Carrboro: From the Cradle to the grave

by | Feb 10, 2015 | Editor's Blog | 12 comments

“From Day One, that’s one of the reasons for doing the project, to give the Cat’s Cradle some more space.”

Developer Laura Van Sant, to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen, October 1, 2008

When I arrived in Chapel HIll in the summer of 1981, downtown was a happening place full of interesting stores and interesting people. A guy named George owned a head shop in a closet that opened right onto Franklin Street and a guy named Bob Sheldon ran a left-wing bookstore in another closet above Henderson Street Bar. Cheap restaurants like Hector’s and the Continental Cafe served exotic food. At Jeff’s Confectionary, you could buy a real fountain drink or bet on your favorite team. Lacock’s sold shoes and Milton’s and Julian’s sold fine men’s wear. The Happy Store, a gas station turned convenience store, anchored the main square, making its money by rolling out kegs for frat parties. Across from the Varsity Theater and a few doors down from The Carolina, live music blared from a bar called Town Hall. Record stores dotted the street, including one, Schoolkids, that managed to spin off an iconic pizza joint called Pepper’s. Charles Kuralt’s brother, Wally, owned the Intimate Bookstore and the Hardback Cafe, a combination bookstore and coffee shop, became a headquarters for aspiring writers and musicians by attracting some famous ones. And all of that was just in the main block of town.

Down on the west end, just past the grocery store with the walk-in beer cooler, another scene was happening. An underground dive bar called The Cave attracted a pool-shooting, working class clientele in the afternoons and hosted live music almost every night, including budding acts like the Indigo Girls and Lyle Lovett. Musicians like Jerry Jeff Walker and Jorma Kaukonen stopped by after playing shows in larger venues. The Sunshine Cafe offered vegetarian fare in an informal setting while across the street, Pyewacket offered it in a more upscale environment.

And there was always the Cat’s Cradle. During the 1980s, it moved around the west end but never lost it’s following or reputation. On the contrary, it nurtured the music scene–and the music industry. It not only supported bands like Superchunk, Ben Folds Five, The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Flat Duo Jets,  and Southern Culture on the Skids, it fostered an environment that led to successful Triangle labels like Mammoth, Yep Roc, and Merge.

In the 1990s, the Chapel Hill I knew began to die. High rents drove out the funky shops and restaurants. Real estate prices sent the artists and musicians packing and replaced them with retirees looking for the bucolic Southern Part of Heaven, not a dynamic arts and music enclave. The literary crowd moved to Hillsborough and when the Cradle moved to Carrboro, the music scene followed. The Carrboro Music Festival replaced Apple Chill as the street festival of note. The artists and musicians who couldn’t afford Chapel Hill, bought in the former mill village. Restaurants and bars sprang up along Main Street, in part, to give patrons of Cradle shows a place to eat and hangout.

By the turn of this century, Carrboro had fully replaced Chapel Hill as the arts and music mecca of the Southeast. The Cradle was a big part of the transition. It’s a little club with a big reputation. In addition to all of our local music royalty, I’ve seen Billy Bragg, Kelly Willis, the late Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, the Avett Brothers and Marsha Ball among others and I’ve missed more big names than I can count. In addition, the Cradle hosts numerous benefit concerts that support everything from the Be Loud Sophie Foundation to uninsured sick or injured musicians. The Cradle has been a good corporate citizen and good for our town.

The Cat’s Cradle, the Arts Center and Weaver Street Market form the heart of downtown Carrboro. They anchor the town’s music and arts scenes and give Carrboro its sense of community. They bring people to town, supporting its thriving restaurant and bar scene and keeping money flowing to our small, locally-owned businesses. The loss of any one of them threatens our downtown’s identity and vibrancy.

Carrboro needs to grow and change. People like me supported the development of the former strip mall that houses the Arts Center and Cat’s Cradle, but we did so with the understanding that the development would provide a permanent space for both. Now, it appears we were hoodwinked. Developers are asking the town to subsidize space for the Arts Center, but the Cradle seems to have been left out. If the Cradle leaves, the musicians will follow. Just ask Chapel Hill.

Carrboro would survive without the Cradle. It just would not be the same town. In a matter of years, the music scene would be gone. We’d lose events like MergeFest and the Carrboro Music Festival would dwindle until it’s no longer a draw. Instead of the small hip town with the outsized influence, we’d be like Chapel HIll–just another wealthy enclave living off a reputation instead of reality. Maybe that will happen anyway, but losing the Cradle will make sure it happens sooner than later.

I miss the old Chapel Hill. I’m not ready to miss Carrboro. 

12 Comments

  1. Ron Royster

    Chapel Hill’s demise as a quaint little town all started for me when they tore up the entrance to the Carolina Theater and put in a GAP.

  2. seemomster

    Last I checked, The Cave was still on the West End…as was Local 506. So not *all* the music has left Chapel Hill. And, as someone who lived in Carrboro in the early 1980’s until Spring of 1997, Carrboro isn’t what it was, either. The artists can’t afford to live there any more. New hotness is Durham…

    I have no point, other than to say…stuff changes. And it always will.

