MamaJCat

As one would expect of a historic neighborhood, there are some truly gorgeous homes here. You can even find some honest-to-goodness white picket fences with flowers spilling over. Stretches of the area, too, are lined with trees unbroken by buildings—a detail that I usually like.

There are still quite a few “fixer-uppers” in this tiny neighborhood, though. When these are near those stretches of trees that one can’t see into, the effect can be a bit unsettling. Still, with such a dedicated neighborhood association as East End has, this is a place to watch.

The Turnip Truck, one of Nashville’s few locally owned natural foods markets, sits by the northwest edge of East End on South 10th Street. When that store moved to East Nashville, some of the local media debated whether East Nashville would support a natural foods store. Now, nearly 20 years later, they’re still around—and talking about expanding into The Gulch. That, in and of itself, says a lot about the East End and Edgefield areas.

Public transportation here is good. MTA’s bus #4 runs along Shelby Avenue, on the southern edge of this neighborhood. The #20 flits along Woodland on weekdays.

Rutledge Hill

Rutledge Hill is primarily a business district, and parts of it, quite frankly, don’t look great. (We’re talking sagging chain link fences and the like.) But some of the attractions here are well worth the trip.

Nestled down on Middleton, for example, is the Nashville Children’s Theatre, the oldest professional children’s theatre in the country. The NCT keeps a busy schedule of programs going. In addition to their astounding theatrical productions, they run a steady stream of classes, workshops, and camps throughout the year.

Rutledge Hill does, of course, also have various bars and music venues that you will want to check out. MTA buses 6, 12, and 44 all run through this area

The Rolling Mill Hill project was conceived before the economy tanked. (The market feasibility study was done in 2003, if that tells you anything.) Plans started changing from condo sales to apartment rentals last year after some of the stakeholders ran into some financial trouble.

But Metro Development and Housing, who started the ball rolling on it all, keeps adapting to the times as needed, and things keep moving forward in this area. The Nance Place low-income apartments, for example, are still on track for completion.

And while there are still a lot of construction-ugly places on Rolling Mill Hill, plans still call for the area to be a green addition to the city. The Rolling Hills Greenway is still in the works, and Nance Place is expected to be Gold Certified by the U. S. Green Building Council.

The best news, though, may be the non-news—the Hill itself didn’t flood during our unexpected disaster back in May.There was some flood damage up in the corner of the greater Rolling Mill area, between the railroad tracks and the Cumberland River, but that’s a privately held area that’s not part of the development project. Those new apartments ought to be safe from future similar disasters.

MTA’s bus #6 runs past Rolling Mills Hill, as does the #44, the shuttle to the MTA offices.

The actual McKissack Park for which this area is named is a small open area on Torbett Street. It has a picnic table or two—no shelter—a basketball court, and a children’s play area.

Some of the houses in this neighborhood are on some truly spacious lots, with an abundance of trees in places. It’s a hilly area, though, and some of the driveways run down the slope of a hill to the street. The ones I saw weren’t steep by Nashville standards, but still could be an issue if you’re not used to that sort of thing.

With the interstate and the railroad tracks bordering this area, I'm not sure about the noise factor here. I know that some of the tracks around here are still used, so you might want to investigate further if you're looking at moving to the McKissack Park area.

MTA’s bus #10 runs up and down Charlotte Road, along the southern edge of the McKissack Park neighborhood. The #10 is one of the most frequent MTA buses.

The Cleveland Park neighborhood is part of the same Metro planning area as McFerrin Park and Greenwood. (The Greenwood neighborhood doesn’t yet have a shaded section on the StreetAdvisor map.) The community plan for this region is, in fact, named the Cleveland Park plan. Given this, I expect that Cleveland Park will see some major improvements in the next few years.

This area has some wonderfully spacious yards and some truly towering trees to offer, depending on which streets you check.

Please note that the Cleveland Park neighborhood did see some flooding this past May, in the extreme southwest corner and in the extreme northeast one. (These corners are near the Cumberland River and a local creek, respectively.) We’re only talking about a few blocks here, but it was residential; be aware when you’re looking around those areas.

MTA’s bus route #28 runs through the Cleveland Park neighborhood. The #23 goes along Dickerson Road on the western edge of this area.

Okay, let’s see if I’ve got this straight: historic neighborhood. Active neighborhood association. And a community garden that’s now in its second year. So why am I not there?

“Historic homes” does sometimes mean smaller, crowded together homes, and I saw some of those here. But “historic” can also mean “the trees have had time to grow”: there are plenty of shaded, secluded back yards in the McFerrin Park neighborhood.

The actual park for which this neighborhood is named boasts an outdoor walking path and a nearby community center. The community center, in turn, boasts a gym, a fitness center, meeting rooms, and a small kitchen.

The extreme northwestern corner of the McFerrin Park neighborhood did see some damage from the flood back in May, so be aware of flood-related issues when looking at properties in those two blocks.

All in all, McFerrin Park looks like a great place to live.

MTA’s bus route #28 serves the western and northern edges of the McFerrin Park neighborhood. The #14 and the #23 run along Dickerson Road on the western edge of this area.

No, this isn’t Radnor Lake; that wildlife refuge is a bit southwest of here. As TravelGal points out, this little section of StreetAdvisor is named after the rail yard that borders the southwestern edge of this neighborhood.

When I first glanced at the map, I thought, “How cool is it to live within walking distance of the zoo?” But it’s not quite walking distance for the homes here. While the Nashville Zoo literally butts up against Radnor’s southern edge, the southern third of Radnor is solid business/industrial. That, coupled with the lay of the land here, means that some sort of transportation is needed for a zoo outing.

Most of the northern two-thirds of Radnor is residential, with businesses up along Thompson Lane. Radnor is mainly single-family housing, and those houses are primarily small, one-story homes.

The lots here tend to be narrow but deep: there’s not much space between houses, but they’re set far enough back from the road to suit me. I didn’t see much in the way of sidewalks or street lighting.

For public transportation, MTA’s bus #12 runs up and down Nolensville Road here. The Nolensville bus runs every 10-20 minutes on weekdays, and every 45-60 minutes on weekends.

As it does with Cameron Trimble, Brown’s Creek runs along the eastern edge of the Napier area. That area from the creek to the railroad tracks did see some flooding during Nashville’s flash flood back in May.

Napier Park itself has a public indoor pool, but the Metro Parks page indicates that it’s closed this year. I haven’t been able to find out whether the flood had something to do with that.

Metro Housing Authority’s Napier Place apartments are in this neighborhood in the Claiborne street area. There are also many single-family houses throughout the Napier Park area. A few of the streets even have enough greenery to suit me!

