Feminized urbanism: is there a name for this kind of neighborhood?

[Dan]

Today I went to check out my old neighborhood in northwest Denver; the West Highland/Berkeley neighborhood. (I took hundreds of photos, and I'll post them later.) If there's an area that is the antithesis of RUGGED!, this is probably it. The neighborhood has gentrified beyond recognition since I sold my little bungalow in 2000. 32nd Street is now lined with baby boutiques, chocolate boutiques, purse boutiques, stores with perky lime green signs, day spas, yoga studios, wellness centers, and the like. Tennyson Avenue still has an old-man barber shop, a tattoo studio, a biker bar and an old-school lunch-only diner, but it's facing feminization with yoga studios, upscale salons, a French restaurant, and a new "sustainable" baby boutique. Everywhere I turned, I was at risk for being run over by an attractive twentysomething mommy with an SUV stroller.

So, is there a name for this kind of neighborhood? Ever encounter this phenomenon elsewhere?

[beach_bum]

The downtown in my fair town has alot of these types of businesses coming in, organic baby boutique, check, pilates studio, check....anyways, I think its a reflection of the who spends the money in a household, and I think females do the majority of the shopping and like to browse in shops moreso then men. During the week day in downtown here, its mostly females shopping, the men only come to go to lunch or work. To me it reminds me of malls, you see many more clothing stores for females and the ladies departments are much larger in big box stores/department stores because females like to shop for the most part. Men-hunters, females-gathers

[CJC]

Sounds like Noe Valley in San Francisco. I've never heard of a name for this type of neighborhood, but Noe Valley is basically the neighborhood that all of the Marina (another neighborhood populated by a lot of fresh out of college sorority girls living on daddy's money) girls move to when they get married and start having kids.

I cracked up with your mention of a "sustainable" baby boutique, because some friends and I were making fun of the exact same thing in Noe Valley last weekend. It seems that your old neighborhood is seriously lacking in upscale dog hotels and boutiques though. Perhaps a spa for mom and mutt?

[natski]

I would be keen to know the demographics for the area- there has to be a lot of stay at home mums (not that there is anything wrong with that at all- just saying) and probably high socio economic status.

[DetroitPlanner]

I would be keen to know the demographics for the area- there has to be a lot of stay at home mums (not that there is anything wrong with that at all- just saying) and probably high socio economic status.

I would think the opposite is true, with guilt-ridden working moms running amok to rationalize their existence through spending too much on silly crap for themselves and babies. Most likely this is the kind oof dual income neighborhood where everyone is broke the day before payday, and they don't put away $$ for retirement.

[Zoning Goddess]

"Feminized urbanity: is there a name for this kind of neighborhood? "

Yeah, upscale and overpriced. Kinda like guys buying camo at Bass Pro Shops when they could buy the same thing at K-Mart for 80% less.

[kjel]

Reminds me of Park Slope in Brooklyn or NW 23rd in Portland.

[Woolley]

I would be keen to know the demographics for the area- there has to be a lot of stay at home mums (not that there is anything wrong with that at all- just saying) and probably high socio economic status.

Same, I know in Australia it is pretty easy to gain key statistics through the ABS. Devonport in Tasmainia is more of a town rather than a suburb. But it has a high number of females compared to males (92.9 males per 100 females) with 1 in 37.74 females having a baby each year (ABS 2006). Feminsm Meetup groups? Never thought I would hear of such a thing.

I think certain areas have qualities and appearances traditionally associated with gender specific stigma. In the Lucashenko novel Steam Pigs it states that the suburbs are feminised and the inner city masculinised. It regards the West End (Brisbane) as convincingly masculinised. ‘Working-class in its culture of cars, alcohol and violence’. Everything gets reconfigured to make things more desirable. Building houses closer to schools, shopping centres etc. Everything is gender gapped. There are differences between males and females on economic, social and cultural levels. It is the state of being female or male and we have our cultural and social differences that are important to us, give us a sense of identity. Suburbs can be gender committed experiences. The majority of people living in suburbia are families. While it is socially accepted that women are no longer expected to stay at home and the men go out and work, it is the way families still structure and function.

[illinoisplanner]

A lot of the suburban downtowns in my area are like this. Day spas, art studios, hair salons, dog grooming boutiques, female-oriented gift shops, etc. I think a lot of it has to do with high disposable income levels, a good number of stay-at-home or work-from-home moms in the area, and the fact that most of these businesses are run by women who want to cater to women. Also, since it's mostly women who stay in the area during the day, that's the demographic all the businesses in the area need to cater to, otherwise they won't get any daytime foot traffic. Also, a lot of these women business owners have spouses with very-high paying jobs and so they can dabble in running their own small business comfortably.

Otherwise, most of the rest of the independent businesses are either bars and restaurants that rely on nighttime and weekend foot traffic. Anything else usually fails.

[mendelman]

"Third Wave Feminist Towne" - I embrace my femininity by having received my JD at Stanford, married a classmate/equal, then be a stay at home mother because we don't need me to work and daycares are nothing but disease factories anyhow.

[btrage]

MILF-Towne

[Dan]

More estrogen-rich scenes from West Highlands. And just what is the deal with lime green, anyhow?

[jsk1983]

Glad to see the cupcake boutique. Now where's the paint your own pottery studio?

[cellophane]

MILF-Towne

this. mr. rage just beat me to the punch.

[MacheteJames]

Reminds me of downtown Newburyport, MA, or Tarrytown and Bronxville, NY. Looks like it'd be a rather nice place to live in a lot of ways What's the density in a neighborhood like this? Say, 3,000-4,000 people/square mile? I like this type of chilled-out version of urbanity a lot, personally.

