The Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood

Whose Park Is It?*

2012-01-16T16:13:00.015-05:00

Some people say you should not live in the past, since it holds you back. There are extremes to every idea, and maybe we can meet in the middle: acknowledge the building blocks, then use them to jump to other things.

The past: Syba on the land that would become the 1st Downtown Durham dog park; Dec 2010

As a kid, I wasn’t always nice. At the slightest insult from neighbor kids, I’d retreat inside my yard, close the gates, and say, very unimaginatively, “Get out of my yard!” In my young defense, some of the neighbor kids were responsible for what we would now call crimes against humanity had they been adults. Regardless, boundaries were conceptualized and enforced. The importance of land and ones space is particularly present in my hometown of Seattle, where high hedges and fences barricade front yards, moat-puddles forming inside.

Rob + front yard in Seattle's Capitol Hill. Hedged yard in background, Dec 2011

Since I was so accustomed to these barriers, I was particularly taken with the historic Southern porches that awaited us with our move to Durham in October 2005, open and inviting. You yell from your porch, wave, drink with your neighbors, ask them how they’re doing, watch the action on the street. Your porch is an ecosystem.

Before moving to Durham, we were advised: “Why Durham? Move to Chapel Hill.” Set on Durham, we came here anyway and began exploring. I asked a few people if there was anywhere we should not move. “The East side,” was a frequent response, “It’s dangerous.”

Immediately interested, Rob and I decided to drive through the East side and find the scary. After being pulled over on Driver Street due to our Washington license plate (“There is a heroin problem in Seattle, Ma’am”) we made our way to what is now known as Cleveland Holloway. On Queen Street, a sign caught our attention: “Stop the War.” Agreeing with the sentiment, it might as well have said, “Welcome home.” As luck would have it, the sign owner was just walking up to her house.

We asked her about the neighborhood. In short, best decision she ever made, great neighbors, close to everything. The woman, who we now know as Natalie Spring, pointed us to a house two doors down that had been vacant for two years. One month later, November 2005, we bought our home. Our story might have been different had we listened to the advice of a man on Oakwood: “It’s a horrible place,” he told us. “I’m taking my family and moving out to the country.”

Realtors wouldn’t touch this place; we’d tried to enlist a few, but all said “You don’t want to live there,” or my favorite: “The places you’re sending me are scaring me.”

The abandoned homes just had colds, if homes had immune systems, and the streets had a few viruses, or business being conducted on them, but other than that, our conclusion was: What’s so scary about this area? Our guess was a mixture of (un)conscious racism, fear of poverty, and discomfort with the aforementioned business transactions.

We wanted some place walkable, bikeable, urban, vibrant with life of all socio-economic, ethnic/racial, gender, orientation, and age-stripes. Kind of like Title VII. Nothing too fancy and proud of itself either, but a healthy compost of individuals and history that makes for the most nutrient-dense of neighborhoods.

Our new home was a mess. A tree branch had fallen through the roof, and leaks splattered everywhere. The home inspector asked: “Have you ever seen ‘The Money Pit’?” and Rob’s face went grey.

Living room + Rob circa 2005

Shattered glass in the windows and doors, stains splashed on the walls and floors, faucets shooting out water when the water was turned on…most residents of this neighborhood know the language of this kind of project.

As a new resident, I took frequent walks with our dog Syba. These walks helped build relationships, made me aware of developments in the neighborhood, and informed my work in organizing. One time, a cop slowed down as I made my way down Mallard toward East End Park. “Ma’am?” he said politely, as if to a lost child, “This is a dangerous area you’re walking in. Do you know that?” I was a bit annoyed … would he caution or ‘protect’ non-white residents similarly? “This is my neighborhood, and I feel safe,” I shot back, and continued to the Park.

East End Park is one of my favorites. Technically just outside our neighborhood, it’s close by and sits below Mallard, in a sweeping mini-canyon of green trees and grass, bordered by the busy won’t-stop-for-you Alston.

It looks better in the Spring

And in the snow (2010):

Its home is our mini-industrial area, a hodgepodge of old brick warehouses and smokestacks; though much of it still remains abandoned at the moment. You never know what you will find in the park: sleepers, picnickers, b-ball players, or walker-throughers like me. Maybe you’ll even find a dog.

Osita, now with Mike & Jana. Came running up to Syba and I at East End Park. Here, Syba reluctantly sharing.

A stream, or mud shaped like a stream, borders the North end of the park. A bridge over the muck leads you through to the back end of the railroad tracks, past garbage, and into the edge of our neighborhood. Crossing East at Alston, the park continues as a jungle gym and three tennis courts, where Rob has suffered not only embarrassing losses at my hand, but a tennis net injury that left a scar suggesting he tangled with a shark.

Around this park, I’ve found dogs running loose with chains dragging behind them, slides transformed into beds with legs jetting out the end tunnel, and a water-works sprinkler that turns on with a hand sensor to cool you in the summertime and scare Syba.

I use the monkey bars to pull myself up with arm exercises, and apparently I’m not alone. I ran into a man doing similarly recently. The same man bounces a basketball around the tennis court, door closed, around and around the edge of the court. I’m not clear why he doesn’t do this at the basketball court, since it is often empty at the time, but there must be a reason.

In the evening, the park is full of tennis players. A woman told me she keeps watch, which is why it is so clean. It’s a great space to go and study your Greek on one of the picnic benches, and let your dog sniff around, hopefully not to find a #2 sliding down the wall of the facilities, as I did one day.

On our way home we pass Oakwood Park, at Oakwood (or Dillard) and Holloway, more central to our neighborhood. Once a sad little place where slides and benches were beds, the park has received a lot of love this past year.

Neighborhood volunteers (not me!) painted its trash bins bright red, added pedestal tubs to host small porcelain-encased gardens, and welcomed new swings to the space. A fancy neighborhood bulletin board sits outside the park, thanks to the teamwork of neighbors Dylan and Harris.

Neighbor Maureen lugged water to the park all summer to keep the transplanted bushes alive. New paint coated the fence and surfaces of the park, and though it still hosts a few sleepers and non-kid “meetings” in the gazebo, I can’t tell you how happy I am when I walk by the park and see actual kids playing on its bright equipment and enjoying this space. This Spring, Maureen and Natalie plan to plant the garden.

Circling around down Holloway to Roxboro, passerby are now greeted to a Syba-on-steroids art cutout mounted on the fence of our third park, the Downtown Durham Dog Park, along with several other neighbor dog representations dotting the fence, crafted by our own Lena and David.

Meet your New Neighbors - Justin Clapp & Joseph Lee

2011-12-06T08:09:00.000-05:00

Please meet Justin Clapp & Joseph Lee of 401 N. Elizabeth Street.

An illustration of Justin (l) and Joseph (r) that was originally used as their save-the-date card. They were married in May, 2011. Ruby and Jasper are pictured as well.

How did you hear about Cleveland-Holloway?
We found the neighborhood blog as we were looking for a home to buy. We were attracted by a couple property listings and fell in love with our home.

What attracted you to the neighborhood?
Walkability, SEEDS, lovely homes, great people and a feel that cannot be described.
A favorite hobby(s)?
Working in our yard, reading and Justin likes to paint
What famous person are you commonly mistaken for?
Justin: Queen Latifah; Joseph: Justin Timberlake. Really, neither of us get mistaken for someone famous.
Cheetohs. Crunchy? or Puffy?
Joseph: (and organic to be extra "crunchy"); Justin: Puffy (and organic)
Pets?
Two Cats: Ruby and Jasper
Favorite thing to do on a rainy day?
Bake Bread, read a book or have people over for gamesFavorite song, quote, book, or other?
Joseph has been gleefully reading trashy vampire novels and Justin loves a good fantasy novel.
A country recently visited OR would like to visit?
In May, we went on our honeymoon to Iceland (everyone should go), but Joseph wants to go to New Zealand and Justin wants to see Vietnam.
Favorite thing about the Bull City?
We both love to eat, so we enjoy the food scene because of the varied experiences and community surrounding our restaurants.
Any home projects on the horizon?
How about a rainwater management system? Ok, so we're putting in gutters and doing more gardening.

