Amanda Buck

For the last couple months, I’ve been designing a book called The Buildings of Greensboro, written by Anne Sledge Bailey, a Hale County local who writes a column every week for the Greensboro Watchman. Years ago she wrote an article about each of the buildings along Greensboro’s Historic Main Street. She complied them together, and I have been working with 2 other designers in town to lay them all out in a book. 

So during my research and while reading Anne’s articles, I’ve come across many old photos and fascinating stories about Greensboro’s history. I’ve seen this famous photo by Walker Evans before, but yesterday I finally took a good, long look at it. He took it from a balcony of The Greensboro Hotel, which is vacant now, and whose balconies no longer exist. I couldn’t get the same angle Evans did, but I wanted to do a quick little comparison from then (1936), and now. Since it’s Memorial Day weekend, the flags are out on Main Street. The large tree in the 2011 version is where the C.A. Johnson & Son Store once stood. That building has since burned down. The old Opera House is directly to the left.

I circled the loft I live in, and I drew an arrow down to where PieLab is. 

I love imagining the stories of the people who once lived and worked along this once bustling street…