Tag Archives: Second

Day 126-Gravity

November 24, 2015 Marcel

This route covers a portion of the Northside area, and much like the recent excursion through Gratz Park, there is plenty of history here and I’ll leave that for people who can speak to it more eloquently. It’s enough for me to feel the weight of hundreds of years, to sense the tremendous change these areas have witnessed.

Relative to that change, there were two amazing things to me. One is that I walked past houses, restaurants, schools, churches, cultural institutions. And this was, relatively speaking, a short walk. In many newer neighborhoods, I can take a longer walk and not pass anything but single-family houses. Some of this is certainly the impact of cars but certainly some of this is inevitable as a city grows. I sense that larger cities have more gravity, too. This seems to be in evidence somewhat as the activity level drops off noticeably between Short and Second street.

Uncategorized

Day 116-Gratz Park

November 2, 2015 Marcel

This circuit took me to The Gratz Park neighborhood. This area is heavy on history, with such sites as the Hunt-Morgan house, Gratz Park Inn, and Henry Clay law office. Buildings in these older parts of town engage the street on a different level than their suburban analogs. In particular, the buildings themselves feel less private. The buildings are there to be seen by people passing by. Newer houses, businesses, churches are much more utilitarian. Sure, they want to look good but there is more focus on blending in. In suburban neighborhoods, yards seem to be there for the inhabitants of their respective houses, and this makes walking in newer neighborhoods feel somewhat empty. Businesses approach the street differently, too. In the suburbs, streets are functional–their job is to help people get to the door. But here, outdoor seating on the sidewalk, in some cases even extending to “parklets” created from parking spaces along streets, is part of the attraction. This is far more engaging; you buy a drink or a meal and you can become part of the show you are watching. Dining in most contemporary American restaurants is much more private.

Since I’m coming back from a bit of a layoff, this is also my first chance to address the Walk Lex signs that were installed earlier this year. These are a nice wayfinding mechanism, and they absolutely highlight the connection between the neighborhoods and landmarks in and around downtown.

Uncategorized

Day 90-Timeless

March 27, 2015 Marcel

Today took me to a historic area, the Western Suburb neighborhood. I walked through most of the western portion of the area of the neighborhood. Some of the houses in this neighborhood are 200 years old while others are much more recent. My entrance into the neighborhood along Old Georgetown road began with a series of condo buildings that are less than 10 years old. Since the neighborhood is historic, there is more information available than the average neighborhood, including a list of historic buildings in the district from the neighborhood’s website.

Brick sidewalk in the Western Suburb neighborhood

I imagine that to a certain extent, if you live in a historic district you probably have to imagine yourself as part resident, part curator. In spite of this, this area generally doesn’t feel very self conscious though in certain places it does feel curated. In any case, there are a lot of beautiful houses here and it is worth visiting.

Maybe more interesting to me was the way this neighborhood interacted with with it 21st century surroundings–the car-oriented businesses along Main, industrial property along Newtown, public housing on Second Street. Perhaps not surprisingly, the historic district feels equally impacted by its location in space as its location in history. Here are early 1800’s homes behind a gas station–this is a little jarring. It feels like a panel from R. Crumb’s “A Short History of America”. Nonetheless, this neighborhood feels vibrant and at peace with modernity in a way that many newer neighborhoods don’t.