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Our History:
This publication was first produced in the winter of 1991 as The Guide to Black Charlotte and was the first distributed magazine targeting African-Americans in Charlotte, NC, and the first publication across-the-board to feature singles advertising. 😲 Back then, the city of Charlotte suffered from the old holier-than-thou complex, and people looked down on folks advertising themselves for dates and likened it to prostitution. 😬 In fact, it was so bad that a local church canceled their pending subscription order because we featured a model in swim wear. My God! Oops! 😇
I occasionally read some of our old editions and wonder what happened to the folks and businesses that we covered back in the early 1990's when Charlotte didn't even appear on the national weather map, and people would confuse it with Charleston, SC, or Charleston, WV. 😅 The Mayor of Charlotte back then (1991) was the honorable Sue Myrick, who later served as a North Carolina State Congresswoman until her retirement. By the way, she was the first and only female Mayor in Charlotte history until Jennifer Roberts (and today Vi Lyles), and was nice enough to provide us with a signed welcome letter dated January 11, 1991. 💌 I wonder what it would fetch on eBay today? 🤔
That first edition in the winter of 1991 featured an article on the old Charlotte Coliseum, which was still new at the time, having opened in 1988. It replaced the Independence Arena -- now Bojangle's Arena -- as the go-to venue for basketball, big concerts, and shows like the now-defunct Ringling Brother's and Barnum and Bailey Circus. 🏀 The Coliseum was also the first home of the former Charlotte Hornet's NBA team. 🐝 The edition also highlighted the art scene with an article on the now-defunct Ubiquitous Gallery on East 7th Street. 🎨 Notable mentions include First Fridays, which reportedly is still active, and features on Clinton Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, the late Mr. John McDonald of the now-defunct McDonald's Cafeteria on Beatties Ford Road, and inventor Madam C.J. Walker, a Black millionaire cosmetics manufacturer. 💼
Alas, the new layout of Trend Magazine Online™ has become a reality! 🌟 Our site has been up for quite some time; however, we have decided to redesign our format to one that more resembles a print publication while providing continuous updates and fresh new content. 📚 Technology has certainly changed immensely since our printed publication was shelved after the Spring 1993 edition. 🖥️ Producing a full-color photograph on the front cover used to require an expensive process called color separation. 🎨 This involved an additional printer/person who possessed a very expensive camera that would produce four sheets of film -- one for each basic color. 🖨️ Each basic color then required a separate metal plate to print your four-color photo. The entire composition would sometimes take several days to complete and could cost as much as $500.00 or more for one cover photo. 💸 Today, this process is available at the click of a mouse and can be performed in seconds by a computer that costs less than the cost of producing one full-color photo. 🚀
This publication was first produced in the winter of 1991 as The Guide to Black Charlotte and was the first distributed magazine targeting African-Americans in Charlotte, NC, and the first publication across-the-board to feature singles advertising. 😲 Back then, the city of Charlotte suffered from the old holier-than-thou complex, and people looked down on folks advertising themselves for dates and likened it to prostitution. 😬 In fact, it was so bad that a local church canceled their pending subscription order because we featured a model in swim wear. My God! Oops! 😇
I occasionally read some of our old editions and wonder what happened to the folks and businesses that we covered back in the early 1990's when Charlotte didn't even appear on the national weather map, and people would confuse it with Charleston, SC, or Charleston, WV. 😅 The Mayor of Charlotte back then (1991) was the honorable Sue Myrick, who later served as a North Carolina State Congresswoman until her retirement. By the way, she was the first and only female Mayor in Charlotte history until Jennifer Roberts (and today Vi Lyles), and was nice enough to provide us with a signed welcome letter dated January 11, 1991. 💌 I wonder what it would fetch on eBay today? 🤔
That first edition in the winter of 1991 featured an article on the old Charlotte Coliseum, which was still new at the time, having opened in 1988. It replaced the Independence Arena -- now Bojangle's Arena -- as the go-to venue for basketball, big concerts, and shows like the now-defunct Ringling Brother's and Barnum and Bailey Circus. 🏀 The Coliseum was also the first home of the former Charlotte Hornet's NBA team. 🐝 The edition also highlighted the art scene with an article on the now-defunct Ubiquitous Gallery on East 7th Street. 🎨 Notable mentions include First Fridays, which reportedly is still active, and features on Clinton Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, the late Mr. John McDonald of the now-defunct McDonald's Cafeteria on Beatties Ford Road, and inventor Madam C.J. Walker, a Black millionaire cosmetics manufacturer. 💼
Alas, the new layout of Trend Magazine Online™ has become a reality! 🌟 Our site has been up for quite some time; however, we have decided to redesign our format to one that more resembles a print publication while providing continuous updates and fresh new content. 📚 Technology has certainly changed immensely since our printed publication was shelved after the Spring 1993 edition. 🖥️ Producing a full-color photograph on the front cover used to require an expensive process called color separation. 🎨 This involved an additional printer/person who possessed a very expensive camera that would produce four sheets of film -- one for each basic color. 🖨️ Each basic color then required a separate metal plate to print your four-color photo. The entire composition would sometimes take several days to complete and could cost as much as $500.00 or more for one cover photo. 💸 Today, this process is available at the click of a mouse and can be performed in seconds by a computer that costs less than the cost of producing one full-color photo. 🚀
