Prior to COVID-19, hair stylist and salon owner Laura Anderson viewed her industry as recession-proof. These days, with her business temporarily closed, she is finding ways to adjust to life during a shutdown.
Author: Thomas Calder
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Living through COVID-19 at the Battery Park Senior Apartments
For the last two decades, Barbara Gravelle has called the Battery Park Apartments in downtown Asheville her home. Like many right now, she is anxious about the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Road closures to occur during construction on two street bond projects
Press release from the City of Asheville: Short-term pain for long-term gain. Please keep that in mind during road closures coming up for two transportation bond projects. In March, the City of Asheville shared information regarding a general construction schedule for the Kenilworth Road and State Street bond projects. (Find that announcement at this link.) […]
Asheville Archives: How wishful thinking helped spread the 1918 influenza
Throughout November 1918, local health officials and residents continued their efforts to contain the spread of influenza. But as December neared, the city seemed eager to get back to business as usual, despite the risks involved.
Asheville Archives: Exploiting the 1918 influenza
In 1918, as cases of influenza increased, local Asheville businesses sought ways to use the pandemic to increase sales.
Local Airbnbs face cancellations, loss of revenue
There are 764 active homestay permits within the city limits. Xpress spoke with local hosts to see how they are handling the current county mandate, which prohibits leisure travel.
Author Lee Smith discusses publishing during COVID-19
Unlike many of her readers who are currently adhering to “stay home, stay safe” mandates, the characters in Lee Smith’s latest work are unbound — they socialize, carry out illicit love affairs, spy on neighbors, find themselves institutionalized and chain-smoke (with the windows up) inside a silvery-gray fishtailed Cadillac.
Asheville Archives: Two gallons of whiskey and a pandemic
In the midst of the 1918 influenza, one local resident attempted to use the health crisis to aid his legal defense.
Local initiatives illuminate LGBTQ community
Various local efforts are underway to spotlight and preserve the stories and achievements of local LGBTQ community members.
Asheville Archives: The city’s mixed response to the women’s suffrage movement, 1894
“All hail to this new movement known as woman’s suffrage!” wrote one enthusiastic Asheville resident in a letter to the editor, published on Nov. 23, 1894.
Signs of the time: Local images related to COVID-19
In an effort to capture the impact of COVID-19 on our city — both for our readers and for future historians — Xpress is accepting local photographs related to the current health crisis.
The impact of “stay home, stay safe” on Asheville’s hotel industry
According to the Buncombe County mandate, all lodging facilities are required to close except those that provide one of the following services: “work-related accommodations, facilities housing persons experiencing homelessness and any facility being used for isolation and quarantine purposes.”
Rotary Club of Asheville responds to COVID-19
Press release from the Rotary Club of Asheville: The Rotary Club of Asheville makes changes to help those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. For the first time in our memory the Rotary Club of Asheville weekly meetings have been suspended. Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, communities worldwide are looking for additional support […]
Asheville Archives: Helen Morris Lewis fights for women’s suffrage, 1894
“Why should North Carolina be behind in forming woman’s suffrage organizations?” asked local Asheville resident Helen Morris Lewis in a Nov. 15, 1894, address to fellow community members.
Small bites: Outbreak affects food orgs
Ivory Road Café and Kitchen offers a themed, multicoursed Family Meal event every Wednesday. Also, in local food news: a fermenting workshop at Hickory Nut Gap Farm and food-security initiatives and ways to support WNC’s service industry in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asheville Archives: The city hosts the National Child Labor conference, 1916
In a Feb. 3, 1916, editorial, The Asheville Citizen declared: “Public opinion is an irresistible force, and sooner or later it will banish the blight of child labor from American soil.”
Asheville Archives: The East Riverside Urban Renewal project
In early 1967, the threat of increased property taxes initially delayed the East Riverside Urban Renewal project. By year’s end, the prospect of losing $6.3 million in federal funds led city residents to a change of heart.
Uprooted: Urban renewal in Asheville
As in hundreds of other cities throughout the country, urban renewal dramatically changed Asheville’s neighborhoods and streetscapes. Established by the Housing Act of 1949 to clear blighted neighborhoods, the federal initiative displaced millions of predominantly African American individuals and families between the 1950s and 1980s.
Small bites: Asheville Wing War strikes again
The ninth annual Asheville Wing War returns on Sunday, March 8. Also: PennyCup Coffee Co. hosts Coffee Farmer Caravan; Asheville CSA Fair returns; and plenty more in this week’s Small Bites.
Small bites: Mother Ocean Seafood Market set to open
On Tuesday, March 3, Mother Ocean Market will host its grand opening. Also: The Whale: A Craft Beer Collective and 12 Bones team up for a leap year beer dinner; Noble Cider hosts its fifth annual Chili Cookoff, benefiting Girls on the Run of WNC; Root Down Kitchen opens at Salvage Station; and plenty more in this week’s Small Bites.
Asheville Archives: Allen High School’s impact on city residents and beyond
Launched in 1887, the Allen High School operated until 1974. Early accounts state that initial classes were held inside a livery stable. But in 1897, an English woman named Marriage Allen donated $1,000 (roughly $31,000 in today’s dollar) for the construction of a proper school.