Find Your Cool!...in Durham

How does one approach a blog post about Durham, NC? The same way you approach the city itself. Carefully. With eyes open and with an open mind. I find I can't pin down a city's personality until I've met with it at least three or four times. (I should probably apply this same logic to meeting people, since my initial impressions have often been proved wrong).

I still have so much left to explore. The city has captured my attention for sure. It remains a mystery even after a half dozen visits. These photos were shot in downtown Durham, but do not include images from the famous Tobacco Campus and Durham Bulls Stadium. That will come at a later date.

Historic mills are being converted at a swift pace into posh condos, office space and commercial hubs. Brightleaf Square is one such hub (click here for more info).

The architecture of the Durham County Human Services buildling is in stark contrast to the historic brick tobacco mills all over town. It's a hint of what's to come in Durham.

Where the nine-to-fivers go, Monday through Friday.

Murals can be found all over town, highlighting its passion for baseball, its pride in racial diversity, or just replicating the advertising of yesteryear. 

And fish...Sometimes a blank wall calls for giant painted fish.

One does not need to make much of a leap to imagine what Durham looked like fifty or...

one hundred years ago...

...but block-by-block the city is being transformed into this current century.

I end this post with a photo of this one lone city block. If the painter Edward Hopper were alive today, perhaps he would find inspiration here. (Early Sunday Morning, 1930.) Perhaps he would even find "Durham Cool."