RiverOtter
got any pics?
hutch said:
Views good.... food sux
Nooga dining
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Views good.... food sux
RO- Have not been to Walden Club since 1987. Great view. Thanks for the update on the food.
the hutch
the hutch
Nice article in the paper today about the nooga and its revival.
RiverOtter
got any pics?
kurt said:
What paper?
RiverOtter said:What paper?
Walton Sun by one of their scribes.
I am like W... I don't read the "real" paper anymore, or watch CNN, etc. I avoid all hype, spin, trash, death, etc. by not seeking input from so called news outlets. It is amazing how much better your life becomes when you make the effort.
Oh - and somehow I still manage to know enough about everything going on. It's amazing how it filters through.
RiverOtter
got any pics?
kurt said:Walton Sun by one of their scribes.
... I don't read the "real" paper anymore, or watch CNN, etc. I avoid all hype, spin, trash, death, etc. by not seeking input from so called news outlets. It is amazing how much better your life becomes when you make the effort.
Oh - and somehow I still manage to know enough about everything going on. It's amazing how it filters through.
Well W What did it say?
John T. (Jack) Lupton left his mark on Chattanooga
It has been several years since I last visited Chattanooga for any length of time so the transformation of the downtown that has been underway for two decades seems to have sprouted wings in the last five years. The results are truly amazing.
The original seed money that started this ball rolling came from local philanthropist John T. (Jack) Lupton, a billionaire with incredible foresight, who envisioned a renaissance along the riverfront at the north end of downtown.
It was there that the original Tennessee Aquarium was built, which in turn has became the catalyst for everything wonderful that has evolved since then.
Before the Aquarium there was the Riverbend Festival, which now draws crowds each June in excess of 100,000 people that takes place at the riverfront also.
Not only has the Aquarium brought new hotels and countless new restaurants but also an IMAX Theater, an innovative Children?s Museum and a sparkling new wing of the Hunter Museum of Art.
Even the minor league baseball park has relocated there.
Best of all, however, is how it has all been tied together by a passageway known as the First Street Corridor that climbs the hill from the Aquarium to the Hunter Museum and the art district. There is a terraced sculpture garden along the way and a dynamite transparent bridge that spans the Riverfront Parkway beneath. When lighted at night it is the proverbial icing on the cake.
A tribute to the Cherokee Indian Nation is a spectacular public art installation that sits by the west wall of the recently opened saltwater Aquarium a few steps from the original freshwater Aquarium. Seven glazed ceramic disks containing symbols of the Cherokee Indian Nation have been placed along the wall of the Aquarium and a waterfall cascades down a series of steps and spills into a shallow pool, also a Cherokee sacred legend, where children of all ages enjoy splashing in the cool water on hot summer days.
And while this renaissance has been taking place downtown, just across the river on the north shore where shabby, rundown buildings lined the business district for years, there are chic boutiques, funky restaurants and real estate that are beginning to hit the stratosphere.
Here is Coolidge Park with its exquisite carousel of hand carved horses and dancing waters for children to play and green spaces that will soon extend across N. Market Street to a new extension of the park.
If all that is not enough to keep you busy, there is now a greenway where you can walk or run that travels from the Aquarium along the river, out to the Chickamauga Dam some 10 miles away.
There is also much to admire at the south end of the downtown area, where on summer nights at Miller Park locals from all over the city gather to drink and eat and enjoy a variety of talent.
Here too the main street is closed off and hundreds of bikers line their motorcycles up in what looks like military precision, or at least like a chorus line of gleaming highly polished steel. It is too cool.
While there is still much to be done at that end of downtown, the excitement has been spilling over into areas further south of downtown.
St. Elmo, a historic district that is situated at the foot of the incline that travels up Lookout Mountain, gingerbread houses are being refurbished and new restaurants and retail shops are sprouting up.