Joseph & Justin on the front porch of their new home.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

PS: If there are new neighbors you'd like to see featured in Meet the Neighbors, please shoot an email with their contact information to Adrian.

Our backyard chickens

2011-12-02T11:36:00.000-05:00

Buffy

Sisters

We never imagined having chickens until we came to Durham. The opportunity presented itself by having a large backyard and an initiative by Durham citizens to allow chickens within city limits. After the city council voted ‘yes’ it didn’t take long and we acquired our ‘limited agricultural permit’.

The regulations for raising backyard chickens are meant to protect chickens from harm and provide them with enough space to live happily. Enough space in the coop and run (outside area) is needed based on the number of chickens one plans to have. The gaps in the fencing should be narrow and the fence should be buried to keep critters from digging underneath. Avery netting is also necessary to keep chickens in (they can fly!) and to keep hawks and other animals from coming in from above.

A couple rules were included to provide a buffer between your chickens and your neighbors. The coop needs to be at least 15 feet from the property line and the run needs to be at least 5 feet away.

The regulations are also meant to provide neighbors with the opportunity to oppose having chickens next door. Unfortunately, this aspect of the regulations has dissuaded some from going through the process, but in reality, there is little to worry about. Adjacent property owners must be informed in writing of your intent to have chickens and they can oppose your plan. However, a valid argument must be provided by the opponent in the case of a hearing. Most likely, the ruling will be in favor of the permit applicant. Of course, one wants to be in good terms with neighbors and fresh eggs every once in a while might convince them that chickens are okay.

Our girls not only provide us with delicious eggs, but also help clean up kitchen scraps and fertilize our garden. With a little training, our chicks now share the yard with our two playful dogs. It is so much fun to watch the chickens run-fly across the yard in their dinosaur-ish way, dust bathe, scratch for bugs, or even catch a garden snake. They are smarter than one would think and they reward you in so many ways.

Jana & Mike

Chicks

Flash

Fluffy

Meet Your New Neighbor - Kelli Keck

2011-11-27T18:09:00.002-05:00

As a way to welcome our new neighbors (and we've added several in the last year alone), and to revive a previous tradition - we'll be featuring newcomers as a way of briefly introducing them to you.

Please meet Kelli Keck of 507 Ottawa Avenue..

How did you hear about Cleveland-Holloway? Realtor

What attracted you to the neighborhood? Walkable and quirky

A favorite hobby? Reading

What famous person are you commonly mistaken for? No celebrity doppelganger that I am aware.

Cheetohs. Crunchy? or Puffy? Crunchy

Favorite thing to do on a rainy day? Turn on sports or trashy TV and take a nap

Favorite song, quote, book, or other? Song- Guitar Man by Bread

A country recently visited OR would like to visit? Mexico but wish it had been Morocco

Favorite thing about the Bull City? It embraces its past but isn't afraid of change

Any home projects on the horizon? Taming the beast of a yard!

Be sure to say "hi" to Kelli when you have a chance.

Cleveland Hollow'een 2011

2011-11-21T08:38:00.006-05:00

Cleveland Holloway celebrates holidays like no other neighborhood in Durham!

We keep a community costume chest of donated costumes to loan out to kids (if you have costumes you'd like to donate, contact Natalie Spring!), we give out candy to neighbors who don't have it in their budget to hand out candy, and we parade around the neighborhood. After all of that, we watch movies and drink warm cider.

We loaned out 44 costumes to kids this year and had many more kids join in the costume parade. We also handed out 25 bags of sponsored candy so that our neighborhood kids could have more houses to trick or treat at. Despite the rain and icky weather, this year had the largest turnout to date.

We gathered at Oakwood Park on a cold wet Halloween to get glow sticks and start trick or treating with a parade!

We had over 75 kids and adults join in the parade and then over a hundred neighbors trick or treat on Halloween! Thanks to all of the neighbors who handed out candy, the kids were all very excited!

To see more images from Halloween check out our albumn here

Cleveland Hollow'een 2011

Downtown Dog Park: Pre-Grand Opening Affordable Vaccine Party

2011-08-16T12:18:00.000-04:00

We’re very excited to be the neighborhood hosting the first ever Downtown Durham Dog Park!

One of the missions of opening the park was to reach out to neighbors who have dogs but might not be able to afford appropriate vaccines or the tags to gain admission into the dog park.*

To this end, we’re going to offer a raffle award package for two neighbors at our "pre-"grand opening this weekend: all required vaccinations and the tag expenses paid (value = ~$70 each) . We do not want to make this too cumbersome administratively – but the target recipients would be folks who probably cannot afford the vaccinations/tags.

We have gone door-to-door to individuals in our neighborhood with dogs, offering them a flyer with information about the free raffle. The raffle will be held on 8/20 at 10:00 am, and participants will be asked to bring the flyer we gave them. Winners will be announced at 10:30 am, and of course will need to be present! Even if folks do not win, they can gain access to helpful information that will be on hand from the Animal Protection Society of Durham, who will be at the 8/20 event.

Please share this with any neighbors you think might be interested and would enjoy use of the dog park.

Here is more information about all the events:

Flyer: http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/parks/pdf/dogpark_flyer.pdf
Invite: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=223372064374631
Friend: http://www.facebook.com/downtowndurhamdogpark

Thanks for your support!

* Durham Parks & Rec requires vaccinations in order to purchase a dog park use tag (see: http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/parks/dog_park_fees.cfm) and gain access to the park.

4th Annual Cleveland-Holloway Home Tour is this weekend!

2011-05-31T20:05:00.000-04:00

One of Durham's many champions, Jessica Sadler from Urban Durham Realty, wrote a post about this weekend's home tour on her blog - Red Bag Realtor. Thanks for the plug Jessica!

4th Annual Neighborhod Home Tour - June 4th!

2011-05-08T08:25:00.000-04:00

Downtown Durham Dog Park Clean-Up

2011-04-27T18:14:00.009-04:00

A group of Cleveland-Holloway neighbors spent last Saturday mowing, weeding, mulching, digging, building, shoveling, mixing, and more--to help get us that much closer to the opening of the Downtown Durham Dog Park (DDDP) on what was up until recently a vacant, city-owned lot at the corner of Roxboro and Elliot.

The Durham News just did a nice article about the park, which will open as soon as signs have been installed. Check out the DDDP's Facebook Page and remember that before visiting the park, you will need to obtain a tag for your dog, issued by the City. Contact Durham Parks and Rec for more information.

A HUGE thanks to all the neighbors who dreamed this, stuck with it, and made it happen, and to our awesome partners, City of Durham Parks and Rec, and Keep Durham Beautiful.

Sweet as Sugar: A Fence for Shug

2011-03-26T20:58:00.002-04:00

One Sunday in March, the tireless volunteers of the Coalition to Unchain Dogs paid Cleveland-Holloway a visit to build a fence for Shug of Oakwood Ave.

Watch how much he enjoys his new freedom and space to run! Thanks to this awesome group, another Cleveland-Holloway dog is off his chain.

A year in review...

2011-03-15T08:51:00.000-04:00

We thought it would be nice to recap some of the positive neighborhood activities that have taken place since last year. Below you can see, by the numbers, all of the great things that have been organized from March 2010-March 2011!

Meetings
1. Held 12 neighborhood meetings attended by 241 people. This represents 105 different neighbors who attended meetings with an average attendance of 21 at each neighborhood meeting. Some people attended 1 meeting, some people attended all 12.

Events!
2. Held 10 potlucks at 10 different neighbor’s homes between July and March and have three additional potlucks planned!

3. Held a block party on May 22nd on Primitive St (75+ neighbors attended- Free DJ, Bike Co-op Mobile Bike Clinic, and food!)

4. Hosted a Halloween Parade, costume and candy distribution, and movie on October 31st (27 free costumes distributed, 16 free bags of candy & treats, 75+ neighbors participating in the parade and trick or treat)

5. Hosted a home tour on November 6th that 100 non-neighbors (and many neighbors) attended and our neighbors opened their homes.

