Day 16: Jackson Square - New Orleans, LA

Eric Fredericks • Tuesday July 17, 2007

Today, we head to the Crescent City—and one of my favorite American cities—New Orleans. New Orleans is such a unique city. I have written about New Orleans previously on here, mostly about one of my favorite walkable neighborhoods, Algiers Point.

Jackson Square is the site of this photo. It’s located in the heart of the French Quarter, near the Mississippi River. We were eating some delicious beignets from Cafe Du Monde when some street performers enticed us to stay and watch their show. It was amazing! The acrobatics they performed on the hard concrete were truly death-defying. They did all sorts of back flips and somersaults over each other. When they first started, hardly anyone was there to watch. By the end of the show, the sidewalks were jam packed.

I’m not going to dive into the struggles with Hurricane Katrina, though I know several people there breaking their backs everyday to rebuild. The walkable parts of New Orleans were mostly spared. It was the middle class and poor, dilapidated, and heavy minority neighborhoods that faced the most damage. I really hope for the best in their recovery efforts.

As always, I have more photos of New Orleans for view in the photo gallery. Some of the photos were also shot by my good friend Mike Corrigan.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: New Orleans •• comments [2]

Day 15: King's Village, Waikiki - Honolulu, HI

Eric Fredericks • Monday July 16, 2007

Aloha! Next stop: paradise. Well, mostly paradise. Honolulu, Hawaii has some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. It also has great weather and fantastic beaches. However, Honolulu can’t escape the grasp of mainland America, as it is still plagued by an auto-dominated society. The clash between the rich and the poor is also quite appalling, and might not be what you’d expect to see on your Hawaiian adventure.

I visited Oahu last November with my girlfriend and we had a wonderful time. We stayed in Waikiki not far from where I took this photo. Waikiki has undergone some major streetscaping renovations that has made the walking environment very pleasant. (I have handwritten a critique on my visit to Hawaii and will post this at a later date. The critique has just been sitting on my desk for months!).

This photo is of King’s Village. It’s quite the colorful little development. Just like everywhere else in Honolulu, it has shops and restaurants – especially ethnic restaurants. My personal favorite place we ate there was Tanaka of Tokyo. The food is served teppenyaki-style. I really liked the blue lights in the tree in this photo, and of course, the pedestrians crossing at the crosswalk.

You can see more photos of my visit to Hawaii in the photo gallery. And, despite the negatives I mentioned about Honolulu, I would love to be on Waikiki Beach with a Mai Tai in hand right about now…

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: Honolulu •• comments

Day 14: Downtown - La Jolla, CA

Eric Fredericks • Sunday July 15, 2007

Downtown La Jolla, just north of San Diego, has many great shops and restaurants. It is situated along the Pacific Ocean, and has a long coastal trail with lots of parkland. This was another one of those places where it was hard to choose a photo.

This image probably would not have ranked this high on the list had it not been for the adorable kids that snuck into the photo. I always feel strange taking photos of random children because of all the paranoia associated with it today. In my line of work, it’s somewhat crucial to have photographs of children in walkable neighborhoods. So, I try and be clever about it. I also try to make sure I’m always in public space when I take photos. If I’m not, I make sure that it’s such a beautiful place that they can’t help but let me take photos.

A few days before I shot this, I was asked to delete some photos at the US Border Crossing in Tijuana, Mexico. I did not see the no photography signs and security came running after me. The Mexican guards had no problem with me taking photos, plus it was much nicer than the US side.

I think it goes without saying that La Jolla is worth a stop if you’re in the San Diego area. There aren’t many places along the coastline that aren’t worth a visit there. The downsides to La Jolla is that it does not seem to be as diverse as other California cities, and it’s really expensive.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: San Diego •• comments

Day 13: Main Street - Tipp City, OH

Eric Fredericks • Saturday July 14, 2007

It’s a really good thing that this isn’t a photo series in which I actually traveled to these places in sequential order. Especially because today I’d be flying back to Ohio and giving Al Gore heartburn!

Anyhow, the next destination is Tipp City, Ohio. In some ways, this is the quintessential small town: beautiful brick buildings, no setbacks, tree-canopied streets, and family-owned shops, cafés, and restaurants. But the town also hugs Interstate 75 and is just a few miles north of Dayton. The Dayton Region is not growing in population, but like many Midwestern cities, it’s rapidly expanding… outward, not up. Tipp City is seeing the effects of that expansion, as sprawl plagues the major interchanges.

I love this photo. To me, this photo represents exactly what we need to protect in this country—a sense of place. Tipp City has it. Most small towns had it or are about to lose it with the generalization of America. When I travel across the country, most every town looks the same. The charming little downtowns have lost their distinctive characters because the chain retailers have forced them out of business. Or, the businesses relocated to “high-visibility” places.

The truth is, no place is more visible than a walkable neighborhood. You can see so many more details while walking than driving. Sprawl and chain businesses all look the same to me and become overwhelmingly ugly and mind-numbing.

