VIDEO: Pullman Historic District

Link to video of photos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WWxj5rwA4U

VIDEO: Chinatown

Link to video of photos:

https://youtu.be/OASe7UefXrA

Chinatown in Armour Square

Since we've moved to Chicago, Chinatown is one of the neighborhoods we visit regularly. I was surprised at the large size of the Chinese immigrant community here. It's the second oldest settlement of Chinese in the USA outside of California, although the neighborhood was originally settled by European immigrants working at nearby plants and factories.

Not surprisingly there's a plethora of Asian restaurants. We tend to try new ones on each visit and haven't yet been disappointed. I'm particularly found of stir-fry tofu with red chilies, pot stickers, salt and pepper fish, deep fried Mai-Tou (pastry dough) dipped in condensed milk, and Hong Kong style iced tea.

The homes around the business district are modest. While some neighborhoods have ornamental flowers everywhere in the summer, this area tends to feature practical plantings, like small gardens. Shopping I've found trinkets, small housewares, clothing and specialty groceries. I've bought a Kimono I use as a bathrobe and a Chinese jacket.

The most impressive way to travel to Chinatown during the summer is by water taxi from downtown or Union Station. The official water tour boats tend to be expensive. The skyline views from the water taxi are excellent, and the taxi docks at an attractive park.

Choosing Chicago Part 7

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 7

When I returned to Albuquerque I threw away the article I had saved about how places like Miami are on the verge of becoming the most pedestrian friendly cities in the country. Barring a natural disaster of epic proportions, Miami and similar cities will never achieve high walk scores for most of their residents in my lifetime. Their best hope is to find alternatives, like the PeopleMover, which creates options beyond the single occupancy use of cars.

Albuquerque is a suburb in search of a city. Living there I’d done lots of volunteer work in trying to reimagine how we could change the city to go beyond our reliance on cars. After my train trip I realized it was time to let it go. I needed to recognize the city is just what it is. Like the lover in a bad relationship I needed to leave, instead of thinking I was going to radically change things. And I needed to be more mindful in choosing my new city. I needed to take a hard, honest look at what I would be getting myself into with the move.

I began to study maps of different cities in earnest. As I examined I realized I was overlooking the Midwest. I grew up in Northeastern Ohio. My husband and I both had relatives in nearby states. Travel back to New Mexico wouldn’t be too far away. While winters are a bit too cold in the region, fresh water is plentiful, unlike the drought stricken areas of the West.

I narrowed down our search. We decided we’re too old to be urban pioneers in places like Cleveland or Detroit. Minneapolis was too cold. A lot of places had too small of populations. Eventually I kept coming back to Chicago.

Once we really started to dig into our research my husband and I realized Chicago doesn’t get its due respect. I was amazed at the number of harbors and yacht clubs. While rents in the most desirable neighborhoods were unaffordable to us, we could find acceptable areas to live. Some were quirky, others pleasant or beautiful.

My husband, a child of suburban desert sprawl, became fascinated with the idea of living in a high rise. Philadelphia has almost none, and we couldn’t afford Seattle’s, even if we had chosen to move to the West Coast.

In the end I decided both Philly and Seattle were too far away from New Mexico. Besides, no other city offered the sheer volume and diversity at such low cost as Chicago. Many neighborhoods were their own villages, complete with a range of cultural activities. The economy was solid and based on a range of activities. We didn’t have to worry that one industry failing would unravel the whole city.

The subway and trains are second only to New York City. The parks and public artworks rival any city in the world.

Best of all Chicago has seemingly endless miles of viable sidewalks. It’s normal to see residents roaming their neighborhoods while walking dogs, running errands, and going out. There are plenty of public spaces. Instead of cars being everywhere, there are people. We'd found our new home.


End.

Choosing Chicago Part 6

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 6

In Miami I had my moment of realization. I’m not sure why such an obvious fact had never occurred to me before. In thinking about the different cities we were visiting, the neighborhoods were shaped by their street grids. I began to realize that despite a city’s best intentions the basic grid can’t be changed. The streets just are where they are. Miami had installed a PeopleMover elevated tram to transverse an inaccessible downtown, but it didn’t fix the basic problem. A pedestrian can’t walk from downtown to the adjoining Omni neighborhood on most of the streets. The areas are only connected for vehicular traffic on roads.

Miami was spending boatloads of money to bring in fancy consultants to help them “reshape” their urban environment for cycling and walking. An honest assessment would be to tell them to pray for an enormous natural disaster—an earthquake or hurricane which levels part of the city. Something which would wipe their slate clean and allow them to start over from scratch.

