Except for the area right by the turd ponds, I really like the West Bottoms.
When Corinna referred to the 'West Bottoms Renaissance' in one of her poems, my initial reaction was surprise. I'd heard of no such thing.
But it's for real, and thanks to the bursting of the real estate bubble, I doubt if real estate prices are being run up by speculators.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Crossroads, but the West Bottoms is still in the exciting stage where unknown artists can get a foothold, where young entrepreneurs can try their hand at running a nightclub their friends will want to hang out at.
I'm sure some people don't see the potential of the area, or figure we already have an artsy urban neighborhood. But there was a time when you couldn't give away real estate in the Crossroads.
And, not that long ago, there was almost no place you could even legally reside downtown. Lofts, people seemed to think, were for big cities, nobody would live that way here.
I'm sure there are plumbing nightmares and electrical dilemmas with some of these buildings, but I'll also bet that, given their age, these buildings are mostly really well built.
I got a little carried away with the camera, the charm of the neighbhorhood. It was a beautiful evening to begin with, but the light was just fantastic. Especially when we got by Jerry's.
The light was even still good when we got up to Minnesota, in KCK's downtown. It was fading fast, though. I'm not sure that magic hour lasts a whole hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment