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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Not long ago I wrote about the Boylan wye, and described what remains of that former downtown train switchyard and industrial district. Today the most prominent relic there can be easily seen from the Boylan Ave bridge — a rusted cement plant gravel hopper towering over the site. But virtually invisible to most observers today is the weed-choked and debris-strewn sunken area that is the footprint of the former Smith Coal and Oil Co. coal yard.

This is a view of a portion of the Boylan wye from the bridge in 1970. The concrete plant is on the left and the coal yard is just right of center, below the two box cars. The present-day photo at the top shows the tracks the boxcars were parked on in 1970. The remnants of the coal yard are just to the right of these tracks.

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