Philly’s ‘South Street’ Offers Lessons for St. Louis’ Cherokee Street

Philadelphia’s eclectic South Street offers lessons – good and bad – that could be applied to St. Louis’ Cherokee Street. Actually, the lessons could be applied to nearly every street in St. Louis. But for now I am focusing on our own Cherokee Street – specifically the blocks West of Jefferson. You’ll note in the picture to the right that South Street has a similar scale to our own Cherokee Street.

The things I don’t care for are the one-way streets and lack of street trees. Philadelphia seems really fond of one-way streets but they seem to have enough pedestrians and auto congestion to overcome the negatives. One-way streets are typically designed to move traffic faster, not ideal when creating a friendly pedestrian environment. Same is true with the street trees, they have enough going on that their benefits (other than blocking the sun) are not needed.

Lesson #1 – South Street makes no pretense of being a suburban strip center. No uniform canvas awnings lining the street here. No consistent signage. Individuality is the name of the game here and it works well. The Starbucks (not pictured), a bastion of uniform design, actually makes good company among all the louder store fronts.

Lesson #2 – make bike racks available and spread them out. All along the street were bike racks so that no matter which block or side of street you were headed a bike rack was near. Smaller and more frequent is better than large but seldom. Visibility is key to making sure the bike is there when you return. Here they have so many bike riders some must use sign posts to secure their bikes. We will hopefully be so lucky as to have thousands of bike racks throughout the city and still be short.

Lesson #3 – let the storefronts take on unique looks. Storefront material, design and color should be as varied as the stores themselves. I yawn in most historic districts because the places are often so staid. I’m not advocating closed up storefronts – I think they need lots of glass and wide doors but they don’t need to all be the same cutsie historic look with the same detailing and proportions. Shopping streets are meant to be fun and interesting. The fronts should scream, “Come in here and max out that Visa!”

Lesson #4 – Capitalism can be great at the pedestrian level. In response to all the pedestrians on South Street many restaurants serve food from service windows. The first thing people in St. Louis will say against walk-up service windows is that it will contribute to more trash in the neighborhood. But, if an area is doing well and you’ve got tons of people around you are not likely to throw your wrapper on the sidewalk. Not only do you get safety in numbers but you also get a sense of pride in numbers. Sure, it is not free of trash but I’d say they have no more than many of our streets which is awesome considering the much greater number of daily users.

Lesson #5 – Allow for changing weather. Not that the fabric over the service window is part of an awning that can be opened if the weather requires it. This lets the place be responsive to changing weather while also providing a different look. Flexibility and variety.

Lesson #6 – Make sure the sidewalk is wide enough. South Street sidewalks were a perfect width, wide enough to allow folks to stand and talk (or eat) but not so wide that you felt alone. Determining the best width is a tough job.

Lesson #7 – light the way. Note how lighting is included to help light the sidewalk. This scale of lighting is so much more pleasant than relying simply on street lights. The down lights in this front are effective in that they produce little glare in the face of the pedestrian. I’ve seen some new down lighting on Cherokee Street but they are a bit on the chunky side (kind of the Kirstie Alley of light fixtures if you will).

Lesson #8 – mix old with the new but keep it urban. This Fresh Fields/Whole Foods store serves the neighborhood as both an employment center and as a grocer. The size of the building contrasts sharply with the width of the fronts on most of South Street. However, numerous entrances along the street keep up the rhythm. Cars are accommodated in the garage above.

I think many St. Louis natives see South Street as chaotic and inappropriate. I see it as vibrant and exciting. I also see it as a driving force behind increased commerce (read: sales tax revenue); increased property value (read: more property tax revenue) and greater demand for the area (read: more people paying more taxes).

The above pictures were taken on an overcast Saturday afternoon on 10/27/2001 – just over six weeks after September 11th. The whole East Coast was worrying about anthrax poisoning and other terrorist threats and still the street was busy. We need that kind of draw!

– Steve