6. Sang Christmas Carols and Holiday songs for our elderly neighbors on Christmas Eve. Thirteen neighbors sang for ten different families.

7. Held three energy efficiency workshops with Clean Energy Durham.

Progress
1. Built a dog fence for Star (January)
2. Won a Keep Durham Beautiful Plant Grant in March and planted 13 trees, 40 bushes, and hundreds of flowers throughout the neighborhood.
3. Created rules and priorities for spending money
4. Established the Underemployed Neighbors Fund
a. Utilized this fund once (5 individuals paid for their work on Oakwood Park)
5. Built and installed a Community Message Board in Oakwood Park (May-June)
6. Submitted a petition to extend the local historic district (June)
7. Held three workshops to create a neighborhood design (August- October)
8. Cleaned- up Oakwood Park on October 2nd with 12 volunteers from Duke, 20 volunteering neighbors, and 5 neighbors utilizing the Underemployed Neighbors Fund.
9. Partnering with Independent Animal Rescue ~15 feral cats and kittens have been altered and released or adopted.
10. Working together we have found new homes for many stray dogs.
11. Built two more fences for dogs.

Still in the works!
1. Received permission to garden vacant city lots
2. Monitoring local planning decisions and downtown re-zoning
3. Monitoring proposed changes to Alston Avenue
4. Setting up a neighborhood watch
5. Clean up of Goose Creek scheduled for March 26th (meet at 500 block Canal St)
6.

Open for Business

2011-01-31T14:55:00.007-05:00

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in Cleveland + Holloway!

We have many resident owned businesses and will be adding a side section with permanent links. We'd like to highlight some of our amazing small business owners as we add this new feature to our blog.

Garden Environments Most homes have landscapes, few have gardens. We create gardens.

Jessie Gladin-Kramer - Photographer

Charles Davies, REALTOR®/Broker, Dream Living Realty Helping Home Buyers Find Their Dream Home, and Making It a Reality!

Porch Life Productions, LLC

Ken Gasch, REALTOR®/Broker, Seagroves Realty

Visions Alterations & Custom Sewing Your Vision is My Vision

Williams Lawn Service - No hustle too small (919) 692-5451
Special thanks to Matthew Fishman of PranaFlo for making this post possible!

A Very Musical Christmas Eve

2010-12-27T11:03:00.005-05:00

Several lucky neighbors got an exciting surprise this Christmas Eve - carolers!

Thanks to Natalie for organizing the event, and to Eleni for putting together the fantastic video.

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-15T12:27:00.004-05:00

How fantastic is this sight!

Children from all over the neighborhood participated in the 2nd Cleveland Hollow'een!

We provided 27 free borrowed costumes from our neighborhood costume chest, 16 free bags of 60 pieces of candy for budget restricted households to pass out, and a fun, safe, and free event for neighbors young and old.

We even had a special guest...Wool E. Bull!

We had approximately 75 (maybe more! we were too busy having fun to count!) neighbors march in our Halloween Parade

Here you can see our special guest Wool E. Bull with our neighbor Maureen who made delicious caramel corn for all the kids.

Some more neighborhood kids enjoying the night...

After the parade and trick or treating, we gathered on the lawn to watch scary movies, swap candy, and eat the pumpkin seeds from our pumkin carving event that Leslie roasted for everyone.

Congratulations to Kyle!

2010-11-03T11:26:00.004-04:00

We want to give a big shout-out to our neighbor Kyle Bell for his success and his recent write-up in the Herald Sun. Kyle is 15 years old, and the son of Estella who owns and runs Visions Alterations and Custom Sewing. Kyle recently came in third place in a Rochester, NY Karate tournament.

From the article:
"Before, my attitude was like really, really, bad," he said. "If somebody said something that didn't mean anything to me, I'd get mad over it, and want to fight them. Now, karate has gotten me into a calm state of mind."

Read the rest of the article: http://heraldsun.com/bookmark/9942806

And interestingly enough, Nathan Ligo who runs the Dojo has a similar story to Kyle's. Read it here. (http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/9942954/article-Karate-rescued-Nathan-Ligo--now-he-wants-to-help-others)

Won’t you be my neighbor?

2010-11-01T09:53:00.002-04:00

Welcome to the Third Annual Cleveland-Holloway Home Tour!

11am-3pm on Saturday, November 6th

The self-guided tour begins at 501 Oakwood Ave

Around 1890 the city of Durham expanded its boundaries to include our neighborhood. Homes built here were for merchants, and factory workers-- largely Greek and Russian Jews who had immigrated to the area for work. Between the 1940s and 1960s the area gradually became a predominantly African-American community.

Unfortunately a variety of forces, including redlining (banks would not lend money in African-American neighborhoods) and urban flight resulted in a period of disinvestment in downtown Durham and its surrounding neighborhoods.

Despite this sustained period of scant resources and investment many of our residents have called the neighborhood home for 20 and some 40 years, and recently there has been much cause for celebration!

By 2009 the entire neighborhood was granted National and State historic district status, offering tax credits for the rehabilitation of homes. Cleveland and Holloway Streets have local historic district status, which offers protections-- the rest of the neighborhood is under consideration by the City for the same.

Things are happening fast in Cleveland-Holloway. Since our first home tour in May 2008, over thirty homes have experienced, or are undergoing, substantial rehabilitation. The list goes on: two new homes have been built on vacant lots; mixed-use residential development project in downtown Durham has been built by Center Studio Architecture at Mangum 506; Wendy Clark has rehabbed the John O’Daniel building as a business incubator; and Triangle Brewing Company has set-up shop in one of the large warehouses near SEEDS.

We have a vibrant neighborhood organization, an active list serve, and a neighborhood blog.

We would love for you to buy one of our available homes and to call YOU neighbor.

Pumpkin Carving

2010-10-27T10:26:00.016-04:00

This past Saturday neighborhood kids and adults got together for a pumpkin carving in Oakwood Park! We had children from Gray, Canal, Carlton, Oakwood, Queen, Primitive, and Ottawa Streets helping the adults create pumpkins of much majesty!

Kids and Parents worked together to create their masterpiece!

At the end of the day we had very creative and awesome pumpkins that are now being displayed across the neighborhood!

Of course, we also had fun playing in our much improved Oakwood Park!

Next event in the Cleveland Hollow'een = Costume Day! Sunday October 31st!

Home Tour to be held November 6th

2010-10-18T15:32:00.002-04:00

The residents of Cleveland + Holloway are ready to invite you over.

Our 3rd Home Tour will be held on the afternoon of Saturday, November 6th.

Come see what all the fuss is about.

Article from the Triangle Business Journal

2010-08-27T08:55:00.004-04:00

This article by Amanda Jones Hoyle, Durham downtown’s Historic Revival, appeared in today's Triangle Business Journal.

DURHAM – The Victorian-style house with a wide wrap-around porch in Durham’s historic Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood has certainly seen better years.

On multiple occasions, the two-story building at 501 Oakwood St. has faced the threat of demolition.

Many of the windows have been boarded up, and the foundation had started to sag. It has been decades since it felt the brush of a fresh coat of paint.

But the Clapp-Ferguson House at the corner of Ottawa Avenue is getting a new lease on life, thanks partly to a group of preservationists that has secured valuable historical tax credits for its buyers. The group also helps that the home is in a neighborhood that’s become popular among artists, musicians, young families.

The home and the neighborhood are evidence of urban redevelopment that has slowly graced the fringes of Durham’s downtown district over the past couple of decades.

In the 1980s, it was the historic Trinity Park neighborhood that became the neighborhood of choice for many of Duke University's administrators, faculty and students. That was followed by an eastward movement into the Old North Durham, Watts Hospital-Hillandale and Trinity Heights neighborhoods.

In recent years, families have been targeting homes in the Walltown, Cleveland-Holloway and east Durham neighborhoods, says unofficial Durham historian Gary Kueber, who has been tracking the causes and effects through his Endangered Durham blog. Kueber also is chief operating officer for one of Durham’s most active commercial redevelopment companies, Scientific Properties.

