Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I would like to review the substantial accomplishments of the baby boom generation in inner city transformation/gentrification/etc.
I will make several posts based mostly on my own personal observations from that period, but others may chime in.
I intend to include renovation, as in many areas most inner city redevelopment in that era took that form, rather than new construction.
I will start with Chicago. I lived there between 1981 and 1983. During the period I was there, there continued to be modest redevelopment on the edges of Hyde Park on the south side - most transformation was on the north side - especially near north. Gradual change, including some renovation of the housing stock took place in inner near north, old town, new town, and Belmont harbor, mostly on the inland edges of those nabes, IIRC. the nabe called Uptown began its transformation in that era. There was a substantial new townhouse development in Lincoln Park, and I believe renovation. AFAICT the only new hi rises were in downtown proper, and not too much of that.
Jax was a very difficult place for inner city development A. The suburbs were very convenient to downtown in that smallish metro, so there was less incentive to avoid a commute and B. The culture of the place was not particularly oriented toward urban/walkable
Nonetheless there was some inner city renovation going on, notably in select, architecturally desirable houses in San Marco, Riverside, Avondale, and a few houses in Springfield. There was one downtown new construction project I recall from when I was there (83 to 86) - a townhouse project between downtown the southern edge of Springfield.
Bolton Hill, where I moved first, had many boomers moving in. I dont recall any particular houses in BH proper being renovated in those years (many had been just prior) but that was the when Old Friends Apts and the Beethoven were renovated. There was also renovation going on on Eutaw Street, and even a bit on Madison beyond Eutaw. There were both houses and apt buildings renovated in Reservoir Hill.
There were IIRC some further renovation in Mount Vernon. There was a new residential tower downtown at Charles Center (Park Charles, or something like that). Otterbein was mostly consolidated at that point the "zipper" building was completed right across the street from the harbor, as was the hi rise right next to the harbor at the edge of little italy. Ther continued to be renovation on the edges of Federal Hill, in Ridgelys delight and Barre circle. The area of southwest baltmore near Union Square attracted artsy folks (not yet called hipsters) and was dubbed "sowebohemia". There were also several factories renovated on the edge of downtown towards ridgelys - sail cloth factory, I think , and a couple of others.
It was in these years that the Canton waterfront take off began. The one hirise and its adjoining TH's were already build by 1986 - it was then that Tindeco wharf, the Shipyard, and Canton Cove were renovated, and that the big townhouse development between Boston and Odonnel was built. There were also many renovations of old townhouses, mostly south of Odonnell, but slowly creeping north (I was still in Canton till 1993, so i may be remembering things from the very early 90's)
There continued to be a bit of renovation activity on the southern and eastern edges of Charles village, and in remington and Wyman Park IIRC.
There was renovation of houses around Fells point, and several big factory renovations on the Fells pt waterfront ( again, I may be misrembering things from 1990-1993).
There was substantial town house renovation in Butchers Hill.
There was a city sponsored artists residence begun near Jones Town.
I know a lot of Boomers (and a lot of pre-Boomer Silent Generation, and even a few Greatest Generation) in my neighborhood, and indeed, a lot of them moved here in the 1970s and 1980s, when century-old Victorian houses were dirt cheap (and in some cases still redlined) in much the same way that center-city properties in the Rust Belt are cheap now--and the perception of their middle-class suburban friends, family and neighbors was that they were completely insane, if not suicidal. They started clubs to share skills and tools needed to fix up old buildings, promoted cycling and alternative energy and electric cars back when people my age were still grooving to "Schoolhouse Rock" and the first generation of Sesame Street. They were instrumental in advocating for the first historic preservation ordinances in the city, and promoting residential adaptive reuse in an era when city government was still intent on depopulating the central city. I certainly don't discount the efforts of earlier generations in the efforts to move back to the city.
It occurred during the real estate cycle in the 80s and boomers did it for the same reason people did it between 2000 and 2007. There was money to be made, especially after the previous housing recession when people walked away from houses much like they have been doing recently, except the impact fell on inner-city neighborhoods then.
The movie Pacific Heights was inspired in part by the amount of gentrification going on in the late 80s.
I also picked up an old door someone tossed out into the street in San Francisco when they were gutting an old house and replacing the old hardware with current junk. I still have the door. It appears to be solid redwood. It is heavy. It has the original lock, doorknobs and beveled glass.
I did not live there, but I visited enough in this period to have my own personal impressions.
NYC, which had been battered by the mid 70s recession, did relatively well in the 1980s. It was here, around 1981 1982, that the word Yuppie was invented. The age of the yuppie went strong in NYC till the wall street crash in 1987.
In this era several previously weak parts of Manhattan went upscale. In particular just prior to this era only a few parts of the Upper West were really strong. Central Park West, Riverside Drive, and the area near Lincoln Center. In the 80s redevelopment moved rapidly up the weaker avenues and sides streets - most notably Columbus Avenue, from about 70th street to above 86th. To a lesser extent up Amsterdam and Bway and the side streets.
The edges of the Upper East side filled out, esp on the northern edge where the UES fades into Spanish Harlem. I beleve there were a quite a few new buildings east of 3rd avenue, and north of 90th street, in that era.
It was in this era that Chelsea was gentrified, though I think that was mostly renovation, and few new buildings. Similarly, it was in this era that the formerly "hip" east village and Soho became more solidly yuppie, and artsy people moved on noho, tribeca, and began to move into alphabetville.
It occurred during the real estate cycle in the 80s and boomers did it for the same reason people did it between 2000 and 2007. There was money to be made, especially after the previous housing recession when people walked away from houses much like they have been doing recently, except the impact fell on inner-city neighborhoods then..
they moved because they sought fun neighborhoods, close to their jobs, and didnt yet feel a need for suburban houses or schools. Some moved cause they loved the architecture of the new neighborhoods. Some because they saw a way to make money by fixing old houses.
I visited a lot during the 1980s, as my parents still lived there.
During this period, while "hipsterdom" was still confined to Manhattan AFAIK, there was expansion of the yuppie/brownstoner gentrification.
It was in this period that Park Slope was solidified, and gentrification spread in all directions down the slope, and even into the apt buildings, I think.
It was around this time that the first big conversion of an industrial building to residential happened, on the edge between cobble hill and gowanus.
In this era Carrol Gardens and Boerum Hill were hot nabes. Transition began in Prospect Heights, and I believe in Clinton.
In 1980 we moved to a city neighborhood in Denver, Sloan's Lake. (I assume I'm allowed to talk about Denver on this thread, since other's have discussed Brooklyn, Manhattan, Jacksonville and various neighborhoods in Baltimore.) We were newlyweds; we rented. We liked it so much we considered buying there. We had friends who had bought there. A big problem was that a house in that neighborhood cost as much as a new house in the suburbs, and most needed extensive repairs, as the original owners hadn't done anything to them in the 60+ years since they had been built.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
