Girlpie and Tuber waiting to bike to Newtonville
Newtonville is our "home village". A mere mile away down the hill and between my house and the kids school, it's where I spent most of my time. I was thinking a lot about what Andy at Carbon Trace talks about "third spaces" and what makes neighborhoods a good viable bikable/walkable place to live and Newtonville is a good place to live near. Although it may be the economic times hitting precious Newton, three businesses are currently closed and empty. Last fall I took a bunch of pictures for the purpose of this very post and never got around to it until now. Sadly one of my favorite place, an Asian Grocer has closed this past spring.
Asian Grocer closed its doors this past May. Pocky is now more than a mile away.
I am hopeful the empty stores will turn into good businesses. But as I wait, Newtonville still has a lot going on for it.
On the day I took pictures, the kids were both out of school. I believe they had been sick and were feeling better- yet were still not well enough to go back to school. So we took the day to hang out and get things done together in the sorte.
Tuber got a haircut at one of the two Barber shops. Girlpie gets her hair cut at one of the two salons. And while Newton is known for having tons of banks and salons, I appreciate these particular businesses and frequent them a lot.
After a haircut we went for lunch at one of several cafes. There is a starbucks and three indendent spots. Taste Coffee has crepes, coffee, lunch fair and egg sandwhichs that make my children pull me to the door regardless of the time of day. The three of us can hang out in Taste happily for a while and we often do.
There is a pet store, a specialty beauty gift store and an optician where I realized I could go to get my eyes examined to update my glasses. I have an appt in a week or so- no shlepping on the train for that! The kids love the "bread store" where free samples are available and they know my kids by name. I also run in there near daily for my favorite non strong cup of coffee- blueberry flavored. ( don't hate!) And as if that wasn't enough there is a bakery around the corner where I will go to diversify my eatery, baked goods and coffee eating.
Best of all is the Yoga studio that opened this past fall. I have become a regular and you can find me there 1-2 times a week. Girlpie has started to go this winter as well.
We have two shoe stores a book store and two personal training businesses. There is a karate dojo that I have been interested in as well but can't really tell if it's a good spot or not.
There is a slightly fancy restaurant where B and I have been going to quick night outs to. Back when we first moved here, we would go for dessert and drinks. Having a newborn at the time, we didn't have the energy or time to go out for a full dinner, so we'd eat with the family and in laws, put the kids to bed and go over for a drink and chocolate torte. Our first time there, the local bookstore down the block had their ongoing books and brew where after a reading they go to a local bar to drink and chat and it was crowded. Not only crowded, but we had just met the bookstore owner so we knew him as well as one of the readers in the event who went to college with me. Finally next to us at the bar was our new neighbor and another neighbor stopped in as we were leaving. We've since upgraded to dinner and sometimes after dinner times there. ( Once left a school outing to grab a drink and small bite before relieving the babysitter- and that happened to be a bike date that night!)
Last week I was so thankful for the coin op laundromat as our washer broke and Tuber sometimes pees in the bed.
I've actually just rattled off on what's available on a two block radius, but over the bridge across the Mass Pike are more businesses that I sometimes forget about. Among them the aforementioned barber shop, a cool bead shop and a luxury kids clothing store that I troll for sales in. My point is that within a one mile ride I have much of what I need to run daily errands, spend fun family time as well as relaxing me time for my body and soul. I feel lucky to have Newtonville as my home village. Even luckier that when I get bored of Newtonville as I did the other day, I bike a mile in the opposite direction to Newton Highlands for a cup of joe and impromptu meet up with friends before school pick up.
I so value living within walking and biking distance to the places that I need to go. While Flagstaff isn't very big and it's fairly bike friendly, with bike lanes and miles of multiuse paths, development is still very car oriented and land use has been segregated between residential and business/commercial uses. Prior to relocating here, I lived in a traditional, older neighborhood with a range of zoning codes to allow for many uses. I was within a short walk to coffee shops, pubs, my pharmacy, a dry cleaner, my hair stylist, my dentist, a branch of the city library, a great movie theater and two Frederick Law Olmsted parks! We would have loved to find a place to live in downtown Flagstaff but the home prices were out of sight! When and if we move, we know that we'll prioritize living in a neighborhood where we can walk or easily bike to everything. Access to public transit would be ideal, as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I miss about living in the more traditional neighborhood, where you can walk to things is the greater connection I had to my neighbors and the business owners. The owners of the Irish pubs new my name and always greeted me. The guy who made my coffee usually knew what I wanted to order before I even made it to the counter - and he'd ask about my dog or how my running was going. Where we live now, where most people come home from work and pull straight into their garages, raising the door with the remote opener, we don't know most of them. Few of them ever say hi and it's rare to see anyone but me or my husband sitting on our front porch.