Group 7: The Avenues

For this week's walkabout, our group re-visited the Avenues neighborhood (see map). Since we have previously analyzed this area as a district, this time we were able to focus more on it's qualities as an actual neighborhood. We loved the area particularly for it's unique characteristics, such as the quirky houses donning bright colors and funky designs. There was a variety of types of architecture, ranging from bungalows to Victorian. Materials varied as well, though a vast majority were composed of brick or wood paneling. We came across many houses, condos, and apartments for sale/rent, though only one listed a starting price of $250,000. In our last discussion of this area, we mentioned particularly unique street signs, labeled with the alphabet going east-west, and numerical avenues going north-south. These were what stood out to us as the most obvious literal signs which made it easier than usual to navigate.

Most of the people we saw were taking advantage of the long flat paths for outdoor exercise purposes, such as biking, dog walking or jogging. We assumed everyone to be locals, considering the area is mainly residential. For people living here, it serves as a retreat to come to after a day of work or school. Because of this reason, the majority of people were either inside or, if outside, it was for recreational purposes. There were few signs of children, indicating an older population. The only other signal of identity we noticed were a significant number of political signs campaigning for Peter Corroon, a local democrat candidate, indicating a more liberal area.

As previously mentioned, the Avenues area is mostly residential. Aside from two corner cafes within the neighborhood limits, the only other shops were located on the outside bordering street (South Temple). Once on this main road, there was a variety of businesses, law offices, restaurants, and even the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center. We found signs offering landscape services, such as leaf blowing, posted on different blocks as well. Despite the lack of shops within the neighborhood streets, we found numerous public spaces, including an elementary school and various church meeting houses for different denominations.