Forget Vegas.
Ellen Callahan and the Business Improvement District have no interest in turning historic Brady Street into a flashy, in-your-face destination point for thrill seekers and bar crawlers.
Instead, BID number 11, along with the support of the Brady Street Association, aimed to subtly raise a few eyebrows last October when they attached 41 metal "crowns" to the tops of the street signs along the Brady Street corridor.
So far, the tactic has worked.
"Other neighborhoods have banners, but we're not going to do what every one else does," said Callahan, president of BID number 11. The new metal street "crowns" depict the streetscape of historic buildings that have made Brady Street famous, including St. Hedwig's church steeple and Glorioso Brothers' grocery store.
Callahan said the BID wanted to keep the unique, nostalgic feel of the area in tact. "So many streets you drive down, it's like Vegas hitting you in the face," she said.
While reactions to the new decos have been mixed, pedestrians passing along Brady are certainly curious about the recent additions.
"Some people think they're real neat, other people go, "what the heck are those?" Callahan admitted.
Residents are quickly growing accustomed to the fixtures too. Just ask neighborhood resident Jen Gross, who had to look twice before realizing the metal crown depicted the historic streetscape.
"The outline of the steeple is what gave it away," Gross said of the design.
While the crowns may be a new feature to the streetscape, the silhouetted design is not. BID number 11 has used the sketch as its official logo since the late 1980s. It only took about 10 years for the design to make its street corner debut, Callahan said.
"The first stage of the streetscape plan began in 1993 and took about three summers to complete," Callahan said of the revitalization project. At the time, the BID, (along with a little help from the city's pocketbook), invested an estimated $1.2 million on a streetscape which included historic "harp" lighting fixtures, new sidewalks and a "unique" public art project.
Callahan affectionately calls them pictographs.
Sandblasted between the sidewalks and the curbs, a total of 84 pictographs have immortalized a concrete history of Brady Street. The art project was completed in summer 1995.
"Each is site specific," Callahan said of the carvings. Some depict symbols of an eclectic ethnicity which defines the area, including representations of Polish, German and Italian heritage. Others portray elements of pop culture, like a hallucinogenic design carved near the former site of a 1960s head shop.
{INSERT_RELATED}"We had people come to public meetings and tell their true stories," Callahan said of planning the public art project. "We wanted to get people out on the streets and specifically aim the project toward pedestrians."
While the project added cultural texture to the streetscape, it also depleted the BID's streetscaping fund for several years, delaying the finishing touches on the streets' historic makeover. The "crowns" were an addition that was always considered a part of the historical design.
"It's something we had hoped to do right away, but everything takes time and money," Callahan said. BID number 11, which specifically focuses on the Brady Street area, is completely staffed by volunteers, which leaves the organization under tight time and budget restraints, she said.
But compared to a $1.2 million budget, purchasing the crowns was an economically savvy move. Pat Suminski of the Brady Street Association reported each of the 41 signs cost about $35, for a total investment of about $1,435.
Not bad for a little glimpse of historic reflection.
In addition to purchasing the street "crowns," the BID also replaced the old trash receptacles last November, with 25, gray aigret cans at 300 bucks a pop.
"The others were banged up to Hell by the garbage people," Callahan said of the old cans. The new fixtures are graffitti-proof, and, unlike the streetscape "crowns," funding came from the BID's maintenance budget.
"The cans are neutral, so they blend in, too," Callahan said. "We want to keep everything on the street subtle."
