LR PopUp to showcase 9th Street

A small area of Little Rock's West Ninth Street will be transformed into a thriving cultural corridor for a day in October to showcase the area's potential.

The street will be the location for this year's PopUp in the Rock event Oct. 24.

PopUp in the Rock, in its fourth year, chooses an area each fall to turn into a vibrant community exhibition of what could be if there were permanent investment. The community development organization is sponsored by studioMain and Create Little Rock, a branch of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.

West Ninth Street between South State Street and South Broadway was chosen for its deep historical roots, PopUp West Ninth co-Chairman Chris Hancock said Monday. The area is just north of Interstate 630.

"Once known as 'The Line,' Ninth Street was a bustling east-west thoroughfare with a trolley line. It was a bustling community with a thriving urban fabric of mixed-use development that was largely black-owned," according to a news release written by Hancock and fellow co-Chairman Jeff Hough.

Booker T. Washington spoke at Ninth and Broadway in 1913. Musicians and singers such as Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performed at the Dreamland Ballroom and other jazz clubs along the street. West Ninth Street was also where Daisy and L.C. Bates operated the Arkansas State Press.

The area developed somewhat due to segregation. Black-owned businesses flocked there as a safe-haven because they had a consumer base that was being discriminated against at other stores, Hancock said.

"We are not really trying to rebuild exactly what that was. As inspiring and historically significant as it was, we don't want to create a separate area of town designated as the African American business district. Instead, we want to build off that history and all that resilience and strength it stands for and use that energy to shape the district," he said.

What was once a business district is now developing into a cultural corridor. Dreamland Ballroom, above Arkansas Flag and Banner, is at one end while the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center is at the other. The ballroom was neglected for years and is undergoing renovations by Flag and Banner owner Kerry McCoy. Across the interstate sits Philander Smith College, a historically black institution.

All three entities have signed on as partners of PopUp West Ninth, among other groups.

One goal of PopUp West Ninth is to encourage pedestrians and bicyclists to travel between the college and the corridor by using the South State Street overpass, "thereby bridging the gap that originally tore apart the neighborhood," the news release said, referring to Interstate 630.

Volunteers met Monday for the first time to start organizing this year's event.

Hancock said PopUp in the Rock lets anyone with an idea who is committed to work get involved with the group. He started helping out last year after hearing about the organization through media coverage. He pitched the West Ninth Street project after learning more about the area's history while an employee at Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

Hancock is now the communications manager for the Historic Arkansas Museum. He's planning an exhibit on the PopUp group that will open in August. It will showcase the past three events with photos and artifacts from the projects.

Last year the group created a walkable Park Hill -- a North Little Rock neighborhood separated by four-lane John F. Kennedy Boulevard. Before that, Seventh Street in Little Rock was the focus.

During PopUp's first year, makeshift bike lanes were put on South Main Street in Little Rock. That became instrumental in persuading city officials to put bike lanes there permanently.

"PopUp in the Rock aims to demonstrate what's possible within neglected or car-dominated districts with underdeveloped potential," the news release said. "Through short-term demonstrations, the group works to inspire long-term change by illustrating how a few blocks can be made more inviting to pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, customers and businesses."

Anyone wanting to volunteer with this year's project can contact Hancock and Hough by emailing popupintherock@gmail.com.

Metro on 04/21/2015

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