The MTA’s bus #15 runs up and down Lafayette, and route #25 cuts down Charles Davis for a bit. I’m not finding any other public transport for the Napier area.

I am not a real estate agent, a financial advisor, nor a city planner. This is not intended as professional advice of any kind. But I’m guessing that this area that StreetAdvisor calls “Lafayette” is going to see a lot of changes in the next few years.

Lafayette is immediately south of the city’s new Music City Convention Center, which is currently under construction. Metro is hoping the convention center will bring more dollars to the downtown area.

The construction on the Music City Center is already affecting the Lafayette neighborhood. The extra infrastructure needed for the 16-acre complex means road closures in various parts of the area through 2013. Shirley and Franklin Streets are closed for the duration, of course, since they’re on the southernmost edge of the construction site. And the Metro construction map says that Lafayette Street itself will see intermittent closures through 2011 while Nashville Electric runs some extra power cables.

Lafayette was already nightclubs and shopping, so maybe it won’t change as much as I think. But I would imagine that a few more tourist-oriented businesses will spring up here in the next few years.

MTA bus #15 runs up and down Lafayette, and four other buses also route through or near the area. I’m surprised that the new, free, Music City Circuit doesn’t come down this far. Right now the Green Route hits the northern edge of the convention center.

We’ll have to see whether that changes in the future, as well.

I’ve said this of other areas, and Hope Gardens also merits it: what you see on the outer edges of this neighborhood isn’t what you’ll find further in.

The boundaries of the Hope Gardens area are business or industrial areas, and some of those lots look rather bleak. (All asphalt, no greenery—that type of thing.) But Hope Gardens is one of the city’s revitalization areas; things look a lot better on those inner streets. I’m even hearing rumors of a community garden down here, although I’ve not yet found it.

One caveat: this area is across Rosa L. Parks Boulevard (formerly 8th Avenue North) from the Farmers’ Market. The flood waters that wrecked the Farmers’ Market so badly reached over in here as well.

I have not been inside any of the Hope Gardens buildings since the flood, so I’m not sure how internal repairs are going here. I can tell you that from the outside everything looks normal—but that could be said of the Farmers’ Market, as well.

Still, Hope Gardens is getting added to my “places to watch” list. If you need to get out here, you can. Five different MTA buses serve the Hope Garden area.

This is another of those areas that you shouldn’t judge by driving along the edge, especially if you come at it from Nolensville Road.

Nolensville Road is one of Nashville’s major traffic arteries; it’s wide, it’s busy, and it’s lined with businesses through most of Nashville. That means lots of concrete, bricks, cinderblock, and asphalt. (One exception is the stretch of highway at the southernmost tip of Glencliff. The Nashville Zoo is just beyond the Glencliff borders down there, and the zoo area is quite leafy.)

Glencliff starts showing its leafier side once you turn off the main highways and get back into the neighborhood. Lot sizes vary, and the houses are of a variety of styles and materials. This is an area where you can find some lovely fieldstone houses, which are usually easier to cool in summer than some other types of homes.

I can’t close without a note about Thompson Lane, the street on the northern edge of the Glencliff neighborhood. Thompson Lane is actually one section of a street that circles Nashville under four different names.

Thompson Lane becomes Woodmont Boulevard. Woodmont becomes White Bridge Pike. White Bridge becomes Briley Parkway, and Briley, in turn, becomes Thompson Lane again. Knowing which segment of this loop you’re on can help locals pinpoint you well enough to give you accurate directions.

I’m not seeing much public transporation for the Glencliff region. Metro Transit Authority’s bus #12 runs up and down Nolensville Road, and that’s all I’m finding for this area.

I’m not sure whether StreetAdvisor or the local folks chose the name of this neighborhood, but either way it’s appropriate. The area is obviously named for the little triangular park up in the northeast corner of the neighborhood.

A park this small might seem laughable to some, but Elizabeth Park holds a Community Center that makes it unique. The Elizabeth Park Community Center is the only Metro Parks community center where all the programming is aimed at senior citizens. (Other community centers offer senior citizen programs alongside youth and other activities.)

I’m not a fan of houses on small lots with few trees, and you will find some of those in this neighborhood. There are houses with enough shade to suit me, but this neighborhood does look as though it would start feeling crowded at times.

MTA bus route #42 runs through the center of this area. The #22 runs along the north edge, and the #29 runs along the south border of this neighborhood as defined by StreetAdvisor.

I can still remember the day I took a wrong turn and wound up in the Edgefield/East End area. I was dumbfounded. Until that moment, I had had no idea that there were such nice neighborhoods in the region I thought of as East Nashville.

Other reviewers have noted the historic roots of this area, and have given details on the type of housing to expect. I will merely add a couple of caveats.

First, because this is an official historic preservation district, all property alterations and new construction in Edgefield require pre-approval by Nashville’s Historical Commission. (In other words, don’t move here expecting to build a garage that looks like my favorite television spaceship!)

And second, Edgefield is near LP Field. The Edgefield Neighborhood Association has posted a page on its website informing residents on how to get around during that awful Titans traffic.

The five MTA buses that run along Main Street, Woodland, and Shelby will go through Edgefield or along its edges. Please note that routes #30 and #20 are weekday-only routes.

Cleveland Street, the street on the northern border of this region, is another of those Nashville streets with an “identity crisis”: as you move east on Cleveland from Ellington, Cleveland becomes West Eastland.

I lived on West Eastland for about four months back when I first moved to Nashville, and I have friends who live in this area now. Tiny box-like houses share blocks—or even streets—with large, multi-story old homes with spacious yards. But nearly all the houses, no matter what the size, need a touch-up here and there: the residents can’t afford to do more than they already are.

There are a couple of Magnet Schools in this area, though, which means excellent educational opportunities for the children in the area.

A stretch of this area along Ellington Parkway flooded during our deluge back in early May, and the actual Douglas Park did get some of that water. Damages were seen in the two westernmost blocks of this neighborhood, running the entire north-to-south length of the area.

MTA’s bus #30 runs through this neighborhood on weekdays. The #26 and the #56 go up and down Gallatin road seven days per week; the #26 is one of the most frequent and most-used routes in Nashville.

Oh, that crazy Nashville topography! When the flash flood hit us back in May, most of this “East Bank” area got waterlogged. LP Field, for example, had water coming up almost to the front seats. The pictures remind me of those stories of the Roman Coliseum, where the ancient Romans would regularly flood the field so they could hold ship battles.

One place that escaped the waters, albeit barely, was the Gerst Haus, a German restaurant down at Woodland Street and Interstate Drive. The Gerst Haus has been with Nashville since 1890, when the Gersts were prominent citizens of Germantown. I hear nothing but praise for this place; the Gerst Haus is on my list of Things I Should Have Done Already in Nashville.

