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Grove Park Inn: This Date in History

  • Thread starter Thread starter donbosco
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"It was July 9, 1962, when Andy Warhol's exhibit, Campbell's Soup Cans, opened at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. This was Warhol's first solo exhibition of pop art. Campbell Soup Cans comprised 32 separate canvases, each depicting a different soup flavor.... . . He had started on the Campbell’s soup cans. I saw them as I walked into his little house on Lexington Avenue where he was living at that time. As I walked through the foyer, I could see lots of these soup can paintings leaning against the wall . . . I said, “I think they’re terrific, Andy. Would you think about selling them in my gallery?” He said oh, he’d be thrilled, that he had no gallery at that time, had absolutely no commitment then. And I agreed right then and there to show the series . . . 16 x 20 inch pictures of soup cans . . . I remember ringing the gallery with 32 of these paintings, looking at them. Having sold five or six of them, I decided after I was into the exhibition some two weeks, that the series was just incredibly compelling and really intriguing, and really fascinating as a group. And I called Andy up and I said, “I’ll tell you what I think. I think the paintings should stay together as a series, in toto. If I can manage that. I’ve sold five or six but I going to try and get them back." . . . He said they were conceived as a series and that’s really the way he thought of them; as a group . . . So I called the six people and explained exactly what had occurred . . . And everyone said they would give up their painting. They were very generous. And I called Andy up and said, “I’ve got them together, I’d like to keep them.” Andy said, “Fine.” . . . The audience was minuscule – it began as an audience composed mainly of artists. And it filtered up very slowly from that."

Warhol’s 32 Soup Flavors – Smithsonian Libraries and Archives / Unbound

blog.library.si.edu blog.library.si.edu
 
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Bad people can become folk heroes. Why is that? Pirates are terrorists of the sea yet North Carolina literally brags about Blackbeard’s depredations on our coast. We’ve made it a point of tourism. I guess we shouldn’t feel too bad about that…the true being that North Carolinians did in fact mainly welcome pirates because when they off-loaded their plunder in places like Bath and Edenton the locals got bargain prices on luxury goods. That’s essentially why the governor of NC made deals and it took the governor of Virginia to send a British naval expedition down to bring him back the head of Edward Teach. So I reckon sometimes one man’s outlaw is another man’s price slashing retailer.

In the early 1930s, i.e., the ‘Public Enemy Era’ several dramatic law-breakers were transformed into Robin Hoods by the press and in the peoples’ eyes. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde were the most prominent. Just prior to that time (the 1920s) North Carolina had its own twentieth century anti-hero in Otto Wood. There’s a ballad of Otto Wood ( Doc Watson sings it here: )


and folks read his autobiography (shown above).

It is an interesting phenomenon — how basically moral folk can become fascinated, even enamored, with obvious life-long criminals that would just as soon ‘stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone’ as look at them. At least Otto Wood eventually got what he deserved. We can all hope that justice is still a force in our times too.

#OTD (July 10) in 1930 Otto Wood (of Wilkes-By-God County) made his final escape from Central Prison. As “The Mountain Boy” this criminal captured the imagination of North Carolinians and the nation with his audacity and daring deeds through the ‘20s. In 1923 he wrote an autobiography “Life History of Otto Wood, Inmate, State Prison” that actually convinced many that he had reformed. Six months after his last escape (of 6) he died in a #Salisbury shootout with police, 12/31/30.Serial Prison Escapee Meets His Demise
 
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donbosco said:
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Bad people can become folk heroes. Why is that? Pirates are terrorists of the sea yet North Carolina literally brags about Blackbeard’s depredations on our coast. We’ve made it a point of tourism. I guess we shouldn’t feel too bad about that…the true being that North Carolinians did in fact mainly welcome pirates because when they off-loaded their plunder in places like Bath and Edenton the locals got bargain prices on luxury goods. That’s essentially why the governor of NC made deals and it took the governor of Virginia to send a British naval expedition down to bring him back the head of Edward Teach. So I reckon sometimes one man’s outlaw is another man’s price slashing retailer.