A city can be designed for travel by foot or in cars, but not both. Parking completely changes the landscape. If the streets are laid out for walking around, then it will retain its basic pedestrian scale, like the grid of Manhattan. Suburbs designed for trolley cars, like those found in Brooklyn or many neighborhoods of Chicago, also maintain a pleasant atmosphere, particularly when fast transit links to downtowns are available. Neighborhoods built in the last seventy years are designed for cars.

Americans have a choice we don’t want to make. We want to believe there is a magical middle ground between facilitating walking and the use of cars. It doesn’t exist. High priced consultants are creating reams of reports on design tweaks to “retrofit” sprawling communities into old fashioned cities. The entire city of Miami cannot be retrofitted for pedestrians.

Sure, any city can make improvements to the urban environment. But I realized there are very few neighborhoods, anywhere in the country, which are both affordable and offer the amenities we wanted. The USA is, likely will be, and always has been a nation of single family homes on farms, in towns, and later in the suburbs. The best way to get around these places is in a car.

Suddenly our choices were narrowed. There are very few neighborhoods anywhere in the country like Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, Park Slope in Brooklyn, or Miami Beach, Florida. Given our budget constraints, our reasonable options were even less.

Part 7 (We decide on a city.)

Choosing Chicago Part 5

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 5

We returned to Miami for a final night in downtown. It was the last stop on our itinerary.

We’d investigated trying to cross the Florida panhandle and travel the southern USA to return home by train. More than a decade ago Hurricane Katrina severely damaged sections of the track, particularly in Mississippi and Louisiana. Amtrak service has never been restored from Florida to New Orleans. Taking the train would have meant back tracking long distances we’d already covered previously. We flew home instead.

I was happy to be rid of the rental car, even if it meant circling downtown Miami’s one way streets several times to locate the car company. I then suggested we walk from downtown to our hotel in the adjacent Omni neighborhood. In Chicago, Boston, and Philly we had traveled on foot from train stations to our hotel accommodations. My daughter pointed out we didn’t know the area. We could already see some blocks looked dicey.

I was looking forward to riding the free downtown PeopleMover anyway. Based on a monorail and driverless track system developed for Walt Disney’s Tomorrowland in 1967, many cities studied installing them to revitalize their downtowns. Jacksonville and Detroit started, but only Miami would go on to complete theirs. Later designs would become ubiquitous around the nation’s airports, but the only downtown one is still Miami.

Despite the good press I’d been reading about Miami, we could observe from the elevated PeopleMover track that walking to the hotel would have been somewhat impossible, despite the relatively close proximity. Abandoned sidewalks didn’t link up. The river lacked a decent pedestrian crossing. The area was dotted with empty lots and abandoned warehouses. Clearly people didn’t stroll around except in parks and shopping malls. When we later walked a couple blocks to a diner, we were constantly badgered by cabs for pick up. It was assumed we weren’t planning to go anywhere without a vehicle.

Miami presents an impressive skyline. From a boat it appears equal to other cities, like Chicago. It is only up close and on the ground that the differences are striking. It was in Miami I had my “Aha” moment.

Part 6 (American have a choice we don't want to make.)

Choosing Chicago Part 4

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 4

Reluctantly I left Philadelphia. Our next train stop was a layover in D.C. The station was easily the most magnificent of any train depot in the country, located as part of the Washington National Mall. We walked past Congress and various museums to visit the National Gallery of Art and Monuments.

D.C. has a lot to recommend it. Still, the day was unusually hot, I didn’t feel like walking around, and was generally grumpy.

Perhaps I was mourning the separation from my beloved Rittenhouse Square in Philly. D.C. never made my final list of favorite cities. While technically neutral on the North versus South question, I consider the city it firmly located in the Old South, due to the miserable summer weather, lack of real winter, and an overall reliance on driving.

We set off on the last leg of our train ride to arrive in Miami. I was excited to view for myself the redevelopment of their downtown I’d been reading about in urban planning articles. While many people consider Florida to be south of the “real” South, due to the influx of Northern retirees, the city architecture is firmly Modernist.

To say the Miami Amtrak station is a dump is an understatement. I’ve seen more inviting Greyhound bus depots. Located in a warehouse district, simply walking a few blocks to catch a bus seemed like a bad idea at dusk. In Miami’s defense, they understand the problem. By summer of 2016 they hope to have Amtrak relocated to an intermodal hub that will link directly with their subways, downtown People Mover, and commuter trains. The only other station equally uninviting on our trip was our own in Albuquerque, not coincidentally located in the South.