Traffic in this area, of course, is busy at the best of times; when the Titans play, it’s a nightmare. And one night in early December each year, the Woodland Street Bridge will be blocked off for the Nashville Christmas parade.

The bridges that cross the river here are all major traffic arteries. At least seven different local buses use those bridges as part of their route. The four buses that use the Woodland Street Bridge are the ones that have stops in the East Bank area.

I don’t mean to keep harping on StreetAdvisor; I really, really don’t. After all, if I thought they were doing a truly terrible job, I wouldn’t be scribbling all over their pages.

But I’m really feeling that territorial instinct here. I used to live not far from Ellington Parkway, a lot further north than SA’s shaded "neighborhoods" currently go. To me, that old area is “the Ellington Parkway area.” And to someone living halfway between my old neighborhood and this cloverleaf area, “Ellington” is something completely different.

So what’s down here with this confusing conglomeration of cloverleafs that StreetAdvisor calls Ellington? Well, for one thing, of course, there’s a little lingering flood damage. That area from I-24 back to the river got waterlogged when Nashville received a flash flood back in early May.

Settle Court and the surrounding streets are part of a very pretty little subdivision that didn't get flooded. The area seems to be mostly two story homes in a variety of styles and colors. Tiny front yards and not enough trees to suit me, but give them a few years to grow.

MTA’s route #28 hits parts of that subdivision. Five other bus routes run along the borders of the so-called “Ellington” area.

StreetAdvisor appears to have named this area for Buena Vista Park, just outside the northeastern edge of this region, and Jones Paideia Elementary, a magnet school down in the southeastern corner.

That magnet school means that this area deserves serious consideration by families with school-age children. While most applicants to Metro’s magnet schools are accepted through a lottery process, residents near those schools have a priority option.

That said, this area is low-income; some streets need some of the improvements recently completed by their neighbors to the north in Buena Vista Heights. On some of the streets in BVJ, small boxy houses sit behind lawns of patchy grass that run straight down to a road with no sidewalks. Look around here a bit to see if anything suits.

There is some public transportation here; I’m not sure if it’s frequent enough for the area. MTA bus numbers 22 and 42 run through or along this region.

This particular “neighborhood,” as mapped by StreetAdvisor, is entirely business and industrial. And we’re talking old-school industrial: concrete, bricks, and asphalt are the main “design themes” down here.

The flood in May inflicted damage on the entire area. I have not yet made it out to see how repairs are going for these business owners.

MTA bus routes #14 and #23 go up and down Dickerson Road on the eastern edge of this region.

Most of this neighborhood, as mapped by StreetAdvisor, is occupied by Cayce Place. Also known as the James A. Cayce Homes, Cayce Place is the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency’s largest family housing complex for impoverished families. At 710 units, Cayce Place is nearly twice the size of most other MDHA complexes.

There is a strip of private homes along Shelby Avenue, on the northern border of this region. Shelby is a major street, so even with the trees and yards, these houses don’t have much privacy.

In the center of this neighborhood you’ll find the Martha O’Bryan Center, a religious non-profit with a variety of programs targeted at increasing graduation rates and meeting other educational and work needs to help alleviate the crushing poverty of this area.

Cayce is also served by Kirkpatrick Park, with its attached Community Center. Kirkpatrick Elementary, on the edge of this region, is an Enhanced Options school—it offers extended hours and other options to help the children in this area learn at the rate of their more fortunate peers.

Roughly the southern quarter of the Cayce area took damage during the May 2010 flood that devastated Nashville. Most of the damage was south of Glenview, with a strip following I-24 up 5th and 6th Streets as far north as Summer Place. Please be aware of flood-related issues if you’re looking at property in these spots.

MTA’s bus #4, the Shelby Avenue route, runs along the northern border of this area. On the MTA system map the #18 also appears to serve this area, but it doesn’t really—the #18 is an express bus to the airport. It doesn’t stop in Cayce; it merely takes the interstate past here at certain times of the day.

Take a close look at the map for this neighborhood, and you’ll see that Brown’s Creek runs along its eastern edge. Unsurprisingly, that creek flooded during our deluge back in May. While Nashville rarely sees floods as epic as that one, anyone looking at properties on those easternmost streets will need to keep the waters in mind.

If you approach Cameron Trimble from the wrong direction, you’ll get the wrong impression, because most of Lafayette Street/Murfreesboro Pike is really quite…ugly. It’s an older business/industrial strip: we’re talking Concrete, asphalt, cinderblock and brick buildings, and barely any trees. Lawns are practically non-existent.

Things are better in places as you move south of Lafayette, though, so take a closer look before you write off the area.

Lafayette Street, by the way, is another of those streets that’s not pronounced the way you might expect. I’m a “transplant” to this area, and I still slip up and call it “La-fay-ETTE.” Most natives say “La-FAY-ette,” with the emphasis on the second syllable instead of the third. (I can’t say it’s “a Southern thang,” because I grew up in the South! So let’s call it a “Nashville thing” instead.)

The bus service here is reasonable. MTA’s Route 12 runs down 4th Avenue and up 2nd. The #15 goes up and down Layfayette/Murfreesboro. The #25 connector route skirts through the corner up by I-40. The #18, the Airport Express, stops at Lafayette and Wharf on select runs.

This neighborhood got some water during our flash flood back in May. That little section of this oddly-bordered area that sits south of Davidson wound up with some damage. Again, thank goodness that stretch is business/industrial. I know the damage is devastating to those involved, but at least we’re not talking about people’s homes here.

Most of this “Boscobel Heights” neighborhood—see TravelGal’s notes regarding that name—most of this neighborhood is residential. And, happily, many of the homes have been there long enough to have real trees in the yard. That varies by street, though, so take a look around.

My hubby would take it amiss if I didn’t point out that this area is right next to the Riverview Golf Course, a public golf course associated with Shelby Park. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard what shape it’s in since the flood.

MTA’s route #4, the Shelby Avenue bus, runs along the northern border of this neighborhood.

In May this neighborhood (as mapped by StreetAdvisor) saw some flooding on 28th Avenue North (on the western border of the area).

Cumberland Gardens is primarily residential, with some small businesses and churches scattered through the area. Most of the residences are small one-story houses. There are a few town homes in the area, and Crestview Nursing Home is up on 25th Avenue at Clarksville Pike.

Most of the houses here are rather boxy, and often any trees in the yard haven’t yet grown high enough to offer any real shade. Some of the houses need paint jobs or other repairs; others are immaculately kept up.

MTA bus route 42 runs through this area, and route 22 goes along the northern edge.

Here’s another area where renters and buyers will need to be aware of flood-related issues. And unfortunately, this area is residential.

