Last month I took a weekend trip to Nashville.  To be honest the bar was set really low, but Nashville did manage to exceed my expectations.  The influence of the music industry is undeniable and the youthful energy is refreshing.  Special thanks to glutmax for showing me around.

 

 

1. On the outskirts of downtown

 

2. The Gulch is Nashville's requisite mega-mixed use urban infill project.  It's ok and has a lot of gaps in it, but evidently Jack Black frequents this trendy area of town.

 

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5. Trendy little restaurant right on the main drag of The Gulch

 

6.And what's an up-and-coming trendy area without an Urban Outfitters?

 

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8. In the CBD now outside The Frist

 

9. Very nice

 

10. Batman!

 

11. Known simply as "The District" this area of downtown is home to much of Nashville's thriving live music and nightlife. Tourists are hard to miss and you'll have no trouble finding yourself a new pair of cowboy boots, a ten gallon hat, or tatoo.

 

12. Cliche, yes.

 

13. The newish Sommet Center was built in 1996 and is home to Nashville's NHL franchise and other random events. The District used to stretch even further along Broadway until this massive complex caused the demolition of a slew of historic structures/establishments.

 

14. Tourists galore.

 

15. Looking east along Broadway in The District.

 

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17. This tacky looking purple building is the world famous Tootsies Orchid Lounge. Musicians like Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Hank Cochran, Roger Miller and Patsy Cline all got their start here and a host of movies have included scenes inside the establishment.

 

18. Odd historic preservation technique...destroy the building, but leave the facade with nothing behind it. Seems like something that would be seen on a Western film set.

 

19. Get your much needed cowboy boots here.

 

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21. Loved this mural, but interesting window placement...

 

22. Do I love these types of signs? Yes. Do I photograph them a lot?  Yes.

 

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25. The back side of the 2nd Avenue establishments. Interestingly enough, the establishments front onto 2nd Avenue, while this back side overlooks the Cumberland River.

 

26. Lone boat floating down the Cumberland River.

 

27. LP Field...home of the Tennessee Titans NFL franchise.

 

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29. Here's your photo glutmax. :)

 

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31. Some young punks decided to make use of the capital building's steps over the weekend.

 

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34. The historic Hermitage Hotel. Forget about affording this place on a budget.

Nashville improved a lot in the past 3 years.  Broadway used to be the edge of downtown, but the Schimerhorn music hall and the new mirrored skyscraper have expanded downtown considerably, and away from the 1970's crap up by the state house.

 

Also the new gulch condos are a big deal and add a lot to the overall landscape. The big projects that were cut with the housing collapse were the Signature Tower and the West End Summit.  The pit was dug for the West End Summit but there hasn't been any progress beyond that. 

Nashville is doin' big things!

The Gulch has come a LONG way from even five years ago.

It's allegedly way overbuilt.  I don't have the stats, but supposedly the two main buildings are less than 50% sold. They're pretty nice buildings though. Maybe them getting off the ground contributed to Signature Tower not happening.  I don't know. 

It looks to have a lot going on.  I need to get down there eventually.

Don't be fooled, the walkable area of Nashville is very, very small.  They have had some very good buildings go up this decade, but they still have a lot of catching up to do. 

destroy the building, but leave the facade with nothing behind it

 

This seems to be increasingly common. Memphis has an example (on Beale Street), as do Youngstown and Portsmouth.

Don't be fooled, the walkable area of Nashville is very, very small. They have had some very good buildings go up this decade, but they still have a lot of catching up to do.  

 

I have never been to Nashville, however, from the photo's, it appears to be quite a vibrant city.  When you say they have alot of catching up to do, who are you referring to that they need to catch up to?

^I would assume he's talking about their urban environment.  Like many other cities in the south, Nashville has seen a tremendous amount of urban and suburban investment over the past two decades.  Some of that investment has been good, others bad.  But the fact remains that the vibrant urban neighborhoods are few and far between.

 

Germantown is cool, but has lots of gaps to it.  The Gulch is neat, but is clearly overbuilt and needs substantially more construction to make it feel complete.  Downtown is ok, but predominantly office-focused and lacking a full vibrancy.  The West End is seeing a lot happen, but much is auto-oriented, and a lot is also dependent upon the Vanderbilt University student population being around.

The one thing I would point out that was unique to Nashville was that Broadway was a truly broad street, but also one of the widest and hilliest streets I'm aware of that was also pedestrian friendly.  I think that's because the scale of the buildings and the street's dead-end caused traffic to slow.  I have no explanation for why Broadway doesn't have a bridge over the river, or despite it being the edge of downtown it felt like the center of it.  Now there is stuff on the other side of Broadway, so it's no longer the edge. 

 

Yeah, Nashville has hardly *any* walkable areas outside of downtown and the West End.  They have a small area called Hillsboro Village which is a strip kind of like Cincinnati's Ludlow business district, and another area called 12th St. (I think), which is kind of like Mt. Healthy's business district, but that's quite literally it.  It simply does not have the old neighborhood business districts that built up around streetcar junctions like you're used to in the north. 

 

The neon guitar capital of the world.

^Hillsboro Village is a short two-block stretch. I can't think of any place in Nashville outside of downtown where the buildings are built up to the sidewalk. When you talk to Nashvillians, they tend to put Hillsboro Village up on a very high pedestal (Clevelanders: think Coventry divided by 4). They have an odd sense of urban perspective in that city.

ehhh

>They have an odd sense of urban perspective in that city.

 

Right, they definitely think Hillsboro Village is a big deal. The closest comparison in Cincinnati would probably be Mt. Lookout Square, in that it's more yuppie and less yoga than Ludlow Ave, but it's a pretty straightforward strip with no distinctive buildings. There's also a bar district in East Nashville with some odd intersections that's kind of cool, and I suppose it's cool that you can buy a little house with a little yard so close to downtown over there, but there will probably never be neighborhood-oriented rail transit there like streetcars or the Shaker Heights Rapid.