Group Post Walkabout #4 (Alysa Masquelier)

For walkabout #4, our group visited the neighborhood between 12th East to 13th East and 1st South to 2nd South. It is located just off of the University of Utah campus, so a lot of the available living spaces are home to students. The residents are locals, belonging to the lower to upper-middle class. Some houses were very inexpensive, but we did also see a realty sign in front of one house that was being sold for $700,000.

The neighborhood is on a slanted hill. Towards the "top" of the hill, residents can easily access the university pharmacy, a used textbook store, a 7-Eleven and some restaurants within short walking distance. On the neighborhood's block, there is a Shell gas station that sells gas a bit cheaper than other stations, suggesting that they may be trying to cater specifically to the students in that neighborhood. Other than the gas station and university stores a short walk away, the block itself is mostly a residential area. Houses line the streets and one side of the neighborhood held a huge apartment building. It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of the quaint, unique, small houses with the towering, harsh, industrial-looking apartment building. As seen below, the apartment building stands out clearly because it appears more as an element of a downtown city, rather than a neighborhood.

The houses themselves were all quite different from one another. In my opinion, this neighborhood felt very much like that of a "college town." The houses weren't brand new, but also not extremely old. For the most part, they were two-story houses with chimneys, a lot of windows, and extensive front yards rather than large porches/decks. The houses were all different colors; some colors like yellow or purple were different from what I am used to observing in the suburbs. These bright houses had colored accents/trim as well. In the first picture below, the house was uniquely decorated with windmills in the front yard, as well as a statue and a fountain.

I have grown up living in the suburbs for the majority of my life, so I'm used to a Homeowner's Association that makes sure people keep their garbage cans off the road, cars in garages, houses painted a certain color, etc. I noticed, however, that this neighborhood may not be the same way. It seems that each resident has more freedom to express their taste in decoration here. 

The street is separated from the sidewalk by a median strip of grass, and then the houses each have large front yards. A small walkway leads up to the front door of the house. Garbage cans and cars rest on the street. 

Some houses were bungalow-style, and others were very simple two-story houses. We saw a few different building styles!

The houses were built fairly close together; the entire neighborhood had a very close-knit feeling to it. We went on our walkabout while there was fresh snow on the ground, so not many people were outside. But, the neighborhood did feel friendly. Since students probably live in many of these houses, we assumed that there is probably frequent neighbor-to-neighbor interaction. We saw some signs that showed the grade of the hill slant, indicating that the neighborhood was also bike-friendly. The sidewalks mean that many people must walk up and down the streets here, especially when the weather allows for it. In this way, the houses are very accessible to visitors. 

As mentioned above, there were not many people out and about when we visited this neighborhood. However, we did see a younger man near the gas station who took our group photo. He seemed to be somewhere in his early twenties, most likely a college student. Some families or older/more financially secure adults may live in the more expensive houses. Other houses may be shared by groups of college roommates. 

Signage indicated that the sidewalks were bike-friendly. There was a speed limit of 30 MPH posted on one of the busier sides of the neighborhood, and then speed limit was probably 20 or 25 MPH on the residential streets. Other normal street signs with street names/numbers were posted on the corners. The streets were for residential parking only. 

As for common grounds or meeting places, there was a small courtyard outside of the large apartment building. As a group, we discussed that the University of Utah campus is probably the most common meeting place for other residents. The university offers different clubs, activities, sports events, etc. that unite people from different areas of the city. 

It was a nice change of scenery to move a bit further away from the campus we are used to seeing everyday and to see the way that other people live. I enjoyed the diversity of housing styles and decorations in this unique neighborhood. A lot of us commented that we would actually like to live here!