But there is
another kind of downtown shopping that matters to tourists. And also to the locals. The old downtown shopping district. What remains from the days when the
department stores, hardware stores, and butchers were still downtown.
Perhaps downtown
shopping districts isn’t as important to cities today as they were seventy
years ago. But they can still act as the
heart of a community. They offer a place
to hold civic parades. And they can
provide tourists a sense that they’re visiting a real place, not a quirky
version of Disneyland.
Both
Savannah and Charleston have downtown shopping districts, although the two have
different feels.
I love the public squares of Savannah. Truly love them. But they have a downside. Because they require multiple stops and turns
for cars to pass around them, traffic is effectively shifted to the streets
that don’t touch around the squares.
In cities
across the country, as the number of cars increased and traffic began to get
congested, as it inevitably did, someone in City Hall or in the local business
association always argued that the city needed to help traffic move faster to
help the economy. And the streets were accordingly
modified to give priority to cars. (We
actually know better these days, that a little congestion correlates well to
economic vitality. But the observers of
a half-century ago didn’t have those studies from which to learn.)
And so traffic
improvements apparently happened in Savannah.
The streets that don’t touch the squares are configured for fast
automotive travel, not for genteel walking.
The street for which this struck me more obviously was Broughton Street,
which is also the heart of the downtown shopping district.
It’s not a
bad street. There are some interesting
stores along Broughton. And it feels
like the setting for a movies placed in the 1950s. But it’s not a comfortable street for
pedestrians. The cars seem to have too
much priority for walkers to feel completely comfortable.
With its more haphazard street grid origins, the downtown
Charleston shopping district evolved slightly differently. The parallel streets of King and Meeting
comprise the district. And in what may
be the key factor, both have slight bends near the middle of the shopping
district.
King and
Meeting are both one-way, which is often considered a detriment by current
thinking, but the reduced width may work for these streets. The sense
on the street is different. Pedestrians
seem to have more impact on the street life.
The closed vistas caused by the bends seem to take away the hurry of motorists
to head for the horizon. And the slower
speeds result in a better balance between vehicles and pedestrians.
Also, King
and Meeting are more central to the locations where tourists are likely to
lodge, increasing the foot traffic and shifting the balance of power a little further from the automobiles. One is more likely to encounter a queue of people
awaiting a restaurant table on King Street in Charleston than on Broughton
Street in Savannah.
Both
shopping districts are good additions to their communities. But Charleston gets the nod for the little differences
that worked out well. It’s not like a
planner intended for Meeting and King Streets to have their small kinks, but
sometimes serendipity can be the most effective planner.
By the way,
none of this is meant to imply that neither Savannah nor Charleston have
Targets or Walmarts. I don’t know if
either city has those big boxes. I
didn’t go looking for them, didn’t happen to spot them, and am unwilling to
check online to see if they exist. I’m content
to keep my memories of those two cities unsullied by thoughts of acres of
parking surrounding soulless mass merchandising.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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