Nashville Tues - Downtown & Library

Tuesday 10/29

We like to plan city tours early in our trip to help us get oriented, but Tuesday was the soonest day we could schedule a walking tour of downtown Nashville. This mural greeted us in the downtown parking garage



We left  the parking garage to meet at the Bridgestone Arena, the starting point of our tour. At its lowest level is a visitor center. The major intersection in front is amusing because basically it legitimizes jay-walking.

The tour was two miles in distance and two hours in duration, during which I learned a smattering of interesting facts and trivia about Nashville; but to be honest, the tour did little in the way of orienting me. If I were a die-hard country music fan, then perhaps I would have felt my heart beat a little faster at being present in very same famous music sites and venues where the footsteps of legends in the country music world had trod. The country music points of interest on the tour were Ryman Auditorium (2), Tootsies Orchid Lounge (3), Ernest Tubb Record Shop (4), The George Jones (5), Printer's Alley (7), and Skull's Rainbow Room (8). 

Ryman Auditorium originated as a church and was the initial venue of the classic Country Music radio show the Grand Ole Opry. On the tour we only passed by it, but we would return on Thursday for an tour of the inside and a show in the evening.

Tootsies Orchid Lounge and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, both close to the Ryman, were places where famous people hung out after performances.

Skull's Rainbow Room, a cornerstone of Printer's Alley, has featured artists such as Etta James, Elvis Presley, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Paul McCartney, and Bob Dylan. Other nightclubs in Printer's Alley have showcased the talents of Boots Randolph, Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, The Supremes, Hank Williams, Barbara Mandrell, and Jimi Hendrix. If this sounds like I am name dropping, I am. The edifices themselves were unimpressive; the wow factor is intended to lie in who has graced their stages. In writing this post, I needed to look up the litany of names having been unable to recall it from the tour guide's narrative as we went by each place. Maybe had I entered these establishments, I would have absorbed the aura left behind in the hallowed halls by these famous folks and been more impressed. A view down Printer's Alley shows it to be a center of Nashville's nightlife. Most likely we got a slanted, uninspiring sense of the ambience by visiting in the morning.

Per https://www.nashvilledowntown.com/go/printers-alley, Printers Alley, nationally registered as a historic district, held other roles prior to being an entertainment center.

Traditionally the center of Nashville’s nightlife, Printers Alley was, in its earlier days, a series of posts where men bound for the courthouse hitched their horses. By the turn of the twentieth century it had become the center of Nashville’s printing industry; in its heyday, circa 1915, thirteen publishers and ten printers were located in the area serviced by the alley. Nashville’s two largest newspapers, The Tennessean and the Nashville Banner, had their offices here at one time. The street contained hotels, restaurants, and saloons, many of the latter becoming speakeasies when Prohibition went into effect in 1909. Nightclubs opened here in the 1940s.

The George Jones is a world-class entertainment venue located in downtown Nashville, on the outskirts of Printers Alley. It honors country music icon George Jones, who had more country songs in the top 40 of the Billboard chart than any artist in history. This YouTube link is him singing White Lightning.

Fortunately, the tour also had a fair mix of Nashville history and government as well. The history/government points of interest were

• Fort Nashborough (6) was the stockade established in early 1779 in the French Lick area of the Cumberland River valley, as a forerunner to the settlement that would become the city of Nashville, Tennessee. The log stockade was square in shape and covered 2 acres. We only saw it from a distance and we never went back to it.
• a historic Presbyterian Church (10) that I do not recall at all...sigh. 
• the Tennessee State Capitol (9) had a viewing platform we climbed to take in a panoramic 360° of Nashville

Unfortunately the tour passed by these places and not in them and so my knowledge was limited to what I remembered hearing from our tour guide. But there were some interesting "soft facts" to recall from the government and social aspect that left me with a favorable impression of the state of Tennessee and the city of Nashville. Many of these seeds of revelation were planted in my brain, to be explored in greater depth later during our stay. There were initial struggles with the segregation issues, but with the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, Tennessee was the first southern state to desegregate its schools and public areas peaceably. Two seats from the Woolworth's sit-in are preserved in the Woolworth's eating area, where we had lunch later.