Thankfully, we aren’t talking about the entire Osage/North Fisk neighborhood. Rather, the waters were confined to roughly an eight-block area. The inundated area is on the western edge of the neighborhood. It extends from about Delk Avenue in the north to Burch Street in the south.

A finger of water reached as far as east as 23rd Avenue, while the majority stayed between 24th and the railroad tracks. Isolated property damage was reported on Delk Avenue just south of Buchanan, and on 23rd and 22nd Avenues just south of Buchanan.

That leaves a large area that escaped disaster. Some streets have enough trees and greenery to suit me. But even before the flood, this area had more than its fair share of “fixer-uppers.” You might want to take a look around and see what suits.

Public transportation exists here, but I’m not sure it’s adequate for the size of the neighborhood. The number 42 bus runs through the center of the region, and the number 22 runs along the northern border.

Others have mentioned the rich history of the Germantown area, and rightly so. Many of the restored properties in this neighborhood are breathtaking.

Not everything here has been restored, however—and if it hasn’t, the rules for doing so may be strict. Germantown’s official Historic Place designation means that certain guidelines must be followed when altering the properties in this area.

In other words, if you’re looking for a “fixer-upper” to turn into your dream home, do your homework: make sure your dreams match the history of this area before you move in.

Among the already-restored homes, the diversity is astounding. Some have “postage-stamp” front yards, no porches, and barely any walking space between them and their next door neighbors. Others sport those good deep covered front porches and/or deep yards that would keep me happy. It’s all a testament to the diversity of the people who settled the area.

Of course you should get out and see Germantown! Usually MTA bus routes 9, 29, and 42 run along three borders of this neighborhood. I don’t know whether any of them take detours when Oktoberfest rolls around.

I used to take my kids to the Adventure Science Center out here back when we still called it a science “museum.” The new name describes it better, because the place is decidedly interactive. I quickly learned the secrets of a good Science Center trip: 1) Get plenty of sleep the night before. 2) Pack a lunch and plan to stay a while. 3) Wear clothes that will let you climb and crawl with the kids.

_Interactive_ is a good word for the other attractions here, as well. Of course one expects to do a lot of walking and exploring at Fort Negley Park, but a Nashville Sounds game is hardly a passive experience. With their Family Nights and other special theme nights, this feeder team for the Milwaukee Brewers keeps baseball interactive and fun.

It’s been a while since I’ve been out here, but I’m not recalling any places to live in the Fort Negley area. With attractions like these, though, you’ll want to get out here eventually. (I know I’m looking forward to the day when I can take Offspring #3 out to continue the family tradition!)

The bus will get you there, sort of. Route #1 goes past the Science Center and Fort Negley on weekday mornings and evenings. The #25 goes past Greer Stadium, and the #12 runs down 4th Avenue.

My word, what a turnaround! Parts of this place look fantastic! It’s amazing what grant money and some dedicated neighbors can do.

My elder daughter and I wound up in this area a few years ago when we were house hunting. When we got to the Housing Authority’s apartments on 25th, we got scared and drove off in a hurry—the litter, graffiti, and property damage made the place look like all the worst stereotypes of the word “Project.”

When new hubby, infant daughter and I were out here a couple of weeks ago, I didn’t realize that this was the same area. The area near Rosa L. Parks Boulevard is clean. It’s green. It’s well lit and in good repair. I had to double-check some addresses to confirm that this is, indeed, the same region.

What makes the difference? Apparently while I wasn’t looking, Metro designated the place a Neighborhood Strategy Area. This made it eligible for some federal grant money, and a group of dedicated residents have been meeting since 2005 to make sure that money was put to good use.

I’ve long been a fan of the Looby library here, with its attached community theater. And if that weren’t enough, a public Montessori school and a Magnet Middle School also “live” in this area. I understand that the residents are hoping that more upgrades to this neighborhood will follow. But with what I’ve seen so far, I’ll definitely be looking at Buena Vista Heights more closely when hubby and I are ready for our next move.

The public transportation here looks reasonable. MTA’s bus route #42 goes through the area, and routes Nine and 22 hit the borders of the Buena Vista Heights neighborhood. Just be savvy when you read the signs on the buses and you'll get here: most of Nashville uses the terms "Buena Vista" and "Buena Vista Heights" interchangeably. The StreetAdvisor "Buena Vista" is somewhere else entirely.

If you ask a local for directions to Buena Vista, you probably won’t wind up in the neighborhood noted on the StreetAdvisor map. Instead you’ll likely find your way to Buena Vista Heights; we use the two terms interchangeably around here.

A case in point is the recent Community Development Block Grant. When _The Tennessean_ newspaper reported that project’s completion, their headline read “Buena Vista Heights.” _The City Paper_ called the area “Buena Vista.” Both newspapers were correct, both were talking about an area bounded by Clarksville Pike, Cass Street, and so forth—and that area isn't here.

I sincerely wish those community development improvements had happened here. Because when Elder Daughter and I took that house hunting drive a few years ago, we wound up in this area. There were several homes here that needed some lawn maintenance and repairs. I would be thrilled to learn that my information is outdated and that things have improved.

StreetAdvisor appears to have taken the Buena Vista name from Buena Vista Elementary School, an Enhanced Options public school in this area. The school offers optional extended hours and other programs to help the children in the area learn.

Public transportation here is good. MTA bus routes 22, 29, and 42 all run through or near this area.

When I saw this name in StreetAdvisor, I said, “I know what _that_ area is named for.”

I was wrong. It turns out that the planetarium is a few blocks away, in the Fort Negley neighborhood.

What you _will_ find here is the Sudekum Apartments complex on University Court. These long brick buildings with their tiny windows are owned and run by the Metropolitan Development and Housing Authority. You must meet income requirements to live here, and MDHA’s website says they aren’t accepting applications at the moment.

Since this is a tiny area close to downtown, the public transportation is reasonable. Four different routes run along the edges of the Sudekum neighborhood.

Most of this area went under water during the flood back in May, and that brought many of us to a standstill. That long lot between Nestor Street and the Cumberland River is the Metro Transit Authority’s bus garage and main offices.

Nashville was without city bus service for 3-4 days, and then we were on a limited schedule for another couple of weeks. Cities from around the region loaned us buses to help us out, and some of those are still here. (I saw a Cincinatti bus downtown just last week.) MTA waived all fares until they could resume their regular schedule.

Strangely enough, one little section of New Omohundro appears to have escaped the flood damage. That cone-shaped bit bounded by railroad tracks on the North, by a curved section of track on the East, and by I-24/40 on the South appears to have escaped unscathed. I can only assume that the grade around the railroad tracks helped halt the waters.

New Omohundro is mostly older industrial, so it already had a decided lack of greenery before the flood came through.

