A few weeks ago, we asked
What would you open on 15th Ave? It was part call to fantasize, part a reminder to take stock of the good things already in the neighborhood. You can check out the
comments to see everybody's ideas -- we got more than 20 comments on the post.
First, some good news. Two of the things we want in the neighborhood, we already have:
- We said we wanted a mailbox/shipping service somewhere closer to home. There's a convenient solution right around the corner off 15th -- That Shop Mailing Store at 1463 E. Republican
- We said we wanted a fancy cheese store. While it's not quite what we had in mind, we were reminded that Rainbow Grocery usually has a nice selection of stinky cheeses. With Rainbow going through tough times, here's yet another good reason to keep the grocer around
The other items on everybody's wishlist would add some useful options to the neighborhood -- all with a big, fat twinge of nostalgia. Most-requested by far was
a legit hardware store. While there may be lots of fond remembrances of the long-gone City Peoples floating around, there also seems to be a need here that Shoprite can't fill. We have repairs to make and are apparently tired of driving to pick up the right locking washers.
Other
more-unexpected ideas we think could actually have a chance of surviving were a men's fashion shop like Blackbird in Ballard, a newsstand, a hobby shop so we can buy expensive (but fun!) remote control garbage and a pet store. On the pet store, we're thinking more dog and cat supply store than hermit crabs and parakeets. The pet store also represents a common issue when evaluating these ideas -- how close does something need to be to be in the neighborhood. In this case, there's a perfectly good pet supply store over on Madison. But wouldn't it be smart for somebody to open up a doggie gear shop right here in the middle of things?
We're not sure we'll see any of the above ideas come to fruition but we'll be very surprised if reader Christina's request for
a bar on 19th isn't answered any day now.
There were, predictably, a lot of
food and restaurant suggestions. Somebody open a deli ASAP. Actually, maybe we should categorize this up above with the wishes that have already been filled -- the
Bagel Deli ain't that bad, people. Other foods requested were doner kebabs (very specific!), hot dogs, sushi (sorry, Liberty) and the brilliant reminder that an ice cream parlor would probably do pretty well. Every time the temperature rises above 70 degrees, our post on
5 Capitol Hill ice cream options gets slammed with readers searching for info. Again, Madison has a pretty good solution in Scoop Du Jour but it's a long walk.
So, Capitol Hill captains of industry, start stoking your capitalistic furnaces. It's the 20th century all over again up here. Hardware stores, ice cream parlors -- all we need is the milkman and things will almost be back in order.
--j/k