  3. Andy Church

    In October 1985 I kept a cash register in the trunk of my car to sell guitar strings and drum sticks in the parking lot of 300 E Main Street while we worked to build the interior of what would become the Music Loft. Barry Blanchette was building out Nice Price Books, and the Arts Center was under construction as well. It was especially gratifying for me to be part of that process just a few years after helping to establish Lloyd Street Studios just across the street. Carrboro was at the time a dilapidated shell of a mill town desperately in need of renewal. The creative community formed the very core of the revitalization that was just getting underway. The Carrboro of 2015 owes much to the people who worked over the past 30 years to make it the special place it is today. Their spirit and values should be reflected and honored in every step of ongoing development, not disregarded or threatened. 300 E Main Street should be designated as a “community cultural heritage site.”

  4. Mitch Virchick

    Towns grow and your favorite places grow out of them. It’s not a big deal. Cat’s Cradle can graduate to wherever they can do better. The Cradle needed a cheap space, but Van Sant et al. can get more rent because Carrboro’s a nicer place, not because of the Cradle but because of Fitch, So. States, Harris Teeter, WSM, and the dozens of other bars and restaurants in town who believe their past and their future is here. And because of the people who believed that Carrboro was a more interesting and more fun place to live than Chapel Hill, which lost its “village” status about 30 years ago when Fowlers closed and when Huggins closed. A nightclub doesn’t make or break a town. It’s a bit daft to think that it does. I liked the Cradle when it was where Skylight Exchange was, and I liked it when it was on Franklin St. I’ll like it wherever it is, but it has never exactly defined the character of the town.

    • Shawn Nolan

      Mitch, it’s a bit daft to think the other bars and restaurants aren’t going to miss an internationally renowned “nightclub” that brings people from all over the region to the area or that a substantial number of people who live in or frequent Carrboro would not miss the institution in their backyard. It most certainly HAS defined Carrboro as much as any other company / business that you can possibly reference.

      I could easily argue that Chapel Hill started its steep decent from a vibrant and interesting “village” when the developers and town of Chapel Hill determined that the Cat’s Cradle was disposable and should be replaced with…the BW3. That was a brilliant move for a developer that’s just looking for more cash and not considering the needs or desires of its residents, or that a town is defined by those residents and its businesses.

      If Carrboro would prefer to be known as the place where visitors to UNC-Chapel Hill can get a close hotel room at the potential expense of an institution, then so be it, but “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

      I can hear people now, “Have you ever been to Carrboro?! They have the most amazing…Best Western (insert Debbie Downer music).”

  5. NanaAm

    Thanks for the memories of our old village. However, I don’t think what’s happened to Franklin Street will happen in Carrboro (different patronage). I know these developers are thoughtful and have been trying for years to work with ALL the tenants. Plus, we got Cameron’s!

    This whole situation feels like a nasty divorce. I certainly hope a mediator can be found!

  6. C.

    You can see MSP’s statement here: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/2015/01/23/4499106/proposed-arts-center-draws-pros.html

    As anyone knows, every negotiation has two sides. But if what they said in their formal statement has even a BIT of truth to it, they’ve tried, especially since 2008 when the statement you quoted was made, to get a larger venue for Cat’s Cradle. Frank has (ultimately) turned down every plan. When you keep trying to make one use of the property work and can’t get anywhere, you look at other options. That’s how life is, and how business goes.

  7. C.

    For balance, the new plans would not at all reduce or eat into his space. Not one inch. They’ve tried to work with Frank for OVER A DECADE and invested a money into having people draw up plans after plans to present to him, several of which he agreed to and backed out later. Meanwhile, they’ve subsidized his rent without even having a long term lease. I *LOVE* the Cradle, but he’s had years to s*** or get off the pot, and he hasn’t. It’s time to let the nonprofits who actually have a viable plan get due consideration. The question of whether or not CAIC should be built (and it’s one that needs proper debating) is not at all about the Cradle, nor should it be. It just feels like someone has hijacked the conversation along the way to get some publicity and leverage, and everyone has bought into it. It makes me very sad for The ArtsCenter and Kidzu.

  8. Ari

    Nice article,as someone who moved here in ’86 I remember mush of what’s mentioned.
    and yes, the loss of Cat’s Cradle would be a blow to the whole Carrboro Chapel Hill area, considering what Frank has done to help the arts center and arts in general it would be nice if the new building had an annexe specifically for the Cat’s Cradle.

  9. Nicky Amundsen

    YES!! Thank you for saying this. Where is the community on this? The developers should NOT be the only ones in control of what is central to the entire community. They promised space for the Arts Center & the Cradle. I was there at that Town Council meeting when it was inked years ago. The minute Carrboro let the chain hotel store in to generate tax dollars (they could have picked an independent or more modern hip alternative like Ace or something), it seems all other indie institutions are threatened? Will the local independent restaurants turns in to chain stores like so much of Franklin. Get that community to stand up for the Cradle Thomas!!!

  10. Randy Voller

    I remember the scene you describe as well. I remember the old Cradle location where I saw folks I knew from college open for “Cracker”.

    • Brad

      I came to Chapel Hill in 1971 and lived there for about 10 years both as a student at the University and later work. Remember the vibrant street scene on Franklin from your description as well as The Shack, Leo’s, The Zoom. These all made Chapel Hill a great college town! Not sure I would recognize the place now

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