Miami is working to become a model for retrofitting twentieth century suburban-style car planning into twenty-first century urbanism. Shedding its image as a retirement village, Miami is a hot spot for young downtown professionals, particularly Latinos.

Since it was pouring rain when we arrived in Miami I relented on my insistence to use public transportation and called a cab to head to South Beach. I enjoyed the restored old Art Deco hotels. It’s the neighborhood I would pick to move to, if I were able to stand living among the constant throngs of tourists.

Could I deal with the rest of the city of Miami?

Leaving South Beach we rented a car to spend a week in Key West. I’d always heard it called the Santa Fe of the East. Not really. It’s more like an eternal spring break, complete with unbridled constant drinking, located in a picturesque town. We never considered the location as it’s too far from a major airport anyway. I suspect Earnest Hemmingway was the only inhabitant of Key West who was ever productive professionally.

Part 5 (Last stop is downtown Miami and thinking about what makes a city desirable.)

Choosing Chicago Part 3

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 3

We skipped visiting New York, as we’d spent a couple recent vacations there. I adore Brooklyn, where I’d gone to college at Pratt in the late 1980s, when the borough was a very different place. I still find the transformation of hopeless ghetto to desirable, leafy brownstone neighborhoods amazing. It also continues to worry me how quickly even the most desolate places can soar to exorbitant prices in less than a decade or two if it has good bones and somehow becomes the next darling.

Our next train stop was Philadelphia. The layover proved momentous. First, we took a break to reconnect with a couple of my childhood friends. But secondly, I fell in love.

Going in I knew Philly was a smaller city down on its luck, which made it reasonably affordable, even in the best downtown neighborhoods of Center City. I was happy to discover blocks of row houses, and other historical styles. It was Rittenhouse Square, specifically, where I became smitten. It was love at first sight.

It was as if someone had taken Newbury Street out of Boston and merged it with some brownstones of Brooklyn, with some French restaurants thrown in for good measure. I have never seen a more dog friendly neighborhood. Fido often went into the little stores. He didn’t have to worry about being regulated outdoors to the patio, even in some of the restaurants, if he fit into a purse.

Bicycles were everywhere. I watched laundry pickups by cargo bike. The neighborhood was free-spirited with young people drinking beers on their stoops in the summer evening, while mature folks drank wine on the sidewalks outside of cafes. People greeted each other on the streets.

I decided we should move to Philly. My husband’s company only has one urban location in the USA, within a mile of Rittenhouse Square. He would have the option of using an office instead of having to work from home. I was so sure this would be “The One” I bought my husband a Philadelphia 76s cap with his name monogramed on the back, which he now politely stores in the closet.

My daughter didn’t share my enthusiasm, declaring the city to be as sleepy as Boston. It didn’t matter. She would be heading off to college. Besides, both Washington, DC and New York City were train rides less than a couple hours away. Some people even refer to Philly as the sixth, affordable borough of New York.

Part 4 (Rittenhouse Square, Philly versus South Beach, Miami.)

Choosing Chicago Part 2

Part 1 (Go the beginning of Choosing Chicago, if you missed the first part of the series. Otherwise, read on.)

Part 2

Trying to determine the perfect neighborhood turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. At first, I started to collect surveys and “best of” lists for this or that category. Soon I amassed a vast pile of conflicting opinions. My only conclusion was if Forbes magazine liked a city, I probably wouldn’t. Otherwise I was lost.

I did hold on to one magazine article after throwing the rest in the trash. It not only ranked the current “walkability” of various U.S. cities, it also projected where would be most walkable in the future. I decided I could make some comparisons for myself on the train trip. Sure, New York City or San Francisco might be pedestrian heaven, but we couldn’t afford them. This was insider knowledge on how to make a budget choice on finding an unassuming city poised to bloom into an urban utopia.

Who knew there were places like Miami that were positioned to bypass some of the old industrial cities of the North? The article claimed it wasn’t just a single neighborhood in downtown. Entire areas were about to have sidewalks brimming with pedestrians. Sure, I might think a certain city looked appealing right now, but was I missing a golden opportunity for the future? Who was going to keep their urban advantages over time?

The Great American Train Ride to Miami would help me narrow down the city selection process. We were already working with some constraints, particularly our budget. We’d decided we were likely to find our desired amenities in the middle of a major city, except there was a problem. We couldn’t afford an apartment in the downtowns of any of the largest cities, except Houston. That alone should tell you something about the Lone Star state.

Most southern cities were built out after World War Two, air conditioning, and a reliance on cars for transportation. Therefore, they tend to be auto-centric and what we were trying to leave behind. I’d say it’s a toss up whether driving is the more miserable commuter hell in LA or Atlanta. However, I was trying to keep an open mind about how cities would evolve in the future.

