Posted July 13, 200915 yr The Pearl Street Mall in Boulder is truly one of America's great urban spaces. Historic architecture, incredible pedestrian space, art, dining, shopping, and interactive elements create a very vibrant urban experience. The pics were taken last week during a work day afternoon. Hope you enjoy.
July 13, 200915 yr Love it! You know this reminds me of the 3rd Street promenade in Santa Monica, except that the architecture you've shown seems a lot more interesting. Great photos!
July 13, 200915 yr My mom's alma mater. "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO.
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO. I couldn't a gree more. Boston, San Fran., Seattle, Portland & Denver. Same place different location!
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO. The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc...
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO. The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc... There is one in NYC? WHERE? :wtf: Show me!! yes, there is one on Michigan avenue. However, Michigan avenue is a true mixed goods retail street. Also, chains like that are less represented in Chicago, so the brand extension is needed for exposure, not necessity.
July 20, 200915 yr Nice pedestrian mall with plenty of people out. I'd visit it if I were in Boulder.
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO. The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc... Just my knee jerk reaction to the photos friend. Don't get me wrong, I love the scene and am sure me and the fam would have a great few hours of exploring there. I also have not been to Boulder so MO comes straight from what I am seeing in this thread..... but if this is truly one of the great urban spaces, then so is Chagrin Falls.
July 20, 200915 yr I see white people.... j/k.... although the total lack of diversity does stand out. I have mixed feelings about this place from what I can see in the pictures. Love the architecture.... not so much the layout. And seeing the Cheesecake Factory planted there takes the word "urban" out of the equation for me. JMHO. The amount of different languages I heard while walking around was impressive. There were more local restaurants than chains and I wouldn't consider a cheesecake factory a reason not to call a place urban. They are in downtown Chicago, NYC, Boston, etc... There is one in NYC? WHERE? :wtf: Show me!! yes, there is one on Michigan avenue. However, Michigan avenue is a true mixed goods retail street. Also, chains like that are less represented in Chicago, so the brand extension is needed for exposure, not necessity. You are correct, their are no Cheesecake Factory's in downtown NYC. But, they are in downtown Seattle, downtown San Francisco, etc... I just don't get the concept that having a chain makes a place not urban. NYC has places like Planet Hollywood, ESPN Zone, Hard Rock, etc.... I guess my point was to say that downtown Boulder has figured out how to create a vibrant, urban pedestrian space that is used across the planning and downtown development fields as a model of high quality placemaking (above and beyond most communities). Are their different or better urban spaces, sure, but this one usually gets a lot of high marks.
July 21, 200915 yr The University of Colorado (their campus is in Boulder) is the second whitest university in the country, only behind BYU. I'm white, but even I don't feel right when I'm there, hard to explain. I mean there's not even many Mexicans, even though there's about 300,000 illegal one's 30 minutes away in Denver, and another 30,000 in Longmont (cheaper town in Boulder county). People I used to work with in Denver metro used to refer to Boulder as "Wonderbread Suburbia", or 50 square miles surrounded by reality. I'll never forget one time when they had some sort of hokie street fair for "diversity"; there was one act that had one African, accompanied by some other white dancers, and some white people banging on some drums. I remember taking a friend there one time (from NE Ohio), and I asked him what he thought. He said that he was glad that he lived in Ohio. Not trying to turn this into a race thing, but, as with many things in Colorado (and in the West), there is so much you can't see in a still picture.
July 21, 200915 yr The University of Colorado (their campus is in Boulder) is the second whitest university in the country, only behind BYU. I'm white, but even I don't feel right when I'm there, hard to explain. I mean there's not even many Mexicans, even though there's about 300,000 illegal one's 30 minutes away in Denver, and another 30,000 in Longmont (cheaper town in Boulder county). People I used to work with in Denver metro used to refer to Boulder as "Wonderbread Suburbia", or 50 square miles surrounded by reality. I'll never forget one time when they had some sort of hokie street fair for "diversity"; there was one act that had one African, accompanied by some other white dancers, and some white people banging on some drums. I remember taking a friend there one time (from NE Ohio), and I asked him what he thought. He said that he was glad that he lived in Ohio. Not trying to turn this into a race thing, but, as with many things in Colorado (and in the West), there is so much you can't see in a still picture. I am not sure when you saw that information but here is the ethnic diversity for universities in the US. The University of Colorado has a rating of .27 out of 1.0. For comparison University of Cincinnati is .28 and Ohio State has a .29. There are dozens of universities throughout the US with lower diversity levels. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/college/national-campus-ethnic-diversity
July 21, 200915 yr Let's not take this thread down this well trodden, pointless, not to mention off-topic road.
July 24, 200915 yr I keep on getting more and more impressed with urban Colorado. Before getting onto urbanohio I figured Colorado was one sprawling mess.
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