The New York Times Falls All Ovah Itself Praising Roosevelt Row

The New York Times ran a big piece in today's Sunday paper praising the downtown arts scene.The headline of the piece, "Reviving Phoenix Through Art" is just the start of the love poured upon our beleaguered city's meager "arts district," which was almost bulldozed entirely a few years ago for...

By Martin Cizmar

January 31, 2010

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The New York Times ran a big piece in today's Sunday paper praising the downtown arts scene.

The headline of the piece, "Reviving Phoenix Through Art" is just the start of the love poured upon our beleaguered city's meager "arts district," which was almost bulldozed entirely a few years ago for the football stadium now in Glendale.

"But once-neglected and dangerous Roosevelt Row, on the north side of downtown, turned out to be an irresistible lure for artists looking for cheap spaces in which to live and work. Galleries, restaurants and a farmers' market soon followed."

I've already made my prediction on the matter -- at least when it comes to live music, an inextricable part of any real arts scene -- and my prediction is that some freelancer from Ye Olde Gray Lady will be back to write up Tempe's arts scene in a year or two.

I just wish it'd been me instead of Michael Carbajal dining at Sens when the Times stopped by.

"You should have been here when Fate was still open," would have said Martin Cizmar, the music editor for a local alternative weekly paper. "That place was awesome, as was this old concert venue called Modified Arts."

One more question: Is Roosevelt Row still a cheap place for artists to live and work or did it just appear so to someone used to Manhattan real estate prices?

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