Knocking around Knoxville

The Sunsphere

Knoxville, I longed to visit. The time kept failing to arrive. In almost 10 years as a Tennessee resident, I never managed that trip east. Later, when Nancy and I passed close while heading farther east, we didn't stop.

I blame the approach and my own misconceptions. Thanks to its concrete interstate approaching from the west, I had come to think of Knoxville as a giant airstrip – flat, featureless, uneventful, a place to avoid on fall Saturdays. Downtown presents itself around a bend in I-40, its mid-rises hard to separate from those of similar cities (also on the Tennessee River, Chattanooga claims its own sprawling Tennessee Valley Authority building). As with any city, I should know better than to base impression upon what little the highway reveals.

Among Tennessee’s big cities, Knoxville was frontier, an unexplored place. Between a 1998 family trip  and running the 2009 St. Jude Half-Marathon, I'd seen much of Memphis. Chattanooga already occupied a cherished niche in my mind.

Slightly larger than Chattanooga, I knew Knoxville for the University of Tennessee, the Sunsphere and little else. Besides, cityhood does not always guarantee interesting terrain. The presence of the state’s largest university also scared me off – Ohio State occupies a huge chunk of Columbus real estate and infinite acres in the minds of its sports fans. If I wanted to go, I preferred Knoxville as a summer destination, when the school year ended.

That desire proved pointless. The university fits comfortably into the fabric of Knoxville, separated from downtown by World’s Fair Park. Crowds of festival attendees, students and weekenders visiting the trendy neighborhoods were never overwhelming. Thanks to an Airbnb, Tennessee’s third largest city was home for three nights.

We stayed in the Old North Knoxville Historic District, a collection of small boutiques and older, well-maintained homes. As always, a cat stalked in the backyard. The tiny ebony predator barely weighed a few pounds. It appeared as we arrived and never again. One night I sat outside for a few hours, as clouds gradually broke the constellations and the city silently ground toward dawn. Even then, the cat did not grace the yard.

Thanks to The Simpsons, people of a certain age and humor know the Sunsphere. But I always liked its gold-plated look when driving through Knoxville, the dome standing out against the standard mid-rise buildings in the skyline. Cities need a landmark and no one can deny Knoxville’s striking remnant from its World’s Fair 35 years ago.

We arrived hungry and with sandwiches and snacks in our cooler. So we adjourned to World’s Fair Park for a picnic beneath the Sunsphere. The park divides downtown from the University of Tennessee, which is in the middle of a construction boom. If you look at the animation of World’s Fair Park in the 1996 Simpsons episode Bart on the Road, it’s surprisingly accurate – except for the lack of a wig outlet and the convention center finished in 2001 that wraps around the Sunsphere.

In the past decade, Knoxville refurbished the Sunsphere, adding an Italian restaurant to the fifth floor and free public access to the fourth floor for good views of downtown Knoxville, the Tennessee River and on clear days, the Smoky Mountains ridges rising to the south. Much of Knoxville’s charm lies in dense blocks of shops and restaurants.

Like most cities, its geography unfolds its origins. Knoxville sits at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers where they form the Tennessee. Thirty miles to the south, the mighty ridges of the Great Smoky Mountains form the horizon. Rugged hills rise closer, including Sharp’s Ridge on Knoxville’s north side. Knoxville anchors Appalachian Tennessee, and here they speak proudly of that Appalachian heritage.

the flourishes of downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods were not easily forgotten. Market Square might be the most European gathering space in Tennessee. With its sidewalk cafes and restaurants, the three pedestrian-only blocks are spacious to where no space felt crowded. Street performers, amateur musicians, jugglers, people on stilts, panhandlers, weekenders in from the suburbs, students, dogs of all sizes – Market Square had room for all comers.

Market Square sandwich board

 Take the man who appeared to panhandling in front of our parking garage. In four passes throughout the day, he never moved despite the scenery changing around him. Alone at first, others congregated around him on the pavement, including someone selling single roses. By 11 p.m., he became part of an acoustic band playing a surprisingly adept take on Molly’s Lips (written by The Vaselines, covered by Nirvana).

Saturday morning we found ourselves back in the Old City. Big Ears showtimes left hours for exploration, even in neighborhoods overtaken by Saturday crowds.

The Old City seemed to rise from its industrial past by the minute. Cobblestone streets and matching brick buildings provided an earthy, 19th century look to Old City. That infrastructure ensures the evolving Old City retains ties to the brick buildings of its past.Merchants of Beer would soon replace an old rental car site and former 50s-style diner on a busy corner.