The public transportation here is, of course, passable. The number 44 and the number 25 run out to the MTA garage. The number 6 goes up and down Lebanon Road.

This is another area large enough that it can’t help but be an interesting mix of properties. Businesses, residences. Low income, middle class. Green and leafy, bare burning concrete. Well-maintained, in poor repair. And other reviewers have noted the ethnic and cultural diversity in the area that makes Woodbine such a joy to visit.

When it comes to Nashville’s Flood of 2010, I can come closer to making a blanket statement—but even here, it can’t quite be done. _Most_ of Woodbine, as mapped by StreetAdvisor, escaped the worst of the flood. There’s one little area down around Glenrose and I-24 where two little streams run into Mill Creek. That area was hit pretty badly.

I was impressed to learn that Woodbine now has its own Farmers’ Market. In its first year, the market is currently a part-time affair. It’s open from July-October, on Tuesdays, from 4pm-7pm.

The Woodbine Farmers’ Market is located at the Coleman Park Community Center, at Nolensville Road and Thompson Lane. Their website says a Spanish translator is available.

On a final note, please know that, unfortunately, public transportation barely exists in Woodbine. MTA’s route 12 runs up and down Nolensville Road, and that’s all.

My elder daughter and I took a house-hunting drive through this section of Nashville a couple of years ago, and I go through here on various errands from time to time. Salemtown was, and remains, an interesting hodgepodge of places.

Dilapidated old multistory wood homes, with the windows out and the porches caving in, sit within a few blocks of newly renovated town homes of a similar design. And these in turn are next to more houses that have been converted to business use.

Some streets are nothing but buildings, concrete, and asphalt. Others offer trees and yards large enough to keep me happy for a while.

In short, it’s a fascinating area, and I wouldn’t mind living down there, depending on the street.

MTA bus route #9 runs up the east side of Salemtown, and route #42 runs down the west side. Not bad, since this area is only a few blocks wide.

The upper portion of StreetAdvisor’s map of East Germantown eerily matches the lines on Metro Nashville’s map marking the inundation area of the May 2010 flood. The little strip between First Avenue North and First Avenue was particularly heavily hit, but the water reached out to lap at Morgan Park down at 3rd and Hume.

It’s amazing to see what a difference the topography of this area made. A couple of weeks ago I took a bus ride through here, up 3rd Avenue and then back down 2nd; I could barely tell that there might be some construction and cleanup still happening closer to the river.

That area by the river is business/industrial, while the area on the other side of my route is residential. A lot of people’s homes escaped disaster by only a couple of blocks.

I learned something else from my ride: people here don’t feel safe. A couple of industrial yards were surrounded by chain-link fence topped with barbed wire—with razor wire looped through the barbed. And the doors and windows of more than one house sported those wrought-iron metal bars that are more than decoration.

The public transportation here is reasonable. I was riding the number 9 out to Metro Center. In addition, the 28 and the 41 have routes that take them along the southern edge of the East Germantown area.

I worked down on 12th Avenue South for three years. During that time, my office mate and I drove all around this area in quest of the perfect lunch. (We often found it.)

Please know that this is an area of contrasts. As you move from west to east, the leafy greenery and middle-class homes up and down Villa (behind Music Row) gradually give way to sparser shade and a lower-income area. Once you hit 8th Avenue South, you’re suddenly looking at a bare brick-and-concrete business section.

You want to know about those lunches, you say? Well. On 12th Avenue, just south of South Street, is a little mom-and-pop convenience store that serves a carryout meat-and-two each day. They have the steam tables set up behind a sneeze guard by the register, and they always offer a choice of entrees and sides. It’s real Soul Food, and it shouldn’t be missed.

Many of our other lunch spots were just outside the Edgehill area. But it says something that we were able to get to so many places and back again within our lunch hour.

Public transportation here is good. MTA’s #17, the 12th Avenue route, runs through here. The #25 connector route cuts along Edgehill, and the #8, interestingly enough, runs up and down 8th Avenue.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—thank goodness this little area is mostly industrial! The flood waters that wrecked the Farmers’ Market made it down here as well. There was less damage in this region, but damage there was. Check it out if you’re looking at property down here.

Kudos to TravelGal, by the way, for the note about the name of this non-neighborhood. All I can say is, I wish I’d managed to say it first! ;)

One possible place of interest in the—ahem!—“Bruton Snuff” area is First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill. The church is up on Rosa L. Park Boulevard between Nelson Merry and Gay streets. The _Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture_, published by the University of Tennessee, has an article on the congregation.

According to that encyclopedia, the FBC-CH congregation has been around in some form or fashion since 1824 or earlier, with biracial worship services standard from the beginning. (Here in the South, that’s impressive!)

“Bruton Snuff” is a part of what some of us call Downtown, and it’s very close to the MTA bus station. So of course the public transit is good—three regular bus routes run along the edges of this tiny region.

As a former farm girl, I love the TSU area. Talk about green! But of course it would be.

Tennessee State University started in 1912 as an Industrial and Agricultural College for Negroes. (That was the word back then.) The college’s evolution to a full-fledged land grant university is a convoluted tale that embodies all the racial tensions of the South.

While faculty, staff and students at the university have done award-winning research in a number of disciplines—ask about the new planet one of their astronomers helped discover—TSU does still maintain an excellent school of agriculture, with research farms north of Dr. Walter S. Davis Boulevard.

And therein lies a story.

When the flood took Nashville by surprise in May, agri faculty, staff and students rushed to try to save their animals. One professor was attempting to save some guard dog pups on the goat farm when suddenly the water was up around his chest. He got stranded on a haystack with the pups, and wound up being rescued by the president of the university in a flat-bottomed canoe.

Before it was all over, the goat farm wound up under an estimated 15-20 feet of water. The professor lost over a third of his herd, setting back research by five to ten years. That old Johnny Cash song, “Five Feet High and Rising,” doesn’t even begin to describe the situation.

When I was on the TSU campus for a function in late May, I saw no signs of flood damage. But I never made it north of Dr. WSD Boulevard to the area that had the most trouble.

MTA routes 19 and 29 hit the edge of the TSU main campus. The university also runs shuttles for students to the downtown area.

Sometimes I look at the StreetAdvisor neighborhood names and wonder where they came from. I don’t wonder about this one, but readers from outside Nashville might: while Fisk is marked clearly on the Google Map, Meharry Medical College is not.

Meharry Medical College is an independent, historically black medical school which today holds a mission of training medical professionals to serve the underserved. The Meharry campus runs from Dr. D.B. Todd Jr. Boulevard west across 21st Avenue.

North to South the campus stretches from Meharry Boulevard (of course) down to Morena Street. Nashville General Hospital—which _is_ clearly marked on the map—is affiliated with Meharry and is on the Meharry campus.

