Indy

Went downtown this afternoon to go to a matinee theater performance.

I used to work downtown, but I don't get down there much anymore. But when I did work there, I often ate my lunch in one of the parks north of the old Federal courthouse, or take a walk through downtown with one of my work colleagues.

Live here a while and you will learn that with visions of grandeur, assistants who helped Banister and L'Enfant lay out Washington, DC, made their way to Indianapolis to lay out the new state's capital in the 19th century. They created four quadrants, threw in a very few slashing avenues that cut through the grid, and started everything from a large circle in the center. Originally set aside to serve as a spot for the governor's mansion (supposedly an early first lady refused to move there, saying she didn't want her family's laundry hanging out for all to see), the Circle now has a large 19th century obelisk-like monument to Civil War soldiers and sailors.

It is one of those structures that is best looked at in its profile rather than to pay too much attention to the specific details. Soldiers are thrown in with classical allegorical figures, without any unifying sense of scale. At different layers, a mish-mash of weapons are thrown in. I made the mistake one day of looking out the window of a room overlooking the circle during a luncheon. The more I focused on the individual ornamentation, the more ugly it looked.

So, best to not look too closely. It is well loved here, so it is best to not offer an aesthetic opinion, either, to the natives.

There is a broad sidewalk around the Circle, and it should be filled with cafe tables, restaurants and bars. Instead, it is a showplace address for corporate offices, a renovated Vaudeville palace for the symphony, a private club and Christ Church Cathedral, the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis, and perhaps more importantly, the home parish of the late Eli Lilly, Jr., the uber-patron to much of Central Indiana.

Urban renewal efforts tore down deteriorating edge buildings along side the main blocks of downtown, leaving behind endless parking lots and vacant fields on either side of the long and thin rectangle of downtown. Last year, demolition crews imploded Market Square Area, a round 70's domed basketball arena that was distinctive for being the last place Elvis Presley performed in a public concert.

Freeing up this property, the city is setting out plans to develop this area, making downtown more connected to its eastern side. The city-county building is a monument to 1960s dreams of making great buildings in the image of the modern office building (it is a terrible failure), but across the street is City Market, a 19th century brick building that is a pleasant food court during weekdays, and perhaps it will develop further for nights and weekends.

There is a three block mall in the middle of downtown that kept the facades of many of the original buildings. And there is a several block grass mall that includes several additional war memorials and the headquarters of the American Legion and the Paul Cret designed public library (currently getting a new addition).

On the western side of downtown is the State House, made of Indiana limestone, overly ornamented in the late Victorian style, and again with sculpture that is often out of scale and not that pleasing to the eye. But unlike other state capitals who went for cast iron ornamentation inside, the Indiana capitol uses stonework inside as well. Given that many of the ornamental stone buildings in the United States are made up of limestone from the state, it is appropriate to use it here so extravagantly.

The canal is on this side of town, and slowly but surely, it is being integrated into the life of downtown. However, if you are one of the many conventioneers who come downtown, you may never see it. The city powers that be have never figured out how to link the canal with the main part of downtown a few blocks away. And there are no restaurants, cafes or bars along the canal.

The White River State Park on the west side does include the canal, and this urban park includes several campuses of cultural and sports venues, as well as the up and coming, and unfortunately named Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis -- IUPUI or when its adherents are not listening, ooie-poohie. Hoosiers have two areas where they are weak, public sculpture and naming anything. Indianapolis got its name as a last minute (and supposedly temporary) substitution because nobody came up with a good name that anyone could agree on.

Besides the ubiquitous convention visitors, downtown is often filled up with people attending sporting events or large arena concerts. Nice people, but you won't find many metrosexuals in these crowds. More like Hoosiersexuals.