Opinions Needed About Little Rock!! (North Little Rock, Hope: hotel, house, neighborhoods)

[jclingner]

Hello. I work for a board game manufacturer in Cincinnati, Ohio. We are making games about several U.S. cities and Little Rock will be of the cities! The game will be called Little Rock-Opoly. I am researching the cities for the game spaces & here is what I have come up with so far to represent Little Rock. The following places may be placed around the game board on a similar layout as a Monopoly game board.

Here are the possible spaces:

Arkansas Queen
River Rail Streetcar
Willow Springs Water Park
Little Rock Zoo
Riverfest Amphitheatre
The Weekend Theater
Whole Hog Cafe
River Market District
Alltel Arena
The Old State House Museum
MacArthur Park
Robinson Center Music Hall
Little Rock Central High School
War Memorial Stadium
Lake Maumelle
Museum of Discovery
Pinnacle Mountain
Arkansas State Capitol
Clinton Presidential Center
Villa Marre
Metropolitan National Bank Tower
La Petite Roche

Would you add/delete/change any of the above places? Is one of the above places called something different by locals? Any major landmark of Little Rock missing? What are the 2 most important landmarks of Little Rock?

The game will make reference to 4 famous streets or neighborhoods. The neighborhoods chosen so far are:

Riverdale
North Little Rock
Hillcrest Historic District
The Heights

Any of the above you would change/add? Would you add famous streets instead of neighborhoods?

The game will also make reference to 2 famous festivals. The festivals chosen so far are:

Wildwood Festival
Riverfest

Would you change/add the chosen festivals?

Thank you in advance for your time & opinions. Your opinions help us hear a broad range of feedback and provide accurate game content about Little Rock.

[GlendaRN]

Glad you asked, Willow Springs Water Park (outside LR city limits), Lake Maumelle, and Alltell Arena are not in LR, but in N.L.R. NLR is a separate city not a neighborhood in LR. The Water Park in LR is Wild River Water Park. You might want to consider Chenal as another neighborhood as it is large, newer and nayone in LR knows it. Also you might want to consider the Arkansas Arts Center and Ark. Repetory theater. (I know everone is surprised to learn we actually do have the arts in Arkansas! Hope this helps.

[EL DORADO BON JOVI]

Governor's Mansion?


Instead of railroads you could use "Razorbacks" with 4 different "pig names", like Snout, Oinker or Tusk.

Very cool game idea.

[bagelw]

Originally Posted by GlendaRN

The Water Park in LR is Wild River Water Park.

Wild River Country is also in NLR. Little Rock doesn't have a water park. Alltel arena is also in NLR. The new Travelers stadium is Dickey-Stephens Park which is also in NLR.

If you are going to include NLR then you could add Burns Park and the Old Mill. NLR is a seperate city but there are a few neighborhoods there like Park Hill and Lakewood.

The Peabody Hotel would be a good one to add as well as MacArthur Park. Cantrell, University, Kavanaugh, Rodney Parham, Chenal Parkway, Main, and Broadway are some streets that would be good to have.

[Sam I Am]

I'd also add Argenta in NLR, which is reviving rapidly and is historic in it's own right. And the Big Dam. Maybe the fairgrounds...but Whole Hog Cafe? Not exactly a landmark unless you're adding a bunch of eating places, and then I can think of about a dozen that are just as noteworthy, if not more so. Makes me kind of wonder how they made the cut but maybe I'm missing something.

[Stormcrow73]

I think you have to approach this as a LR metro area theme and so that allows inclusion of all of the attractions and neighborhoods not in LR proper.
As far as neighborhoods, you should add Maumelle in the mid range. It's an uppity suburb fairly famous around the state but doesn't have quite the notoriety of the Heights or Hillcrest. North Little rock encompasses too much to be considered one single neighborhood. You should have Argenta separated as well as Park Hill. Why don't we have any of the lower dollar neighborhoods??

[anjoe]

The Big Dam Bridge!

[trinity224]

I've lived in Little Rock my entire life, 50+ years. You'll find that residents of Little Rock and North Little Rock are a bit prickly when people confuse the two cities. They are separate incorporated entities, with entirely separate city governments. If your company plans to market this game in this area, perhaps you need to change it to "Little Rock/North Little Rock." Residents of NLR will not appreciate getting lumped in with LR. LR residents referred to NLR as 'Dogtown' for years, because of the practice of dumping unwanted strays over there. * If North Little Rock is included, all your data will change.

>> Would you add/delete/change any of the above places?
Delete Arkansas Queen & Alltel Arena because these two items are NOT in Little Rock, they’re in North Little Rock. Delete Willow Springs Water Park,
Lake Maumelle, & Pinnacle Mountain. These three items are NOT in Little Rock at all, they’re miles outside the city limits.

Makes no sense to list the “River Market District” as something separate, because all of the following on your list are what COMPRISE the district (all within a 1.5 mile area):
La Petite Roche – location Riverfront Park
Riverfest Amphitheatre – location Riverfront Park
Museum of Discovery
River Rail Streetcar
The Old State House Museum
Robinson Center Music Hall
Clinton Presidential Center

The Weekend Theater – I’ve personally never heard of this. The Arkansas Repertory Theater, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, or Ballet Arkansas would be better choices.

Whole Hog Café – Maybe it was the name, but there are other restaurants more noteworthy, much longer established, & more popular.

>> Is one of the above places called something different by locals? Any major landmark of Little Rock missing?

To include things besides the downtown River Market area, I’d suggest at least considering these -
Little Rock Animal Village
Governor’s Mansion
Little Rock National Veterans Cemetery
Mount Holly Cemetery
Arkansas Art Center
Little Rock Public Library (Main Branch)
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Big Dam Bridge at Murray Park Lock & Dam
Junior Deputy Field
Heifer Project International Headquarters
American Taekwando World Headquarters
Little Rock National Airport


>> What are the 2 most important landmarks of Little Rock?
State Capitol Building
William J. Clinton Presidential Library

>> The game will make reference to 4 famous streets or neighborhoods. The neighborhoods chosen so far are:

Riverdale
North Little Rock
Hillcrest Historic District
The Heights

>> Any of the above you would change/add? Would you add famous streets instead of neighborhoods?

Delete Riverdale – few people know it as a neighborhood because it’s mostly seen as a commercial area; not that significant

Delete North Little Rock – NOT a neighborhood; entirely separate incorporated city north of the Arkansas River.

Add Quapaw Quarter
Consider adding Southwest Little Rock, a large working-class area of the city that’s composed of various neighborhoods


>> The game will also make reference to 2 famous festivals. The festivals chosen so far are:

Wildwood Festival
Riverfest

Would you change/add the chosen festivals?

Comment: Wildwood Festival of performing arts probably won’t be that well known. Riverfest is really the only one.

Hope you find this info helpful.

[jclingner]

Thank you for your opinions - they are very helpful. I realize now that North Little Rock is a separate city & have removed the places from the list.

What other local restaurant would you recommend besides the Whole Hog Cafe? I found it as a recommended restaurant by locals on a tourist site.

[Sam I Am]

LR and NLR are very tight, though, in terms of metro area, and the sports facility and Alltel can't really be left out as important spots.

Please pardon me asking...but you're developing a board game with no true comprehension of the area? That seems a little "out there" to me, especially since Whole Hog was the sole fiding on a tourist site. Dunno...maybe I'm confused...again...we've already got Hogopoly, not sure LRopoly would have much of a following.