Give a neighborhood a boost, give it a new name. It’s worked for SoHo, and the Pearl, so why not for Salem’s burgeoning neighborhood to the north? You know, the little area north of downtown that is now becoming the Bermuda triangle of hipsterdom?
1. Salem Cinema’s new digs
2. Boon’s Treasury, one of our two McMinnamin’s
3. The Space. Enough said.
I have no idea what this area is called among the people, other than “that area north of downtown,” so I propose the following. How about putting together some ideas for renaming this area into something that speaks of its coolness:
Here are a two ideas:
The Carpet District (isn’t there that carpet place right near here?)
NoBro (as in, Northeast Salem on Broadway)
Put your suggestions in the comments section and we’ll do a contest to select the winner. Or, as it actually works in the great marketplace ideas, perhaps people will just start calling it that.
Oh, and if you’re a trendy wine bar or soap shop or combination cheese store/yarn store, there is an open storefront across from the Salem that is for rent right now. Get in before you can’t afford the rent, yo.
I’ve heard that part of town(or at least near there) referred to as the Highland neighborhood since Broadway passes by Highland Elementary.
Ok, that makes sense but doesn’t really suit the purpose, right? Salem Man, what kind of restaurant would you want to go in there?
I think of it as The Mission District. Jason Lee moved the original mission from the site at Willamette Mission park to a site on the creek very near Boon’s. The original mission mill was there and gave its name to Mill creek, and it’s the Kalapuyan site of Chemeketa that gave rise to the translation “Salem.” It’s the Ur-Salem!
An Italian deli would be great. A Jewish deli would work as well. Any business that would prosper would be enough for me though. How about some outdoor dining with some trees or bushes to block traffic noise? That cinema is a great addition to the neighborhood.
Ooo, I like “The Misson District” or the “Jason Lee District”!
As far as restaurtants go, I’d like to see something similar to “The New Morning Bakery” ( http://members.peak.org/~newmorning/ ) in Corvallis. i love that place! Coffee drinks, desserts, quiche, sandwiches – perfect for after a movie!
I think I’d prefer something that goes well with nightlife, a la Pix patisserie in Portland. Funky nighttime hangout spot with knockout desserts, coffee drinks and wine.
http://www.pixpatisserie.com/
My favorite’s the Amelie.
haha “the carpet district” i dig it.
Christo’s is moving into the space next door to The Space; they should be opening soon (maybe open already?)
Re: desserts. I agree that a good late-night sweets/drinks spot would be a good addition to the area….
I’m sort of liking the “the Carpet District” too. We’ll see if that sticks or something better comes along.
N said that, like Capital Taps mentioned, this is an area with a lot of history for Salem. Like a “landing” where most people arrived. So he suggests either Lee’s Landing or Mission Landing.
When I worked at the Salem Planning Department, that area, particularly the intersection of Market and Broadway was called the “Broadway District.” The city received some grant money, I think, to help pay for some of the new buildings and improvements, and I think they dubbed it that for their proposals.
The problem I see with calling it the Broadway District is that Broadway exists, and it ain’t in Salem. I always think that attempts to appropriate other cities’ place names and identities is a failure in the making. Not that the Salem project is doomed to fail. Just that if you try to piggyback on already existing identities, it is clear to absolutely everyone. Think of Berlin when they decided to do a walk of fame. Um… Hollywood has the walk of fame. So, um, yours is in Berlin… and it’s smaller… and German… and, um, lame.
Just a thought.
But if it is Broadway, then I’m calling it NoBro.
How bout ‘The Broad’? Like The Pearl, only I’ll chuckle everytime someone says it.
“NoBro?” No, bro.
It’s always been Broadway to me. How about Broadway Triangle?
So not the Theater District then? I guess one theater isn’t enough. I think that’s actually the Grant neighborhood. That’s the neighborhood association name and it’s the school area it’s in, I’m pretty sure. Grant Area just doesn’t do it for me, though. New Broadway?
We Iowans (I’m not really from Iowa, but I like to appropriate their folksy wisdoms) like to say “Build it and they will come.” I hope someone organizes a big event to kick off the launch of this new area in town. Not sure how many happenin places you need for a crawl, though. Three? I’m kind of likin “The Broad” as a nod to the real name but repurposed for hipsters.
I believe the carpet place was originally a hops warehouse–it later housed records from the state archives, if you can believe that. Hops are part of what built Salem–our only “skyscraper”, the Livesley Building, aka Capitol Center, was built with hops money. So there’s another historic tie-in for the ‘hood. The Hops Triangle? Nah…
This is of particular interest to me as I have been working in an office one block north of the new Salem Cinema for six years now. (And for the last three, have been so excited for the new cinema location to be functioning so close
)
It cant really be called Highland, cause that’s a bit more north than here. Highland leaves a distaste in my mouth anyway, come on no one hangs out in the Highland area except police conducting prostitute stings (this was in the paper, I dont even have to make it up). It needs to be even more localized of a name. I personally like the Carpet District too (everyone knows that place across from Boon’s) and I kind of like the Landing District. Either sound kind of “cool” slipped into a conversation about where to hang out later
And a dessert place with a big ol’ liquor license would be a great addition to the area. Absolutely. I actually had no idea Christos was moving in, too! Shoot. I hear daily lunch trips becoming the norm, rather than my brown-bag tradition……………………
The Landing. That’s interesting, I like it, but it does sound a little yacht club-y. I’m going to check out the carpet place and see if it’s worthy of naming the neighborhood….
This posting is quickly becoming my favorite on the blog, and it’s jumped to the number two in active posts, after the Grand Duchy posting, which nothing’s going to beat.
I’m read to post the poll…
The “Broad” and “The Carpet District”, both are funny, but probably not appropriate. “NoBro” sounds like Walmart’s crummy clothing line. What about North Central, East River, or Y District?
Ok – how ’bout NoHo in reference to the aforementioned prostitution stings?
NoHo….hahahahahaha……
I think things will be developing more in that area soon, much in the same vein.
My vote would be to let it just go by a more general name. “Salem’s Art District” would be my vote. Overly clever names tend to carry a forced aspect, and be over packaged and marketed, and it goes from feeling like a nice area to something corporate and non-organic. I would really hate to see this area overly controlled or postured. It needs to just slowly develop and create its own identities rather than being quickly branded and packaged. It will take the sense of serendipity out of it. However, if you refer to it as just simply “The arts district” it would encourage more development with similar projects.
The Space District!
i really like the idea of just calling it the space district.
honestly, i think it establishes it as an arts district, and i think thats something salem really really needs right now.
“Get in before you can’t afford the rent, yo.”
are you kidding me?
Hmmmm. Takes a lot of courage, and thought, and balls to parrot back something I’ve said and add a snarky comment. You must think this is a newspaper comment board.
I like a lot of the ideas being thrown around. “The Carpet District” would be a very modern twist I would like. The other I really like is, “The Art District.” This one is short, sweet, and would appeal to the people that like to flex their vocabulary on a casual discussion form online. LOL
destroy the arts.
[...] we’ve all wondered about the name of this new neighborhood before. And I’ve tipped my hat towards something more original than the “Broadway [...]