Catching Ann Pope just walking into work today – she stylishly shows off her latest fashion finds. Blouse, GAP; Pant, Banana Republic; Shoes, Christian Louboutin; Glasses, Michael Kors; Bag, Longchamp

As always we encourage everyone at Lane and Smythe and our clients to, “Live Your Style.”

Photo by Russ

She will be back in the full swing of things momentarily. Please send flowers and cards to 9 Broad.

Lois Lane is responsible for this beauty!

Being a young artist and attending The Art Institute of Charleston I was excited to see one of Charleston’s own in one of my favorite magazine’s, GQ. This month in the December 2008 issue Mr. Fairey has his own page.  In the quaint office of 9 Broad, my desk sits in front of a mantle with a very unique piece of art on a metal sheet done by Mr. Fairey. “RADICALS” – a 2 color vector style piece in four quadrants with portraits of Einstein, Warhol, Parks and King. I love it. It is such a part of my everyday life.

Mr. Fairey we have discussed you and your work many times at The Art Institute of Charleston! Congrats!

Russ Bratcher
Lane and Smythe Real Estate
In-House Graphic Designer

How 109 historic places cope with tourism.

What happens when you match travelers with historic places? Once upon a time, it seemed, only happy endings. The travelers loved discovering well-preserved cities and towns. The destinations reaped financial rewards. Historic preservation was the ultimate winner.

In some locations, however, the situation soured as visitation soared. Popularity spawned crowding, pollution, sprawl, and overdevelopment-vexing residents and visitors alike. Historic sites began to look worse for wear, their authenticity sometimes blurred by the local temptation to “give’em what they want,” even if it wasn’t genuine.

So much for happy endings.

Still, mass tourism doesn’t have to make a mess. Some destinations, having tussled with everything from noisy tour buses to pushy bauble hawkers, have learned to manage crowds with aplomb-avoiding town-tourist conflicts and environmental degradation while keeping history real.

Do you wonder how the world’s top historical attractions are coping these days? Which ones do a good job of protecting their heritage and environment? Which have slipped? To answer these questions, the national Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations conducted a survey that rated the stewardship skills of 109 places worldwide. Each is a city, town, neighborhood, or landscape of considerable historical value.

A panel of 280 experts-from fields such as preservation, tourism, ecology, site management, travel writing, cultural studies, and archaeology-assessed the destination. (The panel’s criteria were environmental quality, condition of historic buildings, cultural integrity, aesthetic appeal, quality of tourism management, and future outlook.) Each location was given a numerical score, best to worst. The results appear in the November/December 2008 issue of National Geographic Traveler, with additional panelist comments available online at nationalgeographic.com/traveler.

Of particular interest to U.S. preservationists are the survey’s American destinations. Preservation spoke to residents in five featured locales: Ashland, Ore.; Charleston, S.C.; Galena, Ill.; Lancaster County, Pa.; and Santa Fe, N.M.

See what these residents told us, and learn how the National Trust for Historic Preservation can help communities become better stewards of their local heritage, at PreservationNation.org/magazine.

Fleming, Kevin. “Does boom Mean Bust?” Preservation 1 November 2008: 12-13.