Indianapolis (trip report)
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2010 9:11 pm
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.
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.