“House prices fall to a very low per-square-footage cost. They become undesirable areas. Then a few people who love the architecture and want the experience of being close to downtown decide to take the plunge,” Kueber says. “They begin renovating these houses and transforming the neighborhood.”

Renovation specialists Trinity Design/Build of Durham usually has 10 to 15 projects going on around Durham’s historic neighborhoods at any given time, says construction manager Alan Spruyt. “Older properties in older neighborhoods are more likely to appreciate,” Spruyt says. “These are beautiful old houses, and people are eager to live in one.”

But even the well-preserved older homes usually need a fair amount of upgrading and rehabilitation work. Trinity Design/Build is completing an overhaul of the 2,600-square-foot home at 1011 Monmouth Ave. in Trinity Park that was home to multiple generations of the same family before it was sold to Trinity Design/Build’s investors in 2009.

The renovators were able to keep the casements and plaster arches of a dining room window and add radiant floor heat for the rooms downstairs and the bathrooms upstairs.

But the project hit a few snags that aren’t uncommon in historic renovations. For one, contractors discovered a buried heating oil tank in the yard that had to be removed.

Courtney James, managing broker of the Urban Durham Realty real estate firm, says most buyers are looking for homes that have already been renovated. Only a brave few are willing to buy an older home that still needs rehabilitation.

A big selling point of these homes is walkability to shopping areas and to downtown. “People want to be close to amenities,” James says. “They may not be walking there every time, but they want to know they can if they want to.”

Kevin Davis and his wife already live in Trinity Park, about one mile north of downtown, but the couple recently purchased a 1920s-era home on Gloria Avenue to be even closer to downtown – just two blocks from Durham’s Brightleaf Square and two blocks from the new Bull City Connector bus line. “It’s the perfect place to live,” he says.

“On a national level, this is a niche trend with a lot of cities looking to get away from longer commutes. Raleigh has seen it with its Five Points and Oakwood neighborhoods. Durham is seeing this, too,” Davis says. “It used to be after 5:30 you could drive through downtown and see no one on the streets. Now, we have activity centers bringing people in,” referring to recent projects at the American Tobacco campus, construction of the Durham Performing Arts Center and other pockets of downtown development or redevelopment over the last few years.

The Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood caught the attention of partners Adrian Brown and Kevin Flynn last year when the neighborhood offered a tour. “It was hilarious in a way because you usually see these tours in established places like Trinity Park with really expensive homes,” Flynn says.

Cleveland-Holloway still has its pockets of vacant homes, homes in disrepair and crime, Flynn says, “but you could see this glimmer of hope.”

Flynn and Brown, who works for the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, had been considering a move closer into the city and were drawn to the Clapp-Ferguson House that Preservation Durham and Preservation North Carolina were struggling to save.

Durham real estate investor Ken Gasch had already started work to shore up the home’s foundation and to replace the floor joists, and now a sales contract with Flynn and Brown will fund the rest of the renovation. About another $100,000 worth of work is needed before they begin moving in furniture.

“We are definitely not pioneers,” Brown says, “Artists, musicians and students have been coming here for 10 years, braving it out. But it was just an attractive place to both of us.”

Ottawa Street Renovations win Neighborhood Preservation Award

2010-07-21T10:19:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Helena Cragg and Sylvia J. Williams of SYNERGY ENTERPRISES LLC!!

They were awarded a 2010

Preservation Durham Neighborhood Conservation Award for the renovation of 405 & 407 Ottawa Street Houses (1928).

Message Me!

2010-06-22T20:15:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Harris and Dylan and others who created the new neighborhood message board, mostly out of scrap lumber. But it took an entire posse of sleepy C-H'ers early last Saturday morning to get the thing up and in place

Jessie making use of the bulletin board - sorry, folks, that TV was snapped up in about 20 minutes!

Neighborhood Block Party

2010-06-18T11:30:00.005-04:00

A beautiful Saturday in late May saw scores of C-H'ers congregating on the vacant block of Primitive Ave--grillin, dancin', chattin', and chillin'.

Thanks to the Durham Bike Co-op for their free mobile clinic and to Clean Energy Durham for sponsorship of the event. To everyone for coming out to party, and to all those who volunteered. Special 'hood shout-out to Catherine Egerton of Queen St. for making this awesome day happen.

Block party this Saturday!

2010-05-20T09:42:00.006-04:00

Cleveland-Holloway Block Party

Come join your neighbors this Saturday for great music, food, and a free mobile bike clinic on Primitive Street (the block between Oakwood and Gurley Streets).

Clean Energy Durham is sponsoring the event as part of their "Get Up and Go!" project, along with GoTriangle. Check out the flyer for details, and let your neighbors know - especially those with bikes that need some doctoring! Our beloved Durham Bike Co-op will be there ready to get you back on your wheels.

May Neighborhood Meeting

NOTE: Also, one week until the next neighborhood meeting! Thursday, May 27, at 6:30 in the usual space (the auditorium on the first floor of the library).

Veggies Galore!

Gardens and front yards around here have been looking pretty incredible lately... if you have a garden you'd like to show off on the blog, call Jessie at 381-7707 to get a picture taken!

A Star Runs Free II

2010-02-02T12:17:00.003-05:00

Video from Star's fence build. Thanks again to The Coalition to Unchain Dogs.

A Star Runs Free

2010-01-31T14:03:00.007-05:00

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came out last weekend to help unchain Star; whether you gave funds towards her shots and fence materials, came out and sweated laying ground wire or twisting fence ties, or otherwise showed your support, Star and her owners are incredibly grateful. Here are some photos:

Eleni tamps down a post...

Dante gets a kiss of thanks...

Robert has a pensive moment...

Morgan shows off what a big baby Star is...

Dante, Matt, andee and Dylan learn about reinforcing corners (correction: Matt tells me they were learning about hog-tying the ground wire, which keeps Star from digging out)...

Mike works on the gate...

andee and Dylan twist the metal ties...

The crew lays straw for dry flooring...

...and she's FREE!

Playing with Syba of Queen Street...

...and with Cleveland of Mallard Ave.

Sorry for the delay on the video... as soon as we locate Jennifer's Flip, we'll get it online! That's the trouble with moving, even just across the street... things go missing for a while.

Most of all.... thanks to the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, whose work decreases the physical and emotional pain of hundreds of innocent dogs. Renee did a great job leading the build, and everyone who came out was cheery and hard-working. Cleveland-Holloway and Star thank you!

(Do) Fence Me In - UPDATED

2010-01-16T19:55:00.011-05:00

Meet Star. Next Saturday - January 23rd (update: at 10am) - is going to be a big day for her.

Star lives on Oakwood Ave., and is one of the sweetest dogs you'll ever hope to meet. Unfortunately, the chain link on her small pen is pretty messed up, so in order to keep her from escaping, her owners have had her on a chain, which often gets tangled up, restricting her movement, or winds up wrapped painfully around her legs.

Just this month, Durham has put an ordinance into effect that bans dog owners from chaining their dogs unless they are outside with them. This means fewer isolated, depressed, and dangerous chained dogs. But the law can be tough for people who have dogs but not enough money to build them a proper fence to run around in.

Fortunately, there is an incredible group that acts in response to this issue: Coalition to Unchain Dogs. Their goals:

Lobbying for legislation which disallows or severely restricts tethering of dogs.
Building free fences for people who chain their dogs.
Educating the community about the detrimental effects of chaining on both the dog and the community.
Helping groups around the country to start free-fencing programs and to lobby for legislation to help chained dogs.

The Coalition has already helped one family in our neighborhood unchain their three dogs (if you're on Facebook, check out the photos to see the incredible transition in their behavior when they were finally freed from their chains).

But back to Star.

When the Coalition to Unchain Dogs met Star, they got right to work, and today several volunteers came out to set the posts for her fence, which will be built next Saturday, January 23, at 10am. Mike, Renee, Jessica, and Robin knocked the post-setting right out, with some help from James and Matt.

