Individual Blog: 9th and 9th

9^th and 9^th is the intersection of 900 South and 900 East and the surrounding neighborhood. At the intersection of the streets is a shopping center with residential areas resonating from the center. I have already had exposure to the 9^th and 9^th district because the bike shop that I go to is at the intersection. It is Contender Bicycles. The walkabout helped me to explore more of the area and to get a better feel for it.

The biggest thing that stood out to me at 9^th and 9^th is the hipster attitude that the area portrayed. The neighborhood ha d a commitment to buy local. There were multiple independent shops and restaurants in the neighborhood. In fact, the only shop or restaurant that was not locally owned was a Barbacoa, The Barbacoa felt out of place with the rest of the neighborhood. Another indication of the hipster attitude was the signs posted throughout the neighborhoods of indie bands that none of us had ever heard of before. The crosswalk sign at the intersection was changed from a hand signaling to stop to a rock on hand signal.

The center of the neighborhood was considered a public place and encouraged human interaction. There are sculptures of modern art throughout the intersection. The shops were almost all local, independent shops that encouraged the public to enter into. The people in the shops were very friendly and encouraged conversation. When we asked someone to take our picture, they went out of their way to make sure the picture was perfect. While we were at the

Coffee Garden, a stranger came up to Leah and asked her what cake she ordered. The

neighborhood had a friendly, open vibe to it. The space encouraged the public to walk or bike around the neighborhood. The roads were narrow with wide shoulders for cyclist and there was a well-kept sidewalk. There were many bike locks throughout the neighborhood. They were not normal, rusting bike locks but were vibrant red bike locks in the shape of bikers.

The neighborhood used many of the elements that are described in Kevin Lynch’s The Image of the City. The intersection of 9^th and 9^th would be considered a node because it is the

focal point and intersection of the neighborhood. Everything in the neighbor hood was centered on the intersection and the shops and restaurants at the intersection. At the intersection, the landmark of the neighbor hood is Tower Theatre. Tower theatre is a local movie theatre known for screening independent films. Another building that could be considered a landmark is the Coffee Garden coffee shop. It is considered the “gay” coffee shop of Salt Lake. Usually the commercialized coffee shops like Starbucks force the local coffee shops to go out of business. The opposite happened with the Coffee Garden as it forced a Starbucks out of business. The neighborhood had distinct paths in the form of sidewalks and roads. There were wide, open sidewalks that encouraged walking as the means of transportation. The boundaries of the neighborhood were the roads. When we asked residents what they considered the 9^th and 9^th neighborhood to be they responded that it was from 700 East to 1300 East and 600 S to 1100 S. The two districts of the neighborhood were the shopping district at the center and the surrounding residential districts.