My Blog

California Bound

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 12:59:07 -0700

Since I am moving back to San Diego it does not make too much sense to continue posting entries in "My Life in Urbana". I have started a new blog called "California Bound" and am posting photos and comments there.

Goodbye Urbana

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:30:51 -0700

At 2:00 pm on August 18, 2007 I moved into apartment 9 at 211 West Green Street, which some people think should be 309 S Cedar Street. It was a furnished one bedroom apartment. Here is the living room.

The adjoining kitchen.

Part of the bedroom.

At 2:30 pm on June 28, 2008 I walked out this door and

down these stairs for the last time.

After doing two last errands I left town. All good things come to an end.

Neighborhood

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:14:50 -0700

Here is the apartment building were I live on the south east corner of Green and Cedar streets. According to a neighbor the developer who built it would bend rules. The building has a brick skin. Apparently at the time in Urbana you could not put a brick skin on a four story building. Even though there is an apartment on the ground floor the developer did not count it as a story but a parking garage, thus it is a three story building. The apartment filled so much of the lot that the developer started using the neighbor's back yard during construction. As a result the neighbor filed several lawsuits one of which forced the developer to add an elevator to the entrance of the building. The current owners of the building have no idea if the elevator works or if they have a key to the elevator.

The house just to the east of my apartment was built in 1899. The current owners bought the house in 1955. They were married in the funeral parlor on the corner. They are in their early 80’s and spend the winters in Florida. I only met them once. Bill was in the navy during WWII and worked with radar. After the war he studied engineering at UIUC where one of the engineering professors was interested in his radar experience. As a result Bill worked at UIUC until he retired.

Once the block was filled with old houses. Bill and his wife remember when each house was torn down and the names of the last occupants. To the east of Bill’s house is a parking lot and this small township building. When I moved here there was an abandoned house to the left of the township building. The house was torn down in January. To the left of that is a small commercial building which among other things contains a church.

Across Green Street from my apartment building is this law office. It used to be a gas station but has been cleaned up and expanded a bit by the lawyer. The lawyer’s son and I took the same Tai Chi class for a while. I found this out when he saw me taking this picture.

On the north side of the lawyer's office is this house built in 1872. The owner is an 86 year old widow. She rents a few rooms out to students. She likes to host exchange high school students, but the Urbana high school exchange program has been suspended due to space problems. In all the times I walked past this house I have not seen the owner. When I was at the Taste of Champaign festival I sat down to eat at a picnic table occupied by someone. We started talking. After a while a friend he had not seen in 14 years came by and sat down. After a while it became clear that the long lost friend grew up in this house. He said they moved into the house in 1960 and it still had a working water pump for a well in the house. The Urbana Free Library expansion plans call for destroying this house. The library already occupies most of this block.

On the north west corner of Green and Cedar streets is this empty lot. It once was a very nice looking funeral parlor. It was so nice that my neighbor Bill decided to get married in it. When the owner died the funeral parlor was torn down. The empty lot belongs to funeral parlor owner’s son. I was not able to find out why it was torn down instead of being sold.

Trees

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:12:05 -0700

There are places in Urbana where you can walk down the middle of the street in shade at noon. The trees get so thick here that some complain. This is completely foreign to people in San Diego. Palm trees are don’t produce much shade.

While not the best examples here are the views at the intersection of High and Cedar Streets, just south of my apartment.

Here is the view looking west.

south

east

and north

Typical views in the midwest, but hard to find San Diego.

Bars

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:35:12 -0700

After viewing the churches in the neighborhood I wondered about the number of bars. It is a it harder to define a bar as some bars serve food and some restaurants serve alcohol. Two blocks from my apartment on the corner of Race and Elm is the Iron Post, which also servers food and has live music. During the summer they have the bands play outside. If I have my back window open I can hear the music.

A few feet north of the Iron Post on Race street is the Embassy Tavern and Grille.

A half a block north of the Embassy is Main street. If you turn left on Main an walk a 1/4 a block you get to the Office, a common name for a bar.

If instead of turning left on Main you turn right and walk 1/2 a block is Crane Alley. They also serve food and have some seating outside in Crane Alley.

Another bar that routinely has live music is the Rosebowl. It is on Race street about one and a half blocks north of the Iron Post.

About a block from the Rosebowl on Water street is Bunny’s Tavern. Established in 1936 Bunny’s Tavern is claimed to be Urbana’s oldest neighborhood pub.

From Bunny’s you walk east about a block to Broadway. There you will find Tod & John’s, which also serves food.

A bit south of Tod & John’s on Broadway is the American Legion. While it is not an official bar they do advertise that they sell beer.

If one counts the American Legion there are eight bars within walking distance of my apartment. So churches and bars are nearly evenly matched.

Churches

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:21:20 -0700

Coming from the California one will notice that there are a lot of churches in CU. Starting from my apartment here are the churches in my neighborhood.

On the east end of the block where I live is a church in a small commercial building.

On the other side of Race street from the Church of Christ is the First United Methodist Church, a more traditional church building.

One block west of my apartment is the Unitarian Universalist Church. If you know what to look for you can see the chimney of this church in my Two Seasons movie (http://web.mac.com/rewhitney/My_Life_in_Urbana/Blog/Entries/2008/6/25_Two_Seasons_-_The_Movie.html)

One block north and 1/2 block west on Elm Street is the Orthodox Church Saint Nicholas.

Two blocks south and one block east on Race Street is the Korean New Life Church.

Three block west on Green Street is the Korean Church of Champaign-Urbana. There are at least four Korean churches in CU. UIUC has the largest number of international students of any campus in the country. There are more students from Korea than any other foreign country.

Three blocks away on Main Street we have the Canaan Missionary Baptist Church.

When I walk to campus I also walk past a Mosque and a Mennonite church. There are a lot more churches in CU. These are just the ones in my neighborhood.

Lincoln Square 2

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:25:58 -0700

I have been in the Lincoln Square Village mall a number of times. Here are some things that occur in the mail.
Wednesday nights there is an old-timey jam in Lincoln Square.

Here we have a dog training class.

A flower show.

Music class.

Part of the reading day event.

The plant sale.

Here is the mall about 11:00 am on a Saturday. If you look closely there is someone at the far end.

I have no idea how the mall survives. I don’t see much business there. There is a fitness center there that seems well used and part of a medical clinic. When I go there most of the businesses are empty.
As a village center Lincoln Square seems very successful. There are quite a number of community events held there, which is more important than having one more typical mall.