This past week I had been cooped up in my office for days on end so I decided to take advantage of the mild temperatures and low humidity and walk around downtown during my lunchbreak.
When Terri and I moved to Louisiana six years ago we both took a trip to downtown Alexandria and all we discovered were a ton of abandoned buildings that frankly showed us in uncertain terms that our new home was a city that was nearly dead and soon to be forgotten. When I ventured into this once vibrant downtown area I honestly expected to see more evidence of the city's decline. What I discovered were some signs of life and some hope that Alexandria indeed could experience some sort of renaissance.
I have to say that it was the colorfully painted building that houses the marketing firm Ugly Mug that drew me to venture downtown that afternoon. Their publicity campaign on Facebook sure did its job because there isn't a day that goes by where I don't see a post from them in my feed. On this day my curiosity was finally stimulated to the point where I just had to go and give the place a look for myself.
I parked my car a block down from Ugly Mug and walked to the corner where their office is located. I have to admit that this is probably the hippest corner that I have seen anywhere here in Louisiana. There is the trendy looking Tamp Grind coffee shop across the street where people were sitting outside enjoying their beverages. Directly across the street were a series of murals painted by local artists that I can only assume were commissioned by Ugly Mug due to the fact that they directly face their offices. In that one square block area, fore one brief instance I felt like I could have been back home in Los Angeles.
Okay, here I go feeling homesick again.
It is my hope that what is going on in that one block area begins to grow block by block throughout the downtown area where the area becomes filled with trendy shops and restaurants so that the city can provide places for locals to frequent and draw in some visitors from outside the area. God knows this city good use some points of interest to draw in some tourists because frankly there just isn't anything aside from the Southern Forest Heritage Museum south of the city and the old jet fighter planes at England Air Force Base Heritage Park that would cause anyone from out of state to stop here.
For locals downtown Alexandria is home to a handful of great eateries from the old school drug store diner experience of the Sentry Grill to the high end cuisine of the Diamond Grill. There are still shops downtown and Terri and I are looking forward to visiting the Alexandra Museum of Art and this weekend, so be looking for my post about our experience there.
Until then take a look at these photos and see if you see the same potential for the future of downtown Alexandria.
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