Come and join us next weekend, Saturday 1/23, at 10am, to participate in the fence-build!

She is going to be one happy dog. Thanks so much to the Coalition to Unchain Dogs for the wonderful work that you do. Please visit their website to see some of the videos of recently unchained dogs... and, if you can, make a donation to support the cause.

Belated Boo!!

2009-11-17T09:18:00.003-05:00

Video from the Halloween Parade!

Thanks for Making Cleveland Hollow'een A Big Spooky Success

2009-11-04T14:40:00.002-05:00

More photos and some video from the parade will be coming soon, and many thank-yous are in order (the Durham bicycle police, to name a big one) but in the meantime, a humongous THANK YOU goes out to the planning committee, who got the ball rolling and put in a ton of work to make 2009 a great Halloween here in Cleveland-Holloway.

Thank you, everyone! It was a completely awesome Halloween.

Look for more photos and video soon!

Good Walls make for Good.... Leg Muscles?

2009-10-29T18:52:00.004-04:00

Elaine and Doug, who recently bought 407 Ottawa Ave., have something interesting going on in their backyard. It involves lots of stomping, and a good, healthy amount of messiness.

Cob walls, (cob is an English term for mud building, originated in Britain in the fourteenth century), are eco-friendly as well as incredibly durable and safe. Greg, Elaine's brother, probably describes the process best:

Stop by and meet our new neighbors, and check out an awesome green building project right here in our own neighborhood. Welcome, Elaine and Doug!

Trick or Treat! It's Cleveland-Hollow'een!

2009-10-28T16:34:00.007-04:00

The countdown to Halloween has begun! Here are some details you should know for Saturday events.

Hand out candy! - If you plan to hand out candy, please come by the purple house on Oakwood on Saturday to pick up a balloon and some string. We are asking that people tie balloons to their porches or fence so that the kids know which houses are handing out candy. A group of us will also be going around door to door, but if you're on the listserv (and I know who you are...) we are going to skip your house so that we can move more quickly through the hood.

Get dressed! - The Halloween costume parade will start at the corner of Oakwood and Carlton at 5:30pm. Come march down Oakwood or provide cheers for the brave souls all decked out in their Halloween finest. Old timers recount tales of the costume parade of yore and the planning group thought it would be fun to revive the tradition this year. We are also seeking musicians (talent optional) to lead the parade. If you have an instrument - voice included - come on and use it!

Trick or Treat! - from 6:00-8:00 pm children should be swarming the streets begging candy of you. There may be eight kids, there may be eighty kids. Keep an eye on the streets and make Halloween safe and fun for everybody!

Movies! - At 8:00pm we will show "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" on the front of the purple house. We have a projector and sound all ready. We even have scary mugs for drinking cider and hot cocoa. Depending on interest, we will then play The Corpse Bride for neighbors who want to sit on the lawn and watch a longer movie.

That's it! Spread the word! If you know of children who still need costumes, send them to the purple house. Through the generosity of neighbors and co-workers we still have a ton of costumes and costume making supplies.

Communities that play together ....

2009-07-21T13:51:00.016-04:00

Last week, two of our own decided to turn a great idea into action.

Dylan (Ottawa) and Matt (Mallard) made a morning run to Home Depot, spent the day engaged in a little sweat equity, and by late afternoon an all-ages game of hoops was underway at the intersection of Oakwood and Mallard.

The next evening, the hoop served as entertainment for many at a neighborhood birthday party. The new backboard (painted NCCU colors) and net replace the rotting and unusable one that was there before.

The set-up has quickly become a favorite with neighborhood children, and with those past the 5-0 mark as well (Happy Birthday, James!).

Photos by Jessie Gladin-Kramer

New Neighbors on Ottawa!

2009-06-23T12:58:00.011-04:00

A big Cleveland-Holloway WELCOME to andee and Dylan! They recently purchased 405 Ottawa and are in the process of moving in over the next couple of weeks.

Dylan and I have been trying to buy an historic renovated home (or one needing renovation) for the past couple months-- focusing on East Durham and Cleveland-Holloway. We have been blown away by the depth and amazing diversity of Durham history, which pretty much started the night we watched a documentary about Black Wall-Street, the Dukes, Bull City Durham, and the tobacco industry. We are avid supporters and have tried to get involved with local initiatives to preserve and revive the spirit of neighborhoods such as Cleveland-Holloway and East Durham.

andee currently works at a clinic as a health care assistant. She is also a certified birth doula and trained childbirth educator. She is becoming a midwife. She also works with herbs.

Dylan is a program manager. He oversees certain statewide and local initiatives that work towards the actualization of "Environmental Policies" and reform on a local, state and federal level. These policy changes affect cultural attitudes and, on a broader scale, community health care reform surrounding the issue of underage drinking and its effects on brain development, particularly of the frontal lobe.

Photos by Jessie Gladin-Kramer

Home Tour Rocked!

2009-06-19T15:15:00.031-04:00

It also kinda baked, but at least it wasn't raining. Instead, the sun was shining last Saturday morning as neighbors finished last minute yard work, house cleaning, plant arranging, and Matt Dukek of 502 Mallard Ave. -- the tour's starting point -- hammered the "Cleveland-Holloway" sign into the ground at the intersection of Oakwood, Mallard, and Queen.

The Second Annual Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood Tour of Homes began auspiciously with a preview article by Jim Wise in the N&O's Durham News, which focused on the Holloway St. Historic District expansion and restoration taxes, and gave our own Ken Gasch an opportunity to use the word "pantyhose" in the printed media.

The crowds began arriving on Mallard Ave. promptly at 12:59pm, and remained pretty steady throughout the day, with a couple hundred folks having visited with us by the time the temperature was just barely starting to come down. Friends of C-H Freddie and Heather featured a nice post on Freddie's Bull City Bungalow blog, including a Flickr link to their photos of the day.

The fun then moved to the after-party, where neighbors, visitors, and friends hung out, and the sun set on a very weary, beery, and well-contented Cleveland-Holloway. Thanks for hosting, Leslie and Maria - your house is amazing!

The full contents of the Home Tour Booklet , with images and descriptions of all 17 properties included in the tour, are available online. Thank you so much to everyone who took out an ad, participated in the tour, donated time and/or resources, and came out to see the houses and meet our neighbors. A big ol' thanks to Triangle Brewing Company for their generous donation for the after party!

Here are a few images from the after-party-to-beat-all-after parties (until next year!).

REMINDER: Neighborhood Meeting Tonight

2009-06-16T14:42:00.004-04:00

Hi neighbors! Don't forget to come out to the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood meeting TONIGHT at the main public library, 7pm.

Main discussion:
1. What do we want our ClevelandHollowayNeighborhood listserve to be used for and who do we want on it?
2. How can we keep our neighborhood affordable to own and rent?
3. How can we best share responsibility for maintaining the neighborhood organization?

Updates:
Trosa Dorm on Elizabeth Street
Historic District expansion
Neighborhood checking account

Ideas from your neighbors...
Dog Park on Roxboro lot the city owns (Ken Gasch, Jennifer Deer)
Permanent Sign for the neighborhood (Frank Pokrass)
Neighborhood cleanup and more public trash cans (Frank Pokrass)
Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (Matt Dudek)
Introductions of city or elected officials (Frank Pokrass)

If you have time, please take a few moments to remind your internet-less neighbors to come along - everyone has received notice about the meeting (thank you to folks who went door to door!), but as we know, it's easy to forget.

Neighborhood Home Tour this Saturday, June 13

2009-06-10T15:17:00.018-04:00

Saturday, June 13. 1-4pm

Get ready for a little Cleveland-Holloway hospitality! Visit historic homes in various stages of renovation, modern condos convenient to downtown, beautiful gardens, converted warehouse space, and join us for the neighborhood after-party!

Tour Starting Point: 502 Mallard Ave. a 1911 Folk Victorian Tri-Gable. Home of Jessie Gladin-Kramer, Matt Dudek, and Cleveland the dog.