My daughter and I struck out on Amtrak. Bunking in the sleeping car, as opposed to coach, we were headed on a land cruise. First stop was Chicago. We’d taken long weekend trips to the city in the past. Unlike LA, the train station is easily accessible to dozens of hotels and miles, upon literal miles, of walking neighborhoods of restaurants and shops. We have no problem strolling a dozen miles in a day if the area is hospitable.

Since we were already familiar with Chicago we quickly headed off to Boston, which has some of the best universities in the world. My daughter was expecting a young vibe, given the density of colleges. However, the downtown area where we stayed was tourists and chain stores. In between the historical sites were bland corporate high rises. Chinatown was a bit dicey but only covered a couple blocks. The old neighboring red light district appeared to be all but gone. Only the trendy boutiques on Newbury Street in Back Bay provided a diversion from the requisite history tours we took.

My daughter took Boston off her own dream cities list. It was too sleepy. Having lived there for some brief spells I knew their snow-packed winters got really, really cold. With the high cost of living I didn’t see a compelling reason to move there either.


Part 3 (The day I fell in love with Philly.)

Choosing Chicago Part 1

How I Chose a New City

 Spring 2015

For the first time in my life I was able to choose to live anywhere in the country, budget constraints non-withstanding. I was ready to leave Albuquerque and the desert southwest for literal greener pastures. Our daughter was graduating from high school soon. Our family home felt much too large. Pending a housing market rebound we were ready to sell. My husband’s work had shifted remote. He telecommuted to his job, a position he could hold anywhere with internet connection and a decent airport for work related travel.

We started to mull the possibilities. We decided we wanted to find an ideal neighborhood. Winthrop Quigley, columnist for the Albuquerque Journal, accurately describes the city as “a collection of mostly nondescript subdivisions connected by monotonous commercial strips, a concrete desert of very wide streets and hectares of parking lots.”

While the surrounding deserts and mountains are breathtaking, the city itself is endless miles of road paving, requiring the use of a vehicle to get anywhere. Rare is the Albuquerque neighborhood with people outside walking around. We were ready to find a neighborhood where walking is a normal daily activity, instead of having to go to a designated recreation trail.

We weren’t as concerned about our living arrangements, other than a commitment to downsize from our 1600 square foot house. We also noted our two car garage collected quite a bit of junk. Clutter seemed to spontaneously generate inside.

We pictured ourselves in the kind of place people talk about wanting to live these days. Somewhere we could comfortably walk to a nearby grocery or drug store. We would be able to ride our bicycles to run errands. We discussed getting rid of our only car, which would mean being close to other transportation options, allowing us to afford a more expensive place.

My husband’s checklist was short. He wanted to be near a major airport. Nearby Santa Fe was out, despite many other positives to recommend it. We also took into account air quality due to his asthma. That took places like Southern California off the list.

I was fussier. My biggest requirement was a body of water large enough for sailboats. Somehow three decades had slipped by without me sailing. Some more cities, such as Denver, were ruled out due to the lack of significant water.

As we discussed the possibilities in the summer of 2014, before her senior year, my daughter decided she wanted to travel across the country by train. She and I looked at the various Amtrak routes. She wanted to experience as many American cities as possible before starting the college application process. Since I was also conducting a search of my own, we decided the two of us would spend a couple weeks on the road.

My daughter contemplated whether she wanted to travel the East or West Coast from Albuquerque. We’d made some overnight train treks to Los Angeles and Chicago in the past. Both cities were almost equal distance from our home. However, while LA’s downtown is starting to revitalize, the city doesn’t have much in walking distance from the station. Either we’d need to rent a car or spend at least an hour on a bus or train getting to other areas of the city.

Traveling from LA we’d need to head up the coast for hours before we’d get to San Francisco. Portland and Seattle involved greater distances. Away from the coast the West has a whole lot of nothing to get through. My daughter decided we should head east.

Later, after our train trip, I would narrow our list of favorite cities down to a final three for my husband and me to choose. We have used the same method to pick a car. We decide the criteria, my husband researches the specifications, then presents me with three models from which to choose. We reversed roles for moving.

Seattle made my final three best cities list. On paper it seemed to have everything going for it, except one insurmountable problem. It was too far away. The travel distance was too great from our home, family, and where it looked like our daughter was most likely to go to college. While I’ve traveled most of the country, to this day I’ve never actually been to Seattle.

Part 2 (The Great American Train Ride heads to Chicago and Boston.)