Martin Luther King. Jr. stated, "I came to Nashville not to bring inspiration, but to gain inspiration from the great movement that has taken place in this community.” This quote is featured prominently in the Nashville Public Library posted over a replica of a lunch counter. The main branch of the Nashville Public Library has devoted a room on the second floor to an excellent exhibit on the Civil Rights movement. We would visit the library that afternoon.

Tennessee also led in the battle for fairness to women. When it was time for the question of allowing women to vote, Tennessee became the 36th and tie-breaking state to approve the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution, allowing it to pass. Harry T. Burn, a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, also the youngest at age 22, cast the tie-breaking vote in the House that secured the voting rights for women. After having just been through the Printers Alley with its somewhat loose lifestyle, one initially thought a lady of the night may have convinced him. Nope. It was his mother who swayed his vote with a convincing letter. Later in our stay, we would visit Centennial Park which sports a statue dedicated to the Suffragettes.

Ever a reminder that Nashville is "Music City", statues abound commemorating famous artists. Even though they were not all part of this morning's tour we did come across them throughout our stay and I have consolidated them here along with a link to one of their songs, You may not know the artist, but most likely you will have heard the song. In the financial are in front of a bank sits this bronze casting of Chet Atkins, c.g.p. playing Mr. Sandman and Yakety Axe. The initials following his name were modestly coined and self-imposed but have come to be bestowed as an honor on talented guitarists in years to come. They stand for certified guitar player. In the reflection, the size of our tour group and me taking the photo are visible.

At a corner near the Ryman Auditorium, Frank is posed next to bluegrass legend Bill Monroe with his signature mandolin. In this YouTube, he is performing with the Blue Grass Boys. We toured within the Ryman Thursday afternoon.

This statue of Roy Acuff, King of Country Music (Wabash Cannonball) and Minnie Pearl, Queen of Country Comedy (How to Catch a Man) graces the lobby of Ryman Auditorium. We attended a show there Thursday night.

Little Jimmy Dickens statue of Out Behind the Barn fame watched over as Sue and Frank file in for the show on Thursday night.

This sign reflects to me what the role of music played in Nashville beyond just the notes played, the chords struck, the lyrics voiced. Fellow musicians accepted each other and this openness and fairness spilled over into the rest of the town, be it race, or gender, or even species.

This dog mural on a building by a team of two German artists, Hera (Jasmin Siddiqui) and Akut (Falk Lehmann) and sponsored by Nashville Walls Project conveys a kindness toward animals. It quotes "One day I will rescue your brother, too." One interpretation is that the dog will rescue the boy also from his cell phone addiction But I like looking at it from the animal rescue point of view as well.

A passageway to the Cumberland River is flanked by stares. At its entrance is a bronze statue of a dog, Butler. Patting his head is reputed to bring good luck. He was a frequent patron of the area and hence rated a statue honoring him. He earned the title "Canine Bon Vivant" from his daily downtown walks that made his one of the most well known canine citizens of Nashville. This passage way is named "Butler's Run". Frank and I both patted his  head so here's hoping the luck rubbed off.

So in general, although I somewhat dismissed the tour as mediocre since it skimmed over and whizzed by several points of interest, upon reflection I realize it gave a me a good feel for the character of the city and alerted me to locations I wanted to seek out for further investigation. An accepting city, open to fairness, I was bemused it made it a priority to warn city goers of the potential to be hoodwinked by those not-so-righteous imposter parking attendants.

At the conclusion of our tour we retraced our steps back to the Woolworth on 5th of historic sit-in fame, for lunch. Three sit-ins in February and April of 1960 took place. A week after the third one, where a downstairs lunch counter was closed to prevent blacks from asking for service there and employees blocked the staircase to the second floor counter, there was a march to the courthouse and Mayor Ben West was confronted. When the mayor was asked if he thought segregation at the lunch counters was morally right, he answered no. The official process of desegregation at the downtown lunch counters began.

This is view of the first floor lunch area. We ate in a booth off to the left. The second floor had an event in progress but we were permitted to slip up to see the preserved and featured two counter seats.

John and Joe both tried the Hot chicken, a Nashville culinary craze. Reputedly the recipe began with a wife furious with her cheating husband so as punishment she prepared him a meal to burn his taste buds. It backfired. He loved it. The full story and some ingredients are led this link about how a cheating husband gave rise to nashvilles hot chicken craze but to be sure, cayenne pepper is key and plentiful. The recipe for this picture comes from the Food Network but rest assured, no matter the recipe, the color red is synonymous with hot, not ketchup or some cherry sweet sauce.

