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'm used to sidewalk cafes in Europe, but usually they are in streets that have been pedestrianized, or there is a strip of sidewalk between the outdoor part of the cafe and the street traffic. I would not care to sit next to the traffic...noise, exhaust, etc.
Sidewalk cafes don't work well in neighborhoods with excessive vehicle or pedestrian traffic. Outside of SoHo, the North End, or Dupobt Circle, I can't think of too many neighborhoods in the States where I'd want to sit on a sidewalk and enjoy a glass of wine.
BTW, I would not want to eat at the cafe in that video. It looks dangerous.
When I ate last night, the cars were going nowhere near 30 mph, probably closer to 15 mph. Traffic is slow right in the middle of town. It was fun for people watching and getting to be outside a bit longer.
This street in my area is very slow as well and kinda narrow. No view of the street but here's the view of sidewalk tables:
Those cafes are usually set up along one-way streets where there's always less and slower-moving traffic. People tend not to speed out of control when there's a possbility of sideswiping multiple cars on both sides of the street.
Center City District released a new report on the continued increase in sidewalk cafes in Philadelphia, which have increased by 241% over 2001, emphasizing how important outdoor dining is to Center City's vibrancy and overall appeal. (Photo by G. Widman for GPTMC)
Meh. Some are high-traffic during rush hour, but due to the one-way pattern of the feeder streets where I live, streets that are busy during morning rush are pretty mellow during evening rush, and vice versa. Because the streets are narrow and at frequent intervals, when traffic gets busy it slows down to 5-10 miles per hour. Here are a few examples of fairly extensive street patios in my downtown:
This corner has three lanes of one-way traffic, quieter in the evening, and outdoor patios that go up to the curb on two corners. The third has panoramic windows and sometimes puts tables outside too.
This street has one lane of traffic in each direction and wide bike lanes, when it gets busy traffic slows to a crawl (every weekend when the restaurant crowd arrives.) In the foreground are four restaurants, each with a fairly busy patio, and more can be found down the street. The right-hand corner is Java City, the founding site of a regional chain of coffee shops. 25 years ago this was the epicenter of neighborhood cool, and the only thing open at night. Now it's part of a district of cafes and restaurants. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=sacra...,109.14,,0,2.7
Another two-way low-traffic street, in between the two high-volume streets, most popular during our monthly "art walk." The vacant lot to the left was a restaurant called Pava's in the 1970s and 80s, a pioneering spot for sidewalk cafes where we live. The bar has a porch, enclosed due to liquor laws that don't let people just walk around on the street with their beer, while the dessert diner next door has seating on the sidewalk closest to the curb. A vegan restaurant is across the street that also has porch/patio seating. Note this street also has bike lanes--the bar on the left gets absolutely festooned with bikes on weekend nights.
Here's a whole block of patio, raised up on a former loading platform (the building used to be a movers' warehouse) providing elevated patio seating. One end is a busy business street, the street it faces is fairly low-traffic, the other end is the same street as the last photo, two-way that is slow when it's busy. On the far end of the block is the epicenter of the city's gay nightclub district, with around six clubs and bars in a block radius and a few more restaurants, several of which have outdoor/patio seating.
Pity there isn't a current Google Street View of our former pedestrian mall, which was recently converted back to allow automobile traffic. There's one lane in either direction on a brick surface with very narrow lanes, with one drop-off point per block but no street parking. The presence of street furniture, trees and other obstacles make drivers feel uncomfortable about driving fast, and most of the street width is pedestrian space, and it has become a popular cycling route since a ban on riding bikes on the mall was lifted a few years ago. It gets very very busy with pedestrians at night, and occasionally a car goes by (actually, cars used to drive on it a lot when it was still a pedestrian mall too...now they just don't get a ticket for doing so.) K Street is a lot like what is called a "woonerf" in the Netherlands, or a "complete street" where the car is just one player among many--encouraged to behave by not being given grand dominion over its environment.
Okay, found a photo of that streetscape, taken around 11 PM:
There are tons of sidewalk cafes all around central Philadelphia; most have seats right on roads with traffic, now most traffic moves slow but IMHO does not take away from the experience at all. Also these cafes/restaurants/bars many times have seats against the building and curb with pedestrian sidewalk flow right in between the tables.
Last edited by kidphilly; 05-25-2012 at 09:53 AM..
There are tons of sidewalk cafes all around central Philadelphia; most have seats right on roads with traffice, now most traffice move slow but IMHO does not take away from the experience at all. Also these cafes/restaurants/bars many times have seats against the building and curb with pedestrian sidewalk flow right in between the tables.
How fast can you really drive in Center City? The streets are smaller than the average middle school hallway and there are stop signs every couple of hundred feet.
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.
