Diatribes by Joah

One of America's most beautiful neighborhoods to run

I've run in so many beautiful places in American cities.  I've run Town Lake in Austin, over the Golden Gate Bridge, on the sands of Manhattan Beach, the West Side Highway in New York, the Hollywood Hills in L.A., the Cleveland Park neighborhood of D.C., Charleston, S.C.'s Rainbow Row, up steep hills in Salt Lake City, along snow-filled yards in St. Paul - Minneapolis and past Army barracks at Fort Knox, Kentucky. These, and too many others, have been runs that I savor not only because they offer good training grounds for road races, but also because of the beautiful and varied scenery they provide. I've been to Memphis half a dozen times, but this week, before my Real Role Models book signing  at Davis-Kidd, I went for a run in the city's Evergreen Historic District alongside Overton Park and fell in love.

Having spent part of my childhood in Greenville, S.C., I've long been a fan of those Southern-styled homes that don brick exteriors, large grassy yards and comfy porches, but I think Memphis takes the cake as far as I'm concerned.

Tree-lined streets

with names like Stonewall and Avalon;

where vinyl does not exist,

and privacy is measured by nature, not acreage.

 

"Getting a trim" is a landscaping reference.

Class is measured not counted.

Trees grown heavenward;

and you call each other neighbors, because you live in a neighborhood.

Austin's Finest Homes - Third Edition

Not far from my neck of the woods in 78704 (more than a zip code, it's a way of life...) is the Travis Heights neighborhood where the homes are worth nearly every penny because of their close proximity to Downtown and South Congress, their quiet and quaint streets and their abundance of trees.






This isn't my normal cup of tea, but I loved the color of the house and door and the tree in the front yard.

Some houses I liked in LA

Austin's Finest Homes - Second Edition

This is a newly-built/renovated house in South Austin that I pass everytime I drive down Mary St. on my way to Cafe Caffeine. It's on sale I believe. Probably too rich for my blood, but if they split it up into two houses, rather than one combined home (maybe a duplex?), I'd definitely throw in for the front part here:

And the back section.

Austin's Finest Homes - First Edition

These two houses are side-by-side off of Rollingwood Drive here in Austin. They're less than a mile from Zilker Park, where ACL is held each year (tix went on sale this week!), and less than a 10-minute drive from Downtown. Oh, and they're ridiculously well-built with nice yards and I'm guessing that they're well over $1 million each. I didn't go into the open house because I didn't feel like getting profiled..."hey, this guy is either an NBA player or a rapper."

Still, they reflect my taste almost perfectly. Neo-modern, great lines and psuedo-symmetry and it's easy to tell the people looking to buy either of these homes has the same distaste for carpet that I have along with a love of grass.