Tag Archives: 40503

Day 46-Car Culture meets the Co-op

October 10, 2014 Marcel

Today took me to an area near Southland Drive, an area that figures prominently in my mental map of the city. This segment of Southland has several businesses that the people in my circles talk about: a particular bar, a food co-op, a Habitat Re-store. It’s also the location of a new public health clinic currently under construction, news of which percolates up fairly regularly. Southland always surprises me; for some reason the fact that it is essentially a collection of 1950’s era strip malls catches me off guard; it doesn’t jibe with the image in my head of a hip area.

But in fact, no one has ever really said that Southland is hip. Maybe it would be more accurate to say it is funky without being pretentious. I came across a tattoo parlor, more than one drive through liquor store, a Caribbean store and a laundromat called “Mr. Suds.”

I was intrigued, too, by the neighborhood behind Southland Drive. What would it be like to have your neighborhood grocery store be a co-op? The neighborhood matches the commercial district, featuring houses from the 1950’s along car-ready streets. The perceptual contrast of small houses along wide streets with tall trees is tough to reconcile. Things feel as if they are going by slowly, kind of like the feeling you might get trying to run after riding a bicycle. The houses are generally similar Cape Cod style houses, though construction varies. Houses on Mitchell and Rosemont Garden are more likely to be brick, in other places they are probably frame. As we get closer to election time, it’s becoming easier to gauge a neighborhood’s general political leanings, and this area appears to lean to the left, with several homes sporting multiple yard signs for Democrats. It also has a funkiness that mirrors the strip malls, an intentional shagginess that contrasts with the clean-cut yards of, say, Rookwood, but without looking neglected.

What works: The relationship between the commercial district and residential areas appears strong.

What doesn’t: Seriously, there are no sidewalks on Southland?

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Day 31

August 23, 2014 Marcel

Today, I walked through the Stonewall neighborhood near Clay’s Mill and Man O’ War. This area is officially referred to as Higby Woods, though signage in the neighborhood is the new variety that identifies the neighborhood with a badge. The area seems to have been built in the late 1970’s, but the housing has aged well and I think this neighborhood does a pretty good job of exemplifying a certain architectural quality that late 20th/early 21st century houses in Lexington have that I haven’t seen in other places I’ve lived. In this case, it’s predominantly Colonial Revival, but one house has an upfit to a Scandinavian-modern look.

Stonewall neighborhood street sign showing the neighborhood "badge" — Stonewall neighborhood street sign showing the neighborhood “badge”

One feature of these homes is large lot size. Many of these lots were well-equipped, with pools, playgrounds, patios and basketball courts. (The nearby park, meanwhile, had none of these.) I though about the trade off between lots of big yards versus a nice park. With a park, you share cost with your neighbors (or, really, with the rest of the city). And that’s fine as long as you all basically agree on what you want from the park (or whether you want them at all).

Neglected basketball hoop in the Stonewall neighborhood

But, as the city grows, it’s easy to feel as if you voice is lost in the crowd. If you can afford it, a nice yard can serve as a hedge against your neighbors having different priorities, though it comes at some cost, and in the case of this area, this is evident in the maintenance of many formerly well-installed basketball hoops.

The good: well-cared for neighborhood

The bad: …with more than it’s share of tagging!

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Day 21

August 1, 2014 Marcel

This was a quick walk through another quiet neighborhood officially called Twin Oaks, located between Clay’s Mill Road and New Circle Road. Though connected and officially part of the same neighborhood, I passed through two distinct areas (to make things more confusing, the dividing line is not a particular street but actually happens mid-block). The first evidence of a change is that the newer subdivision, located on the New Circle Road side, does not have sidewalks while the older one, on the Clay’s Mill side, does.

The older neighborhood is comprised of homes built in the 50’s or 60’s, the newer neighborhood is newer enough to be recognizably newer, but is more typical of late 70’s and early 80’s construction.

The older neighborhood was certainly old enough to be stable, boring but in a good way. The newer neighborhood, too, was quiet, unremarkable but very comfortable. My thoughts while walking through this neighborhood were focused on the architecture (internally wishing I understood better or had the vocabulary to describe why a house strikes me as being from a particular time) and on the paving techniques (many driveways have been resurfaced with asphalt).

Good: Quiet, despite major roads on each side.

Bad: Feels more distant and detached (and this could be good or bad, depending on your preferences).