Mellow Mushroom

There is a popular restaurant in the middle of downtown Asheville, called the
Mellow Mushroom.

It's main attraction besides their delicious pizza is their sidewalk cafe. A prime spot for people watching and meeting friends for a leisurely lunch or a few tasty beers. Here is a picture of the restaurant. Longtime residents will know this as the old Stone Soup.

This wall surrounds the courtyard and was found at Zen's Flickr website, who's always got good local photos.

Ceremony for Pack Square Park

Everyone is invited to the festive groundbreaking ceremony for Pack Square Park on Thursday, August 18 from 4 to 6 p.m. We’ll be set up in Park Square and City-County Plaza in the heart of downtown Asheville.

The groundbreaking will be a wonderful day to celebrate the beginning of construction on a park that will become a beautiful gathering space for generations to come. Join us for live music, refreshments, games, door prizes, actors in historic costume and a special bulldozer ballet. The park site will be decorated with hot-air balloons, weather permitting, and volunteers will be on hand to discuss park plans and special features such as original art, fountains, the park pavilion and the main stage.

It's such a magical spot now, I hope the 4.5 million renovation is able to keep some of the character is currently maintains.

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Hookah Joe's

ASHEVILLE - The scent of flowers and fruit floats in the air along Coxe Avenue. Where is this wave of blended aromas coming from?

Not from the dancing drummers at Pritchard Park or the patchouli-laden hippies padding the street. It's coming from around the corner at Hookah Joe's, a downtown nightspot Hookah Joe's is now located at 38 N French Broad Ave, Asheville NC 28801, (under Club Hairspray), the first Asheville club devoted to the hookah.

A hookah is a water pipe that originated in Turkey hundreds of years ago. It's not for traditional tobacco; instead, customers smoke a mixture of tobacco and molasses or shisha, that is available in various flavors.

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**UPDATE: address updated November 7, 2007 - thanks, Seanna!**