My husband lived in this neighborhood, on Morena Street, when he and I started dating. The area has real trees with real shade, always a plus with me. On the other hand, the Fisk-Meharry area is a low-income neighborhood: there are many wonderful old historic homes around here, but some are vacant and in disrepair.

Public transportation is good here (another 'plus' with me). MTA’s route 19 and four other buses all go through the Fisk-Meharry area.

This is primarily a business district, and in some ways that’s quite fortunate: this whole area took some serious damage during the flood back in May. As of this writing, some repairs are still underway.

I personally am dismayed at the damage sustained by the Nashville Farmers’ Market, that series of buildings running along “8th Avenue” from Harrison to Jefferson streets. (The city has renamed 8th Avenue North; it’s now Rosa L. Parks Boulevard. Google Maps just hasn’t caught up yet.)

The Market’s outdoor vendors—farmers and flea market booths—were able to get back in business about a week after the flood. But that big block of a building in the center of the complex is an indoor area. It housed restaurants and a great international market—and it’s still not fully restored.

Many of the indoor businesses are back anyway, including the Jamaican restaurant and the little Indian carryout. Most of the dining area is usable again. But when I was down there recently, the international market still hadn’t reopened—although they plan to—and at least one restaurant had said they couldn't afford to come back.

The bottom line? If you’re buying or renting in this area, inspect for flood damage, and make sure that your flood insurance is up-to-date.

The Blue Line of the free Music City Circuit goes by the southeast corner of the Farmers’ Market and continues past Bicentennial Mall. At least eight other MTA buses also run through Sulphur Dell.

I have friends who live in this area, and all I can say is, do your homework before you move here.

My friends have an older wood home that's two stories plus a basement. The house sits on a large lot—close to an acre, I believe—with an old wood garage at the back of the lot. They use the garage for storage, and they use a hefty chunk of the yard space for a vegetable garden each year.

The street they’re on is shady, plenty of trees and green yards.

The catch? When I last visited there, I stayed til after dark. They wouldn’t let me walk out to my car alone when it was time for me to leave. The wife informed me that she never goes outside alone after the sun goes down.

Other streets in this area might be better; this is a pretty large chunk of the map, after all. So again I say, investigate carefully before you move here.

Bus service here exists, but could be better. MTA bus route number 12 hits one corner of the area, and the #25 connector route goes through. The number 1, a weekdays-only route, also goes through here.

My elder daughter attended high school at MLK Academic Magnet, which sits across 17th from Watkins Park. Let me give you the real low-down here.

First, on paper this neighborhood looks close to Vanderbilt, but it might as well be a world away. Two of Nashville's busiest streets are between Watkins Park and Vandy, making getting from one to the other difficult. And Vanderbilt is middle- to upper-middle-class, while Watkins Park is a low-income neighborhood.

The right street in this area could be great. Some gorgeous new town homes are springing up in the Watkins Park area. But a lot of the houses are older buildings, and the owners of some of those have seen fit to install metal bars on the windows.

I felt perfectly safe walking around alone here during the daytime, but many people expressed concern when I tried to do so at night. Twice during my daughter’s four years here, I received an automated call from the school saying that the school had been in lockdown that day because police were seeking someone dangerous in the area.

Some parents would wonder why I let my teen attend school here. The answer: MLK is one of the top academic schools in the _nation._ MLK consistently shows up in the top 30 on U.S. News and World Report’s annual Top 100 list, and it receives high rankings on other lists as well. And MLK is a public school; it’s like getting a private school education for free!

Head Middle School, up the street from MLK, is also excellent. The actual park named Watkins Park, with it’s little library branch, is a perfectly safe place for the students to congregate after school. And I never had any qualms about letting my daughter walk with friends down to the Sonic or the Subway on Charlotte when she stayed after school for band practice.

Traffic on the streets around the schools is atrocious before and after school. Magnet school students come from all over the city, which means running school buses for them is impossible. Parents have the choice of dropping off their kids in person, or letting them ride the city bus. Many parents opt for dropping off, hence the traffic tangle.

Metro Transit Authority (the city bus system) does offer special rates—and sometimes free vouchers— for students, and many take advantage of this. Given that, of course the public transportation here is great. At least five city bus lines run through or near this area.

Until recently I worked in this area. The name Scarritt-Peabody looks like one that StreetAdvisor made up, but it’s as good a name as any. The Scaritt Bennett Center and Peabody College are both well-known landmarks—the college more so than Scaritt Bennett—so asking a local for directions to one of those will get you to this neighborhood.

The job I held here is actually relevant to the discussion at hand. I was entry-level management in the Bruegger’s Bagels that rents space on the ground floor of the Wesley Place Apartments at Scarritt Place and 21st. (Those apartments are labelled “Wesley Place Town Homes” on the map.)

Wesley Place is owned by Vanderbilt; unsurprisingly, Vanderbilt students make up the majority of their tenants. Understandably, the bagel bakery gets a brisk business from those tenants: how cool is it to live in a place where you can go downstairs for a bagel and coffee every morning before you head out for work or class?

CVS pharmacy, a beauty salon, and a tanning salon were also on the ground floor when I was working there. (And if I’ve left out anyone; I apologize!)

The drawback? I called Wesley Place when hubby and I were looking to move this time last year. They will rent to anyone, but the price was way out of our range—for the amount they were asking, we could have rented a house in the ‘burbs. There are other apartments in this neighborhood, of course; they look nice, but I would expect similar prices.

On the other hand, most of these places are across the street from Vanderbilt and convenient to the Peabody campus. And those two campuses and the Scarritt Bennett center provide enough trees and lawn space to give someone like me their daily dose of green.

Metro bus routes 7 and 25 go through here, as do a couple of express buses. In addition, Vanderbilt runs various shuttles, for the students and for the Med Center, that have routes through the area.

This is mainly a business area. It’s all concrete bridges and buildings, with occasional dashes of that pale roadway gravel that matches the sweeping nondescript gray theme. Thank goodness for the rainbow flags on the gay bookstore! And three cheers for the other local businesses that have tried to give a touch of color to this place!

There are some condos in the neighborhood, and I’ve seen the photos of the interiors of some of them. They look great, and they’re very conveniently located. But it’s a long walk from them to any major greenery in the area. Some mornings I wouldn’t be that energetic or wouldn’t have the time.

If you have a low daily “green” requirement, by all means check this area out. It’s an easy drive or bus ride to Centennial Park or Vanderbilt, and that might be enough. (And being that close to the night life on Elliston place might be worth it!)

Metro bus routes 3, 10, and 25 all serve this area. That #10, the Charlotte Avenue bus, actually runs down Church for part of its route before switching over to Charlotte. The number 10 is also one of the most frequent buses in town.