Interesting enough, when Frank could not finish the second half of his sandwich, and we were reluctant to carry it around with us, we learned that Nashville does have some processes in place to support the homeless community. The waitress assured us that Frank's untouched remainder of his sandwich would make its was to a nearby park where the homeless do congregate. The homeless conundrum is not eliminated, but it is mitigated for those who are living in non-ideal, unconventional, circumstances. Later that day, in a viewing of some library photographs I came across this photo of a homeless man doing his laundry in a bucket of water pulled from the Cumberland River at Riverfront Park. The following photo caption gives further information about the situation. Nashville opened a homeless convenience center and Single Room Occupancy housing which became part of a larger non-profit non-governmental organization called Room a the Inn devoted to helping those in need. To me this was a reinforcing image of the nature of Nashville.

Before leaving to forge on to the main branch of the Nashville Public Library, we posed for F.W. Woolworth commemorative photo.

It is amazing what you can find on the internet. Here is a photo of the F.W.Woolworth in my childhood home town of Linden, NJ taken circa 1930's. I was born about two decades after this photo was taken but it sure looks how I remember it, striped awnings and all. We called it the five and dime. Aah... memory lane. I could walk from here to my grandma's house a few blocks away, behind the store front shown. They had a soda fountain counter and when my aunts took me there for an ice cream treat, the counter clerk would keep replenishing my whipped cream as I ate it. There was a rear exit and I could cut across a parking lot to get to my aunts' and grandma's house.

The Nashville Public Library branch we visited was very, very impressive. I was clued in to check it out – at a minimum, the Civil rights display on the second floor – by the literacy coordinator at my local library in Livermore. The architecture alone of the marble edifice was breathtaking.

Upon entry into the high ceilinged first floor, I was flabbergasting by the light filled space, wide archways, marble checkered floor, and ornate railing around the second floor mezzanine gallery. I requested that my group bear with me while I take a picture of the six pair our feet, a tradition I insist on and they humor me. The background of the two toned marble tiled floor makes the photo pretty classy.

Humoring is a term I use loosely. Looks like Joe is not too thrilled to stop once again. He is the one scowling in the center. But he is a man of many faces as the second photo shows.

The Lobby of first floor definitely made a great first impression, but our primary focus was the Civil Rights Room housed on the second floor in the lower right orange area of the second photo.

 We headed directly for the second floor where that gallery of photos was definitely a lure.

But the priority of this location was to see the Civil Rights display and it did not disappoint.

A circular lunch counter sits center stage with ten code of conduct rules etched in glass, playing homage to the sit-ins at Woolworth's, Kress' and McClellan's. The guidelines had been developed by a divinity student to optimize the odds that peace would prevail. Here is one of the sections and the ten rules follow.

1. Do not block entrances to stores outside nor the aisles inside
2. Do refer information seekers to your leader in a polite manner
3. Do not hold conversations with the floor walker
4. Do show yourself friendly and courteous
5. Do sit straight; always face the counter
6. Do not strike back nor curse if abused
7. Do not laugh out loud
8. Do report all serious incidents to your leader
9. Do not leave your seat until your leader has given you permission
10. Do remember the teachings of Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi & Martin Luther King

Wall photos depicted two climactic events in Nashville's desegregation efforts. One was a school bombing, which went a long way to shocking people out of fighting desegregation. The second was some violence that occurred at the lunch counter peaceful sit-ins. Student marchings ensued and were so effective ,that in a speech at Fisk University, Reverend King praised the Nashville student movement as "The best organized and most disciplined movement in the Southland".

I watched a video about how it was for kindergarten students and their parents on that first day of attending a desegregated school. Sending your child off first her first day is nerve wracking enough but realizing that a large portion of the people she encounters may be not welcome her and moreover, be downright unfriendly, can certainly magnify the stress. One woman recalled her experience as a little girl. Education was highly prized in her family and so she was extremely excited about her first day of school. As she and her parents walked through the crowd-lined streets, her mom holding tightly to her hand, and she was amazed. She knew that going to school for the first time was a big deal, but she did not expect a parade! I had never heard this point of view before. Her parents certainly did a great job of allaying her concerns. I do not think all the children were so fortunate. Nashville integrated one grade at a time. The following year, first and second grade students were admitted to predominantly white schools, etc.

