Urban jungle
A while back I learned that this building was trouble. It wasn’t so much a crtack house as it was a crack mall, what with 20 units and all. Five or six years ago the current landlord bought it. I’m guessing the goals was to clean up the neighborhood since he owns Village Gate Square two doors down.
Anyway, five or six years ago when it would have been terribly convenient to have a crack mall in the neighborhood, I had no clue and walked by this place countless times on the way to the ‘hood to make my purchases.
The subject came up last night at work with my boss saying she was concerned when she first heard I was moving to this block but was relieved when she saw that it’s really nice here now.
In fact, this whole section of the neighborhood has undergone remarkable changes in the past few years. It wasn’t so long ago that I swore I’d never live on the north side of University Ave, let alone this little wedge bouded by University, Atlantic, the railroad main line and Goodman. [ map ] Yet, here I am.
The changes here are most evident in landscaping. I purposely use the back streets as a garden tour and compare one yard and street to another. The two best streets, IMHO, are Arlington Street, right behind me, which is on the way to The Corner Store and Merriman Street on the way to Writers & Books and the GAGV Community Center.
Once, the landscaping theme was no maintenance—dirt and unmown lawn. Even dandelions had difficulty with survival. Now it’s low maintenance—as in “My landscaper, Charles, filled the entire yard in shrubs, ferns, greenery and flowers, now I don’t have to do a thing but trim it back occassionally so I can find the sidewalk.” Think jungle theme, but with tiger lillies. Tiger lillies to the point they’re ubiquitous.
Except for the overreliance on tiger lillies, (not that I dislike them, but some variety would be nice) I like the entire look. And surprise, suprise, several people have removed thier driveways to make room for more ferns and greenery. Maybe there’s some hope in this automobile-crazed society.
In any event, there are two blocks I have difficulty with. The next block of Goodman Street, where I lived in 1998-99 and Upton Park where I rented from the landlord from hell in 1999-2000. (I’m not forgetting, BTW, that I wasn’t exactly a sterling tenant.)
Walking back from Parkleigh this morning I had to stop at The Corner Store so I cut across to Upton Park just to have a look at the place.
There’s a for sale sign out front and they’ve cleaned up the place, taking away that ratty old couch that used to inhabit the front porch and couter to the current landscaping trend, they’ve ripped out the shrubbery out front. Otherwise, the place looks about the same. I supressed an urge to call the realtors to inquire about the price and to inform them of the squirrels in the attic—the holes are still there where they enter.
I decided to leave well enough alone. I made my purchases at The Corner Store and returned to my quiet jungle neighborhood.
