Let’s go over what David Beasley’s AAA does:

• bail bonds
• checks cashed
• notary public
• atm
• prepaid cellular
• moneygram
• after hours request service

However, one thing (obscured in the photo) that they won’t do: give change. In the window is a sign that says “change not free”.

I went here for breakfast today, so I thought it would be appropriate to post a photo of it I’ve had lying around for a little while. They just recently began to open on Saturdays, so I was able to make it in. It was delicious.

I had a conversation with our server about the bustling nature of downtown recently because of the Earth Day celebrations near the Capitol. I mentioned how when I moved here four years ago, downtown was not a very happening place to be. It was a virtual ghost town on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and night life isolated to a few small corners. She said she has lived here over thirty years and had never seen activity in the area like there is today. She mentioned the familiar story of closing down Fayetteville Street to auto traffic as the nail in the coffin to retail and social activity downtown. It comes as no surprise that a good part of the upswing has been shortly after the resurgence of Fayetteville Street after being reopened to auto traffic. It is very much likened to opening a main artery that was once blocked. Life returns to normal.

This is the home of Clearscapes, located in the Warehouse District. The web site says that

Clearscapes is a multi-disciplinary design firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina that was formed in 1981 when architect, Steven D. Schuster, and sculptor, Thomas H. Sayre, combined their creative talents and energies to design environments for some of North Carolina’s neediest citizens, the severely and profoundly retarded residents of Murdoch Center in Butner, North Carolina. Twenty four years later, the firm has matured to a broad-based, full service design firm comprised of twenty architects, artists, and support personnel with diverse educational, geographic and experiential backgrounds.

In addition to the design studio, the firm maintains a 4,000 square foot shop where material research, mock-up fabrications, and experimentation is done. The firm’s public art is built in the shop as well as components for many of its architectural projects. This facility is unique and extends the firm’s creativity beyond the confines of a traditional architectural firm.

There are several small sculptures and other art pieces around this building that make it one of the most interesting and attractive commercial spaces in all of Raleigh.