View Larger Map

Neighborhood Meeting set for June 16

2009-05-19T11:34:00.002-04:00

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 16th at 7:00pm at the main library.

If there are specific things you would like to discuss at the meeting, please email them to Natalie by June 8th (ish) so we can include them on the flyer.

Matt Dudek has volunteered to flyer the weekend of June 13th. If you'd like to help him out by passing out information on your street, email him at matt dudek gmail com.

So far the topics that have been brought up for consideration at the meeting are:

What do we want our ClevelandHollowayNeighborhood listserve to be used for and who do we want on it?
How can we keep our neighborhood affordable to own and rent?
How can we best share responsibility for maintaining the neighborhood organization?

See everybody there!

St. Philips Hosts Community Event - May 30

2009-05-14T10:41:00.004-04:00

Our Neighbors over at St. Philips are hosting a resource fair and picnic - check out the flier for details!

If you know any of your neighbors without internet access who might benefit from the event or just enjoy attending, please let them know the details.

Mallard Ave has C-U-T-E in the house!

2009-05-13T13:21:00.009-04:00

or in the woodpile, anyway.

Okay, so cat overpopulation and homelessness is no chuckling matter--certainly not in C-H.
Nor is it a joke when a local un-neutered feline gets up on your porch and sprays the inside of your umbrella!

But--these little guys are freakin' adorable.
No two ways about it.
Tyler has been feeding and caring for the litter and mom, and has potential homes for three of the six kittens so far. Neighbors have stepped up and volunteered to pay to have mom and dad fixed. Two down, a countless number to go.

-posted by Jennifer

405 Ottawa - Open House TOMORROW!

2009-05-02T12:05:00.003-04:00

Helena Cragg has been working like mad to finish 405 Ottawa, and everyone is encouraged to attend the open house tomorrow (May 3) from 2-4pm. You can check out the website here.

The skinny: 3 bed, 1 bath, 1,061 square feet.

"Lovingly restored historic gem. All original wood siding, windows and detailing painstakingly revived. Beautifully restored heart pine floors. Original coal place. Sweet front porch. Spacious rear deck for entertaining. New Cook’s kitchen. Lovely new all ceramic tile bath. Root cellar. Two blocks from Downtown."

Come on by and see the work!

Neighbors Gather to Clean Up Primitive Street Lot

2009-04-29T14:49:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday a group of neighbors gathered to remove years of trash dumped at a vacant lot on Primitive St. Mike from the city's storm water services was there, and lent a hand getting the bags of trash up the steep incline of the ravine and into the city-provided dumpster. He also came bearing much-appreciated water, juice and donuts.

Another Mike - City Councilman Woodard - stopped by to check out the progress and wish us well.

Of course we had picked the hottest day of the year to date for our work, but at least it wasn't raining! It was super muddy and gross, however, and we were all pretty glad to climb back out of what is now being called the "swamp dump," after a long morning of work, and look down at the fruits of our labor: a far-from-pristine, but much better looking piece of land in Cleveland-Holloway.

If you are wondering what kind of junk was down there, it was primarily plastic bottles and containers, drink cans, and glass bottles.There were also quite a few tires and several appliances: vacuum cleaner, microwaves, television, etc. A couple of doll heads were also salvaged. About 3/4 of a large dumpster's worth of garbage.

Neighbor Matt Dudek (Mallard Ave), who was primarily responsible for organizing the clean-up, would like to give a big thank-you to Laura Webb Smith of Stormwater Services for coordinating the details on the city's end and getting us the dumpster. The city also provided work gloves and heavy-duty trash bags.

If anyone has any pictures of the crowd working, send 'em in!

March Meeting/ Primitive Clean-up/ Rentals

2009-03-24T11:05:00.011-04:00

Belated Neighborhood Meeting Overview

It's been a while since our last neighborhood meeting, which took place at the library and was organized by Matt Dudek as part of a project for his program in urban planning at UNC.

As Frank Pokrass of the Blooming Garden Inn said in an email: "This is an important meeting, especially in consideration that it's been less than two years since our very first meeting which started it all at the library."

The meeting focused on brainstorming to create a list of neighborhood issues we are most interested in seeing the city address, but it began with an update from Wendy Clark of Lewis & Clark Community Developers, LLC about progress at the John O'Daniel Business Center. Renovations began at 801 Gilbert St. in September and they expect to open in mid-April. The center aims "to see strong neighborhood commercial activity restored, in the form of businesses owned and operated by those within the community." Resources will be available to assist those starting up small businesses, office space rental rates are reasonable, and about half of the 22 offices are still available.

It was decided that neighborhood meetings would be held every other month, with informal gatherings scheduled on the off-months.

A few folks slipped out before the group photo, but here's most of us!

This Saturday: Primitive Street Creek Clean-Up

This is a reminder that we will be cleaning up a portion of Ellerbee Creek on Primitive Street between Gurley and Oakwood THIS SATURDAY the 25th! The city will be providing gloves, bags, and other garbage picking accessories. The neighborhood will be providing hot dogs, veggie-dogs, and soda! If you can bring a side to share that'd be great!

WHAT: Neighborhood Creek Clean-up & B.B.Q.!
WHERE: Primitive Street, between Gurley and Oakwood
WHEN: This Saturday the 25th, 10AM until ?
WHY:
(p.s. Good news - the city went ahead and gave us a head-start, pulling some of the larger items out with the help of some neighbors.)

Also, at the very least any garbage smells will be balanced out by the sweet smell of wisteria growing rampant right now!

Rental Available - 613 Oakwood Ave.

One of Bill Graham's units on Oakwood near Mallard just became vacant. From Bill: "613 Oakwood ave, 630 sq ft. Kitchen with new appliance. One bedroom one bath. Rent is $425.00, deposit is $300.00. We pay water."

If anyone else knows of vacancies and wants to post them, email Clevelandholloway@gmail.com.

Neighborhood Meeting This Saturday, 3/21/09, from 4:30-6pm

2009-03-17T21:18:00.006-04:00

Hey neighbors!

We're going to have our first neighborhood meeting of the year this SATURDAY, March 21st at 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm in the Main Auditorium of the Durham Public Library.

There will be pizza, soda, and assorted other refreshments.

On the agenda will be:

1. Setting the schedule for new meetings

2. Create a Historic Home Tour Committee for this June's home tour
3. Discuss updates to our neighborhood plan, and discuss priority issues for 2009

If you'd like to help Matt flyer our neighbors without email, contact him at matt.dudek@gmail.com by this Friday.

Looking forward to the start of this year's neighborhood meetings!

Keeping Durham Disreputable: Rich James on Mallard Ave.

2009-02-27T17:40:00.002-05:00

Awhile ago I saw a great, great sticker that somebody had made up and posted around downtown, and it said, very simply: “Keep Durham Disreputable.”

photo by Jessie

Meet Rich. He is among the Cleveland-Holloway elite who can claim Durham as home turf--he moved here at the age of 4. He has good memories of the smell of toasted tobacco filling downtown. "I haven't smelled good tobacco since the early '90s", he says. After the tobacco industry dried up, Durham seemed to him like a ghost town.

Rich had a job at one point delivering pizzas, and says he wasn't too happy if his job brought him into Cleveland-Holloway, but he made the neighborhood home in the spring of 2008--renting a house on Mallard Ave. from a friend, and he says he has seen the area change so much just in the past 6 months.

Rich's home is not only a place to live, but a space for his band, Tooth, to practice. They don't like it in the winter, he says, because the downstairs still has no heat. You can look down and see dirt beneath the missing floorboards. Rich plays guitar in the well-loved Durham band that he describes as "metal for smarter people”. And the best part of being in a band is the travel: "There’s something about living on peanut-butter sandwiches and trail-mix, and sleeping on hard surfaces, and getting bugs all over you, that I really like."

Click to hear Rich on travel:

Rich says he'll live in Cleveland-Holloway as long as he can. "It is hands down the most beautiful room I’ve ever lived in. It’s spacious…it has hardwood floors…they took the ceiling and one of the walls out, so it’s a big trapezoidal shape now …there’s a huge hand-hewn oak header that goes across the room, and columns… It’s just a beautiful room. And I should keep it cleaner!"

