Indianapolis (trip report)

[warwickland]

Indianapolis, Indiana - state capital, late bloomer, and one time oil and gas boom town. City pop. 807,584 (est.), MSA pop. 1,715,459 (est.) ...

We start on the north side of Indianapolis on the major north /south street Meridian near the neighborhood and urban node known as Broad Ripple. I also stop at Broad Ripple Park on the bucolic White River ...




















































Moving south towards downtown, through some older neighborhoods and minor commercial nodes ...










We arrive downtown ...











































































Conclusions -

Broad Ripple felt like a Waldo and Westport vibe mixed together, with an obnoxious overlay of "corporate collegiate" sports bar and chain restaurants, which really shouted down the independent vibe. This being a matter of personal taste, the commercial district was hopping at noon on a Sunday in preparation for the Colts game.

The neighborhoods really felt a lot like many of the neighborhoods in Kansas City, even with a slightly less ostentatious version of Ward Parkway (and with many other parkways like KC). The major caveat being that I saw fewer apartments and not a colonnade to be seen. I was unable in my short time to really find a strong midtown district, although there were small neighborhood scale commercial nodes here and there. There were mildly run down areas between Broad Ripple and Downtown that my GPS took me through, I have no idea where I was.

Downtown was clearly a major point of focus - Indy seems to have played the "how to generically revitalize a downtown" and has a major chain heavy mix of retail and restaurant spaces and if you can believe it an enclosed downtown shopping mall. In fact, at times it seemed like a scaled down version of some of the more sterile blocks of downtown Chicago, which wasn't totally a bad thing. Downtown did not feel dead, at least not within a few minute walk of monument circle, and I'm sure it is hopping on a weekend night. Downtown also had much better stock of pre war commercial buildings than I had anticipated.

Overall, Indy felt startlingly like Kansas Citys less rebellious/interesting cousin - the people were friendly and the city was incredibly laid back - I'm glad I went, but I probably won't return anytime soon.

[DaveKCMO]

their neighborhood identity program is incredibly consistent, even though most of them aren't worth visiting.

[chrizow]

cool pics.  looks like there are some handsome residential areas there.  could just be my ignorance, but indy is probably one of the only 2M-ish cities in the country that i dont really want to visit.  i think it is at the bottom of my list for the midwest to visit.  but, any city with that many people should have something going for it.  it just seems sort of bland from the photos i've seen and reports i have heard. 

[mean]

Indy is ok. There are some cool, quirky, arty and slowly gentrifying neighborhoods adjacent to downtown which can be fun.

[warwickland]

I kind of echo everyone's points here, but I could not stop saying to my friends that I met up with from a different city about how in Kansas City (which like I said, seems related, but at the same time much more interesting than) this or that, though, and I really hate doing the bash the city you a.) live in or b.) are visiting and always referring to how X city does it better. I guess I expect to see something a little more bi-polar - - poignantly grim speckled with incredibly amazing moments when I drive into the eastern midwest...I really unfairly kind of hold it against Indy that its unappealingly comfortable and kind of apparently uninteresting...especially when Cincinnati is 100 miles away, and even Louisville is on another level in the quirk department.

[staubio]

I kind of echo everyone's points here, but I could not stop saying to my friends that I met up with from a different city about how in Kansas City (which like I said, seems related, but at the same time much more interesting than) this or that, though, and I really hate doing the bash the city you a.) live in or b.) are visiting and always referring to how X city does it better. I guess I expect to see something a little more bi-polar - - poignantly grim speckled with incredibly amazing moments when I drive into the eastern midwest...I really unfairly kind of hold it against Indy that its unappealingly comfortable and kind of apparently uninteresting...especially when Cincinnati is 100 miles away, and even Louisville is on another level in the quirk department.

Great point about Cincy. That town has more loads and loads of character compared to Indy. I love cities everywhere and I almost always find something to love in every city, but Indy just didn't do it for me. I've been there a few times, including one rather extensive scouring, and was left underwhelmed.

There is no density outside of downtown. Downtown is in great shape but like warwickland said, it is largely generic. The real activity happens around a few blocks that are basically Power and Light, only to their credit they built it into existing building stock. Outside of that, it drops to single family neighborhoods quickly, though some of them are gorgeous (Lockerbie Square comes to mind). Broad Ripple is something like 8 miles from downtown and the only other major node of note in the city. Indy's public transit budget is something like 1/3 that of KC, so transit is pretty much non-existent.

In short, I had a really hard time finding something to love. But Monument Circle is lovely.

[NDTeve]

Someone told me once that the soldier on the monument was looking South with open arms and symbolized welcoming the Confederacy back into the Union. Interesting story.

[phxcat]

Someone told me once that the soldier on the monument was looking South with open arms and symbolized welcoming the Confederacy back into the Union. Interesting story.

At risk of going off topic. I had also heard that most southern statures face north to keep an eye out for scoundrel northerners who may attack again.

[NDTeve]

At risk of going off topic. I had also heard that most southern statures face north to keep an eye out for scoundrel northerners who may attack again.