welcome to “midtown” i make no effort in hiding the love for my little neighborhood.  people swear by how great it is to live in richmond’s various neighborhoods - the fan, church hill, jackson ward.  people have a lot of pride in their little parts of the city. outside of my friends, not a lot of people sing the praises of monroe ward, where i currently live, or as we lovingly refer to it, midtown.  the whole “midtown” thing started out as a joke.  we were talking about the juxtaposition in our neighborhood between the good things like art galleries and the more sketchier elements like the bail bonds place that opened across the street.  calling it “midtown” was our way of jokingly acknowledging and embracing the sketchiness. the truth is, my neighborhood has been growing leaps and bounds in the past year.  instead of empty buildings with “for lease” signs, i’m seeing a lot more businesses popping up.  it seemed to start with the opening of the belvidere down the street, which is an incredible restaurant.  then in the past few weeks i’ve seen some really exciting developments - two advertising/branding shops have opened up within walking distance.  next door to me is the branding shop, release the hounds, which is brand new and seems to be doing some really cool work.  they also have a kick-ass logo.  another agency, INM united, opened up one block down in this AMAZING space that i’ve always had my eyes on over the years.  it looks like they do a lot of different stuff but a lot of digital work and apparently they’re also “great kissers” according to one of the signs on their window.  awesome. then, of course, there’s a much-rumored retail shop opening right across the street which is really exciting, but i’m not sure i’m supposed to know about it / talk about it, so we’ll keep it under wraps for now. it’s just so rad to see these new local businesses finding a home in my little neighborhood next to the businesses that have been holding it down in “midtown” for years: the mindblowingly awesome crew at quirk gallery and all the other galleries (including my downstairs neighbor 1708 gallery), the to-die-for food at comfort, and the hangout spot lift coffee shop. while i sometimes think i’d like to live in a quieter, less action-packed neighborhood (especially at 2:00am), this place definitely feels the most like home.

welcome to “midtown”

i make no effort in hiding the love for my little neighborhood.  people swear by how great it is to live in richmond’s various neighborhoods - the fan, church hill, jackson ward.  people have a lot of pride in their little parts of the city.

outside of my friends, not a lot of people sing the praises of monroe ward, where i currently live, or as we lovingly refer to it, midtown.  the whole “midtown” thing started out as a joke.  we were talking about the juxtaposition in our neighborhood between the good things like art galleries and the more sketchier elements like the bail bonds place that opened across the street.  calling it “midtown” was our way of jokingly acknowledging and embracing the sketchiness.

the truth is, my neighborhood has been growing leaps and bounds in the past year.  instead of empty buildings with “for lease” signs, i’m seeing a lot more businesses popping up.  it seemed to start with the opening of the belvidere down the street, which is an incredible restaurant.  then in the past few weeks i’ve seen some really exciting developments - two advertising/branding shops have opened up within walking distance.  next door to me is the branding shop, release the hounds, which is brand new and seems to be doing some really cool work.  they also have a kick-ass logo.  another agency, INM united, opened up one block down in this AMAZING space that i’ve always had my eyes on over the years.  it looks like they do a lot of different stuff but a lot of digital work and apparently they’re also “great kissers” according to one of the signs on their window.  awesome.

then, of course, there’s a much-rumored retail shop opening right across the street which is really exciting, but i’m not sure i’m supposed to know about it / talk about it, so we’ll keep it under wraps for now.

it’s just so rad to see these new local businesses finding a home in my little neighborhood next to the businesses that have been holding it down in “midtown” for years: the mindblowingly awesome crew at quirk gallery and all the other galleries (including my downstairs neighbor 1708 gallery), the to-die-for food at comfort, and the hangout spot lift coffee shop.

while i sometimes think i’d like to live in a quieter, less action-packed neighborhood (especially at 2:00am), this place definitely feels the most like home.