Carrboro: The Good, The Bad, and The Worthless.
Friday, August 27th, 2010I have moved 9 times in 7 years, and as of tomorrow, it will be my tenth. Granted, 5 of those times were among different shanty homes and apartments in Elon, the others have been through Chapel Hill, Carrboro and Raleigh. You see, when I graduated with my BA, I moved to Carrboro with my buddy Brandon, but I wasn’t fully embracing what the town had to offer, I spent most of my time partying and hanging out on the UNC side of things. A year later, I moved to Raleigh, spent 10 months there working and meeting great people, and alas, moved back to Chapel Hill and again to Carrboro to be closer to school while I obtained my MA.
Most of my job opportunities/friends reside in Raleigh and I will be packing up the truck and heading out there tomorrow afternoon,.
You see, Carrboro is a beautiful little gem nestled up against Chapel Hill. Close enough to Pittsboro without being too country and within walking distance of any sports bar and skate spot surrounding UNC. The people are, for the most part extremely friendly, there’s plenty to do, and the best part? Bike lanes on every street. I wanted to give my unfiltered opinions about this town that I have called home twice in the past 3 years, and hope to call home again someday.
Here it is: Carrboro: The Good, The Bad, and The Worthless.
GOOD:
The Bikes, Bro: Like I said, Carrboro is a bike friendly town: You can feel comfortable in your bike lane on any main street in the small metropolis. Except for the terrible driving skills of most everyone that lives here (see BAD/WORTHLESS)
Skateboarding here and in Chapel Hill: There are dozens of untouched spots in the area and others that have been blasted out. I maintain that some of the best skate spots in NC are located right here within 5 miles of each other.
Chapel Hill Skatepark: One of these great ‘spots’. The most underrated outdoor park in the area. Something for everyone, best on Autumn nights. I pretty much got 600 times better at skating flatground just playing SKATE there.
Frank and Tony’s Bowls: Both within 15 minutes and the best backyard bowls in the surrounding areas owned by the best dudes.
The Weather: Sometimes I call Verderber in the morning and he calls me back around 2:30 pm when he wakes up. I tell him how amazing the weather is in Carrboro/CH, and he tells me it’s raining in Raleigh. This has happened numerous times, and this is not an analogy based on Verderber’s totally pessimistic attitude and view on life; the weather is seriously always nice here, even if it’s shit 20 miles away.
Cycle 9/Back Alley Bikes: All down to earth dudes who are willing to help you for hours and go out of their way to work on your bike or help you do it yourself, except for the one Choad who works at Cycle 9 who looks like an Army reject or ex-cop/poor man’s handsome guy. This dude sucks. Ask for Steve, he’ll get you right.
IP3s: Amazing pizza and beer served by real Italians with real gold jewelry.
Taco Trucks: EVERYWHERE. I can’t even begin to describe what a genuine Barbacoa burrito does for a man’s soul after 8 beers.
Bowbar: My new favorite bar minus the shitty psuedo-hipster crowd (which I’ll get to). Good drink specials, great atmosphere and a bike ride away from home.
Cat’s Cradle/Local506: Some of the best venues in NC with some all star shows coming through constantly.
24 hour Harris Teeter/CVS: Self explanitory.
Sperm Count: My favorite local band. They bring in a good crowd, and they’re all good dudes.
The Carrboro Farmers Market: The ONLY place you can get real local/farm fresh food. Read below if you’re confused or have been shopping ‘elsewhere’.
THE BAD/WORTHLESS
Weaver Street Market: Whenever I tell someone I live in Carrboro the first thing they ask me is how often I go to Weaver Street Market, or how I feel about it. Well here it is: I try not to use profanity in most of my descriptions, I think It’s a cop out, but you know what? Fuck Weaver Street Market, fuck 70 percent of the people that work there, fuck almost 100 percent of the people that frequent that place and fuck everything that place thinks it stands for.
For those who aren’t familiar, WSM prides themselves on selling fair-trade/organic produce/meat and all sorts of other kumbaya bullshit, as well as being a CO-OP. Since when has a Cooperative had three sister stores?
The truth of the matter is that while some of their produce and meats may be organically grown and harvested, most of their products come from US Foods. They mass produce their pastries, bread, sandwiches and grab and goes off site. Fresh? I don’t think so. Truthfully, I could care less about the food there or where it comes from; I don’t even shop there; what kills me is that people buy into the identity of being a part of something so ‘liberal’, exclusive, new-age. It gives a confused bunch of wanderers; lonely soccer moms, dudes that were picked on in high school, wanna-be foodies, hipsters, raging left-wing drama queens, and numerous other overtly stereotypical types, a fraudulent idea to grasp onto. Because most of these people are weak minded to begin with, and gather together at the same place REPEATEDLY, they begin to think they rule, and that’s just plain annoying. Don’t believe me? Go hang out on their patio for yourself, you may see an example of what my next point is:
HOOLA HOOPING: Yes, Hoola Hooping. Grown-ass adults hoola hooping for sport. This is a constant occurrence on the Queefer Street lawn. Don’t get me wrong, I try to see past crazy activities, hell, I eat and sleep skateboarding for god’s sake, but hoola- hooping? Seriously? My next door neighbor is a “Professional” hoola-hooper and has DVD’s out. DVD’s???! Whatever.
Any bike store not mentioned above: All over-rated, over-priced, run by douchers who want to blow Lance Armstrong.
People’s driving skills: Like I mentioned above, pretty much 85 percent of people in this town have no idea how to drive a car. True story.
and last but not least…
The Carborro Hipster: I have nothing against dorks, nerds, geeks, or whatever your older brother called you when he was giving you a wedgie. I’m most of the above, (I’m writing this blog aren’t I?) I have a problem with these people when they take this identity that they’ve been beaten over the head with since elementary school and escalate it into an obnoxious flamboyance. This is essentially what the Carrboro Hipster is: A life-long, insecure, nerd, taking their love for cartoons, ironic sweaters and their myopia to brand new heights by bothering the shit out of everyone around them. Sometimes I hear groups of these things speaking broken French to each other in the grocery store just to be noticed by others. I’m bilingual, I encourage everyone to learn another language, I encourage everyone to be educated, but I don’t encourage anyone to speak broken French at a grocery store in order for someone else to tell you how smart you are. Sure, these hipsters take on traits of most hipsters world-wide, the fixie, the pbr (granted no more than 2 on one given night), the off-the wall haircuts, the Van’s Authentics and tight denim, the coffee shops, the silly-band collection, and the love for beat-generation authors who’s cliff’s notes they read to be a part of a conversation with their chums. I feel bad for these people because I truly believe they have the capability to be extremely talented and academic but they waist their time trying to out-nerd each other without using the sweet stuff being a nerd has to offer, like your brain.
Post Script Disclaimer: I ride a fixed gear bicycle and love it, I’m not by any means on the right-wing of anything, I drink PBR, I think there’s a strong benefit to organically grown meat and produce and I try to purchase it as often as possible (from Trader Joe’s) The point to all of the babble and ranting was that people in Carrboro live in a very amazing, tightly knit community (as most of my GOOD points indicated), but defining yourself by where you live and not branching out can limit you and your mind.
I love you Carrboro, I hope to see you again.
