A dozen years or so ago, some nuns in a convent on Primrose Street brought in a fallen apple tree branch. They stuck it in a bucket in their chapel, and proceeded to decorate it with some Christmas ornaments as there was no room for an evergreen in their little chapel room. The bare branches looked suitably artistic. Satisfied with their work, they said their prayers, and headed off to bed.
On Christmas morning, they awoke to find all the branches of the tree in full apple blossom. A miracle?
Passing by Pubwells on Preston, a chapel to a different sort of prayer and petitioner, I noticed that the cut tree branches they stuck into flower planters last fall had blossomed.
Not bad, two miracles in the same decade in the same west side neighborhood. We must be blessed.
They could get real vines growing in soil boxes in front of Pubwells. Trees on this side of Preston would have been nice. That’s what you get for not going to planning meetings.
I spoke to Moji a while back about setting up a patio in the front of the pub. He said the city wants rent for encroaching on the sidewalk. I hope he finally listens to my suggestion to instead convert the parking space at the side to a patio. The new location of Indian Express seems to be struggling, but if the serve beer, they will be real competition to Pubwells, with their nice patio.
The city discourages patios on the side streets facing residences, preferring them to be on the front. Indeed, that is why the sidewalk was widened so wide on Preston. Keep in mind that their front sidewalk also faces residences across Preston, which is one source of concern/opposition. During road reconstructions and streetscaping, the city usually recovers the public outside boulevard (space between curb and lot line) for landscaping, which pisses off those who prefer to convert their frontage to parking. Sometimes the city doesn’t reclaim the space, and in the pubwell case the city owned property along Spruce was left paved. Mysteriously, the two well-used bike parking posts disappeared, which strangely enough makes it much easier for the car parking there to drive over the sidewalk onto the street. Any patio on the side would probably also have to rent space from the city. I support a patio on the front.