[Seabishop]

It makes sense for these businesses to appeal to women. Most men wouldn't be as interested in upscale, little retail shops. *

How do I get to spend the day photographing attractive women in an upscale neighborhood?


* I'm assuming I can say that without this turning into another debate about gender roles.

[mike gurnee]

What ZoningGoddess said. I would cringe if my neighborhood turned into that kind of crap.

[jsk1983]

What ZoningGoddess said. I would cringe if my neighborhood turned into that kind of crap.

Not the kind of businesses I would patronize, but probably better than what was here before.

[southsideamy]

Wow -- some sarcasm there! As a middle thirties chick/mom (not upper class, however), I would love that kind of place - which seems pretty free of chain stores and looks like the kind of place where I would enjoy hanging out.

The last two towns I lived in Michigan had the same feminine downtown and were really successful in capturing the expendible income of middle/upper class women - who, BTW, make almost all the purchasing decisions in most families (and my family is no exception). Both downtowns had lovely gift stores, clothing stores, bra shops with personal fitters, purse shops, upscale salons, lovely coffee shops, wine shops, gourmet food stores, and even (gasp) tea rooms. And both of these towns marketing themselves to women, almost exclusively.

When I want to spend an afternoon with my chicas hanging out, we often go to a nearby town here on the southside of chicago that offers a similar venue. I wish my downtown had these type of stores. I would love to push a stroller, hold a latte, and shriek over a perfect bottle of bath gel that I discovered.

I know it's not for all women, but how is this any different than the typical men's scene in some big cities: speak-easy bars, steakhouses, cigar shops, wine/scotch stores, Tony Bahama? Target marketing! It's where it's at.

[Veloise]

Wow -- some sarcasm there! As a middle thirties chick/mom (not upper class, however), I would love that kind of place - which seems pretty free of chain stores and looks like the kind of place where I would enjoy hanging out.

The last two towns I lived in Michigan had the same feminine downtown and were really successful in capturing the expendible income of middle/upper class women - who, BTW, make almost all the purchasing decisions in most families (and my family is no exception). Both downtowns had lovely gift stores, clothing stores, bra shops with personal fitters, purse shops, upscale salons, lovely coffee shops, wine shops, gourmet food stores, and even (gasp) tea rooms. And both of these towns marketing themselves to women, almost exclusively.

When I want to spend an afternoon with my chicas hanging out, we often go to a nearby town here on the southside of chicago that offers a similar venue. I wish my downtown had these type of stores. I would love to push a stroller, hold a latte, and shriek over a perfect bottle of bath gel that I discovered.

I know it's not for all women, but how is this any different than the typical men's scene in some big cities: speak-easy bars, steakhouses, cigar shops, wine/scotch stores, Tony Bahama? Target marketing! It's where it's at.

Post of the day. (Highlights mine.. <3!)

Typical men's scene: includes blank walls in semi-secluded alleys.

[otterpop]

I could definitely see grabbing a table by the sidewalk at one of the cafes and watching the parade of ladies.

I am an easy dog to keep on the porch but it doesn't keep me from watching the traffic.

[Duke Of Dystopia]

Place name for the urban estrogen infused nieghborhood with all the baby shops:

BREEDERVIL!

(running for cover fast)!

[wahday]

Its surprising to me that these trendy shops (or shoppes) are doing well in this climate. This is one of the tenuous aspects of rejuvenated shopping districts with small retail spaces - that they will all turn into boutique stores. By this, I mean places that serve up some type of luxury item or service rather than being, say, the corner food market or something else that is more necessity-based. Sure, all parents need diapers, but in hard times, how many can afford ones made of hemp and stamped with a cutesy lime green label? Yes, being active is good, but how many can afford to go to the eco-renovated, bamboo-floored yoga studio three times a week? Judging by the activity in the pictures, evidently plenty of folks int his neighborhood.

As for the assumption that these are all wives of men who make the big bucks, one has to be careful about how things appear and what is really going on. If these women were also working, these would be the nannies or daycare providers taking the kids out for a stroll and we would be judging that as well. Kids need taking care of and whose to say that these ladies aren't also working part-time somewhere? I agree that the appearance is one of well-off young mothers having fun without a care in the world, but they are out caring for their children and this should be a positive activity and not drudgery (for those parents among us, we know there is plenty of drudgery anyway).

These are great photos, though. I had no idea anything like this existed in Denver. It looks an awful lot like a few places in Albuquerque (probably the same era of development for these streetcar suburb-type areas). I need to get out more.

[Rygor]

More estrogen-rich scenes from West Highlands. And just what is the deal with lime green, anyhow?

I think it's because lime green is trendy, eye-catching, and evokes a sense of environmental friendliness which is all the rage.

My guess is that neighborhood is likely full of DINK's and young, well-to-do families. Probably highly educated. It reminds me a lot of parts of Wicker Park, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview neighborhoods in Chicago.

[beach_bum]

Place name for the urban estrogen infused nieghborhood with all the baby shops:

BREEDERVIL!

(running for cover fast)!

(wipes water from screen)

I wonder if there is a correlation between number of stay at home moms and the success of one of these types of shopping districts? As a working woman, I would only patronize at lunch or on the weekends, but i'll bet women that stay at home with their kids go during the week days and shop for eco-baby stuff and monogramed stationary. Coming from a historic preservation perspective, I think these districts are great, they bring people in and they spend money which in turn helps maintain the district.