The “Adventures of Superman” television program was a favorite of mine when it was released in syndication in the early 1960s. Who could forget that stirring opening narration: “Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! …Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!” Well, it left an indelible impression on me, anyway.

For the show’s first season or two, the landmark Art Deco E.M. Wilson Building (1930) in Los Angeles was used to represent the Daily Planet Building.

The E.M. Wilson Building in Los Angeles — aka The Daily Planet

Young as I was, the image of The Daily Planet on our black and white TV reminded me of the Durham Life Insurance Building in downtown Raleigh. As a kid, I nicknamed a number of downtown landmarks which I imagined a certain kinship with. Thus, the (now gone) Meredith/Mansion Park building on Blount St. became “The Castle,” the former BB&T Bank on the corner of Fayetteville and Davie Streets became “The Little Seagram Building,” and across the street the Art Deco Durham Life Building became the “Superman Building.”

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Near the corner of Wilmington and Hargett Streets lie one of the few retail businesses downtown – Taz’s. The business pictured above is one of three convenience stores owned and operated by Taiseer Taz Zarka. Although Taz’s stores (three of them now) may seem new, he’s been a part of the downtown retail scene for seventeen years. Prior to opening the first convenience store a few blocks down, he had a stake in the convenience store previously in that location.

Taz with a photo of his two children

Taz has a very a contagious optimism in everything he speaks of. Whether it is his wife (who was one of the first 50 employees of SAS), his children, his business, or downtown – he has a lot to share, and a lot of grand ideas. You can’t help but smile as you hear him talk.
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This past week had a lot of really cool stuff going on – we’ll start with Wednesday. Over at the College of Design at NC State, award winning photojournalist David Evans stopped by to give a lecture about his experiences with photography, philanthropy, and documenting life. According to the College of Design’s DESIGNlife News site:

Award-winning photographer David Evans has captured images from around the world while on assignment for clients like National Geographic Society, Discovery Channel, China Foto Press, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

David, a 1984 graduate of NC State’s College of Design, has worked in a variety of executive creative positions on three continents. He has garnered awards for design, creative direction, art direction, motion graphics, branding, and other endeavors. As Creative Director for National Geographic Television (NGT), he played a key role in the global launch of the National Geographic Channel and served as director of the NGT photography operations. David still acts as Executive Producer for the occasional film, but mainly focuses on his career as an independent documentary photographer.

International corporations that include National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler, USA Today, Time/CNN, The Washington Post, Discovery Channel, BBC, and IBM have published David’s images.

The show will be up at the College of Design’s Brooks Hall from November 3 – November 30. For more information about David Evans, visit his web site.

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