and tomorrow at Noon, 2:30, 5:00, 7:30, and 10:00.
Doug Stanhope Coming to The Pour House
On Saturday, February 26, one sick puppy will take the stage for a night of comedy at The Pour House. It will be Doug Stanhope, a man that is truly not right! The show begins early, at 7pm, and
tickets are $20
in advance.
[ video : NSFW]
Glenwood Hampton Inn Gets Site Plan
![abbeycarpet[1]](https://www.gogoraleigh.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/abbeycarpet1.jpg "abbeycarpet[1]")
After about a year and a half of latency, it looks like the Hampton Inn project in Glenwood South is moving forward. A
Site Plan
(.pdf) for the project, slated for the NW corner of Glenwood and Johnson, has been posted to the city’s site. The shoebox-shaped project will actually face Hi-5 on Johnson Street, and feature 950’ of unrelated retail space on its Glenwood Avenue street-level facade. The City of Raleigh requires 145 parking spaces for the building, but the plan is currently unclear about how those will be offered.
The project once showed 157 rooms planned, but now appears to be 126 units. The hotel will not have any special terracing or setback from the Glenwood Avenue sidewalk, but will only rise 5 stories on that face of the building.
Thanks, Chris!
Moore Square Model on Display
The Urban Design Center is now showing the model for the Moore Square redesign. The $184K plan will be on display 9-5p, M-F, thru November 17. The Urban Design Center is at the NE corner of Fayetteville and Hargett Streets in downtown Raleigh. More information is available at the City of Raleigh’s website.
Ford Explorer Coming to City Plaza
At Noon on Tuesday (10/26) Craig Patterson, Explorer Marketing Manager for Ford will be in Raleigh’s City Plaza to unveil the 2011 Ford Explorer. The reinvented car no longer sits on a truck chassis, and features the world’s first inflatable seatbealts and 30% better fuel efficiency.
All of that is nice, but what is really worth checking out is the latest generation of the phenomenal Ford Sync system, called MyFord Touch. The new version continues Sync’s fantastic bluetooth connectivity for phone and audio, and expands the abilities of navigation and climate control. Two new features include turning the car into a WiFi hotspot and iTunes tagging support from the HD radio. There is also support for USB keyboards, RSS feeds, an additional USB socket, an SD Card slot, enhanced podcast support, and more. For more information, see Mashable’s excellent writeup of MyFord Touch, as did Joelfeder.com .
Clearly the next battleground for car makers is on the dashboard, and Ford has the early lead here. Be sure to take this opportunity to see what is going on in this space.
Shen Yun Coming to Memorial Auditorium
On January 22, 2011, New York-based
Shen Yun Performing Arts
will come to Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium. There will be two shows:
2:00pm
and
7:30pm
. The group has received critical acclaim around the world, performing in over 80 cities worldwide.
Shen Yun Performing Arts presents classical Chinese dance and music in colorful and exhilarating shows. An art form several millennia old, Chinese dance is refreshingly dynamic and expressive. Ancient legends and heroic figures come to life through its leaps, spins, and delicate gestures, accompany with live orchestra
2:00pm:
7:30pm:
Zombies Walk Saturday
On Saturday at 7:00pm, hundreds will gather on Moore Square for this year’s Zombie Walk . The zombies, in various states of decay, will shamble on a prepared route through the streets of the city before returning to their point of origin. “Arrrggg mmrphh,” commented a representative for the Raleigh Zombie Walk before launching into a repeated monotone appeal to “join us, join us, join us…”
Zombie walks have become relatively common in large cities, often becoming annual traditions. During the event, participants are encouraged to remain in character as zombies and to communicate only in a manner consistent with zombie behavior. This may include grunting, groaning and slurred, moaning calls for ‘brains’. The Zombie Walk phenomenon has become an homage to the Romero Living Dead films, as well as recent additions to the genre such as the Zombieland film, 28 Days franchise and The Walking Dead graphic novel/television series.
Outdoor Ice Skating to Return
Raleigh’s love of ice skating grows each winter, and this year will be no exception with the return of popular outdoor skating rinks.
Raleigh on Ice will offer families and visitors the opportunity to skate at chopping centers:
- November 20 through January 2 at North Hills Commons. The event opens during North Hills’ annual Christmas tree lighting event.
- November 14 thru December 10 at Brier Creek Commons
- December 13 thru December 26 at Triangle Town Center
Winterfest returns to downtown Raleigh
- Real ice rink
- Opening at Winterfest’s grand opening, Saturday, December 4
- Dates, hours, prices, and policies are still unannounced
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