Greensboro, NC

I met J.J., my cousin, in downtown Greensboro at 9pm. It’s been more than 10 years since I’d seen him. He moved to Greensboro in 1999 to attend the University of North Carolina at Greensboro to study finance, and has been here ever since. The last time I saw him was in Michigan in 1998, when he so adamantly reminds me of the time he shot me between the eyes with a paint ball in the backyard of my cousin Tommy’s house. He snickers with enjoyment every time he hears the story. I figured, since I planned on going through North Carolina, it would be a good idea to at least visit.

Natty Greens is a brewery/restaurant that also houses a full service bar and night club on the second floor. The place was filled with young thirty-something professionals on a Thursday night. My first impression of the night life in Greensboro came here while J.J. and I were sitting in the outside patio enjoying a couple of beers and some ribs, when all of a sudden, a man barged out of the fire exit on the floor above us, tripping the fire alarm. We all looked up to see what the commotion was, and at first I thought the guy was just drunk and accidentally went out the wrong door, but moments later a group of men who were surrounding a heavy object started stumbling out.

Frantically, they directed each other down the steps carefully carrying this object. As they came down the first flight of stairs, it became evident that in their arms was a passed out girl from the bar. They carried her down to the patio and laid her on the ground. As soon as everyone realized that she was only drunk, they calmly returned to their conversations.

The next day, J.J. went to work and I met up with his sister, Vivian, who also moved to North Carolina to attend the same university (with the same major), had been living here since 1998. She married Carl Essa and has four great kids, Marina, Carl Jr., Joseph, and Nicholas. I spent most of the day with her and the kids. We went to the Tumblebees a gymnastics center where kids can run and jump all day.


From Tumblebees, J.J. picked me up, and we went to the gym for what was supposed to be a light workout, and eventually turned into a major heavy set of muscle building exercises. From there we met back up with Vivian at her house for dinner. We played with the kids for a while until it was their bedtime, and then enjoyed the some wine in the backyard.

Vivian and Carl live with their children in a large house on what I would consider to be a plantation size lot. This is an exaggeration of course, but their home has significantly more land surrounding them then what would be typical in Southern California. I enjoyed the scenery. It was nice and calm, a break from the rushing city life of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.

After dinner we enjoyed some wine in the back porch until Carl came home from work. Carl, Vivian’s husband, is 12 years into his business as a developer, selling commercial real estate, and has done well for himself. He has an expensive taste in wine and cigars and has tremendous respect for people with integrity and honesty.

After sitting with Carl for a while, J.J. took me out on the town where we went to Heaven, a popular night club in the downtown district. I was quite surprised to see that J.J. has made quite a few connections in this town. When we arrived to the night club, there was no need to wait in the long line. J.J. knew the person at the gate who let us in for free. We then took the back entrance to the top of the building where we also met the club’s photographer taking pictures of two girls in erotic poses in the stairwell. When we got to the top there were several people that we ran into who J.J. already knew. They exchanged hand shakes and smiles that secretly acknowledged their acquaintance.

The theme of drunken girls continued at this night club, where we found another girl who had way too much to drink. The sad part of this situation was even though she was stumbling around the dance floor and could barely stand up, she refused to admit that she was embarrassingly drunk. As a result, no one wanted anything to do with her, so most people turned their backs in hopes of avoiding eye contact. This, of course, only made her desperate for finding some sense of dignity, and she tried to cling on to anyone that would give her any attention. She was eventually escorted out of the club. Such a scene and experience is a healthy reminder as to why I don’t enjoy going to such places.

Saturday, J.J. took me to the office building where he works for Carl as an Executive Broker. Carl has established himself well in the Greensboro market by developing mid-sized office complexes. These types of developments, according to J.J., stimulate the local business because they're small enough to attract smaller businesses and boutiques, but large enough to sustain their market value.


After visiting J.J.’s office, we went to the National Monument of the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, which is the site that commemorates the Revolutionary War battle between the American General Nathanial Greene (for whom the city of Greensboro is named) and the British General Lord Cornwallis. The Americans unfortunately lost that battle. After visiting the park, we called it a day, and just relaxed.