As we turn onto Fourth Street and head east towards the Reynolds Building, the first thing that catches our eye is the Carolina Hotel, an 11-story red brick neo-classical building with distinctive white facing on the upper two and lower two floors. As the large painted sign indicates, the Carolina is both Modern and Fireproof, making it "One of the Best".

If you look closely at the entrance to the Carolina, you'll see what looks like a theater marquee–that's because when the Carolina opened in 1929, it opened as the Carolina Theater and Apartments. The apartements were short-lived, however, as the upper floors were converted to the Carolina Hotel in 1930. The theater started it's life as a silent movie theater and it finally closed in 1975.

Here is the hotel's description from the back of the Carolina Hotel postcard:

THE CAROLINA, the city's newest fire-proof hotel, offers every essential requirements of the visitor to Winston-Salem, N.C.—safety, comfort, economy. Our coffee shop is under the supervision of a lady dietician.

I think it it safe to say that the era of coffee shops under the supervision of lady dieticians has passed.

The building was acquired by the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1977, and the theater was extensively remodelled in a Renaissance Revival style. It was re-opened in 1983 as the Roger L. Stevens Center for the Performing Arts.

In the top postcard, you can see the Forsyth Theatre a couple of doors down from the Carolina. The Forsyth opened in 1937, with 15 cent ticket prices, comfortable chairs, and air conditioning. The Forsyth had a pretty good run, but competition from the Carolina and the new Winston (opened in 1949, also on Fourth Street) forced it's closure in 1954.