Okay, see if you can follow me here: as you head west-ish on Broadway, away from Downtown, you’ll come to a place where the road splits. The big main thoroughfare that keeps going straight is suddenly called West End. The little street that branches off to the left like a half-forgotten side street? That’s…Broadway.

This amazing magic trick--Broadway becomes West End while splitting off Broadway—is one of the saner street identity changes in Nashville.

That little “side street Broadway” is haring off through an older part of town, where the streets are narrow and the traffic shows it. This is mostly a small business area, a place to have lunch or dinner. (I think I’ve seen one or two apartment buildings hiding back in the sections that I don’t visit much, but I can’t swear to it.)

I can tell you that the view in this area is mostly brick and concrete. If you’re like me and need a daily dose of greenery—and if my phantom apartment buildings really exist—look around hard before you settle in.

That said, there are some gorgeous older buildings here, well worth a visit, and you will eventually get down to some of the shops and restaurants in this area. You won’t be able to avoid it—they’re just that good.

Metro bus routes #3, #7, and #25 run through or near this area. Broadway isn’t the only street down here that branches off in crazy directions; let Metro do the driving if you can.

The “Demonbreun” area as outlined by StreetAdvisor is part of what the locals call “Downtown,” so a lot of what I said in the “Downtown” section will apply here, as well.

Here you’ll still find a high cost of living, and you’ll still find traffic and tourists. But most of the streets are a little wider here. And while the current Convention Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame of course contribute their fair share of pedestrian traffic, the size of Broadway makes it seem less cumbersome.

If you’re looking at renting and owning property down here, the big news right now is still the Flood of 2010. I’m told that Joe’s Crab Shack, down on 2nd and Shelby, had to completely replace their roof before they could re-open. Floods that deep don’t happen often around here—it’s been nearly 100 years since the last one—but do your homework before you commit.

This region is also home to Riverfront Station, where a commuter train runs to and from outlying counties several times per day. The station was also wrecked by the flood, but is now gorgeously restored and open for business.

Riverfront Station is also a boarding point for Grayline Tours, and it’s a checkpoint for Nashville’s new rent-a-bike program. Here you can pay a small fee and rent a bicycle for the day. All metro buses have bike racks, making this a great way to get around in mild weather.

Both lines of the free Music City Circuit bus pick up and drop off at Riverfront. At least eleven different Metro bus routes also run through the "Demonbreun" area.

I’ve seen too much TV.

I’ve lived in Nashville for over a decade, but when I think of recording studios, one of two pictures still comes to mind. The first image is of great big multistory corporate buildings with sound studios on some floors and lavish offices on others. The other features run-down warehouses with sound studios and hole-in-the-wall offices.

Nashville’s Music Row puts the lie to these stereotypes.

The two one-way streets that make up Music Row, 16th and 17th Avenues, do manage to sport two or three large “office-y” type buildings. But most of the Row is a series of gorgeous older brick or wood homes that have been converted to business use, interspersed with old brick or wood homes that are still zoned residential.

And the trees! Forget the spindly saplings that pass for greenery in other neighborhoods; Music Row is truly shaded. The trees, the buildings, and the one-way streets all combine to create an illusion of small-town peace and quiet on parts of the Row. You have to read the signs in front of those businesses carefully—every other one has “studio” in the name—to know that you’re looking at the heart of the Nashville music industry.

The shaded area on the StreetAdvisor map also includes Music Square and parts of Division. The Pie Wagon restaurant, a meat-and-three on Division, is one of the best lunch spots in Nashville.

City bus route #2 serves Music Row. The connector route #25 also goes through the area.

Most Nashvillians think of Downtown as a place to work or run errands—or a place to avoid because of the traffic and tourists. Who knew it could be a place to live, as well?

Turns out there are some great luxury apartment buildings in this area. I’m not usually keen on urban living, but some of these I could probably tolerate for a year or two. They’re near Riverfront Park, they’re convenient to all sorts of great restaurants and attractions, and some of them are within easy walking distance of the Downtown Library.

Drawbacks? Well, the traffic, the tourists, and the old narrow streets all combine to make this a place you don’t want to drive. And since it is a tourist area—and an area where most of the government offices are located, to boot—prices are outrageous. And, of course, you need to look into flood insurance if you live downtown (or own a building there, for that matter).

In May of this year, Nashville experienced the worst flood the area had seen in nearly 100 years. We’re talking “rescue people off their roofs, if there’s a roof left.” Downtown Nashville was hit pretty hard, especially First and Second Avenues. A whole lot of people spent a whole lot of money in a hurry to make things presentable for the tourists again—and to make things livable for the rest of us.

Now, four months later, you can’t tell there was a problem unless you know where to look. But—flood insurance. And use public transit whenever possible.

Music City Central, the city’s new, state-of-the-art bus station, is located in this area. All routes except a couple of connectors run through Music City Central.

If urban living is your thing, you really need to check out The Gulch.

Before the bottom fell out of the real estate market and the economy, the urban renewal trend managed to hit Nashville. One of the results is The Gulch -- decrepit former factories and warehouses turned into trendy apartments and office buildings, with hot snazzy bars and/or restaurants attached.

But "trendy" doesn't have to mean "expensive." This is a mixed-income neighborhood, with quality low-income loft apartments tucked in around more upscale lofts and condos. And the best of it is, The Gulch qualified for the pilot version of the LEED Neighborhood Development program, becoming the first LEED-certified neighborhood in Nashville. Urban green living doesn't get much better than this.

The downside? The economy tanked. Most of this area was targeted at young urban professionals -- and fewer of them can afford the upscale areas of The Gulch these days. There were a lot of "For Lease" signs on some of those offices and lofts when I rode through there this week. There were also still some eyesores in and around the area--some urban buildings that haven't quite been "renewed."

Those things aside, this neighborhood can be a fun and attractive place to live. And the City seems committed to seeing The Gulch work. The Green Route of our new free downtown bus service, the Music City Circuit, runs through The Gulch every 15-30 minutes. Several other city bus routes also run through the area.

Yes, this is one of the hot nightlife spots in Nashville. But there are also a few apartment buildings tucked in here and there -- some of those, and some of the hotels in the neighborhood, can be quieter than you would expect.

I was 40, single, and doing a mid-life reassessment when I found the building of studio apartments on Louise Avenue. The building is surrounded by businesses, which turned out to be a real advantage: the area was usually deserted on weekend mornings. There was no problem with sleeping late whenever my schedule allowed.

