North Front Street in Historic Downtown Smithfield, NC will be closed for much of this week as construction crews remove old gas tanks near the Little Brown Jug to prepare for the Neuse River Bridge replacement. N.C. DOT officials are asking drivers to use North Second Street instead.
The disgusting part is they saved that stupid bar to loose a historic bridge. Guess they made a nice fat donation to the town board or somebody.
From what I had heard is that they would of torn down the bar just to use it as a parking lot for the heavy equipment while they tore down the bridge and built a new one.
No, they could have fixed the bridge but the town officials voted that they would rather keep the bar then the bridge.
In all fairness more people go to see the bar, for its ties to Ava, than go to the bridge to admire it. Personally never went in it and don't know if it was worth keeping or not.
OK, the bridge dates back to the twenties and the bar (building) only to the thirties but the bridge is mechanically unsound and the bar still stands. I believe the building itself predates it's use as a bar, and that it was once a Pure Oil station back in the 30's. Legend has it that Ava Gardner's brother started it off as a bar some time in the 40's. I can't find a decent picture of the Smithfield location, but there was a time when Pure Oil stations were as iconic as McDonald's is today. I get a kick out of that fact that the original island is still out there, even if the pumps (or what's left of them) is now covered with a pukka-jug. Is it too soon to remember the "cows" at Moss' Grocery?
I know they already have the replacement bridge designed and materials in stock, but it would be nice if they did a downsized version of the bridge they built in Minneapolis to replace the collapsed bridge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Saint_Anthony_Falls_Bridge
no smartie I don't have them..but seems to me, a repair or an overhall keeping with a historical design might have been nice. Ava's brothers bar,has lost any ascetically pleasing or "old fashioned" look it may have had. The old pics of the Pur Oil are nice, but the bar doesn't look anything like that.
