State Capitol


Korean War Memorial


War Memorial Auditorium


This shot really makes me miss Summer Lights. I remember many times over the Summer Lights years standing up here and looking at the melee happening down this street.


That's the Hermitage Hotel in the center. It's beautiful, isn't it? It's like the grand old society matron impeccably dressed in a classic Chanel suit standing in a crowd of brassy new money broads draped in Versace.


Andrew Jackson.


Tomb of Sarah and James K Polk


View of the Bicentennial Mall from the Capitol. It was at this point that I suddenly developed a fear of heights. We're not talking mild anxiety, we're talking full on feeling the Earth shift, and an intense need to get down and crawl the rest of the way to flat ground.


Captiol


Statue of Carmack, a staunch Prohibitionist who was assassinated by a tippler. Underneath this statue is a tunnel to the Capitol named after Motlow, a man who was a partner in the Jack Daniel's distillery.


St Mary's of the Seven Sorrows, the oldest church in Nashville. There's also an interesting ghost story tied to this church but that's for you to google. Or take the Nashville Ghost Tour.






I then visited the Tennessee State Museum where they had an exhibit of country music memorabilia owned and exhibited by Marty Stuart. Of course it was Marty Stuart heavy but was definitely worth the visit. The items formerly belonging to Hank Williams were most interesting--letters written to/from Hank (the from usually requested money, the to seemed to be concentrating on Hank's poor behavior), his job ID card, and his report card (he was no good at PE). Oh, and a letter from Patsy Cline to Nudie detailing two dresses she wanted, measurements included. That Patsy was stacked apparently.

Then it was time to meet mom and the hotel. She waved to me from her room as I walked up the street. I was a little shy to ask to see the men's room, so mom was going to take me for an adult beverage in the Oak Bar where we would ask an employee.

Well, adult beverages were ditched in favor of a chocolate malt and a fancy lemonade--crisps on the side. That was a FINE chocolate malt shake, and the Oak Bar is just the classy sort of place you'd go to smoke a nice cigar and drink a fine scotch. Our waitress agreed to take us into the men's room which is just as cool as I thought it would be.

Shoe shine stand


Original floors


If The Matrix had a men's room, this would be it


If you find yourself downtown I do highly recommend you visit the Oak Bar and men's room. They're happy to show you, just ask. And ask them to show you the window where they'd serve women (the Oak Bar used to be MEN ONLY).

I love downtown Nashville. I love this city! The people I'm not so sure about, though.

Labels: downtown, nashville

My mom organized a conference and as a result got us tickets to the Friday Night Opry. Good times! There is some weird family joke that one of these days I'm going to get in a fistfight with Little Jimmy Dickens; sure enough he was one of the hosts that night. It was a ton of fun as it always is but I was a little upset that the dancers don't perform on Fridays, only Saturday night. Still, the house got rocked by Charlie Daniels. He's a badass.

Now, before you go pooh-poohing the Opry, I want you to recognize it for the institution it is. When a performer is asked to join the Opry that performer is obligated to perform a certain number of times per year. And sure, some have seen more successful days, but this contractual agreement means that even the one hittiest of wonders still have an outlet. The crowd loves it--like I said, I was at the Friday Night Opry, not even the biggest night, and the house was PACKED, people were having a GREAT time. In fact, the house is often packed and people always have a great time. While I have little love for country music produced after 1990 I do have mad love for the Opry.

In addition, the Opry is now available on XM.

But let's move on.

Saturday I decided to take a trip downtown to visit the classy Hermitage Hotel where Mom was staying. I needed to bring her a couple of things and, let's be honest, wanted to check out the hotel. It's ridiculously cool and luxurious and I really wanted to see the men's restroom. I'll explain more on that later.

Mom handed me the room key in a small book/envelope; inside the book was a map of the immediate area around the hotel. This helped me plan my downtown visit. I am terrible at geography and the downtown area is a mystery wrapped in an enigma and covered in a gorgeously intricately designed Nudie suit. I started at the Library and walked over to Mom's room where an immaculately dressed doorman opened the door for me. Yes, I said "thank you" and thought about even saying "but you don't have to do that for ME. I'm only visiting."

Here's her room:
Foyer table


Bathroom (not pictured: the large shower and the water closet)


Bed (there were tiny directed reading lights in the ceiling for each side of the bed)


View from Mom's room


My flash doesn't work so this hallway looks ultra eerie. I'd never set foot in this hotel before but several years ago I had a particularly vivid dream about a hotel with nearly identical hallways.


These classy phones had the hotel's insignia on the center of the dial. The insignia was very similar to that of the Hollywood Tower Hotel (Disney fans will love that)


more in next post...

Labels: downtown, nashville, opry