Rich says he loves the neighborhood, his neighbors, and being within walking distance of downtown. What he doesn't want to see is the longtime renters being priced out of the neighborhood. A good balance is struck right now, he says, with people coming in and fixing things up in a way that is beneficial to the neighborhood. "But I’m scared that it will turn into the worse case scenario as far as gentrification goes."

Rich is also a painter, trained at Savannah College of Art and Design. He says he's made it harder on himself to sell his work, calling his style "disturbing surrealism," but recently he’s had a new idea for more marketable work, a series of landscapes: "There's something about North Carolina … and the trees in the winter at dusk, where you get this beautiful dark blue, semi-pink sky and the dead pine trees sticking up in silhouette. I really, really, really like that."

(Profile by Jessie and Jennifer)

Home Tour Scheduled for June 13

2009-02-27T00:02:00.004-05:00

Mark your calendars for the second annual Cleveland-Holloway Home Tour, scheduled for Saturday, June 13. For those of you who were able to attend last May's tour, expect more completed work, more homes being renovated, live music, food, and - as Ken Gasch says - "flowers, flowers, and more flowers."

Keep checking back for details! Email the list-serv if you would like your home to be included.

...Aaaand We're Back!

2009-02-24T11:40:00.004-05:00

Hi folks! Sorry for the, er, brief disappearance. The wonderful people who got this blog on its feet, and who contributed the great previous entries, have been just a little busy: Eleni with an amazing cross-country tour with her band, Beloved Binge, and Natalie, well... she's had other people to think about - our newest Cleveland-Holloway resident, Madeline, born February 2.

But that DOESN'T mean, for those of you reading this blog from outside the neighborhood, that we've all packed up and moved on, or mysteriously disappeared! In fact, there's never a dull moment in Cleveland-Holloway, with several old houses finally getting some love from new owners, spontaneous cookouts and gatherings throughout the winter, and new downtown hangouts in easy walking distance. Check out the new links to some of our neighbors' blogs, and watch for design changes and new neighbor profiles, brought to you by Jennifer and myself. Among the new updates: photography and audio clips!

We're planning on another Cleveland-Holloway Home Tour sometime in May or June, so if anyone has a home they'd like to be included, send out an email to the listserv. Also let us know of any dates that WON'T work. So far, there's been talk of live music, a certain airstream trailor selling cupcakes, and other merriment.

So thanks for sticking around, friends and neighbors! We'll be back soon with a brand new profile.

Cleveland Holloway Cleanup

2008-03-08T22:19:00.001-05:00

Click the link below to see the pictures of Cleveland-Holloway residents, Trosa volunteers, and others you might recognize help us in our first neighborhood cleanup effort!

Cleveland Holloway Cleanup

Historic Homes for Sale in Cleveland-Holloway

2008-02-09T18:38:00.002-05:00

A unique look at historic homes available for sale in the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood:

http://chhomes.blogspot.com/

Send feedback to: chhomes@gmail.com.

Thanks to CH resident Dante for creating this site!

Holiday Season in Cleveland-Holloway

2007-12-14T14:00:00.002-05:00

Holidays in Cleveland-Holloway

I walked around the neighborhood and took some pictures of holiday decorations in Cleveland-Holloway. Click this link to see the pictures. If you have trouble viewing, let me know.

Carlton Street: New neighbors!

2007-12-14T11:48:00.002-05:00

Carlton is one of my favorite streets in Cleveland-Holloway. But it just got better:

Please welcome Dante and Frances! They moved to Durham from Oakland. They are awesome. Dante is also a drummer and Fran is a writer and spoken-word artist.

Check out Dante's blog here:
http://durhamdream.blogspot.com/

***
Also, as many of you know, Ken Gasch bought a house on Carlton street - a cute folk Victorian number.

He has been diligently working in our neighborhood to help encourage positive investment of some of our historic homes. From Ken:

the house is at 604 carlton. erin is the director of alumni relations at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. kids are winston and tate. erin and i moved here in summer of 01 so she could attend biz school at duke. we lived in colorado for 4 years and were married there in june 2000. every day is a honey moon. we live in colonial village neighborhood (built during wwII, commissioned by corps of engineers, to house GI's returning from war). we bought a little 3 br bungalow. we fixed it up and still live there. erin asked me to sadie hawkins (sp? girls ask boys dance) in 9th grade. we share the same birthday and were always friends. we kept in touch after high shcool. she went to duke and got degree in history with emphasis on civil war. and in may of 96, she came to a party in Lubbock Tx where a class mate was graduating. we started dating. i graduated in dec of 06 with degree in mechanical engineering. i have attached a few photos.

More about Ken:

Ken Gasch, REALTOR/Broker, has a strong track record of community involvement and neighborhood activism. He is the current President of Durham's InterNeighborhood Council, a founding board member of the Colonial Village Neighborhood Association and treasurer of Durham's Partners Against Crime - Police District 2. In his first year as a member of the Durham Regional Association of REALTORS®, Ken was awarded the Citizenship Award in appreciation and recognition of outstanding public service above and beyond the call of duty. Before embarking on a real estate career, Ken owned and operated HLD Productions, which created, designed, manufactured and marketed contemporary mechanical art to more than 100 American Craft galleries nationwide. Ken graduated Cum Laude from Texas Tech University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He lives in Durham with his beautiful wife, two wonderful children and one crazy dog.

About Ken Gasch and HLD

As a boy growing up in Dallas, I made machines that took lots of different forms. Most had wheels and were powered by pushing them over the crest of a hill. My little brother had the job of test pilot. By the time we reached high school, our mom’s ’79 puke green Mercury knew how to drive itself to the emergency room.

Due to my love of tinkering and building things, it was only natural that I would go to college to become a mechanical engineer. In 1996, after six years of diligent study, I graduated from Texas Tech. After a few years of designing machines for other people, I decided in 1999 I’d like to go back to making things that were all my own.

As you can tell from my illustrations, I have not had any formal art instruction. My work does not slice, dice or perform any other household chore. My two main objectives are to tickle your funny bone and to provide you with a sturdy heirloom that will last for generations.

My father, a retired U.S. Marine Corps gunnery sergeant, taught me the value of hard work and that any task could be accomplished with the right amount of gumption. My mother, a social butterfly, gave me her smile, brown eyes and gift of gab.

HLD Productions is named after my beautiful wife, Erin. I call her "Dar" which is short for "darling," hence HLD (Hot Li’l Dar).

All my work is entirely handmade in my North Carolina.

Elliott Street Profile: Meet our Neighbors

2007-07-14T15:07:00.002-04:00

Shaunda and her family

Shaunda lives on Elliott Street with her mother, sister, and brother. As evident by the pictures, she also shares her home with her dog Chopper and a guinea pig (I must remember to ask Shaunda her/his name).

Shaunda attends Durham School of the Arts.

She is quite an artist, and created a picture for the Cleveland-Holloway Neighborhood as seen here.

Also pictured is Shaunda's mom, Stacey, at a Monday night potluck.

Queen Street Profiles: Meet our Neighbors

2007-06-26T22:16:00.003-04:00

Arthur and his family
Arthur, Sr., with his son Lorenzo, in front of several family photos including Lorenzo's son, Damian, to the left of Arthur Sr.
Arthur and his sons Lorenzo and Gerald have lived in this house for over 27 years. Arthur's other son, Arthur Jr., has lived on the same street for just as long.

Arthur, Sr. can be seen working on his house every day, either on the roof or around the yard. When not working, he enjoys driving around the neighborhood to see what is going on, or watching pro-wrestling.

He just turned 80 years old in June 2007. He grew up on a cotton and tobacco farm which he visited frequently after moving to Durham in 1950. He recalls going to the Booker T. theater to see Westerns and other movies. Arthur spent most of his working years as a cement worker. Arthur reports that he learned a lot from his mother, who just passed away at 101 years old. She taught him to be accepting of others, even if he did not like them: "Feed them with a long-handled spoon," she used to tell him.

