CLT Blog

Friends, family, and loyal customers gathered Friday night to celebrate the one year anniversary of Charlotte’s Not Just Coffee. Originally located at Area Fifteen near NoDa, Not Just Coffee relocated Uptown when the Seventh Street Market opened in November.

Opening Not Just Coffee was originally a part time endeavor for James Yoder, who continued working his day job at a local hotel until he could run the shop full time when it moved to Seventh Street Station. Not Just Coffee’s original home, Area Fifteen, serves as an incubator for artists, nonprofits, and small business startups, as well as a community center for the neighborhood.

Yoder trained at the Counter Culture Coffee facility located at Area Fifteen. His shop uses the pour over method of preparing coffee and buys their organic, fair trade beans from Counter Culture. This has helped the shop build a loyal fan base: Not Just Coffee is the highest rated coffee shop in Charlotte according to Yelp.

Not Just Coffee hosts a city-wide latte art competition, Queen City TNT, on March 13th at 7:00 PM.

Read our article on the opening of Not Just Coffee.

A gallery of photographs taken this weekend from the 51st floor of The Vue.

Charlotte people, places, and events of 2010.

A few photos taken in Villa Heights, Optimist Park, and First Ward neighborhoods of the December 25th and 26th snow in Charlotte.

A late Autumn sunset illuminates the Charlotte skyline. Seen from Bryant Park.

Shoes dangle from a power line in Uptown Charlotte.

Photos of the 163-suite Hotel Sierra currently under construction Uptown adjacent to Time-Warner Cable Arena. According to Charlotte Center City Partners, “The building will accommodate parking on four floors above a street-level hotel lobby, bar, breakfast area and check-in desk with guest rooms on the sixth through sixteenth floors.”

UNC Charlotte’s Center City building under construction. The building is planned to be part of a larger First Ward development including a park.

Street scenes outside the NRA convention.

Charlotte hosted the 2010 National Rifle Association Annual Meeting (NRAAM) over this past weekend. The NRA reports that up to 70,000 people visited the convention.

On Friday afternoon, crowds slowly began to file out of the arena after Sarah Palin’s speech. There were no guns to be seen; the only hostlers were those for cell phones. Several tour buses were parked along Trade Street, their diesel engines idling. In front of the coaches stood women holding signs reading, “To Charlotte Convention Center.” The buses slowly filled and departed on their three block trek from the arena to the convention center.

Uptown’s streets are the heart of Charlotte’s political voice. Anybody who has anything to say, to celebrate, or to protest, can do so publicly here. I love to photograph the honesty seen on the streets. Rallies for an against everything from taxes, to war, to human rights, to religion – every side of every issue seems to be represented by Sharpie on poster board at some point. Sometimes it is best to let the images speak for themselves without trying to offer commentary.