This afternoon, having the day off from work, I decided to go to downtown Phoenix to indulge in some exploration. I confess that I have neglected to come here over the last few weeks, busy as I have been with errands and such, even though we have been enjoying a considerable cool-down in temperature lately, and I also confess that I hardly visited downtown Phoenix when I last lived here. Downtown Phoenix is very much a work-in-progress. The longstanding narrative is that it was a victim of the suburbanization that impacted so many large cities during the middle twentieth century, and numerous attempts have been made to revive it. To be sure, downtown Phoenix is still plagued by many empty lots and abandoned buildings, but over the last several years change has started to come to downtown Phoenix. A slow, but steady, urban renaissance has begun to seize the cityscape. For instance, in the stretch of Roosevelt between Central and 7th Street, art galleries and stores are opening in what were once old houses, accompanied by a few restaurants and coffeehouses. I spent part of my afternoon sitting in Songbird Coffee and Tea, a quirky, hipster cafe that serves an excellent ginger peach black tea, which I ordered iced. To complement this urban renewal, artists are doing their part by helping to beautify the city with their art wherever they have the opportunity to do so. Here is a sampling of the art that has cropped up in downtown Phoenix over recent years. I have to say that, coming from a city like Chicago, which has an urban cultural life that is already firmly established, I find it exciting to come to a city like Phoenix, which has a downtown core that is just starting to culturally define itself. The possibilities are manifold.
As many readers of this blog already know, I am a lover of all things Day of the Dead, and so I could not possibly resist taking a photo of this Day of the Dead mural. This is located on a side wall to a cafe named Carly's, which looks like it has a nice menu selection that I will have to sample in the near future. The photo below is the tail end of the mural above.
Not colorful, but very cute and environmentally conscious. Apparently, this mural is a black & white take on a similar such mural by the San Francisco artist, Margaret Kilgallen.
The above and the below five paintings are part of one long mural located on a wall in an empty lot with a few trees and a wooden sculpture. I think my favorite is the painting immediately below, with mountains and saguaro in the background. The painting below seems to share some common characteristics and style with another mural of downtown Phoenix that I captured in photography over a month ago, which had a phoenix bird rising over the city of Phoenix.
An artsy take on the Phoenix skyline.
This is the wooden sculpture that I mentioned above. To the side, seen above, is a wooden platform. In the interior (see below) are a few recesses with benches where people can sit and enjoy some shade.
The above and below are artistic accents to the exterior of an art gallery.
I have been meaning to try this bar & grill since I moved back to Phoenix.
A mural on a wall of the Phoenix Public Market building.
