By: Ian Wheeler, a business owner who lives in Charleston. This is a contributor-submitted Voices piece. Want to join the conversation? We invite you to write for us. Learn how to share your voice here.
I left Charleston ~15 years ago, moving to NYC and starting a record label (Partisan Records) + a media outlet for artists and boutique podcast shop (Talkhouse). I bought a house on James Island three years ago.
Here are some notes on what I found when I came back to the Holy City:
- Our arts and entertainment community — which was less developed when I left Charleston (my reason for leaving) —has been strengthened considerably due to the efforts of a number of individuals: Shovels & Rope, Danny McBride, Ranky Tanky, Band of Horses, Susto, Benny Starr, Rialto Row, Charles Carmody at Charleston Music Hall, and so many more. Charleston is proving that it can grow and sustain a creative community.
- The food scene is perhaps the best in the country. Brooks Reitz has helped transform Upper King into a nationally-recognized culinary hub. David and Tina Schuttenberg have brought a Western Chinese cuisine to James Island with Kwei Fei that I’d put up against any Chinese restaurant in NYC, and Tu and Xiao Bao Biscuit deserve due recognition as well. Somehow Mike Lata’s FIG continues to deliver at such an incredibly high level after all these years and, after visiting innumerable fancy oyster bars around the world, I can tell you that none are as good as The Ordinary.
- Charleston Waterkeeper, which was founded by my dear friend Cyrus Buffum + does some of the most vital work for our city, has bumper stickers everywhere. It’s grown considerably and Cyrus has since launched his own mission-driven oyster farm (it’s delicious) and education initiative. This community’s connection and dedication to our local waterways is something to be envied. I attended the Dutch Dialogues final report presentation at the Gaillard last fall — to see that room packed with locals, all eager to engage in the conversation around mitigating flooding, was one of the most heartwarming things I’ve seen in memory.
- Charleston’s media environment is richer than ever — unlike a lot of larger cities, Charleston still has a phenomenal alternative weekly paper (Charleston City Paper) and The Post and Courier won a Pulitzer while I was away. Garden & Gun has become a marquee national magazine, Charleston has its own section on the Eater website, and local websites like Holy City Sinner and CHStoday add a really meaningful layer of local coverage.
- The College of Charleston and MUSC continue to grow and support the city. MUSC ranks highly as one of the best hospitals in the US, and CofC has received top marks from U.S. News & World Report.
I know we all like to say “Charleston has changed a lot” + usually in the context of complaining (about traffic, parking, flooding, too many hotels, etc). But there’s been a lot of positive change, too. I’m not sure I would’ve noticed these changes had I not left for 15 years. It’s easy to see the change that drives you crazy, but it’s harder to see the change that keeps you sane. In these rather “insane” times, I hope we take a moment to see the positive change that’s happened over the past 15 years.