In the passage, the author was writing about how architecture can influence the way people act.  She used examples of how even one-way streets separate people because it does not make the area easily accessible to everybody.  The author used larger examples of government buildings to support her argument.  “That the Constitutional Court in Germany is in Karlsruhe, while the capital is in Berlin, limits the influence of one branch of government over the other.”  Personally, I do not agree that we use street signs to separate people and keep certain people out of an area, but when it comes to the bigger picture, like powerful government buildings, I agree that architecture can separate people.

When I first got to the corner of Edgewood and Boulevard, I was looking for a nice place to sit while I took my notes. The faint hint of trash and urine wisped my nose right about the time I found a comfy looking concrete ledge outside of the infamous “Department Store,” and realized the ledge was covered in vomit.  The first thing that popped into my mind was “Welcome to Edgewood!”

My first impression of Edgewood is the cleanliness.  Or, lack thereof.  The chainlink fence overgrown with greenery separates all of the bars and passersby from a large green field.  What looks like is gum stuck to the sidewalk in a pattern that almost makes the concrete look polka dot, a substance that has been stepped on so many times that it’s permanently embedded into the sidewalk.

I crossed the street into a medium sized parking lot that connecting to a building with a large mural on it.  The mural had a black background with a plethora of multicolored swirling patterns.  There were only a few cars parked in the lot, but then again this was not Edgewood’s peak business time.  The traffic was flowing normally, most of the cars blasting hip-hop.  I took my seat on an uncomfortable concrete ledge, (not covered in puke) and noticed that once again, this area was trashed.  There were empty red plastic cups, empty glass bottles, broken glass bottles, cigarette butts, empty small plastic bags presumed to be used for drugs, pretty much anything  you would find in or around your local dumpster.  The grass in the parking lot was overgrown and appeared no one had been taking care of it for quite some time.

Across the street, I could see one of Edgewood’s most infamous bars called Church.  Church has ironically placed Christian decorations in their windows.  They have colorful lights that are turned on at night, but the bar still stays fairly dark.  Across the street from Church is another bar on Edgewood called the Department Store.  The department store is an old brick building that was formerly used as an actual department store.  On the side of the building you can still see the faint white lettering that reads “Brown-Hayes Department Store.”  The paint is old, faded, and hard to read.

Welcome to the corner of Edgewood and Boulevard.  A well-known intersection that is known for its lively bar scene, magnificent murals, and the lovely smell of vomit and urine.  During the day, this spot is fairly quiet despite the normal flow of traffic.  I felt safe and comfortable, not worrying about who wants to steal my notebook.

Despite the fair amount of trash and broken glass on the ground, the area almost feels homey.  This might be because I feel more comfortable in an edgier part of town covered in graffiti rather than a pristine park that someone obviously cares too much about.  To me, there is a certain comfort in knowing that the great architecture others put their hard work and sweat into isn’t being demolished to be replaced six months later most likely by a corporate company that doesn’t really care about preserving the history and integrity of a site. There is an old building that is surprisingly abandoned on the corner, but it hasn’t been stripped down and made into something modern and expensive.   Most of Edgewood follows suit, in fact, there is an old department store that has been converted to a bar called the Department Store.  This is one of the coolest buildings in this intersection to me because you can still see the original, yet faded, white paint that says “Brown-Hayes Department Store”

It would probably be better if I mentioned that everything I described was seen at 3:30 PM on a Tuesday.  Come Friday and Saturday night, Edgewood completely changes.  If you planned on driving through this intersection on a weekend night, I highly suggest you take an alternate route.  People are everywhere down here.  Because the sidewalks are so small, it’s just natural that people start to mingle in the middle of the road.  Some people have even been seen parking their car in the middle of Edgewood and jumping up and down on the roof.

Edgewood at Boulevard has been known to be a sketchy area.  What else could you expect when you take an area that feeds off of hip-hop and drugs?  Overall, the violence on Edgewood has decreased, probably because of the rapid gentrification rate of the area, but someone still got shot a couple times last Saturday night. They still have some work to do in order to make this an overall safe place to drink and party.