Boom town

And there's more goodness to come. (Credit: Michael Cook)

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In 2002, The Station North Arts and Entertainment District came into existence. Where once there was just North Avenue, now there would be art.

Actually, the area's artistic tendencies go back to long before the formal creation of the Arts and Entertainment District. For years, artists and adventurers had been turning warehouses into studios and rowhouses into bars and galleries. Now the pace of change has increased, filling the once vacant stores with theaters and fun dive bars that cater to the poor and trendy. Station North is quickly becoming the place to be.

The area, bounded to the south by Penn Station and its tracks and to the east by Greenmount Cemetery, isn't large, but it is centrally located and easy to get to. Despite all the new development, though, the old North Avenue neighborhood still exists. The strip is rife with abandoned buildings, fast food joints and panhandlers speckled between galleries and hipster MICA kids. It's a neighborhood where it helps to know where you're going.

Let Metromix introduce you to Station North.