 Several Old City buildings had been converted to new uses, including several buildings worth saving. On Gay Street, lofts occupy the 1920s-era Sterchi’s Furniture building. The former JFG Coffee headquarters also houses apartments, and its “The Best Part of the Meal” neon sign shines nightly. Jackson Terminal, a former railroad site converted into event space, served as Big Ears Festival headquarters. The buildings not only preserve a look of an older Knoxville, they embedded Old City's character, which new development could too strip away.

Pretentious glasses

The Old City blocks are thick with entrepreneurs. We stopped for a beer and cider at the Pretentious Beer and Glass Company – for once a company that doesn’t shy from its attitude. Along with 20-plus taps and an impressive array of bottles, the company produces hand-blown glassware, including a dual-chambered glass for mixing beers. The glasses were beautiful, running around $25-$40 apiece. In the glassworks next door, anyone could witness the glassblowers crafting them.

The previous blog about the Big Ears Festival already covered Knoxville’s historic theatres and new concert venues. Larger cities would envy the Bijou or the Mill & Mine. The Old City has its distillery, Know Whiskey Works. While we didn’t visit the tasting room, most Big Ears venues sold their spirits. I had several passes with Jackson Avenue Gin, which boasts lots of juniper and a lively blend of botanicals.

Gay Street moves quickly from Old City to downtown. Bars and restaurants fill the storefronts, along with the two historic theatres and various government buildings. Despite its small footprint on Gay, the Regal Riviera Theatre has eight screens, a full bar and hosted films for Big Ears.

Along with its bistros and brewpubs, Knoxville has quite an international flavor in places. Among the many Latin restaurants along Market Square, Soccer Taco delivered with authentic Mexican cuisine and its many televisions broadcasting football games around the world.

For a different spin on tacos, we spent a long afternoon at Chivo (Spanish for goat, although slang usage ranges from “cool” to “someone nervous – thanks Urban Dictionary). Over some tremendous tacos – duck, beer-battered avocado, mahi and Barbacoa brisket – and queso fundido dip, we took a flights of Anejo tequila and mezcal.

At the Freezo

Some food stops were more traditional. Around the corner from our apartment sat The Original Freezo, an old-school ice cream place with a walk-up window and concrete benches. Nancy and I both went for soft-serve chocolate-vanilla swirls. Had we arrived much later, we would have missed out – Freezo closes at 5 p.m. Saturday and reopens Monday morning.

Freezo sits within the Happy Holler neighborhood that spreads out around Central Street. We could have spent all day at the boutique stores lining this stretch of Central. For evening snacks, we shopped at the Three Rivers Market, a natural foods co-op with an amazing cheese selection, including selections from nearby Blackberry Farms. Numerous bistros, beer bars and even a tea room populated the older retail centers.

We spent an hour or more looking through the finds at Retrospect, one of several antique stores. I walked out with some gifts, a postcard from the Sanders Motor Lodge in Corbin, Kentucky (its adjoining cafe became the first KFC) and the original Bert doll from the 1970s, similar to the one my brother carried until it grew ragged.

Nearer to the Old City, Crafty Bastard Brewing is a relative new entrant to Knoxville’s growing stable of breweries. The three-year-old brewery poured some excellent IPAs at its narrow industrial taproom (it also offers a huge patio and space for food trucks outside). Nancy went with Tessellation IPA, heavy on the passion fruit and I opted for Hop Candy IPA (think melon and dry, tart citrus). As the proliferation of craft brewers threatens to become a glut, Crafty Bastard was more than worth a visit. They brew in small batches and often have one-off brews in the taproom – for Big Ears, they concocted a triple IPA.

One challenge from Knoxville is the distance – under good conditions, the twisting drive takes a solid two and a half hours and the terrain prevents anyone from shaving time off. Combined with a time change, it’s a little far for a day trip. I know Knoxville won’t become our next Chattanooga, but it’s an enticing spot, a college town with plenty of other feathers in its cap.

We have plenty of Knox County left to explore. We didn’t have time to explore the city’s outdoor recreation spaces. Sharp’s Ridge rises 300 feet above the city and has sterling views of the region. Then there’s the Knoxville Urban Wilderness, which connect numerous tracts of undeveloped land and includes the Ijams Nature Center.

So when do we return to Knoxville? I can’t say for sure, but I don’t expect the next trip to stall for another decade. Besides, Big Ears already announced its 2018 festival dates.

Sunsphere visitor deck, looking toward the Smoky Mountains