If any one person can leave a legacy to a city, certainly Jack Lupton has done so. He has spent his money well and been repaid a thousand fold for his efforts. His love for his city has brought the place to a greatness perhaps even he might not have imagined.
Charles Siskin is a loan officer at Fortune Mortgage Group. You can reach him at (850) 837-0455 or e-mail him at charles@fortuneloans.com.
It has been several years since I last visited Chattanooga for any length of time so the transformation of the downtown that has been underway for two decades seems to have sprouted wings in the last five years. The results are truly amazing.
The original seed money that started this ball rolling came from local philanthropist John T. (Jack) Lupton, a billionaire with incredible foresight, who envisioned a renaissance along the riverfront at the north end of downtown.
It was there that the original Tennessee Aquarium was built, which in turn has became the catalyst for everything wonderful that has evolved since then.
Before the Aquarium there was the Riverbend Festival, which now draws crowds each June in excess of 100,000 people that takes place at the riverfront also.
Not only has the Aquarium brought new hotels and countless new restaurants but also an IMAX Theater, an innovative Children?s Museum and a sparkling new wing of the Hunter Museum of Art.
Even the minor league baseball park has relocated there.
Best of all, however, is how it has all been tied together by a passageway known as the First Street Corridor that climbs the hill from the Aquarium to the Hunter Museum and the art district. There is a terraced sculpture garden along the way and a dynamite transparent bridge that spans the Riverfront Parkway beneath. When lighted at night it is the proverbial icing on the cake.
A tribute to the Cherokee Indian Nation is a spectacular public art installation that sits by the west wall of the recently opened saltwater Aquarium a few steps from the original freshwater Aquarium. Seven glazed ceramic disks containing symbols of the Cherokee Indian Nation have been placed along the wall of the Aquarium and a waterfall cascades down a series of steps and spills into a shallow pool, also a Cherokee sacred legend, where children of all ages enjoy splashing in the cool water on hot summer days.
And while this renaissance has been taking place downtown, just across the river on the north shore where shabby, rundown buildings lined the business district for years, there are chic boutiques, funky restaurants and real estate that are beginning to hit the stratosphere.
Here is Coolidge Park with its exquisite carousel of hand carved horses and dancing waters for children to play and green spaces that will soon extend across N. Market Street to a new extension of the park.
If all that is not enough to keep you busy, there is now a greenway where you can walk or run that travels from the Aquarium along the river, out to the Chickamauga Dam some 10 miles away.
There is also much to admire at the south end of the downtown area, where on summer nights at Miller Park locals from all over the city gather to drink and eat and enjoy a variety of talent.
Here too the main street is closed off and hundreds of bikers line their motorcycles up in what looks like military precision, or at least like a chorus line of gleaming highly polished steel. It is too cool.
While there is still much to be done at that end of downtown, the excitement has been spilling over into areas further south of downtown.
St. Elmo, a historic district that is situated at the foot of the incline that travels up Lookout Mountain, gingerbread houses are being refurbished and new restaurants and retail shops are sprouting up.
If any one person can leave a legacy to a city, certainly Jack Lupton has done so. He has spent his money well and been repaid a thousand fold for his efforts. His love for his city has brought the place to a greatness perhaps even he might not have imagined.
Charles Siskin is a loan officer at Fortune Mortgage Group. You can reach him at (850) 837-0455 or e-mail him at charles@fortuneloans.com.
RiverOtter
got any pics?
Cool article
. Too bad we don't have jobs Mr. Lupton is the man 
I've met him and some other members of his family with the same last name. Very nice people
. Too bad we don't have jobs Mr. Lupton is the man I've met him and some other members of his family with the same last name. Very nice people 
"Best of all, however, is how it has all been tied together by a passageway known as the First Street Corridor that climbs the hill from the Aquarium to the Hunter Museum and the art district. There is a terraced sculpture garden along the way and a dynamite transparent bridge that spans the Riverfront Parkway beneath."
We rode our bikes there today. Very cool.
We rode our bikes there today. Very cool.