If you aren’t familiar with A/V Geeks, it’s an outfit run by Skip Elsheimer with the noble and unique mission to rescue and digitize tens of thousands of vintage educational 16mm films. He was extremely courteous in digitizing a special request for Goodnight Raleigh, the midcentury film above.  The excerpts show Balentine’s Cafeteria (now demolished) and other scenes from Cameron Village, including Colonial Foods. It also includes the NC State Brickyard, before it had bricks, circa 1964.

He is currently in the final stretch of a month-long crowdfunding campaign to digitize more films like this one. Every $35 contribution will digitize 10 minutes of film.

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Durham Life Building

Architecturally speaking, Raleigh is known for its modernist buildings, specifically of the mid-century era. What we have far less of is Art Deco, which was popular in the 1920s to 1940s. This style combined a minimalist and sleek design with use of icons and patterns, sometimes from other cultures.

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There was a time when a large percentage of Downtown Raleigh businesses announced their presence with neon or an otherwise illuminated sign. This began to change in the late 1960s, as businesses fled downtown for the suburbs. Later, overzealous sign ordinances restricted the size and outlawed illumination, and the signs began to fade away.

Although Downtown has experienced a surge of growth and life in the past few years, it’s only within the past couple of months that the neon sign appeared poised for a comeback.

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