If you happen to be traveling to or through Miami County, Ohio, I highly recommend visiting Tipp City, Troy, and Piqua. The cores of these three cities will remind you of what the old Americana used to be. The rapid sprawling in these cities will remind you of what we stand to lose. You can view more of my photos of Tipp City in the photo gallery.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: Dayton •• comments [1]

Day 12: Dolphin Fountain - Monterey, CA

Eric Fredericks • Friday July 13, 2007

Next stop, beautiful Monterey, California. I had a really tough time deciding which Monterey photo is my favorite. In fact, I changed my mind this morning and decided to go with this photo of the dolphin fountain at Monterey Plaza Hotel. I know it’s not the perfect example of walkability, but the fountain and the view is just so spectacular. The couple enjoying the views in the background of the photo is the icing on the cake. Oh, and I wasn’t lying when I said I love fountains—that’s three days in a row of selecting fountains!

Monterey is a fantastic place to visit, but not somewhere I would likely move. It’s very touristy, expensive, and I’m not a fan of the small change in temperature during the year—I like it hot in the summertime. I imagine that many people would disagree with me, because Monterey has an amazing coastal bike trail, very walkable neighborhoods, great restaurants, access to a variety of fauna and flora species, and a quaint, smaller-town feel. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row are world-class attractions as well. Luckily, I currently live about 3 hours from Monterey and can visit whenever I get the urge.

I have many photos of Monterey available in the photo gallery. I have also included my runner-up photo after the jump if you’d like to see a little taste of Downtown Monterey. >>Continue Reading This Article>>

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: Monterey Bay •• comments

Day 9: Campustown on Green Street - Champaign-Urbana, IL

Eric Fredericks • Tuesday July 10, 2007

This photo is of the University of Illinois Campustown. I decided to put Champaign-Urbana in the title because when I shot this photo, I was standing in Urbana and shooting toward Champaign. The pedestrian pictured is on the Urbana side, while the buildings are on the Champaign side. Wright Street is the dividing street in this part of the two cities.

An interesting side note: I’m willing to wager that most students do not know that Wright Street divides the two cities. In fact, there are very few places where there are signs saying what city you’re in. I find this to be true for quite a few Illinois cities (I’ll probably get some disagreement from Illinoisans on this, but I think I’m right). In the two other states I’ve lived in – Ohio and California – you know when you’re entering a new jurisdiction. In Ohio, it gets a bit outrageous sometimes because of the annexing powers of cities and the battles between the townships – you can go in and out of cities five or six times along the same road within a short distance. But that’s for another day…

Back on topic now… Campustown did not look like this when I was in school. Right after I left, the city of Champaign did some major streetscaping and a road diet on Green Street – the main artery for Campustown. This has had a dramatic effect on the businesses and culture on Green Street. Before, many businesses had a hard time surviving – especially during summer months. Now, it’s seemingly thriving.

Since I’m attempting to keep these postings brief, I’ll end by saying that both cities, especially Champaign, have some nice synergy going in terms of implementing more walkable neighborhoods. Champaign is definitely turning into what I described in a previous article as a Mecca in the Cornfields. You can also view my photos of Champaign and the University of Illinois campus.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: Champaign-Urbana •• comments

Day 6: Memorial Park - Pasadena, CA

Eric Fredericks • Saturday July 7, 2007

I know that photographically, there is a lot to criticize in this photo. However, I just can’t help but love Memorial Park’s mature trees, the beautiful clock tower, the pedestrians, and the mountains in the background.

The Downtown and Old Pasadena neighborhoods are quite interesting stops along the Gold Line. There are a couple of TODs built around Pasadena Gold Line stations as well (and by looking at this link, I realized I missed a lot myself). Make sure that the next time you’re in L.A. to make a visit here. Believe it or not, much of Pasadena’s revitalization happened because the city started charging more for parking.

I highly recommend eating at the All India Cafe on Fair Oaks Avenue.

This is the last California photo in the series for a few days. When I was ranking the photos, I didn’t pay too much attention to geographic breakdown and later realized I had a large California block. I think there are several reasons why I have selected more California photos, and it’s not just because California is so beautiful—I have a new camera and my photography skills have likely improved since moving here two years ago.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: Los Angeles •• comments

Day 3: Eagle Park - Mountain View, CA

Eric Fredericks • Wednesday July 4, 2007

Happy 4th of July! I hope your holiday is enjoyable and safe.

You may recognize today’s photo. You can see a modified version of it in our “logo.” I took this photo standing in Eagle Park looking into the beautiful Park Place Apartments complex in Downtown Mountain View. I just loved the trees in this view. I also just learned that this development is on the site of a former high school. Amazing.

Mountain View is another must stop in the Bay Area for those that love road diets. Castro Street, located just a few blocks from here, is vibrant with many shops and restaurants. It also has some of the most unique parking spaces and former travel lanes turned into outdoor restaurant seating. You can read more about downtown here or view my Mountain View photo gallery.

This article is a part of the Exploring the Walkability of America in 30 Days photo series.

 

Category: Walkability •• Region: San Jose •• comments

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