And even though I was across the street from a 24/7 coffee house, and the Exit/In _et al._ were around the corner, a stroke of luck had me avoiding most of the night noise, too. A narrow strip of lawn separated my side of the building from the old two-story brick fine dining restaurant next door. The effect was a “sound tunnel” that funneled away most of the night noise and let me hear the crickets and tree frog that had taken up residence in the sparse greenery around us.

The area had other advantages, as well. I was within walking distance of two major city bus lines, plus a third connector route. I was also within walking distance of Vanderbilt University, Centennial Park, a branch of my bank, and my doctor’s office. Talk about convenience!

There were a few disadvantages, of course. First, I had a long bus ride to an affordable grocery store – the little mom and pop store in the area had great prices on some organic staples, but it just couldn’t compete on most other products.

Second, mine was an old-style building, with the apartments on the inside and combination locks on the doors – and those locks were needed. Louise Avenue was quite safe – the night life meant there were always people around. But the night life also meant that drifters were always around. I would get stopped twice a week or so and asked for change. The locks on the apartment building doors kept those unfortunate folks from coming in and sleeping (or worse) under the stairs.

And then there’s the fact that a studio apartment is no place to raise kids if you can help it. That is why I finally moved from Elliston Place. I met my current husband, he moved in with me, and we wound up “in the family way.” We tried to stay in the neighborhood, but other apartment buildings in the area either had no laundry facilities – which ours did – or were out of our price range, or both.

So we regretfully left Louise Avenue and Elliston Place. Had we stayed childless, we might still be there – despite the disadvantages, this was a great place to live!

City bus routes 3 and 10 serve this area. The #25 connector route also goes through the neighborhood.

When most people think of Nashville, they think of "po’ white folks" doing twangy things with fiddles and guitars. But while country music is definitely an important part of our heritage (and our local economy), there is so much more to Nashville! Centennial Park is part of that "so much more."

More on that in a minute. First, a note: the area that the locals know as the Centennial Park area doesn’t match what you see in StreetAdvisor. StreetAdvisor has chopped away most of the residential area that we associate with Centennial Park. What's left is an area that’s mostly the park itself, its facilities, and various local businesses. A couple of apartment buildings sit down in the southeast corner of StreetAdvisor's mapped area.

If you're looking to live there, you should know that those buildings look decent enough, and one is even downright attractive. In addition, that corner is on a major bus line, and it's convenient to nearly anything one would want to do in Nashville. But I personally would not want to live there unless I could have one of the top floors.

That’s because the buildings sit at the busy intersection of West End and 31st. The view is depressing brick and concrete -- unless you can snag a floor high enough to give you a view of the park.

And the park, of course, is a place that you need to get to know -- a place that you _will_ get to know if you stay in Nashville for any length of time. Centennial Park is a haven of greenery, yes; but it’s also a haven of the Arts in Nashville.

There is of course the Parthenon -- the world’s only to-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens, Greece. In addition, the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists holds a Fair here every spring and fall, and various other events and attractions are hosted in the park throughout the year.

My favorite event in Centennial Park, though, is the four weeks of Shakespeare in the Park that’s presented by the Nashville Shakespeare Festival each summer.

It’s Shakespeare the way his plays were meant to be enjoyed -- families bring blankets and picnic suppers, while some folks settle for trying to snag bleachers in the back. You have not lived until you have watched a six-year-old sit in rapt wonder as Puck uses stunning acrobatics to make his way across a nighttime outdoor stage!

Other, random note: at one point, Centennial Park was offering free wireless. Whether or not it still is, there are plenty of other free hotspots nearby. So there's really no excuse to not get out and enjoy the place, even if you need to bring your work along.

City bus routes 3 and 25 go past Centennial Park. I imagine that several tour services will also show you the place, if you care to ask.

Sept 2010

During the flood back in May (of 2010), Metro Center saw a few harrowing days; some streets in the area flooded, and local authorities worried that a nearby levee would fail. You can't tell it when you drive through there now, though; as of this writing (September 2010), everything is "business as usual" in Metro Center.

And "business" is the right word - this area is upscale commercial. It holds various government offices, several affluent businesses, and the Tennessee Titans' training facility. Metro Center is just far enough from downtown Nashville that a drive downtown would be too far for lunch and would be a hassle for a hotel; but fortunately that's not a problem. A fair number of fast food establishments and delis have sprung up in the area to accommodate the breakfast and lunchtime crowds. There are also a couple of good hotels in Metro Center.

One of the best features of Metro Center, though, is the lake in the center of the area. Not surprisingly, this lake saw the worst of the Center's flooding back in May, and some of the trash cans around it still show some minor damage. But the water is back to normal levels now, the grounds around it are neat and tidy, and the local "duck crossing" sign on a nearby street is still very much called for. (Gotta love an office park that has a “duck crossing” sign!)

Metro Center borders Buena Vista Jones and Buena Vista Heights. MTA bus route 9 serves the main Metro Center area. The number 42 bus runs past some of the southernmost points of this "neighborhood" as defined by StreetAdvisor.

If you live in Nashville for any length of time, Vanderbilt will eventually touch your life. You or someone you know will work there. Your kids will attend music, athletic, or scholastic competitions hosted on the Vandy campus. Or some evening you’ll be inching along cursing the traffic on West End, when suddenly you realize the problem: the Commodores had a home football game that night! (Most of us plan alternate routes on Vanderbilt football nights.)

Since it's going to be part of your life anyway, you might as well get to know the Vandy area. And it turns out that it's very much worth getting to know.

For one thing, the campus itself is gorgeous. I spent a year or more trekking across the Vanderbilt campus every day on my way to a job in one of the shops on 21st Ave. My morning "commute" was a walk past white oak, dogwood, redwood, and other trees and flowers too numerous to name. Then there was the wildlife: one morning a redtail hawk swooped down right in front of me as it tried to catch one of the local squirrels for breakfast! All this, in the middle of a bustling urban area!

In addition to the campus, the shops around Vandy are also worth a visit. Even if you don’t count the (thoroughly excellent!) bagel bakery where I worked – since there is a small chance that I’m biased – some of Nashville’s best shops have sprung up around the university. Restaurants, coffee shops, book stores, clothing stores, sports outfitters, comic shops, music stores - you name it, that area has it. Just check the hours before you go: some of those places depend so heavily on the student business that they close early when classes aren’t in session. And plan to do some walking - parking is at a premium around the campus.

The bad news? When it comes to living there, the Vandy area is out of many peoples' price range. Most of the rentals around Vanderbilt are at rates that seem extravagant unless you're a student splitting the bills with three roommates. (There are exceptions, but they are rare.) And I haven’t bothered to price the area for home purchases; I'm afraid to find out!

The bottom line, though, is that if you don’t know Vanderbilt, you don’t know Nashville. Whether or not you can afford to live in that neighborhood, the Vandy area is still worth checking out.