Tag Archives: Winchester

Day 83-Zesta!

January 21, 2015 Marcel 2 Comments

I know you’ve always wanted to know what, exactly, is down Zesta Place. Today’s walk was an exploration of the industrial area surrounding the Jif peanut butter plant on Winchester Road including the intriguingly-named Zesta. (Did someone intentionally name a street that runs by a peanut butter plant after a cracker?)

Apartments located across an industrial property protected by razor wire.

But what lies down Zesta is about what you’d expect in an industrial area. You’d probably feel more comfortable on this street in a forklift or a semi. In addition to the peanut butter plant there are a number of smaller operations and a sprawling industrial gas distributor.

The former Big Ass Fans location on Winchester Road

Both Zesta and Magnolia feel more like a part of the adjacent industrial operations than public, city-maintained streets (which they are), and a significant stretch of Montgomery was lined with razor wire fence on one side and barbed wire on the other. I was actually a little surprised that I received as little attention as I did. By the time I reached Zesta, I’d actually convinced myself that these were private streets.

Uncategorized

Day 69-Hemmed in

December 8, 2014 Marcel

Today’s walk required a short walk across New Circle Road on Winchester and the area immediately southwest of the interchange, which is one of the busiest interchanges in Lexington. The areas adjacent to the interchange are commercial and include a couple of self-storage facilities on James and a newer office building. Ashton and Forston make up a hidden residential neighborhood, very similar to the neighboring area I passed through on Day 23. The homes here are modest, generally 1940’s vintage though with some newer houses mixed in and some addition room for further infill. This is another neighborhood that isn’t self-conscious, and though this can sometimes result in some rough edges, this area exuded a sense of pride. There is probably a long list of housing qualities, objective and subjective, that you could measure–size and age to name a few. This area outperforms expectations for upkeep based on size, age, construction.

Looking east along Winchester toward New Circle Road interchange

Winchester and New Circle Road really isolate this area perceptually; from a car, it’s easy to pass without thinking of the side streets; on foot, crossing either Winchester or New Circle is an adventure. With the retail businesses on the north side of Winchester, it would be nice to see this stretch get some pedestrian improvements.

Uncategorized

Day 37

September 16, 2014 Marcel

Imagine for a minute that you are outside, late at night, in a quiet and remote place, perhaps in the middle of the Great Plains. You can see a highway, maybe a quarter mile away, and maybe a few times per hour a truck drives by. Imagine how this truck sounds to you as it slowly approaches, passes, and drives away from you, a subdued, lonely roar mixed with road noise that sounds almost like a rainstorm. Now imagine this roar, except now a dozen times a minute and much closer and you can imagine the lonely cacophony of Buena Vista Road.

This area has some picturesque streetscapes

This area is quiet and a little lonely, but it is well-suited to its location near I-75. It is populated with a mix of car-centric businesses with motels being the dominant player, though gas stations and roadside restaurants are also mixed in. It’s a pleasant area with acceptable though not completely reliable sidewalks that do provide car-free accessibility between the hotels and restaurants. The long quiet stretches of Buena Vista and Elkhorn also provide parking areas for truckers. The areas seems to be doing pretty well. Two properties appear to have been razed at some point in the past (one of which was a motel), but one hotel recently completed a remodel and a new hotel is being built nearby. Generally, the area appears to have been built out in the 1980’s and seems to be getting a breath of fresh air from recent development across Winchester.

This sign was near a stream. Any guess as to what it once said?

What works: mix of businesses that are interdependent.

What doesn’t: Might be saturated with motels; the next higher class of hotel property might create some synergy with restaurants across Winchester but on-foot accessibility isn’t as good.

Uncategorized

Day 35

September 4, 2014 Marcel

Today’s walk was through an odd mix of light industrial, commercial and residential along and behind Winchester Road. The commercial strip stood out; this stretch of Winchester is generally gritty, the kind of place you go to shop for a greasy part in your car, not where you would go to find a trendy boutique. The specific section I walked along featured two nightclubs, two “gentleman’s” clubs and a KFC. The opposite side of the street has some intriguing businesses that look like the kind of nondescript places where people who know something shop for…vintage pinball machines? I have to remember to take a closer look at those shops when I return to walk through the area on the south side of the street.

Another feature of this area is a named alley. (I love these. Who wouldn’t want to have an alley named after them?) But of course, street names have stories and you can learn from this Herald-Leader column that there was a La Flame nightclub along Winchester from the late 1950’s.

2014-09-04_13-19-24-M — One of the more peculiar sights among the car-oriented businesses was this car with missing and inadequate tires.

This area is surely more interesting at night; I wonder where everyone must park. Transit in this area is evidently a challenge. A bicyclist was using the marked bike lane, but minutes later, two vehicles parked in the bike lane so their owners could grab lunch. Despite the steady number of pedestrians, it’s clear cars own this stretch just out of the sheer number of auto-oriented businesses.

Side note for the geeky: the geographic center of the area I walked today is due south of the center of the area I walked on Day 34; both have the same longitude, to four decimal places!

What works: This short stretch of Winchester has some unique things.

What doesn’t: Parking needs compete with bike lanes.

Uncategorized

Day 25

August 9, 2014 Marcel

Today’s walk was a quick one, through an office park and industrial area at the interchange of New Circle Road and Winchester. There weren’t a lot of surprises for me here, likely because I’m already familiar with this area. But, some of the industrial use is a little more intensive than I expected. It was also neat to see the back of one of the neighborhoods I walked recently (Brown Ave, from day 23) from the adjacent commercial/industrial street.

20140808_124359-L — Walking trail signs along Beasley and Fortune allow lunchtime walkers to measure their walks

The south side of this stretch of New Circle Road is home to Paul Miller Ford and Paul Miller Mazda. The Miller Family also has hands in a number of other area businesses, including Fortune Realty, Beasley Digital Printing and Fortune Collision Center. Meanwhile, a business on the north side of the street features a large poster supporting Alison Lundergan Grimes as a Senate candidate, a tour bus for said candidate is parked nearby, as are a whole lot of cars with lots of “Alison” bumper stickers. Two prominent local families have made this interchange a focal point, and this should emphasize its importance.

Back to street names. “Jingle Bell” seems like an unusual name for a street, especially one that is so industrial. My assumption has always been that, like many other streets in Lexington, it is named for a more or less famous Thoroughbred racehorse. And though it may be named after a horse (three horses named Jingle Bell have their pedigrees listed), I think the “famous” part is in serious question. And, the Paul Miller Ford building (at Jingle Bell and New Circle Road) has a hyperbolic paraboloid “saddle” roof and is probably a lot older than the most likely Jingle Bell.