In the early 1930s, i.e., the ‘Public Enemy Era’ several dramatic law-breakers were transformed into Robin Hoods by the press and in the peoples’ eyes. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde were the most prominent. Just prior to that time (the 1920s) North Carolina had its own twentieth century anti-hero in Otto Wood. There’s a ballad of Otto Wood ( Doc Watson sings it here: )


and folks read his autobiography (shown above).

It is an interesting phenomenon — how basically moral folk can become fascinated, even enamored, with obvious life-long criminals that would just as soon ‘stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone’ as look at them. At least Otto Wood eventually got what he deserved. We can all hope that justice is still a force in our times too.

#OTD (July 10) in 1930 Otto Wood (of Wilkes-By-God County) made his final escape from Central Prison. As “The Mountain Boy” this criminal captured the imagination of North Carolinians and the nation with his audacity and daring deeds through the ‘20s. In 1923 he wrote an autobiography “Life History of Otto Wood, Inmate, State Prison” that actually convinced many that he had reformed. Six months after his last escape (of 6) he died in a #Salisbury shootout with police, 12/31/30.Serial Prison Escapee Meets His Demise
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Absolutely fascinating (and exhausting) torrent of comments to the blog entry on Otto Wood from North Carolina Miscellany. Family just pouring in (with not a little in-fighting thrown in to boot).


Otto Wood is buried in West Virginia beside his sister: Otto Harrison Wood (1893-1930) – Find a Grave...
 
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The prodigious 19th century Tar Heel novelist Frances Tiernan [46 published works] (https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/tiernan-frances) coined the moniker ‘Land of the Sky’ for Asheville in 1876. That was 37 years before the Grove Park Inn was established and 24 before the completion of the opulent Biltmore Estate.



Seldom (never?) heard, Paris of The South’ is another of Asheville’s sobriquets - still, I think my favorite is the more modern, #AsheVegas. When I drive down Kimberley Avenue (an important local cut-through that I enjoy) and look out across the golf course and up on Sunset Mountain and I see The Grove Park I think Gilded Age excess. But I’m off a bit with my historical periodization there since only the Biltmore actually belongs to that era (usually dated as finished in 1900).



The Grove Park Inn belongs to the lesser known ‘Lochner Era’ (1897-1937) when The Supreme Court actively promoted unchecked Free Market Capitalism by repeatedly striking down market regulation. That name came from the 1900 Lochner v New York case in which SCOTUS ruled that working a person to death was good capitalism. Put another way it could be described as a 40 decade period when a judicially activist conservative court hostile to labor and legislating from the bench on behalf of business and elites made decisions that led to actions and policies that were finally addressed once The Great Depression and the Rise of Fascism proved the danger of that worldview.



E.W. Grove, the Inn’s namesake had a product that sold like hotcakes I n his ‘Tasteless Chill Tonic’ - it was quinine suspended in syrup - and it did work at least as well as that base chemical did on its own as a preventative for malaria, and while not quite ‘tasteless’ (quinine is nasty) the flavored ingredient evidently cut some of the edge and brought some relief to a world in which malaria was common, especially below The Mason-Dixon Line.



And maybe The Tonic MIGHT even work on other things or — hold on now — even make “children and adults as fat as pigs.” (An ad campaign that wouldn’t fly these days to be sure - nor would, I doubt, the pig-headed man in the advert. though as a new mascot for a certain political party it could be a symbol of more accurate make-up than the rather innocent and noble elephant).



That Asheville’s second most prominent architectural marvel, among many, owes its birth and upbringing to a Tonic, better yet, an elixir dedicated to CHILL, is probably why AsheVegas seems so right to me. The Grove Park is an interesting and historic place full of stories - the views are unforgettable, the holiday fixings are a delight - and of course there are often plentiful service jobs there. Historically speaking, The Inn is, from all accounts that I’ve heard from workers, pretty much still operated under the old-time ‘Lochner Era’ principles. Imagine that the next time you ponder how well the place reflects bygone times. And it is 112 years old today.