He likes the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood because it is close to everything. But, he says, the first thing he would like to see is a grocery store in the neighborhood so "older folks can walk to it. People who can't walk well depend on a store nearby." He and Lorenzo would also like to have a nice park to sit in and see more people remodeling the old houses.

Lorenzo presents a portrait of his family around the time they all moved to Queen Street. Clockwise from the middle are Connie (Arthur's late wife of 50+ years,) Arthur, Jr., Lorenzo, Gerald, and Arthur Jr.'s son, Michael. When asked why he (Arthur Sr.) was not in the picture, he replied, "I was probably working."

*~*~*

Sue and her Family
A view from our porch. Sue has lived in the neighborhood for over thirty years. She and her son live in the house on the left, built in the early 1920's. Here it is in the "snow" we had in 2007. The house to the right of Sue's has been owner occupied since the 40's.

There are many close families in the neighborhood that extend back generations. Forty years ago, one of Sue's daughters, Maggie, went to school with Leon, the son of the family next door (beige house). Maggie and Leon ended up getting married, and have now been married for over 30 years.

Sue grew up on a tobacco farm in Granville county, but her family was forced to leave when the soldiers came through during the formation of Camp Butner. At eight or nine years old, she and her family moved to Durham, where she has been ever since. Sue is the youngest of eight children, one of whom owns the home on the far right in this picture (profile on those residents forthcoming).

Sue was married over 50 years to her (late) husband, Emeil, whom she met on the other end of Queen Street, the 200 block. Emeil was remembered fondly by neighbors who say he used to create steel decorations for them. Emeil worked for over 16 years at the Budd Piper Company as a draftsman. Sue worked for the Goldkist Poultry plant for 16 years. Before retiring, she worked for 10 years as a Nurse's Aide at the Durham Assisted Living (Rest Home). She still returns to visit the residents and staff.

Sue likes the convenience of this neighborhood, but would love to see a grocery store in walking distance. She enjoys old country music, and Hank Williams Senior is her favorite.

*~*~*

Natalie & Harris

Natalie and Harris pictured here at the weekly Queen Street "Monday Night Potluck."

Natalie bought her house July 15, 2002. After moving up to NC from Atlanta she lived in Carrboro for a year. Then she learned about Durham Central Park. She drove around some of the neighborhoods and realized that she had to live here. It was tough finding an agent who would show her houses in East Durham and even tougher convincing the people afterwards that she knew what she was doing, wanted to be here, and really could take care of herself.

But she was in on a little secret. She thinks her neighbors and neighborhood rocks! "Every day I get to hear the delightfully cheerful whistling of my neighbor Mr. Arthur. I can sit on porches talking to people for as long as any of us fell sociable. I have a lovely little home with most of the original architectural details intact. I can putter in my garden, planting haphazardly, and painting anti-war signs. I am within walking distance of Ringside, Blue Coffee Cafe, Rue Cler, Piedmont, the Durham Bulls, Central Park, The Scrap Exchange, Bull McCabes, Brightleaf, and a bike ride away from 9th st."

"Now I get to share all of this and the little house at the bottom of the hill with my partner Harris. We enjoy our porch, our grill, and having our neighbors and friends over for dinner every Monday night."

"I want a fresh market a little closer to the house so that I can get fresh local foods more often than Saturday. I'd also love to see mixed use development that fits in with the scale and historic qualities of the neighborhood that serves the needs of our current residents."

For more on Natalie and Harris, check out their blog.

When we moved to Queen Street, it was her sign (pictured here) that caught my attention and Natalie who told us about the houses available in the area.

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Willie Williams
Profile by Natalie (see above). Bill, as he's known around here, lived at 504 N. Queen St with his sister Elouis for 15 years. One summer, Bill and Natalie jokingly instigated the Queen Street Porch Sitting Society because most days after he was finished cutting grass or assisting shut-in you could find Bill sitting on the porch asking neighborhood kids what books they were reading, drilling them on multiplication tables, or offering a walker a little bit of shade and company.
Bill grew up in Nash County North Carolina and traveled the world as a Navy Corpsman for over a decade. He lived in Washington, DC after he left the Navy but decided he needed a change and moved to Durham to be closer to his older sister.

Bill is a talker and The Cleveland Holloway Neighborhood offers him plenty of people to discuss politics, his president, and basketball with. He knows everybody in the neighborhood and genuinely cares about how everyone is doing.

In 2005, tired of dealing with an unresponsive landlord, Ms. Elouis moved to another house about two miles away. Bill now splits his time between the IFC in Chapel Hill and his sister's new house but is a frequent and much loved guest on all the porches in the neighborhood.

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Zach, Alex, Sylvia, and Athena

More to come soon. For now, here is Zach on the drums. He lives here with his Sister and her new baby, Sylvia.

As an artist, Zach is often seen painting or sketching various elaborate scenes.

Their dog, Athena, is best friends with Syba (pictured below). They play chase and tug-of-war in Athena's yard almost daily.

Also pictured here is Alex and her daughter, Sylvia, and Alex and Zach with their dad out on their front porch.

Zach is a great neighbor, always offering to help out. Here he's working with Rob (profiled below) to restore Rob and Eleni's old front door.

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Eleni, Rob, Syba & Greco
Rob and Eleni (mostly Rob) have been working on restoring their old 1928 Craftsman home. A duplex when they bought it in 2005, they have converted it back to a single-family home and continue to make repairs and improvements. Rob just installed a new porch that will better hold their guests for Monday night potlucks.

Pictured below, Rob and his bike (drum in tow) on the way to marching band practice (one of the things neighbors love best about this neighborhood is its close proximity to everything -- biking or walking). Rob plays the snare in the "Scene of the Crime Rovers," a radical marching Durham band experience. They practice at the Scrap Exchange and by the Farmer's market. Check them out here: http://www.myspace.com/sceneofthecrimerovers.

Eleni is currently busy at work making a documentary about the role of animals in society, called "Seeing Through the Fence." She is active in this organization and a drummer for a local band. She also cooks more than she updates her blog, Binge Cafe.

Syba "caught in the act" of locating good garbage (probably scraps left over from the potluck).

Greco, with one eye open to ensure attack capability.

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More neighborhood profiles are on the way!

Send us your suggestions at: clevelandholloway@gmail.com.

Holloway Profiles: Meet our Neighbors

2007-06-26T22:14:00.003-04:00

The Main Library

The Main library is actually on Holloway, Roxboro, and Liberty.

When I first moved to the neighborhood, this was a huge draw, particularly their VHS independent movie collection (donated by the Carolina Theater a few years back). Many of us enjoy walking over to the library to check out movies, books, or spend some time online.

Our neighborhood meetings will take place in this library, in the auditorium.
http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org/locations/main.php

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The Blooming Garden Inn

The Blooming Garden Inn is located on Holloway Street. Beautiful gardens surround this old Victorian home. I am always inspired to garden more after passing their house while walking my dog through the neighborhood. Learn more at: http://www.bbonline.com/nc/bloominggarden/

We have other wonderful neighbors on Holloway. Please send us your profile and pictures to: clevelandholloway@gmail.com.

Dillard Street Profiles: Meet our Neighbors

2007-06-26T21:17:00.001-04:00

Keelee's Casa

Dillard, formerly known as Mansion Row, is a part of the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood. Pictured here is a Victorian home circa 1890 owned by Keelee since 2005. Prior to Keelee, a prominent Durham mayor, Charles Markham, resided here.
She is presently at work restoring the home and has planted a garden and flowers outside. When not at work on her home, she is busy here: http://www.renaissancenc.com/about.html.

Crisis Response Center
Also on Dillard is the restored Crisis Response Center.

News
On Dillard and Liberty you will also find the Durham branch of ABC's Channel 11 news. I met someone recently who touted this as one of the benefits of the neighborhood. I suppose it is handy if you have breaking news such as a hail storm forthcoming or a flood in your front yard, but otherwise, I've (personally) had little interaction with the station.