Summary
Best Best: Need a Bobcat? Or a wedding canopy? The best rental store in Durham is (what else?) Best Rent All, 2410 Guess Road (286-3708). And it's part of a rich stretch on either side of the road. Across the street is a series of international delights: the Tienda Mexicana Mi Barrio (need tomatillos? merlitons?); the Carolina Martial Arts Center (where Sensei Kevin Gurganus has his young students recite the credo at the end of every class: "We are ... RESPONSIBLE ... Actions have ... CONSEQUENCES..."); Dance Plus dance studio, where sexy ballroom dancers swing and dip in black tights in front of full-length mirrors; and Hog Heaven (286-7447), which serves up the best chopped pig this side of ... Guess Road. And if the name Hog Heaven doesn't make you groan, there's always Xsightment Video across the street.
Best junk: Everything but Granny's Panties, 2926 Guess Road (471-0996). Don't believe it's the best? Just ask Elizabeth Allen, a nurse who moved to Creedmoor a month ago and has already made the drive to Granny's (as everyone calls it) four times. It's a beautiful turn-of-the-century house in which every square inch--and I mean every one--has been filled with vintage clothes, cool furniture, kids' stuff and lots and lots and lots of ... junk. Need a casket key from Batesville Casket? $1. A 1950s bedroom suite? $450. A copy of Frank Sinatra's Songs for Swingin' Lovers (after your trip to [Priscilla]'s)? $1. A pair of raccoon-head slippers (fuzzy, not real)? $2 (they're among dozens of other shoes lining the stairs). Owner Kim Shaffler says she goes to two or three estate sales a week to keep the house (and the front yard, and the side yard, and the back yard) constantly filled. And ask her about when she's having her next sale at Decades, the Hillsborough Road house she only opens five or six times a year to sell the coolest, most collectible stuff that she pulls aside. (If you're on a special junk mission, also check out Finders Keepers across the street at 2917 Guess Road and Knick Knacks at 2915 Guess Road while you're in the neighborhood.)Best pizza in a weird building: Pizza Palace, 3218 Guess Road (620-9700). A Durham landmark for years at its location off Ninth Street, the Pizza Palace set off alarms all over town when it announced it had lost its lease. But the restaurant has come back better than ever in a bizarre building that's part barn, part geodesic dome, set way back off Guess Road. It's still owned by the same family it always was--Faye Bricker, daughter of longtime owner (and former Durham mayor) Harry Rodenhizer, and her husband, Tim Bricker, who's the chef. The pizza's as good as ever, and Tim has expanded the menu to include homemade desserts. He also has expanded into entertainment--there's a giant TV projection screen, jazz on Tuesday nights, karaoke on Thursday nights and live music on weekends.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Funkiest Street in Funkytown
Sure, there are lots of great streets in Durham. On Ninth Street, breakfast is served all day at Elmo's Diner, cool stuff is brimming from the shelves at Vaguely Reminiscent, and the best authors in the country can be heard reading almost nightly at The Regulator Bookshop. On "the Boulevard"--Chapel Hill Boulevard to the uninitiated--fresh quarkstollen can be bought at Guglhopf Bakery, the Shrimp Boat offers killer fish sandwiches, and Foster's does a good Martha Stewart impressi...
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