Exiting the Civil Rights display we perused the four wall of pictures on the mezzanine. These pictures comprised over thirty years of photos taken during the career of Gary Layda as the official photographer for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson Counties from 1983-2013. He estimates he took over a million pictures and these number less than 100. He viewed himself as a visual historian and that is an accurate interpretation. These photos gave me a excellent overview of Nashville. I down-selected a few of my favorites, chosen for what they taught me.

I chose this photo of the Dolley Trolley with its namesake posed in front not for the musical icon wow-power of it, but because I never knew how much Dolly Parton contributed to the community with her creation and support of the Imagination Library. Children birth to age five are given three books a month regardless of their economic status. In 2016 over one million books per month were sent.

Alright. I admit it. I was first drawn to this photo because of the colors. But when I realized it was a Nashville police department effort to get guns off the streets to reduce violence, I was further impressed.

This is a really cool photo of a barge launching and making a huge splash, September 1985. The photo caption reads:

Directly across from Riverfront Park was the Nashville Bridge Company that constructed barges. Once completed each barge was pushed down a ramp where it splashed into the Cumberland River. Residents of the building on First Avenue North claimed you could feel the building shake when the wake hit the west bank. Nashville Bridge Company went from building bridges to barges, and by the 1960s it had become the world's biggest builder of inland barges.  During World War II, the Nashville Bridge Company helped the war effort by building submarine chasers and minesweepers. For safety reasons all traffic on the river had to be stopped when a barge was launched. When barge launches were announced, spectators would often watch the event for Riverfront Park.

Again it is the rich saturated colors that  that drew me to this photo taken June 1987 at the Summer Lights Festival. But I learned about Nashville's effort to form community especially in the downtown area. Its caption reads:

Once again, in an effort to bring people back downtown, Mayor Fulton wanted to create a festival that would bring in a lot of people. Events such as Courthouse Day, Tennessee Grassroots Day, and the International Fair attracted only hundred or a couple of thousand participants. In the second year of the Summer Lights Festival, the mayor asked Anne Brown to take over the festival. She accepted the challenge and the Summer Lights Festival soon became an event attracting tens of thousands of people. The festival ran the first weekend of June and soon everyone was familiar with the slogan "Arts, Music, Dance". The festival included two and three dimensional artwork, singers, musicians, dancers, poets, street performers, and even theatre productions,. There were children's activities, food booths from local restaurants, and lots of beer.

Curious, I wanted to learn more and sadly found out it now longer exists but had a very successful 16-17 year run. More info on it can be found at The Nashville Library blog May 2018 post.

Exiting the photo gallery titled Some... of what I saw a spacious lobby showcasing a grand piano on the backdrop again if that gorgeous marble floor is what I saw. Beautiful.



Looking back, to left is the photo gallery and off to the right is the children's section, the next area of exploration.

On this same level is an outdoor courtyard with relaxing area to read or eat, with the background sound of a serene fountain.

A puppet theater that is a replica of the Ryman Auditorium is a focus in the play area.

A metropolitan landscape provides for climbing and walking (running?) activities. I heard the pitter patter of many footsteps across that bridge during my brief observations.

Among the stacks were shortcuts to duck from row to row that I am sure will delight many a pint-size library patron. It was so much fun when my friend Margaret caught up with me in this area. She is a newly-informed grandma-to-be, having just found out two days, before. Her murmurs of "oh, how adorable" and "aw, look at this" made me realize she was envisioning taking her grandchild there since they will be living in the area. On top of that Margaret is a dedicated bibliophile so this will be right up her alley.

The third floor was mostly utilitarian, having public access computers and sections dedicated to special interest groups such as teens and hearing impaired, but I did catch my breath at the sight of the arched and regally lit Grand Reading Room. 

After our time in the library we heading back to home base. It was around 4:00 pm. We took the path of least resistance and had dinner once again at Taco Mamacita. It was close. It was familiar. We could walk there and not worry about parking. It fit our mood. we could be back in time to watch Game 6 of the World Series. Our team the Nationals trounced the Astros. It was a very good day!