#OTD (July 12) in 1913 Secretary Of State William Jennings Bryan gave an address, officially opening The Grove Park Inn. (Bryan owned a home at 107 Evelyn Place just down Sunset Mountain, the site of The GPI) “Built for the ages,” Fred Sealy’s design for ‘Pharmacy’ Baron E.W. Grove’s Inn was of The Arts and Craft Movement. Hosting global dignitaries and undergoing regular renovation, the GPI thrives still. https://www.ncdcr.gov/.../grove-park-inn-and-its-host...
 
donbosco said:
IMG_9832.jpeg

The prodigious 19th century Tar Heel novelist Frances Tiernan [46 published works] (https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/tiernan-frances) coined the moniker ‘Land of the Sky’ for Asheville in 1876. That was 37 years before the Grove Park Inn was established and 24 before the completion of the opulent Biltmore Estate.



Seldom (never?) heard, Paris of The South’ is another of Asheville’s sobriquets - still, I think my favorite is the more modern, #AsheVegas. When I drive down Kimberley Avenue (an important local cut-through that I enjoy) and look out across the golf course and up on Sunset Mountain and I see The Grove Park I think Gilded Age excess. But I’m off a bit with my historical periodization there since only the Biltmore actually belongs to that era (usually dated as finished in 1900).



The Grove Park Inn belongs to the lesser known ‘Lochner Era’ (1897-1937) when The Supreme Court actively promoted unchecked Free Market Capitalism by repeatedly striking down market regulation. That name came from the 1900 Lochner v New York case in which SCOTUS ruled that working a person to death was good capitalism. Put another way it could be described as a 40 decade period when a judicially activist conservative court hostile to labor and legislating from the bench on behalf of business and elites made decisions that led to actions and policies that were finally addressed once The Great Depression and the Rise of Fascism proved the danger of that worldview.



E.W. Grove, the Inn’s namesake had a product that sold like hotcakes I n his ‘Tasteless Chill Tonic’ - it was quinine suspended in syrup - and it did work at least as well as that base chemical did on its own as a preventative for malaria, and while not quite ‘tasteless’ (quinine is nasty) the flavored ingredient evidently cut some of the edge and brought some relief to a world in which malaria was common, especially below The Mason-Dixon Line.



And maybe The Tonic MIGHT even work on other things or — hold on now — even make “children and adults as fat as pigs.” (An ad campaign that wouldn’t fly these days to be sure - nor would, I doubt, the pig-headed man in the advert. though as a new mascot for a certain political party it could be a symbol of more accurate make-up than the rather innocent and noble elephant).



That Asheville’s second most prominent architectural marvel, among many, owes its birth and upbringing to a Tonic, better yet, an elixir dedicated to CHILL, is probably why AsheVegas seems so right to me. The Grove Park is an interesting and historic place full of stories - the views are unforgettable, the holiday fixings are a delight - and of course there are often plentiful service jobs there. Historically speaking, The Inn is, from all accounts that I’ve heard from workers, pretty much still operated under the old-time ‘Lochner Era’ principles. Imagine that the next time you ponder how well the place reflects bygone times. And it is 112 years old today.



#OTD (July 12) in 1913 Secretary Of State William Jennings Bryan gave an address, officially opening The Grove Park Inn. (Bryan owned a home at 107 Evelyn Place just down Sunset Mountain, the site of The GPI) “Built for the ages,” Fred Sealy’s design for ‘Pharmacy’ Baron E.W. Grove’s Inn was of The Arts and Craft Movement. Hosting global dignitaries and undergoing regular renovation, the GPI thrives still. https://www.ncdcr.gov/.../grove-park-inn-and-its-host...
Click to expand...
My paternal grandparents honeymooned in late August 1916 at the Grovepark Inn for two nights. Once when my wife and I were staying there, I recited this and asked if there was anyway I could look at the old sign-in registers from the last week of August 1916. The person who was checking us in just gave me "the fart in church" treatment and I didn't raise the matter again.
 
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